Advent Day 3: His name was Isaiah

 

His name was Isaiah, a Hebrew word meaning "God is salvation"  and he was the son of Amoz.   He lived in Judah.   His father was the brother of a king, and the boy was raised with the education one would expect of a high ranking family.  But his was a world of contrasts.   He saw the poverty of others.   He saw how the widows and orphans were treated, no one caring for their needs.  He saw the dejection and sorrows of the forgotten and the ravages of disease.   He saw that the majority of men and priests cared little for these people.  They had lost all compassion.  He also saw firsthand the sin and debauchery of the leaders, including the priests, of the nation, the very ones meant to care for the people they ruled or were meant to guide.  His heart was torn for those less fortunate.  

At the time Isaiah became a prophet for God, his nation was in turmoil.   The Assyrians were slowly and methodically conquering and controlling one nation after another.   People were struggling for political position and military control within the nation.  God revealed to Isaiah that He, God,  was behind all the turmoil.  He was weary of the rebellion, the social inequality, the neglect of the poor and utter lack of reverent fear in the nation of Israel.   It was God who had turned away but the people had failed to notice!

Men went into the temple and offered up their sacrifices but Isaiah saw that their prayers and offerings were mere lip service.  They said all the right words, but their hearts weren't in it.  It was just ritual, no longer done because of the reverent fear and worship of God.  When they read scripture it was mere words on the scroll.    They had no meaning to the men who read them and didn't move their hearts to action or reflection.  They had forgotten his presence and when they walked away from Temple, it was left behind until the next Sabbath.  They had become spiritually deaf and blind.

One day, Isaiah had a vision and his life was forever changed.  It began with an awareness of God's presence...

Scripture:  Isaiah 6: 1-8

1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 

2 Above him were seraphim... 

3 And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” 

4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. 

5 “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.” 

6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 

7 With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.” 

8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” 

Music:  I see the Lord  - Lindell Cooley

Isaiah's  first response when God appeared to him was to recognize  his own sin.  After he was cleansed from his sins through repentance  his ministry of prophecy began.