From Woe to Them to Woe is Me to Here I Am

The message was brought by Rev. Bob Surber on January 7, 2024.

Isaiah 6:1 In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. 2 Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. 3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. 4 And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. 5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. 6 Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: 7 And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged. 8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me. 9 And he said, Go…

Isaiah was a prophet called to preach.  The scripture available was the Law, the first five books of Moses. Other prophets also preached messages from God. The first five chapters of Isaiah concerned the Word of God to the people.  Six times in chapter 5 the phrase “woe unto them” is used. A change occurred in chapter 6.  You and I have to watch or else we’ll be pointing out the sins of others and not see our own. Isaiah did it. Sure, God was sending the message but Isaiah didn’t look at himself first.  It’s easy to talk about the faults of others and overlook our own.  God slowed Isaiah down in chapter 6.  We must stop and consider ourselves.  I’ve carried over from last year that I should not have. What are you?  What are our priorities? We say we put the Lord first. Do we really?  Let’s take a good look within.

The only way to go from “woe to them” to “woe is me” to “here I am” is to first have a vision of the Lord. In verse 1 Isaiah saw the Lord high and lifted up.  This vision caused him to look upward. We need to see God on his everlasting throne. Imagine how beautiful this scene was: his train filled the temple. Seraphim with six wings each stood above crying one to the other “holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth if full of his glory.” The house was filled with smoke. This happened 600 years before Christ came. Here in 2024 he’s still on his throne.

The second vision was of himself. He fell on his face. He didn’t talk about his goodness. He said “woe is me.” We can’t say a whole lot about others. We all need Jesus. We need to keep giving ourselves to him. Isaiah confessed “I am undone”–maybe he hadn’t been praying as he should or not studying the Word as he should. What about us? Have we been failing as well? I don’t like to wear laced shoes. I double tie the knot because they tend to come undone. Are there any “loose shoes” in our life? Isaiah said “I am a man of unclean lips, and  I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips.”  Have we been silent when we should have been praying or witnessing? Or run our mouth when we should have kept it shut?  The Bible says that what comes from our mouth comes from our heart. Isaiah confessed his life before the sins of those around him. This is deeply personal. Have we lost our first love for God?  One of the seraphim took a live coal off the altar and laid it on Isaiah’s lips cleansing him from his iniquity. If we confess “woe is me” and surrender to the Lord, through the blood of Jesus Christ we are cleansed. He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.  

In verse 8 God asked “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” In humility through the reviving of his heart Isaiah said “Here am I; send me.”  The Lord said “go.”  Are we ready to give our best to the Lord?  Are we ready to get our eyes off “them” and look at God?  Turn to look at ourselves and repent? When the Lord asks for service are we ready to say “here am I; send me”?  If we are, I say “let’s go!”