1 ¶ In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. {his…: or, the skirts thereof}2 Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. {one…: Heb. this cried to this} {the whole…: Heb. his glory is the fulness of the whole earth}4 And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. {door: Heb. thresholds}
5 ¶ Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts. {undone: Heb. cut off}
6 Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: {having…: Heb. and in his hand a live coal}7 And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged. {laid…: Heb. caused it to touch}8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me. {Here…: Heb. behold me}9 ¶ And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. {indeed, but understand: or, without ceasing, etc: Heb. in hearing, etc}10 Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed. Isa 6
Isaiah was in a picture here that seems as if he was not qualified to speak for the Lord. It was not anything that Isaiah had to do to make himself clean, but because God wanted to use him, God himself made him clean for himself, it was not as a result of good works
The fire came from the altar, the live coal prophetically is the word of prophesy that he Isaiah was going to be speaking on behalf of God; the live coal is often comes from the alter to consume the burnt offering.
22 Then, with hands spread out toward the people, Aaron blessed them and came down from the altar. 23 Moses and Aaron went into the Tabernacle, and when they came out again they blessed the people; and the glory of the Lord appeared to the whole assembly. 24 Then fire came from the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and fat on the altar; and when the people saw it, they all shouted and fell flat upon the ground before the Lord. Lev 9:22-24 TLB
The implication of this is that Isaiah was now a living sacrifice, even in the Old Testament Isaiah found grace to become a living sacrifice unto the Lord.
When the fire comes out from the Altar it was a symbol of acceptance, that the sacrifice has been accepted.
No matter how bad you may be or how dirty you feel, it is your feeling not Gods feeling. When we look at the blood and what Jesus has done we can stand before God.
10 We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle.11 For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp.12 Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate. Hebrews 13
The sin offering is always burnt outside of the camp (gate). The blood of animals is not equivalent to the blood of a man, so God has to use the blood of Jesus for our salvation. Man being in the image and likeness of God. So just as the animals were always sanctified outside of the camp, Christ was also crucified outside of Jerusalem, outside the city Gate.
The picture above is stating the two altars, the altar of the Old Testament and the new altar initialed by God, and the saints of old did not have access to what we have now in Christ.
9 Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.
10 ¶ Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you:
11 Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.
12 Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into..1 Pet.1:9-12
What we need to do to come to a place of righteousness is accepting the sacrifice of Jesus; this is what now gives us the cleansing. The fire seen in the new altar is the Holy Spirit. The purifying process is the work of the Holy Spirit.
Fire also does a work of preservation and cleansing, the same role that a salt plays.Mark.9:49. In the case of Isaiah as a man of unclean lips and dwelling among people that are unclean, the fire came to purify and to season him, after this process he now has the language of the Lord. No one can really offer an acceptable sacrifice to the Lord until it is initiated by the Lord through the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is the baptism of fire, which was promised by Jesus.
Now when Solomon had made an end of praying, the fire came down from heaven, and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the LORD filled the house. 2chronicles 7: 1
Let it be noted that it said THE FIRE.
1 ¶ And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.3 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. Acts 1 : 1 – 4
The church is the temple of the Lord
5 Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. {are: or, be ye} 1 Peter 2: 5
Solomon built his temple with stones, but they are not lively stones. The church that Jesus is building is made up of lively stones, not dead stones like Solomon used as in the literally stones.
Jesus started building the new temple by using calling the disciples who now become the Apostles, and the proof of acceptance was the Holy Spirit coming down like fire. This was the dedication of the temple of Jesus which He built. The fire coming down was also a sign of them being living sacrifices unto God. It was not the work of the Apostles cleansing themselves; it was the work of God to do the cleansing and make them prepared for God’s use.
For everyone that is born again and joined to this temple is a living sacrifice and a lively stone. The key is that you do not build yourself; it is God that cleanses you. Anything you do outside believing into the sacrifice of Jesus is simply works-reliogion. You cannot cleanse yourself and you cannot make yourself as clean as you want, it is the work of Jesus in and through you.
There is no power in this universe that can work against us becoming the temple of the living God. When we sin we open a door for the devil to do a work in our life, but we must get this right, the serpent will bite but that is not to say that God has rejected you. They are two separate things. The most profound example is the prodigal son, there was no condition that the father placed for him to come back despite what he has done to the father by rejecting him.
When Cain sinned it was Cain that left the presence of God and went to the land of Nod. Is the same thing Adam experienced, when he sinned he hid himself and God start looking for him. When you sin the torment you go through does not mean that God has forsaken you.