Isa 6:2 Above it stood seraphim; each one
had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and
with two he flew.
Isaiah’s heavenly vision continues, and God gives him
a look at seraphim. Seraphim? What’s a seraphim? The word literally means, “burning.”
These angels appear to Isaiah as “fiery creatures.”
Remember, this is a vision, and as a vision it
contains much symbolism. Symbolism is used to help us grasp heavenly realities
and their connection to what’s going on in the rest of God’s creation.
These seraphim are not a flaming mass of feathered
wings but they, first of all, as fiery angels, they are portrayed as holy, and
secondly, they are portrayed as being on fire for their Master, God Almighty.
They are holy agents of God with fervent zeal for His service and for His glory.
Incidentally the word “seraphim,” can also be used
figuratively for a “fiery serpent.” Isn’t that interesting? Who does that make
you think of?
Obviously, these seraphim, in Isaiah are not meant to
portray Lucifer, but it makes you wonder if the devil didn’t start out as a
seraphim, but then decided to rebel against God. He took a third of the angels
with him in the rebellion (Rev 12:4) and certainly, he is oft likened to a snake.
But he and his fiery snake demons are always ultimately subject to God. Never
forget that biblical truth! He who is in you is greater than he who is in the
world. (1 Jn 4:4)
God may allow the devil and his demons to operate in
rebellion against God and His creation, but only within God’s limits, and only
for His ultimate will and glory.
Job is the
classic example of course, Job 1:12 reads: And the LORD said to Satan,
"Behold, all that he has is in your power; only do not lay a hand on his
person."
Perhaps, even more to the point is the time that God allowed
“fiery serpents’ into the camp of the complaining Israelites in Nu 21:6 So the LORD sent fiery
serpents among the people, and
they bit the people; and many of the people of Israel died.
It’s like God was saying, you want to complain against
Me? Let me show you what happens when I set the master complainer loose against
you.” And the deadly bite of rebellion against God (sin) led to the death of
many.
But God in His mercy provides a solution to the
rebellion problem. Num 21:7 Therefore the people came to Moses, and said,
"We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you; pray
to the LORD that He take away the serpents from us." So Moses prayed for
the people. 8 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Make a fiery serpent, and set
it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it,
shall live."
I always thought that a lamb upon a pole would’ve been
more appropriate here, but that all changed when I realized the fiery serpent
on the pole was meant to be a representation of sin and a picture of Jesus in
the sense that when He went to the cross on Calvary, He, who knew no sin but
became sin for us that we might live. 2Co 5:21 For He made Him who knew no
sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
I know this is a bit of a sidetrack from the text, but
its also an opportunity to remind us that there is a cure for the deadly bite
of sin and it is found in Jesus Christ. Look to Him and live.
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