Isaiah chapter 6 - George Mueller
Isaiah chapter 6
“These things said Esaias, when he saw His glory and spoke of Him.” This last verse settles the matter, that we were reading in Isaiah 6 all refers to the glory of our adorable Lord Jesus Christ. In the whole Divine Testimony we do not find a single portion which speaks more of the majesty and glory of our Lord Jesus Christ than what we are reading in Isaiah 6.
We will now read it once more, verse by verse, and meditate on it verse by verse, in reference to our precious and adorable Lord Jesus Christ.
v1 The time is fixed when Isaiah saw this vision, “In the year that King Uzziah died.” We are reminded here of what Uzziah passed through. All went on well with him until he was highly exalted, until he became mighty and powerful and then he was lifted up, and went into the Temple and offered incense to Jehovah, for it was the business of the priests, and in consequence of this, he was smitten with leprosy, and to the end of his days he was a leper. A very deeply important and profitable lesson to us all, to seek for a lowly mind, and to pray that we may be kept from pride and high mindedness. This was the fault of Uzziah.
v2 Above Him (not it) stood the seraphim.” He was surrounded by the highest order of holy angels, the seraphim. “Each one had six wings, with twain he covered his face.” The lowly mind of these high angelic beings, they could not look at Him. Just a lesson to us, to seek to have an increasing abhorrence of ourselves, on account of our numberless transgressions, to consider ourselves unworthy to look at that Holy One.
v5 This is the language of the prophet, conscious of his own sinfulness, and being in the presence of the infinitely Holy One, he cried out, “Woe is me, for I am undone by reason of my great sinfulness.”
v6&7 The altar represents the Lord Jesus Christ, and the taking the live coal from off the altar represents the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And as this live coal touching the lips of the prophet taking away all vileness and sinfulness and transgression before God, so the precious blood of our adorable Lord Jesus Christ, though our sins are numberless, removes all spiritual defilement from us, and makes us clean and spotless in the sight of God as if we had never been guilty of one single evil deed, as if we had never uttered one single unholy word, as if we had never had one thought contrary to the mind of God. Oh, how unspeakably blessed the position into which we are brought by faith through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, whose death we are now about again to remember in the breaking of bread.
V8 “Here am I, send me”. Just as it was with the prophet at once ready to offer himself to do the work of the Lord, to go out at His bidding, so it should be regarding ourselves. Whatever work the Lord may call us to, whatever business the Lord would have us do, whatever service the Lord would wish us to be engaged in, our hearts should at once respond to His desire, and we should offer ourselves to the Lord like the prophet. If it is to give some food to the poor, if it is to clothe the poor, if it is to go to Central Africa, if it is to go to India, whatever work the Lord would have us to do, our hearts should be ready at once to do that work, of whatever kind it may be. But often, often, often it is, as in the case of the prophet, trying work. He had to shut the eyes of Israel in the way of judgement, to blind them, so that they could not see the truth, trying work this. But, as servants of the Most High, our part is to do the work, of whatever kind it may be, pleasant or unpleasant, our business is to be servants, and the servant has to do his Master’s work.
V 12-12 Of such terrible judgements we read little in the Holy Scriptures, but in this case, this awful judgement came upon them, because Jehovah had sent His prophets time after time and they would not attend to what these prophets said to them, and this awful judgement is yet on them up to the present, nevertheless, they remain the people of the living God, and it will yet be seen that the promises made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob have their further fulfilment.
Now the great point regarding ourselves is this, that we should say to ourselves “A like terrible judgement might have come upon me, I might have been left to myself, my ears might have been shut, my heart might have been hardened more and more in the way of chastisement, if God had been dealing with me according to my sins”.
Oh, how pitifully, how mercifully, how tenderly, how graciously the Lord has been dealing with us in Christ Jesus! And what He has been doing and is doing, He will continue to do to the end of our earthly pilgrimage. He will not leave us or forsake us, and a little while, and then He takes us home to Himself. Oh, the bright glorious prospect, which we poor, miserable sinners have through faith in Christ Jesus! And at last taken home to be forever with the Lord, and to see that lovely One who laid down His life for us, ourselves being permitted to kiss His feet, ourselves being permitted to kiss His hands – oh, the precious prospect that awaits us! Yet a little while, yet a little while, and all will be fulfilled. How our hearts should go forth, continually in the deepest and liveliest gratitude to the Lord Jesus Christ for laying down His life for us, for shedding His blood for the remission of our sins. And how full of gratitude our hearts should be that now, guilty, wicked transgressors that we are by nature, and numberless though our transgressions have been, yet, by the power of the blood of Christ, we have been made as clean, as spotless as if we had never in our whole life been guilty of one sinful action, as if we had never uttered in our whole life one singly unholy word, and as if there never had been found in us a thought contrary to the mind of God. This is the position into which we are brought through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ so that during the whole of the remainder of our life on earth, and throughout eternity, never one single sin shall be brought against us. Oh, the precious blood of Christ!
Mr Müller then prayed. “Our heavenly Father, we come again before Thee with praise and thanksgiving for the blessing of the past week, the past month, the past year, and of the whole of our earthly pilgrimage. But above all we adore and praise Thee, for the choicest, greatest, and most precious of all Thy gifts, the blessed Lord Jesus Christ. In Him we hide ourselves, to His righteousness we look for acceptance in Thy sight, and to the power of His precious blood by faith in His name for cleansing. Oh, what can we render unto Thee, our heavenly Father for the gift of the precious Lord Jesus Christ. And now will it please Thee to help us by The blessed Holy Spirit, while we eat this bread and drink this wine, to enter into what it signifies, and fill our hearts more abundantly than ever with praise and thankfulness for what that blessed One did and suffered in our home and stead. Lord bless us, Thou hast often done it, do it again, and poor, guilty, worthless sinners as we are, remember us for good and bless us.”
George Mueller