Facing
the Flame of God
Our God is a consuming fire (Hebrews
12:29).
If you have ever sat before a late night campfire, you know
that there is something almost hypnotic about watching the flickering of a
flame. It seems to move with a life of
its own, first flickering this way and then its tongues of fire reaching out
that way. It moves and it breathes and
it ebbs and flows like a living thing.
There are a number of occasions in which the Bible describes
God in terms of a fire. We have already
seen the image of the burning bush that confronted Moses in the
wilderness. The thing that made that
sight so remarkable was not that the bush was burning, but that it was not
consumed by the fire.
Yet we must not forget that God’s flame often does consume
that which it touches. Again and again,
the Scriptures remind us that God is a consuming fire.
So
watch yourselves, lest you forget the covenant of the LORD your God, which He
made with you, and make for yourselves a graven image in the form of anything
against which the LORD your God has commanded you. 24 For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a
jealous God. (Deuteronomy 4:23-24).
The point is made that we ought to take care against
forgetting our promises to God and against taking God too lightly because He is
a consuming fire.
The Bible could have said that God is a warming fire. It could have looked at the emotional
comfort that we can feel when we think of God’s protection and His love for His
people. We come into His presence for
the warmth that He provides.
Or the Bible could have said that God is an enlightening
fire. His presence provides light so
that those who dwell in darkness are able to see reality in a clear and vivid
way. He is the light of the world and
we can see things more clearly when we are in His presence.
The Bible also could have described God as a purifying
fire. When we come to Him, he burns
away all of the trivia from our lives and He purifies us by removing that which
hinders our relationship to Him.
God is all of these things.
He is warming and He is enlightening and He is purifying. But there is another quality of God that is
presented in the Bible. It is that He
is a consuming fire. He comes and He
consumes that with which He is displeased.
In my career as a fire fighter, I’ve had the opportunity to
see what a fire can do. I’ve seen fires
consume vehicles and buildings and people until nothing is left but charred
ash. These experiences have provided a
vivid lesson as to the consuming power of fire. In a similar way, the Old Testament prophet Isaiah received a
vivid image of the consuming power of God.
He tells us of a glorious vision of God’s glory.
In
the year of King Uzziah's death, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and
exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. 2 Seraphim stood above Him, each having six
wings; with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with
two he flew. 3 And one called out
to another and said, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, The whole earth
is full of His glory.” 4 And the
foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out,
while the temple was filling with smoke. (Isaiah 6:1-4).
Isaiah’s vision is of the Lord in his temple. He is attended by Seraphim. That isn’t a word we use today outside of
Christmas carols. It comes to us from
the Hebrew word saraph which means “to burn.” God is described as being flanked by these “burning ones.” That they are described in such a manner
should not surprise us, for the Bible elsewhere speaks of how God’s angels are
“a flame of fire” (Hebrews 1:7).
The idea of winged supernatural beings was not unknown in
the ancient world. Statues of
four-footed winged beasts can be found throughout ancient Mesopotamia and
Persia. Note that the passage does not
say that they were human in appearance, but only that they had six wings and
the power of speech.
Isaiah calls our attention to the announcement which the
heavenly messengers proclaim before the throne of God. First comes the threefold announcement of
the holiness of God. And then comes the
statement that...
“The whole earth is full of His
glory” (Isaiah 6:3).
What does this mean?
In what way is the whole earth full of the glory of God? It should be noted that this is not the
first time that such a statement had been made. The Lord said this of Himself to Moses in the Wilderness after
the Israelites had sinned by listening to the pessimistic report of the ten
spies.
So
the Lord said, "I have pardoned them according to your word; but indeed,
as I live, ALL THE EARTH SHALL BE FILLED WITH THE GLORY OF THE LORD."
(Numbers 14:20-21).
Up to that time, Moses had seen the presence of the Lord in
the burning bush and the Israelites had seen the glory of the Lord and His
power manifested in the Exodus Event.
But the Lord is not going to limit His dealings to Israel. His glory will be seen by ALL the earth.
The phrase is repeated in the form of a prayer in one of
David's Psalms.
Blessed be the Lord God, the God of
Israel,
Who alone works wonders.
And blessed be His glorious name
forever;
And may the WHOLE EARTH BE FILLED
WITH HIS GLORY.
Amen, and Amen. (Psalm 72:18-19).
This Psalm calls for all the nations to worship the Lord (Psalm
72:17). As that universal worship takes
place, so also will take place the filling of the earth with the glory of
God. On the other hand, Isaiah's vision
does not describe this in terms of a future prophecy. The angelic announcement speaks of it as a present reality. It is spoken of as though it had already
come to pass.
Perhaps that is because the process had already begun. I believe that the process still continues
today. The earth today is being filled
with the glory of God. Every time
another person comes to Christ and becomes a worshiper of God, there is that
much more of God's glory filling the earth.
Isaiah sees himself coming into that process of becoming a worshiper of
God in a most dramatic way.
Then
I said, “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I
live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD
of hosts.” (Isaiah 6:5).
