"The Hem of His Robe"

Been thinking about this spot lately and thought it was about time I got back to adding another bit of light on the Word. Been away from here way too long, hope you enjoy what I have written and may you discover God in the peace of your surroundings as you do, God Bless.

“The Hem of His Robe filled the temple” (Isaiah 6:1b)

Have you ever been so amazed, so astonished by something that it felt as if your breath had been taken away from you, you stopped breathing in a moment of awe perhaps! In the reading from Isaiah (Is 6:1-7), the prophet in a vision is brought to the temple and there he sees, “the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. There are six winged Seraphs in attendance singing, “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of Hosts. The pivots of the threshold shakes at their voices and smoke fills the house.” It’s a magnificent passage of scripture that speaks to the magnitude of our God, that all Isaiah can come up with to describe what he sees is that, “the hem of his robe filled the temple.” Now the hem of a garment is a very narrow piece of fabric, and if you let your mind grasp that for a moment, that it was the “hem” of His robe that filled the temple, not his whole robe, not God himself, but “the Hem”. I don’t know about you but that says a lot about the magnitude of our God, our all powerful, all loving God, that takes my breath away.

Isaiah’s breath too was likely taken away for Isaiah exclaims, “Woe is Me!” I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips.... yet my eyes have seen the Lord of hosts.” Woe is me, who am I, what have I done to be so privileged as to stand in the Lord’s presence. Isaiah soon learns that it is not about who he is, but about who God is that has made him worthy to stand before this awesome God. “A Seraph takes a live coal from the altar and touching Isaiah’s lips, with it says, “Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed you and your sin is blotted out.’ (v.7). Now I don’t know if that takes your breath away but it should, for that is exactly what Jesus done when he gave up his life for each of us on the cross. “For God so loved the world that he gave His only Son that everyone who believes in Him may not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

What is it that takes your breath away? Recently I attended a celebration of the 100^th anniversary of the church in the community where I grew up, now that takes my breath away to be a part of something with such a rich history, but even more so to be a part of the Christian faith that have lasted over 2000 years now that really takes my breath away. Wow! What is it that takes your breath away? Think about that for a moment and you will probably find many moments when you have been rendered speechless, or saw that breathtaking view that just made you say Wow! Or Awesome! And you will see too, like Isaiah in His vision, the God whose “hem of his garment filled the temple”.

Rev. Hannah+