Isaiah 6 - Worship, Repentance and Mission

Isaiah 6:1-8 –
1 ‘In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple.
--> This was about 740 bc. Isaiah is seeing a vision of the presence of the Lord!
2 Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying.
--> Some would say they were covering their faces because they were unable to look into the beautiful and powerful glory of God.
3 And they were calling to one another: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.’
--> The word 'Holy' is used three times here to emphasize the fact that GOD IS HOLY! It's amazing that when the angels are in the presence of the Lord, they are somewhat speechless, and just find themselves calling out, Holy, Holy, Holy...
--> Have you heard people criticise the repetition of songs, such as singing over and over many times that God is Holy? I wonder whether when we're in Heaven, we'll be in awe of God and just find ourselves singing, 'Holy, Holy, Holy, Holy, Holy... is the Lord!' What will happen for those that criticise??
4 At the sounds of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.
--> Is this a biblical refernce for a smoke machine??
--> Remember in Acts 4, when the disciples pray, the place shakes where they were praying. Ohh Lord, let our prayers be powerful and effective and shake the World in which we live.
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.’
--> Look what happens when Isaiah is in the presence of God. He comes to a point of repentance. The sin in his life comes to the surface and he confesses his sin to the Lord.
6 Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar.
--> A live coal, is a very hot coal! (Write that down and tell your friends).
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.’
--> God is offering forgiveness for Isaiah. Since Jesus came to earth, 740 years after this vision, the process of forgiveness, is now only through Jesus himself, by his death and resurrection on the cross...
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!’’
--> We worship. We repent. Then the Lord asks, who will go for him, to fulfill his mission? There's no use just worshipping, we need to be available for Jesus to use us in mission.
--> There's a cyclical process going on here. WORSHIP --> REPENTANCE --> MISSION .... back to --> WORSHIP --> REPENTANCE --> MISSION.
--> Let us not give up meeting together for worship. Some in our churches have maybe forgotten that mission is only effective if we continually come into God's presence in Worship and always maintain a heart of Repentance. Lord we seek after your glory and majesty everyday, please forgive us for the wrongs we do in your sight, and Lord please make us powerfully effective to fulfil your mission of making disciples of all the World; in Jesus' name, AMEN!