A Holy Calling

Transcript

JR 13
01/08/2023
A Holy Calling
Isaiah 6:1-8
Jesse Randolph

Well, from where we sit here in Lincoln, Nebraska, especially in this relatively dim and relatively dark month of January -- the sun -- you know, that giant, fiery star in the sky -- it doesn’t appear all that imposing. To us, on the average day, the sun is just this yellowish, distant, round disc, which is keeping our planet and our state and our city somewhat warm. Well, anyone who’s done a bit of research into the matter, or anyone who is halfway awake during junior high science class, knows that there’s a bit more to the story of the sun than that. For instance, did you know that the sun is 864,400 miles across? That means that the diameter of the sun is 109 times the diameter of planet earth. Did you know that approximately 1.3 million planet earths could fit inside the sun? Did you know that the sun burns at 9,940 degrees Fahrenheit? To get a sense of how hot that is, scientists have concluded that the average human would die after about 10 minutes of exposure to 140 degrees of heat. Meaning that the sun is 9,800 degrees hotter than what would kill the average human. Did you know that the sun is approximately 93 million miles away from us? But the closest any form of spacecraft has ever come to the sun, it got about within 27 million miles of the sun. So, yes, from our vantage point, the sun does seem relatively small, relatively harmless, and again, in Nebraska, in January, it seems relatively ineffective. But vantage points, by definition, they have limitations. And our limited vantage point into the sun only tells us a part of the story. See, the reality is the closer we were to get to the sun if we were to get closer to the sun, the sooner we would realize how massive, and dangerous, and even deadly that blazing star is.

You know, I bring up these otherwise random facts about the sun, not to convert tonight’s evening service into astronomy hour at Indian Hills Community Church. But instead, I think there is value in considering the sheer magnitude and power and brightness and even deadliness of the sun, as we consider and approach our topic for tonight. And our topic for tonight is “The Holiness of God.” Now, our God is described in Hebrews 12:29, as a “consuming fire.” Our God is described in 1 Timothy 6:16 as One who “dwells in unapproachable light.”

And as we’re going to see this evening, like rays that emanate from the sun, holiness emanates from God’s very being. Stephen Charnock, in the mid 17th century, the 1600’s, wrote the definitive treatise on the attributes of God. And in that work, he referred to God’s holiness as “an excellency above all His other perfections.” Charnock went on to say that if God were stripped away of His attribute of holiness, it would be comparable to the sun losing its light. And once the sun lost its light, “it would lose its heat [and] its strength.” In other words, the sun without its light would no longer be the sun as we know it. But instead, it would be like a massive piece of coal that once was ablaze but has since had water doused on it. In a similar way, without His holiness, or said better, if He were not holy, God would not be God.

Well, as I stand up here this evening, my aim is to brighten any views on God, and specifically His holiness, that may have become perhaps dull or doused over the years. My aim is to help us collectively see and appreciate God’s holiness, in its full radiance and beauty. And to do this, I’m going to transport us this evening, to a vision that the prophet Isaiah had about 2,800 years ago. And this vision that took place is a vision many of you, I’m sure, are familiar with, it’s in Isaiah 6. You can go ahead and turn there now. But many of you may be thinking, Isaiah? I thought we’re doing Hosea on Sunday evenings. You’re fumbling out of the gate here, Jesse, but this is pretty bad now, you’re in the wrong book. Yes, we are in Hosea. But with the long break that we’ve had from Hosea, during the Christmas season, and with some things happening on some subsequent Sunday nights, the next couple of Sunday nights, including me being on vacation next week, and then I may provide a congregational update two Sunday evenings from now. We’ll use that slot for that update. I thought this would be a good place to do more of a one-of sermon, rather than just plug us back into Hosea for one week. Take a couple more weeks off, then resume in a few weeks. So, we’re going to do this one-of sermon tonight, focusing on the holiness of God, from Isaiah 6.

Now, before we turn to our passage, Isaiah 6, (we’re going to be in verses 1-8 tonight) let’s explore a bit of the background into what’s going on in this passage. You know, Isaiah was a prophet to the southern kingdom of Judah in the 8th century B.C. And Isaiah’s prophetic ministry began at a very interesting time in the history of Judah. It was in the year of King Uzziah’s death which happened right around 739 B.C. At the time of his death, as Isaiah’s prophetic ministry was beginning, at the time of Uzziah’s death, Uzziah had reigned in Judah for 52 years. I mean, think about that, that would be like if Richard Nixon were still the President today! That’s how long Uzziah’s reign was. Now, economically speaking, Judah overall had been doing well. During Uzziah’s reign construction was booming, and walls, and towers, and fortifications had been built. And there was a fair amount of financial stability in the region at this time. Judah also, during this time, had been doing relatively well, militarily. During Uzziah’s reign Judah had experienced several key military victories over surrounding tribes like the Philistines and the Ammonites.

However, not everything was trending upward in Judah during this time. There still were issues. And there still were problems. You know, for starters, there were cracks and weaknesses in the character of the man Uzziah who’d been reigning in Judah for 52 years. We don’t have time to go there tonight, but the whole story of Uzziah, is given in 2 Chronicles 26. I’ll give you some of the highlights here. Early on in that book in that chapter we see that Uzziah did right in the sight of the Lord. He sought the Lord. He defeated the enemies of the Lord. He built and fortified the city of Jerusalem. But then, according to 2 Chronicles 26:16, “when he became strong,” it says, “his heart was so proud that he acted corruptly, and he was unfaithful to the Lord his God, for he entered the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense.” See, Uzziah was a king, he wasn’t a priest. He had no authority, no right, to go and offer incense in the temple. He didn’t care, he was prideful, he gave it a shot, and he was punished. In fact, he was struck with leprosy for the rest of his life. So, while Uzziah was in general a successful king who brought many benefits to his people, in the end pride lifted up his heart and God punished him for it. He did have a long-lasting rule, and he was successful to many in various ways, but he was also deeply flawed. Meaning that when Isaiah became a prophet to Judah, he was speaking to a nation that had this compromised and flawed leadership. But not only was the leadership flawed in Judah during this time. The moral fabric of the nation was completely unravelling right then. You know, by the time Isaiah became a prophet to Judah, the people were in a state of spiritual sluggishness and outright apostasy. And they were headed for exile at the hands of the Babylonians.

And that’s why we see what we see in the first 5 chapters of this book. We see these pronouncements of judgment and woes on apostate Judah. In fact, why don’t we actually start there this evening. We’ll start in Isaiah 5 as we sort of lead our way into Isaiah 6. In Isaiah 5 we see Isaiah the prophet declaring these woes, these judgments, of the doom that was about to fall on this apostate nation for their various sins which included all sorts of things. You know, one of the sins they were engaged in was

greed, Isaiah 5:8, here’s woe #1, “Woe to those who add house to house and join field to field, until there is no more room. So that you have to live alone in the midst of the land.” They were engaged in the sin of drunkenness, Isaiah 5:11, “Woe to those who rise early in the morning that they may pursue strong drink, who stay up late in the evening that wine may inflame them!” Or look over to verse 22, “Woe to those who are heroes in drinking wine and valiant men in mixing strong drink.” They were engaged in the sin of lying; we see another woe in Isaiah 5:18, “Woe to those who drag iniquity with the cords of falsehood, and sin as if with cart ropes.” They were engaged in various forms of general evil and immorality and wickedness; look at Isaiah 5:20, “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!” Verse 21, “Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight!” And because of all of this, all of this evil and wickedness, God says, in Isaiah 5:13, that “My people go into exile,” which we know historically happened.

So, Isaiah was living in this time of relative peace and prosperity there in Judah. But it’s also this monumental time of transition, namely in the national leadership with Uzziah dying and passing off the scene. But it was also this period of open and abject spiritual apostasy. And it’s into this context with each of these various factors in play that Isaiah would step onto the prophetic stage. And as what he’s planning to do and he’s preparing to do is to address this morally bankrupt people, who on top of everything else are now reeling over the loss of their king.

And in that context, Isaiah gets this vision. And we can turn to Isaiah 6 now. He gets a vision of a different king. He sees “The King.” The King he encounters is not sitting on any sort of earthly throne like Uzziah did. Instead, this King is sitting upon Heaven’s throne, lofty and exalted, supreme and set apart, and ruling and directing each and every aspect and detail of the entirety of human history. Including the succession plan for who would one day replace Uzziah. With all that as background, let’s now read from Isaiah 6. And as we do so, I should point out that the scene that I’m about to read for you is actually a scene from the beginning of Isaiah’s prophetic ministry. So, actually Isaiah 6 is not in chronological order. Her in Isaiah 6 he’s taking us all the way back to the beginning of his ministry when God first set him apart to be a prophet and commissioned him to be this prophet of Yahweh. So, with that as background, Isaiah 6, here we go.

It says, “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. 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.’ Then 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!’” Now, this is a familiar text to many of us. It’s a colossal text in terms of its theological density. And it’s a transformative text, once we come to truly understand what God is communicating to us here.

Let’s take it line-by-line, verse-by-verse, starting with verse 1, where he says, “In the year of King Uzziah’s death.” We’ll stop there for a moment and just point out the obvious, King Uzziah is dead, like dead, dead. Like all heads of state before him, and all heads of state after him, King Uzziah was a mere mortal. He had an expiration date. But now, note the contrast. In that time Isaiah says, “I saw the Lord.” Though Uzziah was dead, God was, is, and ever will be, alive. God hadn’t gone anywhere. And notice, that the word “Lord” there, is not in all capitals. If “Lord” were written in all capitols, it would mean that Isaiah was referring to God by His personal name, Yahweh. But Isaiah doesn’t do so, at least not here. Rather, the word Isaiah uses here is Adonai, the Hebrew term for lord, or for master, the one who is in charge. See, Yahweh is a description of God in His essential nature, it’s His personal name. But Adonai is a reference to His sovereignty. So, in effect, what Isaiah is telling the people here, is in the year that we lost our great king, the national leader that we’ve been trusting for all of these 52 years, “I saw the King.”

But unlike Uzziah, this King was alive when He created the world. This King was alive when various world empires rose and fell. This King was alive when various and Enlightenment philosophers sought to disprove His existence. This King was alive when Nietzsche tried to say that He’s dead. This King is alive in the midst of our generation which increasingly seeks to suppress the knowledge they have of about Him in unrighteousness. And this King will be alive for many billions, trillions, of years from now, long after our bodies become dust and our names are swept into the ash bin of history. And its of this King, that Moses, when he wrote Pslam 90:2, would say: “from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.”

Well, let’s keep reading on in Isaiah 6, what was the Lord doing here? Well, it says in verse 1 He’s “sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted.” Once again, Isaiah’s attention here is diverted from this empty throne, that of the newly deceased Uzziah, to the occupied throne, that of the Lord’s. You know, for countless centuries of world history, a king’s throne has been emblematic of his authority, and his power, and his majesty. So it is with God. Psalm 47:7 says, “For God is the King of all the earth; sing praises with a skillful psalm.” Then he says in verse 8, “God reigns over the nations, God sits on His holy throne,”
That transcendent language, He “reigns over the nations”, that refers to God’s right to rule all aspects of this world and its affairs. Over people, over nations, over kings, over governments, over all! And He does so, and He does so from His holy throne.

Back to our text, the throne on which God is sitting is described here by the prophet as being “lofty and exalted.” The elevation of God’s throne speaks to His infinite superiority, His excellence, His power, His omnipotence. See, God doesn’t sit on a panel of equals. God is not peer-reviewed. God doesn’t need to wait on approval from corporate. God is not subject to term limits. There are no authorities either on earth or in the heavens that can vote down God, give approval to God, or nullify His decrees. Instead, as 1 Timothy 6:15 says, He is the “blessed and only Sovereign.”

And note what God is doing on this throne, as Isaiah witnesses Him in this vision. It says He’s sitting on it. And the fact that He’s sitting, tells us He is authoritatively in control. You know, He’s not pacing around as He tries to figure out what His next steps are going to be. He’s not frayed. He’s not frazzled. He’s not sweating the small stuff. No, He’s sitting, with ultimate power, and ultimate authority, and ultimate control, as the ultimate Judge of all the earth. All is well.

