Verse 5, So I said, Woe is me, for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. For my eyes have seen the king, Yahweh of hosts. He is unclean, but yet God still let him into his presence in this vision. You know, again, Satan is always quick to say, you're not worthy, look what you just did. But the grace of God overrules Satan all the time, certainly when we're submitted. Verse 2, Above it stood Seraphim, each one at six wings, with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, with two he flew.
Consistent to a man of God, he first talks to us about God, and then some of the other things that were going on. Clearly, God has other celestial intelligent creatures that are not Martians, and the Seraphim, the only time they're mentioned in the scripture, Isaiah does it twice. These angelic creatures are certainly part of worship in heaven, as they cry out, Holy, Holy, Holy, to one another, lightly in some chant form, perhaps. And don't think that's negative, because some cults have chants, doesn't mean, okay, there's no good chanting.
Gregorian music can be a little interesting, but it doesn't make it evil in and of itself. Anyway, these are different experiences in Revelation 4, when the scene is in heaven, and you see the cherubim there. So, you know, God has just got so much that, how many things are in heaven that are not recorded in the Bible?
And when we get there, it's just like, wow, this is pretty incredible. How would anybody have described that anyway? Anyway, each one had six wings. Well, again, a little different from the four creatures that Ezekiel saw, who had four wings.
You know, you could just guess at that, I don't want to do that. But Ezekiel writes after Isaiah, and he makes no attempt to reconcile the two. He doesn't try to say, well, Isaiah saw six, I better write six. No, he tells you what he saw. Isaiah saw six of them, I saw four of them. Just nothing, no contradiction, no problem there. It says with two, he covered his face. Now, part of what that means, because that's your identity, your face, visage, is that they were aware of their insignificance relative to the throne of God. It wasn't about them, that's what they're communicating with this gesture, two of the wings covering their face. And so we're not preoccupied with the seraphim. Well, we will be just for a moment, but there are many that come to the Bible and they want to hear all the spooky things, and can just start going weird with that if they're not careful, giving angels more attention than other things that really need the attention. Anyway, it was as if to say that, you know, I'm not worthy, it's not about me, the worthy one is on the throne.
John the Baptist put it this way, he must increase, I must decrease. And you find somebody that's full of themselves and you're full of a problem. You know, how many of them are out there today? People just with their selfies and posting these things of just their faces, it's insane.
It's just like, I don't know, all right. I mean, I'm not saying selfies are bad, but like anything else, to a point, after a while, you've just become so self-absorbed. We see a lot of these people and they become celebrities, heroes, royalty for other people.
Anyway, a picture of personal unimportance. That's what's, and absolute trust at the same time. That's the beauty of it. When Peter said, let me walk on the water, and the Lord said, come on, that was absolute trust for a little bit, for a few steps at least.
And if he took two steps, he walked on the water, just say for two steps, that's more than I've ever done, and more than anybody else has ever done. It is remarkable, and anyway, I should point out, their covering of their faces, it's not self-abasement. That's from the devil. It is exaltation to God.
One self-abasement destroys the one who is abasing themselves. The other edifies. You enjoy, once you're born again, you enjoy praising God. You enjoy his glory. He says, with two he covered his feet. Well, that's what takes us to where we're going.
And it also operates the bass drum. Their paths are always subject to the throne of God. That's how I see it. And I think that's a very basic, yet serious and profound understanding, that the steps of a righteous man are ordered by the Lord. That's what the psalmist said. That's what they're illustrating here.
You know, I go where I'm told. But incidentally, just kind of a cute little side note, yeah, but it's their wings that are making them move around, not their feet. Anyway, by this they disavow any intention on choosing their own path. And we see this when, you know, people say they're waiting for the Lord and they get impatient and they stop waiting and they go do something and make a mess out of it.
Well, they're saying, no, we are in subjection to the throne. He says, and with two he flew. So they're multitasking. They're covering their eyes, covering their feet, but still they're flying around.
Watch out where you're going. But this is the vision that he is getting, and these things are supposed to speak truths to him. If these creatures before the throne of God have this attitude, well, what attitude should we have?
I think a similar one. He must increase, I must decrease. The steps of a righteous man are ordered by the Lord under his authority.