Isaiah was not unmoved by the heavenly vision. His first reaction was an increased sense of
his own sinfulness. That is what
happens when you have an encounter with the flame of God. A proper God-concept will always lead to a
proper self-concept. If you look at
yourself and cannot see your sin, it is because you haven’t really seen the
Lord.
I am NOT saying that we should go around looking at our sin
all the time or that this should be our main focus in life. I AM saying that a right view of God will
eliminate personal pride or a sense that we can approach Him on the basis of
our own merits.
There is an interesting flow of reaction seen in this
chapter. One moment, Isaiah is saying,
“Woe is me, I am a ruined sinner with unclean lips.” By the time we get to verse 8, he shall be saying, “Here am I,
send me to speak on your behalf!” What
made the difference? It is seen in the
forgiveness of verses 6-7.
Then
one of the seraphim flew to me, with a burning coal in his hand which he had
taken from the altar with tongs. 7
And he touched my mouth with it and said, “Behold, this has touched your lips;
and your iniquity is taken away, and your sin is forgiven.” (Isaiah 6:6-7).
This is a wonderful scene.
Isaiah has just become aware of his own sinfulness. He confesses that he has unclean lips. But then a cleaning of his lips takes
place. The source is that of a burning
coal from the altar.
Do you see it? The
cleansing power to stand in the presence of God comes from God Himself. He is righteous and He demands
righteousness, but He is also the solution to His own demand.
The picture of the altar is ultimately fulfilled in the
person of Jesus. He is the One who
offered Himself as a sacrifice for sins.
It is through faith in Him that we are made right with God. It is by our faith encounter with Him that
our iniquity is taken away and our sins are forgiven.
Then
I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for
Us?” Then I said, “Here am I. Send me!” (Isaiah 6:8).
The message of forgiveness demands a response on the part of
the forgiven. Thus when the call goes
out for one to be a representative of the Lord, Isaiah is quick to
volunteer. He finds himself chosen and
commissioned by God.
And He said,
"Go, and tell this people:
Keep on listening, but do not
perceive;
Keep on looking, but do not
understand.
Render the hearts of this people
insensitive, their ears dull, and their eyes dim,
Lest they see with their eyes,
hear with their ears, understand with their hearts,
and return and be healed."
Then I said, "Lord, how
long?"
And He answered,
"Until cities are
devastated and without inhabitant,
houses are without people and
the land is utterly desolate,
the Lord has removed men far
away, and
the forsaken places are many in
the midst of the land.
Yet there will be a tenth
portion in it,
and it will again be subject to
burning,
like a terebinth or an oak whose
stump remains when it is felled.
The holy seed is its
stump." (Isaiah 6:9-13).
Isaiah is given a commission from the Lord. It is not a commission to be successful or
to build a large congregation or to develop a large following. Indeed, the Lord tells Isaiah that he will
do none of these things. His preaching
will have just the opposite effect. It
will...
(1) Render their hearts insensitive.
(2) Render their ears
dull.
(3) Render their eyes dim.
(3) Lest they see with their eyes.
(2) Lest they hear
with their ears.
(1) Lest they understand with their hearts,
This poetic circle is presented to show the futility of
those who hear the truth but who are not changed by it. This is the bad news. It is that Isaiah's preaching will leave
most people unaffected. The effect that
it will have upon many will be only to harden them further from the truth.
But there is also good news. It is that there will be a remnant. This remnant is described in the terms of a TITHE -- a tenth
portion.
Earlier in the book of Isaiah, he described Israel as the
vineyard of the Lord. In those
chapters, the Lord spoke of the BRANCH of the Lord that would be beautiful and
glorious (Isaiah 4:1). Now we see the
ancient nation of God described as a stump.
The nation will be cut down in judgment. That is the bad news. But
the good news is that God can produce living seed even from an burnt-out stump.
He did, you know.
The nation of Israel was destroyed.
The Northern Kingdom was taken into captivity in Isaiah's day. The Southern Kingdom lasted 150 years
longer. But it was also eventually
destroyed. From that destruction, God
preserved His holy seed. A new Israel
grew up from it - an Israel that eventually gave birth to Jesus Christ - the
Messiah. This is the ultimate
fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy.
Indeed, the words of this very chapter are referenced in the Gospel of
John:
But
though He had performed so many signs before them, yet they were not believing
in Him; 38 that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be
fulfilled, which he spoke, “LORD, who has believed our report? And to whom has
the arm of the Lord been revealed?”
For this cause they could not
believe, for Isaiah said again, 40 “He has blinded their eyes, and He hardened their
heart; lest they see with their eyes, and perceive with their heart, and be
converted, and I heal them.”
These things Isaiah said, because he
saw His glory, and he spoke of Him. (John 12:37-41).
Do you see it? The prophecy of Isaiah was speaking
ultimately of JESUS. He is the One whom
Isaiah saw when he saw His glory, and he spoke of Him.
Have you come to the flame of God? Have you found the warmth, the light, the purification and even the
consuming power that it provides? You
can do so by coming to Jesus, for He is the flame of God personified. He is the one of whom it was said, We
beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace
and truth (John 1:14).
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