BECOME THE MESSAGE
However, worship is not an end in itself. Once sin has been atoned for and removed, worship happens when we “see God”. However, out of worship, something even more glorious emerges.
[8] “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.” [9] And he said, “Yes, go, and say to this people, ‘Listen carefully, but do not understand. Watch closely, but learn nothing.’ [10] Harden the hearts of these people. Plug their ears and shut their eyes. That way, they will not see with their eyes, nor hear with their ears, nor understand with their hearts and turn to me for healing.”
[11] Then I said, “Lord, how long will this go on?” And he replied, “Until their towns are empty, their houses are deserted, and the whole country is a wasteland; [12] until the Lord has sent everyone away, and the entire land of Israel lies deserted. [13] If even a tenth—a remnant—survive, it will be invaded again and burned. But as a terebinth or oak tree leaves a stump when it is cut down, so Israel’s stump will be a holy seed.”
Just as physical union in marriage produces new life, so the union of spirit with Spirit in worship produces life in God’s realm. When a seed is sown, it grows. God’s “seed” is His Word, sown into the “womb” of the worshipper as his spirit blends with the Spirit of God within. As time goes by, the new life of God’s purposes grows.
In the glow of his encounter with the Lord, God’s “seed” impregnated Isaiah’s spirit. He was to go to his people with God’s message of judgment and restoration. The hope of Israel’s destiny grew in the spiritual womb in which God’s seed was planted. So, Isaiah recorded his testimony to that hope in God’s eternal Word. We have the clearest picture of the Messiah in the second section of Isaiah’s prophecies.
Isaiah’s encounter with Lord in the temple had some amazing outcomes. God did not reveal Himself to him to inflate his ego or to satisfy his curiosity. He had a purpose and He chose Isaiah to be a part of His purpose.
God needed a clean vessel. The revelation of His holy Person in the vision Isaiah saw brought the prophet to reality with a bump. He had to realise the costly nature of God’s provision for sin, a sacrifice made with blood. He clearly saw that sacrifice made by God’s Servant, the five “Ebed Yahweh” songs in chapters 40 to 66, culminating in the Servant’s sacrificial death.
Only a “womb” cleansed by a bloody sacrifice would be eligible to receive the seed that would conceive and carry God’s plan to birth in his inner being. So, Isaiah yielded to the purposes of God to become that “womb”.
Isaiah 6:8 NLT
[8] 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.”
Is there a pattern in Scripture for true worship in Isaiah’s experience recorded in Isaiah 6?
There is a similar but less detailed event in Acts 13.
Acts of the Apostles 13:1-3 NLT
[1] “Among the prophets and teachers of the church at Antioch of Syria were Barnabas, Simeon (called “the black man”), Lucius (from Cyrene), Manaen (the childhood companion of King Herod Antipas), and Saul.
[2] “One day as these men were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Appoint Barnabas and Saul for the special work to which I have called them.” [3] So after more fasting and prayer, the men laid their hands on them and sent them on their way.”
I don’t think God wants us to worship Him to inflate His ego either. He knows who He is. He wants us to “see Him” for one great purpose…to get to know and trust Him implicitly so that we can carry out His will on earth. Why is this so important? God has only one plan, plan A, no plan B…that is, to reveal Jesus to the world through us. He sent Jesus to show the world who He is. Now He is transforming us into the likeness of Jesus to show the world who Jesus is. Only as we trust Him through thick and thin can He perfect His work in us.
1 Peter 1:6-7 NIV
[6] “In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. [7] These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.”
So, Peter affirms that God is restoring His own image in us even through fiery trials.
2 Peter 1:3-4 NIV
[3]” His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. [4] Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.”
God’s plants His “seed” in us, His promises that direct us into what He desires for us.
2 Corinthians 1:20 NLT
[20]”For all of God’s promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding “Yes!” And through Christ, our “Amen” (which means “Yes”) ascends to God for his glory.”
So, as we encounter the temptations that appeal to our fleshly nature, we have His “seed” in us, His promises, already tested and proved by Jesus, to steady and steer us on the path to holiness.
The entire universe awaits the day when God’s family is revealed, all perfect replicas of His Son.
Romans 8:19-22 NLT
[19] “For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. [20] Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, [21] the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. [22] For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.”
Romans 8:28-30 NLT
[28″And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.
[29] For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. [30] And having chosen them, he called them to come to him. And having called them, he gave them right standing with himself. And having given them right standing, he gave them his glory.”
Let’s look at some Scriptures to confirm this purpose.
John 13:34-35 NLT
[34]”So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. [35] Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”
This supernatural love for one another, poured into us by the Holy Spirit, is the opposite of the world’s ways. People in the world can’t help noticing the difference.
John 17:23 NLT
[23] “I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me.”
Again, unity is so foreign to the world that ungodly people are attracted by this amazing difference in Jesus’ disciples.
How is this possible in ordinary humans?
Acts 1:8 NIV
[8]”But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Being a witness is more than preaching the gospel. It’s through the power of the Spirit in us that we are being transformed into His image. John makes this startling statement…
1 John 4:17 NIV
[17] “This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus.”
God’s plan A is to reveal Jesus to the world through His people being Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit at work in us.
2 Corinthians 3:1-3 NIV
[1] “Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some people, letters of recommendation to you or from you? [2] You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone. [3] You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.”
This is powerful stuff! Can you see then, why our faith, honed by discipline and suffering, and purified through worship, is paramount in God’s plan.
Hebrews 12:10-11 NIV
[10]”They (our earthly fathers) disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. [11] No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.”
Hebrews 12:14 NIV
[14] “Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.”
There is something cyclical in God’s way. He works to perfect holiness in us so that we can “see” Him. The more we “see Him”, the more He cleanses us from sin to perfect holiness by planting His seed in us.
Paul agonised over his spiritual children who were in danger of falling away from God’s grace by trying to be righteous through their own efforts. His goal for them, as for us, God’s goal for all believers, is to become the message they were to proclaim, “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
Galatians 4:19 NLT
[19] “Oh, my dear children! I feel as if I’m going through labor pains for you again, and they will continue until Christ is fully developed in your lives.”
So, worship, as glorious as it is, takes us deeper into God’s purpose, to plant His “seed” in us to make us holy so that He can, eventually, put His saints on display for the world to see His Son. This will be the final proof of the validity and efficacy of Jesus’ work.
1 Peter 1:23 NIV
[23] “For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.”
1 John 3:9-10 NIV
[9] “No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God. [10] This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister.”
1 Peter 2:9 NIV
[9] “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”
In the end, God is vindicated in everything He has ever said and done so that He, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are on display through us.
Isaiah vision leads him to see Messiah’s work…to make people whole and to put God’s glory on display through them.
Isaiah 61:1-3 NIV
[1]” The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, [2] to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, [3] and provide for those who grieve in Zion— to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.”
Worship prepares us for action but it’s not the action we decide on. It’s the action that follows the instruction of God’s Word because He is moving His plans for the earth towards the consummation of history.