1630. A Cry of Cleansing
A Cry of Cleansing
"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: 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" (Isa_6:6-7).
Israel once more is set forth by Isaiah's act. Isaiah saw the Lord high and lifted up, and he confessed his sin; he cried, "Woe is me." In answer to his cry, an angel took a coal from the altar, touched his lips, and his sin was gone.
Israel shall likewise be cleansed.
1. Israel's special sin. Perhaps in the confession, "I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips,"–and perhaps in the response: "He laid it upon my mouth," there is a suggestion that Israel's greatest sin was the sin of her lips.
No people have ever been so bitter in their denunciations of the Lord Jesus Christ as have the Jews. Israel has never found words harsh enough to convey the bitterness of her soul against the Son of God. In the days of the Apostles, this was peculiarly true. The Book of Acts gives picture upon picture of Israel's blasphemy against the Lord Jesus Christ.
They spake evil of the Way and they withstood every plea in behalf of the Saviour.
2. The coal from off the altar. "There shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness" (Zec_13:1).
Israel shall be saved through the blood of the altar which they themselves caused to flow from the side of the dying Son of God.
It is sad that Israel does not today understand that her salvation is in the sacrifice of the Saviour.
The father, in the orthodox Jewish home of today, following rabbinical tradition takes a black rooster, cuts its jugular vein with a sharp knife, swings it around his head as he says, "This is my exchange, this rooster goes to death and I go free." For his boys there is a black hen used, and for his wife and daughters a white hen.
What will Israel do when she realizes that her Passover Lamb is Christ?
Israel knows that without the shedding of blood there is no remission. Why has she substituted a rooster or a hen for a lamb? Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God, and Israel must be saved through the shed Blood of that Lamb.
Unto this day the orthodox Jew brings his silver for redemption. Still, Peter said, "Ye were not redeemed with * * silver and gold, * * but with the precious Blood of Christ as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot" (1Pe_1:18-19).
3. "Thine iniquity is taken away." Israel is to be cleansed from her sin just as Isaiah was cleansed. This story is one. If the coal from the altar speaks of the fires of Calvary judgment and of the Blood of the slain Lamb, then the cleansing speaks of the forgiveness of sins, of iniquity taken away.
Truly the Lord God will remove the iniquity of the land in one day. Israel shall say, "What have I to do any more with idols? I have heard Him, and observed Him" (Hos_14:8).
The Lord will sprinkle clean water upon His people and they shall be clean from all their filthiness. He will put a new Spirit within them and a heart of flesh.
The promise of God is sure. He hath said, "I will also save you from all your uncleanness" (Eze_36:29).
In that day Israel will be holy unto the Lord, and there shall be written upon the bells of the horses, "Holiness unto the Lord." Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the Lord of Hosts.
Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR