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Transition: A Fresh Assurance

“‘See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.’” (Isaiah 6:7 NIV)

At a transition in the nation and his personal life, the prophet Isaiah “saw the Lord high and exalted.” This new encounter with God caused him to cry out, “Woe is me immediately! I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips.” God was going to fulfill his calling on Isaiah’s life, but before that could happen, Isaiah had to be broken and shown his unworthiness in the light of God’s holiness. This breaking was that Isaiah might effectively minister God’s Word to other sinful people, for they were “a people of unclean lips,” just as he was.

When there’s a breaking of this sort in a person, a cleansing from sin often follows. In the case of Isaiah, a lump of live coal from the altar touched his lips and this most likely points to the altar of sacrifice where the blood of animals had to be shed continually for the sins of the people. When Jesus died on the cross, he paid the price for our sins, once and for all. We must never forget and stand on the fact that the blood of Jesus has cleansed us. We can’t minister to people when we’re unsure of our spiritual condition. We’ve got to know that God loves us and that Jesus has washed away our sins.

If brokenness leads to condemnation, we can’t help anybody. The enemy of our souls tries to use our brokenness so that we go on the rest of our lives looking within and saying, “Woe is me!” We can’t live that way and be a blessing to people because we can’t be used by God while living in guilt. Get done with the thing! Say, “God, I am a mess. Woe is me! But, thank God that through the blood of Jesus Christ, I have been washed clean!” Even if we’ve failed God after becoming Christians, the Bible gives us this blessed assurance: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). Thank God, we’re forgiven, cleansed, and free!

Notice the word that came to Isaiah: “Your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.” Rejoice today that your sins are gone because of Christ and his cross.