Unlike many people, I grew up in the church experiencing God presence on an ongoing way. I still love talking about and sensing God's holiness in my life. I still love fixing my gaze on Him above all the rubble of life.
Once, as an experiment, the great scientist Isaac Newton stared at the image of the sun reflected in a mirror. The brightness burned into his retina, and he suffered temporary blindness. Even after he hid for three days behind closed doors, still the bright spot would not fade from his vision.
I pray that you and I would have a similar experience this morning as I share a few things from God’s Word.
Once, as an experiment, the great scientist Isaac Newton stared at the image of the sun reflected in a mirror. The brightness burned into his retina, and he suffered temporary blindness. Even after he hid for three days behind closed doors, still the bright spot would not fade from his vision.
I pray that you and I would have a similar experience this morning as I share a few things from God’s Word.
As we fix our gaze on the penetrating purity of the holiness of God - May His brightness burn into our lives in such a way that it would never fade from our vision. May we find His holiness irresistible and not boring.
Isaiah 6:1-8 will help us understand more about the holiness of God.
Let me give you some background. Isaiah may have been the greatest prophet in all of Israel. He is called a "major prophet" because of the vast amount of written material that bears his name. He was a statesman, who spoke for God to common people and also to kings. He prophesied during the reign of four kings over a period of sixty years, which were filled with crisis and moral decadence. In fact during the time of Isaiah’s prophecy the northern kingdom Israel was taken captive by invaders. The southern kingdom, Judah, was attacked by Assyria.
During this time there was a king in Judah named Uzziah. He reigned for a long time 52 years. He was one of the better kings they ever had. He was able to turn Jerusalem into a fortified city, well equipped with arms for its own defense and he gave the people a great sense of security.
The story of Uzziah ends on a sad note. While he started out strong, 2 Chronicles 26:16 says that, "…after Uzziah became powerful, his pride led to his downfall. He was unfaithful to the Lord, His God and entered the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense."
Because he arrogantly claimed for himself the rights that God had given only to the priests, God struck him with leprosy and he eventually died.
In spite of the shame of his later years, when King Uzziah died, it became a time of national mourning. In the same year that his king died, Isaiah went to the temple presumably to find some consolation and to pay his respects to Uzziah. He got more than he bargained for.
We can summarize Isaiah’s experience this way:
He saw the Lord’s Majesty (6:1-4)
In spite of the shame of his later years, when King Uzziah died, it became a time of national mourning. In the same year that his king died, Isaiah went to the temple presumably to find some consolation and to pay his respects to Uzziah. He got more than he bargained for.
We can summarize Isaiah’s experience this way:
He saw the Lord’s Majesty (6:1-4)
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. 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. And one cried to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory!” And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke. Isaiah 6:1-4 NKJV
As Isaiah sees the Lord’s majesty, He learns three lessons.
Lesson #1 is that God is high.
Imagine if you will what it must have been like for him to see the Lord high and exalted, with the train of his robe filling the temple.
Imagine if you will what it must have been like for him to see the Lord high and exalted, with the train of his robe filling the temple.
I love watching brides come down the aisle in weddings. The train of their gown flows behind them as they walk. Now, try to picture what Isaiah saw. The train of God’s robe filled every part of the temple! It was over the chairs, the podium, and the balcony, everywhere.
Isaiah is overwhelmed with everything, and as he looks up, way up, he sees the Sovereign God seated on a throne high and exalted. Can you imagine what must have been going through his mind?
Isaiah is overwhelmed with everything, and as he looks up, way up, he sees the Sovereign God seated on a throne high and exalted. Can you imagine what must have been going through his mind?
Lesson #2 is found in verse 2: God is holy.
Isaiah describes what he saw, "Above Him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying."
Now what are seraphim? They are a certain group of angels whose personal calling was to attend to God’s holiness. They are fiery guardians of the holiness of God.
Have you ever wondered why they have 6 wings? Notice it says that with two, they were flying. Apparently these marvelous, incredible, supernatural creatures had the capacity to hover like some kind of a celestial helicopter around the throne of God which was high and lifted up.
And then it says, "With two they covered their feet." Why? Do you remember when Moses was up on an old dirt hill one day? He turned around and saw a burning bush and a voice came to him out of the bush that said, take off your shoes, Moses. Why? "For you’re standing on holy ground."
To "be holy" means to be separate. The very god-ness of God means that He is separate from all that is not God. There is an infinite qualitative difference between Creator and creature.
The absence of a clear understanding of God’s holiness is the reason for our shallowness, our impotence, our selfishness, our weakness, and our disobedience.
R.C. Sproul says that, "Any attempt to understand God apart from His holiness is idolatry."
Have you ever wondered why they have 6 wings? Notice it says that with two, they were flying. Apparently these marvelous, incredible, supernatural creatures had the capacity to hover like some kind of a celestial helicopter around the throne of God which was high and lifted up.
And then it says, "With two they covered their feet." Why? Do you remember when Moses was up on an old dirt hill one day? He turned around and saw a burning bush and a voice came to him out of the bush that said, take off your shoes, Moses. Why? "For you’re standing on holy ground."
To "be holy" means to be separate. The very god-ness of God means that He is separate from all that is not God. There is an infinite qualitative difference between Creator and creature.
The absence of a clear understanding of God’s holiness is the reason for our shallowness, our impotence, our selfishness, our weakness, and our disobedience.
R.C. Sproul says that, "Any attempt to understand God apart from His holiness is idolatry."
Notice the last phrase of verse 3: "…the whole earth is full of his glory."
This is lesson #3: God is here.
He is high and He is holy, and He is here.
This is difficult for us to understand. How can He be both holy and be here? How can he be high and lifted up and still be right here with us?
Theologians refer to this as His transcendence. He is separate from us; and He is immanent He is right here with us. He is to be feared and He is our friend.
He saw the Lord’s Mercy (6:5-7)
He saw the Lord’s Mercy (6:5-7)
So I said: “Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, The Lord of hosts.” Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth with it, and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; Your iniquity is taken away, And your sin purged.” Isaiah 6:5-7 NKJV
What was Isaiah’s reaction when he came face to face with God’s majesty?
Look at the first part of verse 5, "Woe to me!" I cried…" That’s not just a sigh of despair, although I think there’s despair in it. It’s far more than that.
You see, in the Old Testament prophets gave prophetic announcements, which were very often preceded by the statement, "Thus saith the Lord." And their statements could be positive or negative.
When they were positive they’d often say, "Blessed." When they were negative they would often say, "woe."
When they were positive they’d often say, "Blessed." When they were negative they would often say, "woe."
On the lips of a prophet, the word woe is an announcement of doom. Jeremiah used it. Ezekiel used it. Nahum used it. Amos used it. Habakkuk used it. Hosea used it. Zephaniah used it. Zechariah used it. Micah used it. Jesus used it in Matthew 24 when he said, "Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees." And the angels of judgment in Revelation use it. It is a word of cursing.
And here is an amazing thing -- a prophet of God pronounces a curse and the judgment of God upon himself!
This is mind-boggling. Isaiah is the best man in the land. He is a sold-out servant of God. But when he sees the holiness of God, the only thing he can do is pronounce a curse upon his own head. He can only see his defilement, not his goodness.
Before he could see God’s mercy, Isaiah first needed to understand his destiny.
And then he says this, "I am ruined" which means to be lost, or to be annihilated, or to be destroyed. He was devastated by the holiness of God. He’s wiped out. He’s piled. He’s falling apart. He’s coming loose at the seams.
Before he could see God’s mercy, Isaiah first needed to understand his destiny.
And then he says this, "I am ruined" which means to be lost, or to be annihilated, or to be destroyed. He was devastated by the holiness of God. He’s wiped out. He’s piled. He’s falling apart. He’s coming loose at the seams.
What Isaiah was expressing is what modern psychologists describe as the experience of personal disintegration. Why? Because he saw God and when he saw God for the first time in his life he saw Isaiah.
And he knew how wretched he was. He may have been a secure fellow before this. Everybody honored him and patted him on the back. He was a paragon of virtue. He was the best of men, a spiritual leader, the voice of God, an obedient saint, a servant of the Lord.
