The Vision of God Transforms Us - Part Three

The last two Mondays I have written about visions of God He gives us in His time to prepare us for a new season of life.  But today, I want to talk about these visions and how God uses them to deal with a specific sin in our life in order to transform us.

Isaiah, like Ezekiel, Moses, and all the rest, was experiencing life when something happened transforming his life.  King Uzziah had died when Isaiah writes "I saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne, and the hem of his robe filled the temple....Seraphim were standing...and one called to another:  'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Armies; his glory fills the whole earth." (Isaiah 6: 1-3)

The holiness of God was the focal point for Isaiah for God needed to do something in Isaiah he did not expect but desperately needed.  As I have said in the last two weeks, God always prepares us for what is ahead.  With Isaiah, God needed to reveal a sin in his life creating a deeper purity of life.

Isaiah had previously not been aware of this, but God chose this moment of revelation of His holiness to reveal to Isaiah his unholiness.  At other times, such as in Ezekiel and John, revelations caused immediate worship.  But here the vision of God caused immediate confession.

Verse 5 - "Then I said:  Woe is me for I am ruined because I am a man of unclean lips and live among a people of unclean lips and because my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Armies."

God did not do a blank pronouncement in Isaiah that he was just a sinner, but instead, he was guilty of a particular sin.  We can easily confess, "Oh, I am a sinner, forgive me Lord of all my sins."  But when we experience the fresh revelation of Himself, we cannot get away with such a broad statement.

The conviction of God is concentrated on one aspect of who we are.  I am this, I do this, I think this way. There is never any vagueness about God in dealing with our sin.

What has God put His finger on in our life needing immediate attention? Maybe a sin we had not previously ever seen or categorized as sin in our life?  God is lovingly confronting us because He knows our future and what He has planned for us has a prerequisite, deal with this sin in your life now.

True to form with our loving Father, He never reveals sin without a solution at the same time.  God does not want us to wallow in our sin causing condemnation.  So He shows Isaiah His solution:  "Then one of the seraphim flew to me, and in his hand was a glowing coal that he had taken from the altar with tongs. He touched my mouth with it and said: 'Now that this has touched your lips, your iniquity is removed and your sin is atoned for."

Notice the immediacy of the solution. "Then..." There was no delay.  When we see our sin and repent, God immediately reveals His cleansing power. There was no answer for Isaiah's lips anywhere else but with God. 

And the angel "touched" his lips.  Personal.  Powerful. Transforming.  God wants to take our sin and transform us at that very place.  He wants to take what had been a weakness (his lips were evil) and make it a strength (using his lips to speak His word).

Nothing is ever wasted with God and nothing is beyond His capacity to redeem.  And it all was a result of a fresh vision of God.