He said "Follow Me"

Isaiah 6:1-7

“Woe is me!  For I am lost; for 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!”  Isaiah proclaims that in the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up: and the train of his robe filled the temple.  And he saw these heavenly being he called seraphim, and this was how he described them; each had six wings: with two they covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.  And one called 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 of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.  And I said: “Woe is me!  For I am lost; for 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!”  

When I hear someone talk about heaven and what they will do when they see Jesus, my thoughts go to Isaiah 6:1-7, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, and can my action or yours be any different than Isaiah?  The other night Jan and I were watching Andy Stanley on the Day Star network and he was talking about how Matthew the tax collector was called by Jesus.  Jesus said Matthew, first give all your money to the poor, and go be baptized and then follow me.  Wrong, all he said was “follow me” no conditions.  And then Jesus said Matthew, I am going to your house for dinner, now that did not play well with the religious folks, and maybe not even with His disciples, tax collectors were viewed in that day as we would view a child molester today.   You may be wondering who was at Matthew’s house, other tax collectors and sinners, and so the religious guys ask Jesus disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”  When Jesus heard this He said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.”  Andy Stanley, said Matthew may have ask why are you calling me and my dinner guest sick, and He was sure Jesus said you guys know you are sick, and they all agreed, we are sick.  Then Andy said were all sick, we have all fallen short of God’s requirements, and we need Jesus.

I’m not sure what any of us will do when we arrive in heaven, for one thing we will not have flesh and blood, but a new body without sin and time will be no longer, we will be like God in this one way, we will be eternal.  What the angel did for Isaiah with the burning coal from the altar, Jesus Christ has done by sheading His blood on the cross.  Our guilt is taken away, and our sin is atoned for by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ not any act or performance of our flesh, just grace through faith.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice