A Touch to Equip - A Touch to Purify
Notes
Transcript
The Lord gave me this message: “I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb. Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my prophet to the nations.” “O Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I can’t speak for you! I’m too young!” The Lord replied, “Don’t say, ‘I’m too young,’ for you must go wherever I send you and say whatever I tell you. And don’t be afraid of the people, for I will be with you and will protect you. I, the Lord, have spoken!” Then the Lord reached out and touched my mouth and said, “Look, I have put my words in your mouth! Today I appoint you to stand up against nations and kingdoms. Some you must uproot and tear down, destroy and overthrow. Others you must build up and plant.”
It was in the year King Uzziah died that I saw the Lord. He was sitting on a lofty throne, and the train of his robe filled the Temple. Attending him were mighty seraphim, each having six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. They were calling out to each other, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies! The whole earth is filled with his glory!” Their voices shook the Temple to its foundations, and the entire building was filled with smoke. Then I said, “It’s all over! I am doomed, for I am a sinful man. I have filthy lips, and I live among a people with filthy lips. Yet I have seen the King, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.” Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal he had taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. He touched my lips with it and said, “See, this coal has touched your lips. Now your guilt is removed, and your sins are forgiven.” Then I heard the Lord asking, “Whom should I send as a messenger to this people? Who will go for us?” I said, “Here I am. Send me.”
Jeremiah is called by God to be a prophet and set apart from CONCEPTION!
God declares that He set Jeremiah apart since BEFORE Jeremiah was born! There’s somethingabout God’s intimate knowledge of us FROM CONCEPTION. But also, there’s something about God’s divine plan for each and every one of us -if we CHOOSE to allow God to direct our plans/paths!
Jeremiah protests slightly - “I am too young and I can’t speak!”
This reminds me of Moses. In Exodus 4 God is calling Moses to go back to Egypt and speak on behalf of God as God would set the people free. But, Moses protests that he cannot speak. In that story, God’s anger burns against Moses...
But, with Jeremiah, God’s anger does not burn against him. Why the change? Did God grow up and mature?
NO. The difference is the situation and the age of the prophet to be.
Moses was 80 years old, and his comment about his speaking ability comes after multiple other attempts to avoid God’s challenge to him.
Jeremiah, on the other hand, speaks from his lower status as a youth. We don’t know, exactly, how old Jeremiah is. But, it is believed that he is younger than 20. His career as a prophet stretches for 40 plus years. So, the general idea is that he is in his late teens at this time.
What this means is - HE IS VERY YOUNG. And, in Jeremiah’s culture the young didn’t have the experience, ability, and wisdom to speak. The elders did the speaking! When Jeremiah protests he is saying, “Lord, I don’t have the standing in my community to speak. I am too young. I have no training in public speaking. And, no one will listen to me anyway...”
Jeremiah is simply saying, “Lord, no one will listen to me because I am too young to know what I am doing”
I think of Paul’s encouragement to young Timothy
Don’t let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity.
Last week we discussed the older generation speaking to the younger generation. Here is an example, and exhortation, for the opposite. Sometimes, God calls the younger generation to speak to the older generation about God’s ways (and even challenge the assumptions of the older generation).
So, God is not angry with Jeremiah because Jeremiah is, simply stated, young and ignorant that God reverts and reverses cultural norms and understandings.
So, God touches Jeremiah’s lips...
God touched what He expected Jeremiah to use
Jeremiah had given NO THOUGHT that God could use his speaking/voice/words - He was too young and ill equipped
But, With God’s touch, that all changed!
God does not call the equipped- He equips the called!
God makes it clear that because Jeremiah is young, ignorant, ill equipped etc… It will be clear that what Jeremiah says is GOD’S WORD - NOT JEREMIAH’S. God will touch and equip Jeremiah amidst Jeremiah’s weakness so that EVERYONE will know that what Jeremiah says is COMPLETELY from God.
