Isaiah was a good man. Very few, probably, could have been found equal to him. He was grieved
too with the evils which were about him, and denounced them. Six times in the fifth chapter of
his book he cries, "Woe," to as many kinds of evildoers. He hated evil and loved good.

This is commendable; but a man may do this while yet knowing little of himself or of God. The
man who knew not himself nor God dared to come in to the wedding without a wedding garment
on, with the result of the awful sentence, "Cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping
and gnashing of teeth" (Matt. 22:13).

The mercy of God, therefore, brings Isaiah through a new experience which he relates hi the sixth
chapter. He gets a vision_a throne and the Lord sitting upon it. It is surrounded with seraphim
who all proclaim the holiness of Him who sits there. It pierces him; it convicts him. In contrast
with his wicked neighbors he was a very good man; but in contrast with the holiness which shines
upon and through him from that resplendent throne, he is but a poor vile sinner. So he cries,
"Woe is me!" When away from God it is easy enough to say or to think, "I thank Thee, O God,
I am not like the rest of men," or, as so many say, "Of course we are all sinners." But in the
presence of His throne, alone there under the rays of His light, no covering can avail, no excuse
can be found. "Guilty," "lost," is all that the best of men can say. And if the best have only that
to say there, what of the rest? what of you, reader? Pointed question, you may say. Yes, but not
more so than must come to you sooner or later, for there is not a soul of man that will not come
before that Throne. If they refuse it in this life of responsibility they must be brought before it in
the coming life of accountability.

Had there been but the throne there could have been no hope for Isaiah, for good works have in
them no merit to atone for bad ones. The evil that was in him and the evil he had done, detected
by the Throne, could only bring from the Throne the sentence of judgment against the guilty man.
What can a righteous judge do but condemn the guilty? But there is an altar beside the throne.
That is, a sacrifice for sin has been made, and there are live coals upon it. The righteous sentence
of the Judge upon the throne has been borne by the Victim upon the altar. In Jesus upon the cross
is all this fulfilled. Blessed sight then is Jesus and the cross to a convicted and condemned sinner!
It is salvation_free, full, immediate, and eternal salvation. The moment one of the coals had
touched Isaiah’s lips, the angel could proclaim to him, "Lo, this hath touched thy lips, and thine
iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged."

There is no doubt about it, no uncertainty. The salvation that God provides makes a man fit to be
with God at once. In preaching Christ, therefore, the apostle could say, "Be it known unto you
therefore, men and brethren, that through this Man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins;
and by Him, all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by
the law of Moses" (Acts 13?|8,39). And again, "Giving thanks unto the Father who hath made
us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light; who hath delivered us from the
power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son, in whom we have
redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins" (Col. 1:12-14).

Is the confession of our true condition, and of our sins, a hard matter when we see such grace?
No, it is really an invitation to the hungry to come and be fed; to the filthy to come and be
washed; to the lost to come and be saved; to the guilty to come and be cleared. All that God
requires of man is to own his guilt, and his true condition. God Himself does all the rest. God
gave His Son to atone for the sin. God forgives. God justifies. God thus glorifies Himself in the
grace that saves every sinner who, before the throne, cries out, "Woe is me."

Then, how sweet! He makes the cleansed sinner His messenger to other men:"Whom shall I send,
and who will go for us?" He asks. To which Isaiah replies now without fear, "Here am I, send
me." How blessed to be turned from a guilty sinner into a servant of the living God.

One word more in closing:Now, in this present life, is the time when the altar is found by the
throne. In the life to come the altar will be no more by the throne, and sinners brought before the
throne will find no more grace, but justice_stern, awful justice only. How dreadful to fritter away
this wonderful day of grace we are now in. Reader, what are you doing with it?

God could not pass the sinner by,
His sin demands that he must die;
But in the cross of Christ we see
How God can save, yet righteous be.