Next Isaiah says, “the train of His robe,” this is at the end of verse 1, was “filling the temple.” This is a picture of His awesome presence in the throne room of heaven. His robe, it says, was “filling the temple.” The idea here, is that there is no room for anybody else here. He is the complete and the absolute and the only Sovereign. Now, when I see those words, “the train of His robe”, you know, I immediately fast forward to my context, in 21st century America, and I think of two things. I think of a bride and the train of her dress behind her, as she goes up to her groom. And I think of the Supreme Court Justice in his or her black robe. But the train of a bridal gown for the bride only extends so far. Or even the longest ones. And the robe of the Supreme Court justice, while symbolizing power and authority, only extends so far. But here in Isaiah 6, the train of this King’s robe fills the entire heavenly court. And that speaks to His unparalleled majesty, His incomparable power, His unrivaled excellence.

Do you think of your God in those terms? As you sit here tonight, is that how you think of the God of heaven? When you think of God, do you think of His majesty? Does His splendor, does His beauty, come to mind? If the answer is “no,” then your theology has some major blind spots. You’re missing out on these major elements of the character of God! And if that’s you, lets work on it. I’m going to give you a challenge for this week, ok? Devote an hour to reading the Psalms this week. You pick the Psalm, just flip around, and devote one hour to reading the Psalms. I guarantee you it will elevate your thoughts, to the type of thoughts Isaiah is having after he experiences this vision.

But for now we’re not in Psalms, we’re in Isaiah. And Isaiah has so much more to say about this vision he experienced in this heavenly throne room of God’s. Specifically, he’s about to introduce some new characters into this heavenly throne room scene. Look at verse 2, it says, “Seraphim stood above Him.” Seraphim? What are those seraphim? Well, this is the only place actually in the bible where the name seraphim is used. And these seraphim, it’s a reference to this specific class of angels who attend to God as He sits on His heavenly throne. Now, when I say angels, I want you to immediately eliminate the visual of those cupid-like caricatures that you’re already seeing emblazoned on those heart-shaped boxes at Walgreens, filled with chocolates, as we lead up to February 14th. No, the seraphim that Isaiah’s referring to, they get their name from a Hebrew verb, that means “to burn.” These seraphim are literally “burning ones,” they’re pictured as literally being on fire. They’re set afire with adoration for the holy God that they worship.

And that makes complete sense, because we often see fire associated with God’s holiness in scripture, specifically in the Old Testament. In fact, for an example of that let’s turn to Exodus 3, flip back to the “burning bush” episode in Exodus 3, where we’ll see this link with fire and God’s holiness. Exodus 3, picking it up in verse 1, it says, “Now Moses was pasturing a flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian; and he led the flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed. So Moses said, ‘I must turn aside now and see this marvelous sight, why the bush is not burned up.’ When the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush, and said, ‘Moses, Moses!’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’ And He said, ‘Do not come near here; remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.’ ” See, just as the angel of the Lord was protecting the holy ground in the days of Moses, the seraphim (going back to Isaiah) of Isaiah’s day, these burning ones, are guardians of the holiness of God in His heavenly courts.

But I want you to note something else very interesting about these seraphim. Though they’re in the presence of God continually, though they themselves are angels set ablaze by the fire of God’s holiness, they still have to shield and protect themselves while they’re in the presence of God, in this throne room of heaven. Look at the next part of verse 2, it says, “Each having six wings [referring to the seraphim]: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.” So with one set of wings these angels cover their face. As holy as these seraphim are, they can’t bear to look directly into the face of God’s holiness. Like the sun shining in its full strength, it’s simply too much to bear! And with the second set of wings they cover their feet. Just as God commanded Moses to take off his sandals at the burning bush because he was standing on holy ground in the presence of the Lord, so too do these angels acknowledge their humility, their status as mere creatures in the presence of this holy God, and so they cover their feet. And then it says with their third set of wings they flew. The Hebrew verb there really refers to “hovering.” Hovering it’s saying, they are standing above God. And what’s really being pictured here, as they stand above Him and it says they flew, it is the readiness of these angels as they hover to be at God’s service. They’re eager and they’re waiting to serve their Master. They’re ardent in their zeal for the Lord. They’re anticipating any direction He may give them. They’re at His beck and call. Continually at the ready to do His bidding.

