Day 25: Isaiah 6
Daily Bible Reading (Click play for dramatic audio or click here to for text version)
Devotional Guide (Click play to start audio narration)
Since the fall of man in the garden, humans have experienced shame, blame and guilt. The concept of a scapegoat comes from ancient Israel when once a year on the day of atonement Israel would gather in Jerusalem, confess their sins and release an actual goat as a picture of an innocent victim taking the place of the guilty. Animal sacrifices did not take away sins, they would only cover (atone) them. In the last video Isaiah wrestles with the sins of Israel as well as his own sins when He sees the Lord in a vision. He said…
“IN THE year that King Uzziah died, [in a vision] I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and the skirts of His train filled the [most holy part of the] temple. Above Him stood the seraphim; each had six wings: with two [each] covered his [own] face, and with two [each] covered his feet, and with two [each] flew. And one cried to another and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory! And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who cried, and the house was filled with smoke. Then said I, Woe is me! For I am undone and ruined, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts! Then flew one of the seraphim [heavenly beings] to me, having a live coal in his hand which he had taken with tongs from off the altar; And with it he touched my mouth and said, Behold, this has touched your lips; your iniquity and guilt are taken away, and your sin is completely atoned for and forgiven.
(Isaiah 6:1-7 AMPC)
The old covenant was based on the law and the law was a mirror showing Israel their sin. When Isaiah saw the Lord “high and lifted up…” he realized how unworthy he was in the presence of majesty. God gives us a foreshadowing of the new covenant when one of the heavenly beings “said behold this has touched your lips and your iniquity and guilt are taken away.” Notice that this was not simply a covering (atonement) for sin but a complete forgiveness of it. The prophets were in the business of bad news and good news. The bad news was that Israel could not keep their end of the deal, but the good news was that God would keep his promise to Abraham and trump the conditional agreement of the law. Isaiah predicted that God himself would come and make things right, be the king that Israel had hoped for and in doing so would be born of a women.
Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign: Behold, the young woman who is unmarried and a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel [God with us].
(Isaiah 7:14 AMPC)
When Isaiah said “The Lord Himself shall give you a sign,” picture the head of an ox and then picture two crossed sticks to make a sign or mark. Combined these pictures represent "an ox moving toward a mark". When plowing a field with oxen, the plowman drives the oxen toward a distant mark in order to keep the furrow straight. A traveler arrives at his destination by following a mark. This is the traveling toward a mark, destination or person.
The arrival of one to the mark. A "you" is an individual who has arrived to a "me". The coming toward a mark. A standard, or flag, with the family mark hangs as a sign. An agreement or covenant by two where a sign or mark of the agreement is made as a reminder to both parties. God was telling Israel what to look for during the arrival of their king. A “young woman who is unmarried, and a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” Immanuel literally means “God with us.” The messiah would be a human being born of a virgin but would also be divine (God with us).
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