Isaiah 6:6-7 Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.
The English Standard Version says it this way, "...your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for."
Isaiah had been completely undone by the holiness of God and the realization of his sinfulness before God. But God gave him assurance that his guilt was removed and his sin atoned for when the seraphim touched his mouth with the live coal from off the alter. Perhaps the live coal off the alter is symbolic of Christ's atonement for our sin.
When one realizes they are undone before a holy God and in need of a Saviour to save them from certain death in His presence, then God mercifully takes that person's guilt away and their sin is atoned for through the death and shed blood of Jesus Christ on their behalf.
Many churches teach that people need Jesus to make their lives better, to fix their marriage, to help them out of financial ruin, to give them a wonderful family life and all sorts of other temporal issues. This is not the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
The Gospel is that God is holy. We are undone as sinners before Him. We need a Saviour. When we realize the awfulness of our sin compared to His holiness, we can have our sins atoned for by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and be made right with God. The word Gospel means Good News. This is good news indeed!
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