Here Am I

 

If something could cost you eternity, if you were possibly not only in danger of losing rewards in heaven but of burning in hell, would you want to be told?  Were they in danger, a danger that could be escaped, would you want your loved ones to be told?


"Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.  By their fruit you will recognize them.  Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?  Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.  A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.  Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.  Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.


"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.  Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?'  Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'"

-Matthew 7:15-23



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.  Above him stood the seraphim.  Each had six wings: with two he 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 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!"


Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar.  And he touched my mouth and said: "Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for."


And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?"  Then I said, "Here am I!  Send me." 


And he said, "Go, and say to this people:


"'Keep on hearing, but do not understand;

keep on seeing, but do not perceive.'


Make the heart of this people dull,

and their ears heavy,

and blind their eyes;

lest they see with their eyes,

and hear with their ears,

and understand with their hearts,

and turn and be healed."


Then I said, "How long, O Lord?"


And he said:

"Until cities lie waste

without inhabitant,

and houses without people,

and the land is a desolate waste,


and the LORD removes people far away,

and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.


And though a tenth remain in it,

it will be burned again,

like a terebinth or an oak,

whose stump remains

when it is felled."

The holy seed is its stump.

-Isaiah 6



Copyrighted material, used with permission.