In Isaiah 6, Isaiah details seeing Jesus on the cross in all of his glory.

And his reaction is to confess;

“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’s confession before the Lord is our confession before the Lord, too.

“I, a poor miserable sinner, confess unto you all my sins and iniquities with which I have ever offended you, and justly deserve your punishment. We are, by nature, sinful and unclean”

But what happens after Isaiah confesses?

A six-winged creature, the seraphim, grabs coal from the altar of sacrifice, and he touches the lips of Isaiah and declares:

“This has touched your lips. Your guilt is taken away. Your sin atoned for.”

Sounds a lot like what happens to us in Holy Communion, doesn’t it?

The blood of Jesus is sacrificed on the altar of the cross, and then it touches your lips.

And by it, your guilt is taken away.
Your sin is atoned for.

We also can see how this points us to holy absolution as the messengers of God, namely your pastor, speaks God’s forgiveness into your ear, just as the seraphim did to Isaiah.

Contributor Pastor Daniel Voth is Pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Grand Forks, ND.

#higherthings #lutheran #lcms #forgiveness #communion

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