So the scene is one of constant motion, but I'd like this part about it. When I think of these creatures around the throne of God, whether they're cherubim, four-winged or six, every time I think of them, it's not far from just this understanding they're available to God. They're right there available to God, and if you want to do anything for the Lord that requires servants, if they're not available, you don't have servants. Availability is not little.
It is underrated, and if God gives you availability, well, then do something with it. Ezekiel chapter 1, verse 14, and the living creatures ran back and forth in appearance like a flash of lightning. Now, they had four wings and they were moving that fast.
What are the six wings? Anyway, well, they might err dynamically. Anyway, the point is this constant motion before the Lord. There's nothing stagnant about any picture of God on the throne when we come across it in Scripture. I mean, He's not just sitting there. Even when Stephen sees the Lord and looked in heaven, what is the Lord doing? He's standing up.
There's this action to receive Stephen. Verse 3, and one cried to another and said, Holy, holy, holy is Yahweh of hosts. The whole earth is full of His glory. Well, to say this twice is to say something is most holy with the Hebrew in the Scripture, and to say it three times is to put it on its highest level. It is a superlative.
And we covered some of this, the usage of repetitions and superlatives. For instance, back in Genesis, when the writer Moses says that they were pits pits, well, the translators come along and say, well, that doesn't capture what he's saying, so they translate pits pits for full of pits. And then we come to 2 Kings and he mentions gold gold, but the translators say the purest of gold. So, my point is, when they are saying holy, holy, holy, this is a superlative. This is on another level of the throne of God, the presence of God is in a whole other realm outside of humanity, which we would expect it to be. He is pure, and He is perfect, and He is powerful. And we, on the other hand, we are impure, we are imperfect, and we are impotent next to the throne of God and His purity.
Now, you may say, well, I'm not impure next to some people, that might be true, but not when it comes to the Lord. And yet, He loves us nonetheless. He sees us as impure, imperfect, and impotent. And we don't have the power, we don't have the strength, and He loves us nonetheless. And that's what Paul is saying in Romans 6, 7, and 8. He's saying God still loves you. He loves the sinner. Continuing in verse 4, is Yahweh of hosts, the whole earth is filled with His glory.
Well, those who read and write Hebrews say that this could also mean, may the earth be full of His glory, which is, you know, thy kingdom come, thy will be done. They're both true, because you can look at creation and say, man, you'd have to be a nut to think that these things just appeared. So, you know, no matter how much time, they just slowly change.
That is just crazy. How can we all have eyebrows? How does that mean fish don't have eyebrows, though? I mean, just look at the little thing, you say, come on, there's a creator, there's an intelligent being behind these things. How you can just tell your brain to lift your pinky? And according to evolution, how would you learn to breathe?
You'd die before it developed. Okay, I'm preaching to the choir on that, because it's just, you've got just intelligent people, otherwise intelligent people, that will believe the goofiest things once they reject the Lord. Anyway, verse 4, and the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of Him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke. Well, this is a collective pronoun when it says the voice of Him. It's talking about the seraphim, he's already set that up, don't get tripped up by little things like that. Yet Isaiah seems to be very calm and unshaken at this point.
He's going to be shaken, but he's also going to be inspired. And this is a big difference between, you know, the presence of God and the presence of Satan. Satan does not inspire us, unless we're in the spirit and we're inspired to retaliate. Anyway, and the house was filled with smoke. Well, smoke always means fire. Fire always means activity. But it does not always mean destruction.
It can mean anger, you have to keep it in context. A cloud speaks, of course, of the glory of God, but smoke has different applications. When you go to Revelation 15, the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power, and no one was able to enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed. So there, there's activity in creation through the Lord in heaven, but this is the wrath of God. But that wrath of God is also purging out the evil. It's not this capricious, you know, anger. He's not having rage, God rage.
That's meaningless. He's dealing with evil that causes suffering and pain. So, there was no smoke at first, but then, based on the prophet's reaction in verse 5, so I said woe is me, this tells us that involved with smoke here in this vision, at this point, there is wrath, which shows up in verses 9 through 12. That's where this is going.
And so, smoke is always the direct result of something burning. Something is going on. It could be the incense that's in context, which comes into this in a moment. The smoke from the incense is sending into heaven and God receiving it as a prayer.
That's benevolent there. Here, again, this is anger brewing against evil. Verse 5, so I said woe is me, for I am undone because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, for my eyes have seen the king, Yahweh of hosts. He's unclean, but yet God still let him into his presence in this vision. You know, again, Satan's always quick to say, you're not worthy, look what you just did. But the grace of God overrules Satan all the time, certainly when we're submitted. So, the one who was telling us about the woes being poured out on the decadent behavior of his own people is one now that feels the woe upon himself. Well, this is what Paul wrote in Romans 3, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
All of us. And when he says, I am undone, he says, I'm doomed. That's the Hebrew. He says, I'm in big trouble because I'm doomed. And Paul put it this way in Romans 7, wretched man that I am. I mean, it just says it all.
He's wretched. We look at Paul, we say, man, he's a hero. But his sins tell another story. And then Paul adds, who will deliver me from this body of death? And then he goes on to say, thank God for Jesus Christ.
Essentially, that's what he then says. I'm delivered by a savior. He says, here in verse 5, because I'm a man of unclean lips. Well, the sinner, like the leper, has to cry unclean. And sin makes us lepers. It makes us blind. And if it doesn't make us blind, it certainly blurs our vision. You know, when you like a sin, you can lose judgment trying to defend it, trying to keep it and tell, well, it's really not that bad.
And, you know, you go down that road. But Leviticus 13, now the leper on whom the sore is, his clothes shall be torn and his head bare, and he shall cover his mustache and cry unclean, unclean. Here Isaiah said, woe is me, I am a man of unclean lips. So as wicked as people of his day were, the prophet was well aware of his own impurity.
This tells us he's not self-righteous. With what he is about to say through the rest of his prophecy is not coming from a man who is unconscious of his own shortcomings. And yet, at the same time, he's saying, but that doesn't disqualify me in and of itself from being a messenger. Yeah, I got my issues, but here's the message. And the message doesn't come from me. Because Satan will do this, as his parents, you know, you see your child do something and say, well, I used to do it too when I was a boy, so it's okay. No, it may not be okay. It may be very bad.
And you just can't, you know, you still have to process, or what's the best way to handle this and not dismiss it. And I dwell in the midst of the people of unclean lips. So he says, I'm bringing everybody with me. Because they're guilty. Earth is loaded with these types of people.
It always has been. It's loaded with unclean people. Christ died for sinners because there's no other type of people. And it is what the world doesn't want to hear, but they better hear it. Lost sinners, and they're not wanting to hear it, they have a defective view of their uncleanliness. Many of them don't believe they're unclean enough to be just sent to hell. And others just confuse it all the way along.
But we're supposed to help them. He says, for my eyes have seen the king, Yahweh of hosts, always humble and ready to serve as this man. It takes just a glance at God to know one's guilt.
It takes also that glance to understand his mercy. When Peter, who I will never deny you, and he denies him, Luke picks up the story. And Luke writes, And the Lord turned and looked at Peter, right when he denied him three times in the rooster crowed. Then Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times. So Peter went out and wept bitterly. He's just completely, woe is me, I'm unclean, I blew it, he's right, the Lord is right. And there's just this love, there's all these things happening, and Peter, oh man, I would not want to be in that spot, and yet it is a beautiful spot to be in, if that's what is required, and that's what happened. Anyway, just Peter, that looked, and the Lord, it says, And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. That's all he had to do.
He didn't have to say a word, and I don't think there was any frown on his face, just that look of love. Verse 6, Then one of the seraphim flew to me, and having in his hand a live coal, which he had taken with tongues from the altar. Well, this confession launched a solution.
Woe is me, I'm doomed. That's confession, but there's no confession without conviction. Isaiah was convinced he was doomed, and so he confesses it, and that brings the cleansing.
The alliteration just happens to be there in the English, the conviction, confession, the cleansing. Well, it's not a force fit. The seraph became a ministering spirit on behalf of the prophet. So Paul writes, Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation? Well, that fits Isaiah perfectly.
