The Lord's purposes will be accomplished but He commissions
Isaiah as a prophet anyway. Isaiah knows
the Lord, is a man seeking Him in the temple but wasn't prepared for an actual
encounter. He realizes something of the
incredible otherness of God in the vision and the proclamation of the seraphim
crying "Holy, holy, holy!" He
is undone by fear, the beginning of wisdom and knows that even as a prophet he
is a man of unclean lips, the very thing with which he serves the Lord. The Lord acknowledges the truth of this statement
and uses the seraphim to sear the prophet's lips in cleansing prior to
commissioning. The commission is to
proclaim to a people who will neither see nor understand the message. It will be a relatively fruitless
ministry. We start with grand visions of
how our ministry will change lives and perhaps change society and yet here we
see Isaiah's ministry will not bear fruit but it is God's will that it
fail. Why the fool's errand? They will be without an excuse when judgment
comes, the Lord has given them a witness and they will not hear his
message. Let us never fail to do what we
were given to do, even when fruit is lacking.
What did He write in the dirt those two times? That is the question of the ages. Twice, once when they ask Jesus what should
be done with the adulteress and then when He gives the answer, “Let him who is
without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her", Jesus bends
down and writes in the dust. Where is
the man with whom she was committing adultery?
How did they catch them in the act?
There are many questions but ultimately someone there has to be without
sin to begin this thing and the reality is that no one wanted to stone her,
that was not normally done with adulterers.
Jesus could have then seized the stone Himself and hurled it and yet He
does not. In fact, they depart and His response
is neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more. He acknowledges the sin, whatever it may
actually have been, but does not condemn her to death.
Paul seems not to understand boasting. He says that he boasts in the Thessalonians
"steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions
that you are enduring." He should know
that you only boast in success (sarcasm).
Indeed, the church in Thessalonica was greatly persecuted and the
intention was to end this movement in its infancy. We need to realize that the world neither
sees nor hears the Good News. Paul reminds
them that there will ultimately be judgment on those who refuse the Gospel, who
reject not only Jesus but those who are His followers and proclaimers. That, however, does not mean that we are to
hunker down and hide from the world. We are
to continue to boldly proclaim, just as Isaiah did, in spite of rejection. We are to proclaim not condemnation but
salvation, just as Jesus did. Whatever the
result the commission remains the same.
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