Healing from the Guilt || Guilt v. Shame #3

Welcome to ‘Guilt v. Shame,’ a series that delves into the most prevalent themes in sermons, Bible studies, and other forms of communication. We will explore the meanings of these concepts, how they were interpreted by the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek audiences, and how our modern interpretations compare. This series is designed to provide you with a comprehensive understanding of guilt and shame in the Bible and their integral role in your Christian journey.

Throughout this series, we will delve into the biblical concept of guilt in the first three parts and shift our focus to shame in the remaining four parts. To ensure a comprehensive understanding, I will draw upon scriptures from both the Old and New Testaments. This approach allows us to explore these concepts through the lens of Bible narratives, making the study relevant to all Christians. My aim is to help you develop a biblical understanding of guilt and shame and show you how they are integral to your Christian journey.

As we embark on the first three parts of this series, let’s journey into the realm of guilt. According to my concordance, guilt is ‘the state of feeling of one who has committed an offense.’ It’s that feeling you get when you know you’ve done something offensive, wrong, or incorrect, like when you unintentionally hurt a loved one’s feelings. This exploration will help us understand the role of guilt in our faith and how it can guide us toward repentance and forgiveness.

We are diving into the prophets in this part today! We pick up Isaiah in a weird part of his story.

Isaiah 6:1-7

1             It was in the year King Uzziah died that I saw the Lord. He was sitting on a lofty throne, and the train of his robe filled the Temple.

2             Attending him were mighty seraphim, each having six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew.

3             They were calling out to each other, “Holy, holy, holt is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies! The whole earth is filled with his glory!”

4             Their voices shook the Temple to its foundations, and the entire building was filled with smoke.

5             Then I said, “It’s all over! I am doomed, for I am a sinful man. I have filthy lips, and I live among a people with filthy lips. Yet I have seen the King, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.”

6             Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal he had taken from the altar with a pair of tongs.

7             He touched my lips with it and said, “See, this coal has touched your lips. No your guilt is removed, and your sins are forgiven.”

Isaiah experienced seeing God himself in the Holy Temple. Alongside God were mighty seraphim (angels created to protect and glorify.) Most likely overwhelmed by what he sees, Isaiah confesses his sinful nature. He talks explicitly about his filthy lips, which would lead me to believe that he and his community do not speak in a Christ-like manner. They are slandering, bullying, and lying to each other. Yet, one seraphim places a burning coal on his lips. The seraphim couldn’t even touch it because it was so hot they had to use tongs. Placing the coal onto Isaiah’s lips had to have hurt, but the act is incredibly symbolic. The seraphim burn the filth off. The seraphim burned his ugly communication with himself off, which allowed him to begin his ministry of becoming the prophet we know today.

Isaiah 40:2

2             “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem. Tell her that the sad days are gone and her sins are pardoned. Yes, the Lord has punished her twice over for all her sins.”

Judah had 100 years of trouble before Jerusalem would ever fall and even 70 years of exile after that. That’s going to be a challenging situation to talk about. I imagine Isaiah is needed to spread comfort, love, compassion, conviction, and things related to the sort to get them in a repenting mindset.

The seeds of comfort that Isaiah would have to plant may have taken root in the soil of the chaos surrounding them. Have you ever had that happen? When everything around you feels chaotic, and more chaos spreads from that, what do you do in those situations? Do you pray? Do you avoid and do something to take your mind off it? Do you drink, smoke weed, have sex, or something else? It’s easy to resort to these things because they are easily accessible and promoted to us in today’s society. What’s also available to us easily is God. God wants to hear from us, so when you’re struggling amidst the chaos of life, you can remember that you can ask God to comfort you. You may not escape the chaos, but you can find strength, comfort, and peace from God in the middle of it.

Daniel pulls us into a unique situation here, also.

Daniel 9:20-25

20           I went on praying and confessing my sin and the sin of my people, pleading with the Lord my God for Jerusalem, his holy mountain.

21           As I was praying, Gabriel, whom I had seen in the earlier vision, came swiftly to me at the time of the evening sacrifice.

22           He explained to me, “Daniel, I have come to give you insight and understanding.

23           The moment you began praying, a command was given. And now I am here to tell you what it was, for you are very precious to God. Listen carefully so that you can understand the meaning of your vision.

24           “A period of seventy sets of seven has been decreed for your people and your holy city to finish their rebellion, to put an end to their sin, to atone for their guilt, to bring everlasting righteousness, to confirm the prophetic vision, and to anoint the Most Holy Place.

25           Now listen and understand! Seven sets of seven plus sixty-two sets of seven will pass from the time the command is given to rebuild Jerusalem until a ruler – the Anointed One – comes. Jerusalem will be rebuilt with streets and strong defenses, despite the perilous times.

Jerusalem is going through a siege and exile. Jerusalem will be going through this for 490 years (70 sets of seven.) This message of what will happen came from Gabriel, an angel and messenger of God. Jerusalem is going to go through a time of rebellion. Once they do, their sinful nature will end, their guilt will be forgiven, they will live in everlasting righteousness, and seeing the prophetic vision come to pass. Once this time has passed, Jerusalem will be brought back stronger than ever.

Time descriptors in the Bible are not typically used in a literal sense. Each day of the 70 weeks could be a full year. The Bible uses these massive numbers to make a point. Some theologians believe that the time is literal and use the proof of Jesus’ death at the end of week 69. Another interpretation places the 70^th year as the seven years of the Great Tribulation that will happen later on. The numbers are irrelevant to what we’re talking about, but the atonement of guilt will happen after some time. The suffering, exile, and captivity are suffering. It could be viewed as a punishment due to their sinful nature.

Numbers 14:34

34           “Because your men explored the land and forty days, you must wander in the wilderness for forty years – a year for each day, suffering the consequences of our sins. Then you will discover what is like to have me for an enemy.

God’s judgment came in the form the people feared the most. The people were scared of dying in the wilderness, so God punished them by making them wander in the wilderness. Now, they wished they had the problems of facing the giants and the fortified cities of the Promised Land. They felt guilty about how they acted, and now, after hearing the consequences of their actions, the Israelites had to suffer in ways the Israelites never thought they could. Most of us reading this have been there. Failing to trust God often brings ever greater problems than we originally had. When we run from God, we run to new problems. We often run away when the guilt of our situations gets bigger and more than we could imagine. We think God will be mad at us, so we need to hide it. Out of sight and out of mind, right? Yet, God doesn’t want that for us. God wants us, encourages us, to go to him boldly and confidently, sharing all the guilt we have been carrying for our entire lives. We will find our rescue through him.

Romans 5:10

10           For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son.

The love that caused Jesus to die is the same love that has sent the Holy Spirit to reside in us and guide us daily. The power that resurrected Christ is the same power that saved us and can be ours daily. We have a reservoir of power and love to call upon daily for help during each challenge or trial we have daily. Pray for God’s power and loving grace as you need it. Don’t let the guilt you’ve felt and carried for so long make you feel unqualified and inadequate to receive God’s power and love. It was made available to all of us, including you.

That wraps up our discussion on guilt and how the Bible discusses it. Guilt is something that God washed away from us. We do not have to carry guilt, but we still do. Let’s make guilt a thing of the past. You messed up, but you are not staying in that mess. God forgives us and forgets it. We don’t need to forget it, but we don’t need to remember it. We learn from it, walk forward in the path of forgiveness, and become the person God created us to be. Over the following four parts of this study, we are focusing on shame. Until then, stay blessed.