Where would Paul get something like that? Well, not only Isaiah. There are other stories in the scriptures that have the same effect. God heard the sigh of the sinner. Woe is me.
It's a big part. He could have named this woe is me, but there's too much more to it. So where do you go?
There's so much in here. The song of the seraphs is interrupted by the confession of the sinner. They're holy, holy, holy, and then he makes this confession. Okay, church is over for a minute, and they get down to business, and they address the sinner.
Of course, all under the authority of God. This is the vision that he is getting. So worship is paused in order that the doomed sinner may be answered. Having in his hand a live coal, that means this is hot, which he had taken with the tongues from the altar. This is likely the incense altar. There are two places of fire, one flaming. That would be the brazen altar, which flamings where the blood sacrifices were offered, and then as you went inside into the temple, there would be the golden altar where the incense was offered. But how did that incense lie? Well, they put the incense on the hot coals, and that would have the smoke ascend up to heaven representing the prayers of God's people. Well, Isaiah is in the throne room of God. He's not outside where a brazen altar would be found. This is why I believe it is the incense altar, and it has everything to do with his prayer, which is baked into his, I am unclean, woe is me, I am undone.
There is an appeal in that. That confession is a prayer, and God receives it that way. And this altar, the golden one, was where the nation's prayers were received. So fire from the altar speaks of God's response. Well, sometimes in wrath, sometimes in purification as it is here, and other times the fire speaks of his presence with the smoke. It was when the law was given, and it was smoke on the mountain, because that's where God was.
Who's causing that smoke up there? It was God. So, Elijah, then you call in the name of your gods, and I will call in the name of Yahweh, and the God who answers by fire, he is God. So all the people answered and said is well spoken. And Isaiah said, I don't need you to tell me that.
No, he didn't say that, but he could have. Anyhow, there's a picture, the God who answers by fire, and this is an answer. This is a response, not necessarily to a question, but which it was, woe is me, I am undone, O wretched man that I am.
It is a response to a need, an answer to a problem. Verse 7, and he touched my mouth with it and said, Behold, this has touched your lips, your iniquity is taken away, and your sin purged. Well, if he's going to speak as God's messenger, those lips need to be purged. And this is contact, he touched my mouth with it.
Contact. But what was too hot for the seraphim to handle the lips of the prophet could take it. He had to use the tongs. This is illustrative. I mean, his feathers would catch on fire if he knew. Wings, never mind. This is all meant to tell us something.
It's not so we could skim over it and say, oh, look at that. The angel used tongs, the seraphim used tongs, but the prophet, there was no problem. Well, why? Well, because he's fit for ministry. I believe, I believe very strongly that we are fit to deal with the curse of being sinners. Otherwise, we wouldn't have a chance. God, when man fell into sin, God says, they can make it through this if they want to.
If they do it my way, they'll make it through this. This is sort of God saying, you know, you need to jump off the roof into my hands. I will catch you. And if you don't trust me, then you're going to be doomed. You're stuck. Let's just say the roof's on fire.
You've got to put something on there to make you have to jump. Well, anyway, behold, this has touched your lips. So he makes it very clear.
There's no guessing. He's telling him that he knows what's happening to him. And Isaiah is, of course, going to write this down into this prophecy. And the vision, this vision, is something that the other prophets don't seem to have, we don't read about Elijah going through this. They had their own experiences. We don't read of Daniel going through this. He had his experiences.
So it's not mandatory, not a mandatory cookie-cut calling. This was for Isaiah, the one who spoke more about the Messiah than any of the prophets. Thanks for tuning in to Cross-Reference Radio today. Cross-Reference Radio is a ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville in Virginia. If you'd like to learn more about this ministry, we invite you to visit our website, crossreferenceradio.com.
You'll find a number of teachings from Pastor Rick available there. We also encourage you to subscribe to our podcast. When you subscribe, you'll be notified of new editions of Cross-Reference Radio. Just search for Cross-Reference Radio on your favorite podcast app. You can also follow the links at crossreferenceradio.com. We're glad we were able to spend time with you today. Tune in next time to continue learning from the book of Isaiah with Pastor Rick, right here on Cross-Reference Radio.