IN fact, the touching of Jeremiah’s lips can be interpreted as God placing GOD’s Word into Jeremiah’s mouth - NO longer will Jeremiah speak his own words, it will be God’s Word, that God placed in Jeremiah’s mouth, that Jeremiah speaks...
This is a reminder of what Paul states in the letter to Corinth
Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.
The Lord touched Jeremiah’s lips to equip the one that God had called to the task. The Lord placed His own words, abilities, and power in Jeremiah to enable the one the Lord called. The Lord touched Jeremiah so that Jeremiah, his world, and even we today would know that what follows in teh rest of this prophetic book is completely and 100% God’s Word.
And, we have another story where a prophet has his lips touched - but this time for a completely different, but just as important, reason.
Isaiah’s story...
Isaiah had ALREADY been called! He has already been speaking on behalf of God.
But, he has a vision and a recommissioning to Go again to God’s people.
Isaiah and King Uzziah were cousins. At Uzziah’s death there would be political upheaval, family dynamics, and Isaiah’s role as God’s prophet in the king’s court could be challenged.
So, God grants Isaiah a vision of God on the throne. In the midst of ALL that has happened, God is still securely on the Throne as the True King - nothing will change that. And, because nothing can change that, then Isaiah is reminded that he is still the spokesman for The King - not a king in a tiny kingdom in some obscure part of the planet - but THE KING who is always on the throne...
BUT...
In this vision Isaiah realizes his community’s sinfulness as well as his own.
Isaiah is completely humbled - not by his inabilities, or his lack of wisdom, or ill equipment - but by sinfulness (his and his community’s). He’s got the training. He’s got hte ability. He’s got the skills. But, at least at this time, he recognizes that compared to God’s holiness, HIS SINFULNESS should barr him - exclude him - from being near God.
He might try the comparison game… Well, I am a good person. I don’t sin as much as I used to. I am a heck of a lot better than my neighbor, etc...
Isaiah doesn’t do this. He knows that God is holy, we are not. God is sinless, and we are! In God’s presence he is undone because he is a sinner. PERIOD.
So, what happens…?
An angel takes a burning hot coal from the alter and touches Isaiah's lips with it.
When his lips are touched Isaiah is declared forgiven, guilt free, and the sin has been taken care of. This points to the work ultimately done by Christ to take care of our sin, to forgive us, purify us, and transform us.
Because of the work of God, in the midst of Isaiah’s humility, Isaiah’s sin is dealt with. But, he is touched on the lips.
Both prophets are touched on the place that God seeks to use - the lips!
Jeremiah is touched to equip, enable, give new thought to what Jeremiah could do for God
Isaiah is touched to be reminded that God is in charge, on the throne, and ultimately, Isaiah is touched to purify from sinfulness.
Everyone of us is to be used by God. But, not everyone of us will use the same gift/ability/part of the body. Some of us will use our lips, some our hands and feet, some our minds, some our ability to write, some our music, etc…
Whatever the part is, it must first be touched by God
Maybe it is a touch to better equip us
Maybe it is a touch to let us know that that part is what God desires to us. It might be something we aren’t skilled in, and yet God wants to use that part of us to bring Glory to Him.
Or maybe it is a touch that cleanses, purifies, sets apart from the normal ordinary use
Maybe God wants to remind us that He is in charge. So, before He can make us effective he has to pruify some sinfulness that still yet remains in us.
Maybe he wants to use our mind, but it is full of hate, or bitterness
Maybe he wants to use our hands, but they still cause us to sin in some way
Maybe he wants to use our lips, but they are full of vile, toxic words.
So, maybe God needs to touch that part of our life to cleanse and purify us again.
And maybe we need both touches. Our abilities as humans are flawed and we are ignorant of the ways God wants to use us to bring Him glory. But, yet, at the same time, we still have some sinfulness that we haven’t allowed God to address in our lives. So we need the purifying touch as well as the enabling touch again from God.
May Gods Word speak again in our midst. May He let us know where we need his touch, and what touch we need from Him. And, May we allow that touch to happen!