This is a follow-up to yesterday’s article—Humble Adoration—in which I told you the good news that Roger Miller’s cancer is in remission.
As you might imagine, at the end of Roger’s appointment, the doctor, being a competent oncologist, told him that she wanted him to come back in three months for a CT scan, just to be sure the cancer is still in remission. As Roger was waiting for the doctor’s secretary to schedule this appointment, she looked up at Roger and asked, “How long have you been having treatments?” In other words, as someone who does this many times every day, and being quite aware of the seriousness of his diagnosis, she was quite amazed that he did not have to return for three months. When he answered, “Since March,” she said “WOW!” Then she said, “I attend a church called “Wow Church” and this is a “WOW”!
I am so thankful for “WOW” days, those days when God’s people are reminded of His glorious goodness, when we bow in humble adoration, knowing full-well that the “WOW” is His doing, not ours.
There is something, however, that we could add to this beautiful story that would make it a “WOW, WOW, WOW” story. Suppose the oncologist had said to Roger, “You are perfectly healed of this cancer. The treatment was such that you never have to return for another scan. You are forever free from cancer!”
Contrary to popular opinion, this is the Great Physician’s word to each of us: “You are forever free from sin!” Jesus’ treatment for our sin was so efficacious, so effective, that our sinfulness is not merely in remission, we are perfectly and permanently healed. We never have to be concerned that our sins will come back, because He has taken them away, never to remember them again. The healing power of radiation and chemotherapy can never even come close to the healing power of the blood of Jesus.
When the prophet Isaiah realized this, the Hosts of Heaven responded, not with “WOW, WOW, WOW,” but with “HOLY, HOLY, HOLY!” I have the strong sense that Isaiah was bowing in humble adoration and proclaiming, “My God, how great Thou Art!”
In the year of King Uzziah’s death, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings; with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet and with two he flew. And one called out 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 trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke. Then I said, “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.” Then one of the seraphim flew to me, with a burning coal in his hand which he had taken from the altar with tongs. And he touched my mouth with it and said, “Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven” (Isaiah 6:1-7 NASB; emphasis mine).
This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent" (John 6:29 NASB).
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