And he knew how wretched he was. He may have been a secure fellow before this. Everybody honored him and patted him on the back. He was a paragon of virtue. He was the best of men, a spiritual leader, the voice of God, an obedient saint, a servant of the Lord.
And yet, with one glimpse of God’s holiness, the man was a wretch in his own eyes.
John Calvin once said, "Men are never duly touched and impressed with a conviction of their insignificance until they have confronted themselves with the majesty of God."
As long as Isaiah could compare himself with other mortals, he was able to sustain a lofty opinion of his character. The instant he measured himself by the ultimate standard, he was morally and spiritually annihilated.
After understanding his destiny, Isaiah then came face-to-face with his own depravity.
No one can stand in the presence of God without becoming profoundly and devastatingly aware of his own wretched sinfulness. In other words, if we don’t understand the holiness of God, we don’t understand our own depravity. To see even the smallest glimpse of God’s holiness is to be destroyed and wiped out. Isaiah would never be the same again. Neither will we when we see God’s holiness.
No one ever comes before the holiness of God without devastation. The prophet Habakkuk learned this the hard way. After approaching God rather boldly and demanding an answer to some of his questions, Habakkuk 3:16 records what happens when God finally answers him: "I heard and my heart pounded, my lips quivered at the sound; decay crept into my bones, and my legs trembled…"
John Calvin once said, "Men are never duly touched and impressed with a conviction of their insignificance until they have confronted themselves with the majesty of God."
As long as Isaiah could compare himself with other mortals, he was able to sustain a lofty opinion of his character. The instant he measured himself by the ultimate standard, he was morally and spiritually annihilated.
After understanding his destiny, Isaiah then came face-to-face with his own depravity.
No one can stand in the presence of God without becoming profoundly and devastatingly aware of his own wretched sinfulness. In other words, if we don’t understand the holiness of God, we don’t understand our own depravity. To see even the smallest glimpse of God’s holiness is to be destroyed and wiped out. Isaiah would never be the same again. Neither will we when we see God’s holiness.
No one ever comes before the holiness of God without devastation. The prophet Habakkuk learned this the hard way. After approaching God rather boldly and demanding an answer to some of his questions, Habakkuk 3:16 records what happens when God finally answers him: "I heard and my heart pounded, my lips quivered at the sound; decay crept into my bones, and my legs trembled…"
When is the last time you trembled and your heart pounded in the presence of God?
Let’s be honest about something. Many of us are playing little church games, compromising, disobeying whenever we feel like it, right in the face of a holy God.
Let’s be honest about something. Many of us are playing little church games, compromising, disobeying whenever we feel like it, right in the face of a holy God.
If we could see only a portion of what Isaiah saw, we would be changed forever. No question about it. You see, many of us are bored with God because we don’t understand Who He really is, and because we don’t understand Who He is, we don’t understand our own depravity.
He saw the Lord’s Mission (6:8)
He saw the Lord’s Mission (6:8)
Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: “Whom shall I send, And who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.” Isaiah 6:8 NKJV
After coming to grips with our destiny and with our depravity, we are then ready to understand our deliverance.
God does not leave Isaiah devastated He does something about it.
Isaiah first saw the Lord’s majesty. Then, as he was overcome with the foul odor of his own sinfulness, he experienced the Lord’s mercy. Now, in verse 8, he sees the Lord’s mission.
Next, after being sensitive to the voice of God, Isaiah surrenders to God’s call.
The last thing Isaiah declared was his own lack of worthiness -- now he says, "Lord, You need anybody? I’ll go...I’ll go." The only way we are fit to serve is when we are cleansed by the mercy of God and overwhelmed by the majesty of God.
With these words, Isaiah is surrendering to God’s mission; he’s stepping forward to volunteer for service.
That leads to a couple obvious questions. Are you sensitive to His voice this morning? And, have you surrendered to His call? God is still looking for people who have been so moved by His majesty, and have experienced His mercy on a personal basis, that they will be eager to join in His mission.
Are you sensitive to His voice this morning? Are you surrendered to His mission? I don’t know what exactly that will mean for you personally, but I do know that we’ve been given a task to do to go and make disciples of all nations.
It was D.L. Moody who said, "I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And that which I can do by the grace of God, I will do."
Inspired by Pastor Brian Bill
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