Holiness and Healing | FOUNDRYsermon 1.21.18

Personal ability is a funny thing. We like the idea of having a choice, free will, or whatever word you want to assign to it. But it is also terrifying. Sometimes, we get in our head and over think things, giving us the inability to take action. Situations prove to be more important than we actually think at times.

The funny thing is, when I look at the times in life I was at a precipice for tremendous change, I rarely even knew it.

Isaiah, a religious leader hundreds of years before Jesus, was in one of those moments. He knew things were about to get really different, but he (and all of the nation of Israel) was overwhelmed with how choices would have the ability to write a new future.

But a crazy thing happened. 

It was in the year King Uzziah died[a] that I saw the Lord. He was sitting on a lofty throne, and the train of his robe filled the Temple. 2 Attending him were mighty seraphim, each having six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. 3 They were calling out to each other,

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies!
The whole earth is filled with his glory!”
4 Their voices shook the Temple to its foundations, and the entire building was filled with smoke.

5 Then I said, “It’s all over! I am doomed, for I am a sinful man. I have filthy lips, and I live among a people with filthy lips. Yet I have seen the King, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.”

6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal he had taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. 7 He touched my lips with it and said, “See, this coal has touched your lips. Now your guilt is removed, and your sins are forgiven.”

8 Then I heard the Lord asking, “Whom should I send as a messenger to this people? Who will go for us?”

I said, “Here I am. Send me.”

9 And he said, “Yes, go, and say to this people,

‘Listen carefully, but do not understand.
Watch closely, but learn nothing.’
10 Harden the hearts of these people.
Plug their ears and shut their eyes.
That way, they will not see with their eyes,
nor hear with their ears,
nor understand with their hearts
and turn to me for healing.” Isaiah 6:1-10 NLT

Isaiah had been a prophet already. Most folks think he came from royal blood and he also had the level of access to the temple that would give weight to the theory (only royalty and priests were allowed this deep into the temple).

In many ways, this story is about awareness. Awareness of who God is (Holiness) and awareness of what God wants to do with us (healing). It’s one of those in-between moments, full of choices and change, and it gives us the ability to tell a new story about life.

So let’s have a conversation about holiness and healing.