Isaiah and The Problem Of Guilt
(Guilt means to be or to feel guilty)
Bible Passages about Isaiah:
- The book of Isaiah;
- Many times, books in the New Testament (the second part of the Bible) repeat Isaiah’s words.
Introduction
G. K. Chesterton lived from 1874-1936. He was a famous author and poet. He changed his religion to become a Roman Catholic. Someone asked him the reason for this. His brief reply was: ‘To get rid of my
Perhaps we do not understand this. We do not understand why he would go to a church system. The
We declare that God forgives us. We can only do this because of the cross. The
The experience of Chesterton is very common. In each century, it happens to millions of people. They become very aware of their
So, we will study a special experience. You can read about it in Isaiah 6:1-9. It happened to a famous man. He was a bold man too. He lived in Old Testament times. (The Old Testament is the first part of the Bible.) His name was Isaiah. He felt the pain and despair of guilt. He cried to God for help. We can be in a similar situation. His experience may help us.
1 – Isaiah met with God
A person may first become aware of guilt in the same way. It often comes from a definite meeting with God. It can happen in a dramatic way. (Read Isaiah 6:1-4.) Isaiah was a young man. He seemed to have free entry to the royal palace. He seemed to be familiar with affairs of the State. This shows in his teaching. Much of it had political connections.
The nation’s future is in danger. So he goes to the
Guilt often begins like this. It is not with a sudden understanding of what we are like. It is by seeing the God who hates
1.1 – The God who is holy
‘He was sitting on a very high and great throne’ (Isaiah 6:1). (A throne is a king’s special chair.) The
Now Isaiah becomes aware of an awful truth. It is this. His own
Isaiah needs to declare this truth in a powerful way. But he could not do that now. Something must happen first. Isaiah must see what this means for himself. Of course, someone can declare truth without this experience. But it would probably not have a good effect. It would not persuade people. It would not attract them either.
The actions of the
God was so holy that they could not look at him. They knew, too, that they were not important. God must receive all the honour. The young man, Isaiah, was feeling upset. All this impressed on him that God is very holy. Isaiah saw him as:
1.2 – The God who rules (6:1)
He was ‘sitting upon a throne’ - the special king’s chair. Uzziah, the king was dead. There was no king on the throne. The times were very serious for the nation that Isaiah loved. In those days, the death of a king would usually mean certain things. There would often be a revolution. There would be confusion and a lack of order too. Isaiah’s people were afraid when they saw the empty throne. But Isaiah saw the throne of the great God. His throne would always be there. It would never be empty.
God’s rule is a great Bible truth. It should make people aware of
Then Isaiah sees him as:
1.3 – The God who is successful (6:3)
He is ‘the
The people forgot something else. It was another great success of ‘the
This title of God’s was important for the people. (Note: a title is a name that describes a person and his job.) But it was important for Isaiah himself. Some things in his personal life were not good. He could never gain freedom from them by his own energy. It is not enough to see our
Isaiah also sees him as:
1.4 – The God who is full of mercy
Isaiah saw God as very, very holy. But he saw God’s great
Writers of the Bible taught truths in an equal way. We see this here. The
When we feel guilty, we know that God is holy. But he also desires to give us freedom. He wants us to have the joy of his
First, we must be aware of our need.
2 – There must be true repentance
In chapter 5, Isaiah is bold. He records some words to his nation. Six times, he says: ‘There is no hope for you’ (5:8, 11, 18, 20-22). Now he cries out for himself. He says: ‘There is no hope for me.’ The sight of God convinces him.
Then he says: ‘I am cut off.’ These words may refer to the dead king. Uzziah became proud and acted in a very bad way. Because of this, he suddenly got leprosy. (This is a very bad skin disease.) Immediately, he must be ‘cut off’ from God’s house. He cannot go there again. (Read 2 Chronicles 26:15-21.)
Isaiah now feels that his
Here we must notice an important principle. We desire that God should forgive us.
3 – We should confess our sin clearly
We must not just confess our
We must think about our lips. Perhaps they are:
- lips of a coward. Then people will not hear about God.
- lips that pretend. Then we are not holy.
- lips that are proud. Then it will spoil our service.
- lips that are lazy. This will prevent our prayers.
- lips that gossip. This will disturb our peace.
We could certainly cry: ‘there is no hope for me’.
4 – As soon as Isaiah cried for help, the pardon was certain
There had been a
There is an idea that there will be a chance to
5 – God will forgive us immediately
He will forgive us completely. There is one way that we can know this. It is because we can always trust God’s promises. As the coal touched Isaiah’s lips, the
Our peace depends on God’s word too. Its authority does not change. We can trust his word completely. He promises his pardon. The Bible uses word pictures to describe this. God:
- wipes off our
sins (Isaiah 43:25a); - forgets our
sins (Isaiah 43:25b); - removes our
sins . He takes them as far away from us as the east is from the west. (Read Psalm 103:12); - throws our
sins behind his back (Isaiah 38:17); - buries our
sins at the bottom of the sea (Micah 7:19).
So, trust his word. Receive his
One final thing:
6 – The one whom God forgives will be very grateful
He will want to show this by service. God asked: ‘Who will go?’ Isaiah did not hesitate to reply. ‘Here I am; send me’, he said. His lips are now ‘clean’. He is so grateful for this. He wants to show it by his service. This is what he did. His service for God was loyal and without fear for many years.
Centuries later, someone else spoke. He appealed to people. John said: ‘Go and do the things that will show true
Isaiah goes out from God’s house. He is ready to share the news with other people. It is great news. God will forgive them. He will save them too. (Read Isaiah 12:1-6; 14:1-3; 25:1-5; 26:1-12; 30:15-18 and 35:1-10.)
For Discussion
- Isaiah was aware of his guilt (Isaiah 6:5). This was because of four things that he knew about God:
- He is sovereign, he is in control of everything (‘sitting on a throne’).
- He is great (‘important and wonderful’).
- He is grand (‘his long coat filled the temple, God’s special house’ 6:1).
- He is without any sin, he is a very holy God (Isaiah 6:3).
In our times of personal prayer, how can we be like Isaiah? How can we understand best that we have an amazing God? And how can we best worship him with great respect?
- Something often happened in ancient eastern countries. The death of a king might be a time for a revolution in that country. Or there might be an attack by neighbours who were not friendly. It was like this for Isaiah, at that time. He had his great experience of God when there was a serious national emergency (Isaiah 6:1).
Why does trouble or anxiety sometimes cause people to pray to God? They are desperate for his help. - Isaiah had a dramatic experience of God. And people might wish that they could have a similar experience. Then they could be certain that God had dealt with their sin and with their guilt (Isaiah 6:7). How would you help a person who has thoughts like that?
- Isaiah knew that the whole nation was as guilty as he was. So why did Isaiah’s own sin upset him so much?
For More Discussion
- People might know that God has forgiven them. But they might still regret things very much. They might find it hard to forgive themselves. What help from the Bible would you try to give to someone who is like that?
- Isaiah was a man who influenced other people. (Notice his meetings with kings who ruled in those times; Isaiah 7:1-9; 10-25; 38:1-8; 39:1-8.) But the people who were living at that time were sinning. And he told them about those sins. (Read Isaiah 1:4-17 for one example.) But he also told them that God promised to forgive them (Isaiah 1:18-19). This was because he loved them. Do we have any responsibility for the sins of other people?
- In Isaiah 6, we read about the death of a sinful, earthly king. (Read 2 Chronicles 26:15-21 and Leviticus 13:45-46.) And we read about the power of a holy, eternal king, who gives life. Could this be a deliberate contrast? If it is, does that mean something to us in our world today?