In fact, turn with me over to Revelation 4 where we’re going to see some similar activity to what we see described over in Isaiah 6. Let’s flip over to Revelation 4. And as we’re turning here, this again will be a familiar scene for many of you. We’ll pick it up in Revelation 4:8. These beings here in Revelation 4:8 are not described as seraphim in the text so we can’t really say with finality that these are seraphim. But we can say with finality, what they are doing and how they’re interacting is almost identical to what we see back in Isaiah. So, look at Revelation 4:8, it says, “And the four living creatures,” this is around the throne room of God in the heavens, “each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within; and day and night they do not cease to say, ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come.’ And when the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, to Him who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and will worship Him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne, saying, ‘Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will, they existed and were created.’ ” See, the angels, I want you to note here, as they’re around God’s throne, they aren’t peaking through the cloud cover to see what’s going on down here. No, they aren’t interested in who won the most recent election, or whether the Packers are going to make the playoffs tonight, or how the last season of Blue Bloods ended. No, They’re fixated on worshiping God, and specifically the Lamb of God, the glorious, resurrected, ascended, and triumphant Jesus Christ in this beautiful angelic chorus, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.”

And then turning back to Isaiah 6 now. Again, these angelic beings, these seraphim, they don’t float around shooting arrows into people’s hearts, causing them to fall in love around February 14th each year. These angels are neither cute nor chubby, and you certainly wouldn’t want to pinch their cheeks. No, these angels burn. And these angels roar! You know, one commentator, rightly noted that the voices of these angels would have been like the sound of the Blue Angels ripping through the sky. And what is it that they’re roaring? Is it, you know, unorganized shouting or hollering? Is it giddy cheering? Is it some sort of guttural, primal scream? No, they’re roaring the most beautiful antiphonal chorus that any one of us could ever imagine. The most amazing thing about these seraphim in Isaiah 6 and in this vision is not that they have six wings. That’s interesting, but that’s not the most amazing thing about them. The most important, compelling thing about them is the content of what they’re saying here in verse 3, “And one called to another and said, ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory.’ ”
That’s the sound that’s being thundered throughout God’s heavenly throne room.

You know, we need to apply the brakes here, because those are tremendous words. And they are words of central importance and significance to this entire scene! And we know that because they are anchored in this angelic threefold pronouncement of God’s holiness as they behold God in His glory. Holy! Holy! Holy! You know, that threefold repetition is extremely significant in the Hebrew language. It shows the extraordinary emphasis that these angels in this scene are placing on God’s holiness. You know, when we write something out today we might if we want to emphasize it underline it, or italicize it, or boldface it. We might circle it or place a star on it. But biblical Hebrew, doesn’t have any of those devices. So, when the Israelites of Isaiah’s day wanted to emphasis something they repeated it. Repeating a word for emphasis was common in the Old Testament.

We see it also in the New Testament. You know, for instance when Jesus would say things like, “Truly, truly…” “Verily, verily…” “Amen, amen” is literally what it says there. “… I say to you.” This was our Lord’s way of stating that what He was about to say was of particular importance and significance. But even then, when Jesus would use that term, when He would use that device, He would only use twofold repetition. The seraphim here are using threefold repetition as they refer to God the object of their worship. They’re not just calling Him, “Holy.” They’re not just calling Him, “Holy, holy.” They’re saying, “Holy, holy, holy!” In this chorus of this class of angels, in this song of the seraphim, the divine attribute that is being singled out for praise, is His holiness. “Holy, holy, holy.”

Now what ultimately do they mean by that? What does it mean to say that God is holy? You know, you could go back and watch “Summer in the Systematics”, part…, I don’t know, 4 or 5, something like that, from last summer, and get the whole enchilada. But the root meaning for holy in the Hebrew, is to cut, to separate. A holy thing is cut off, its separated from unholy things or common things. You know, almost anything can be considered holy if it’s separated from the common, and devoted and consecrated to God. Right? Think of the holy things that are mentioned in scripture. We already saw the holy ground in Moses’ day in Exodus 3. Israel was a holy nation, Exodus 19 [verse 6]. Jerusalem was a holy city. The scriptures, the bible, are called the holy scriptures. And in Old Testament Israel there was an entire class of holy people called the priests and they were required to wear holy clothes, use holy utensils, use holy objects. They would minister in this holy place called the Temple and they would do that on holy days. They would do it in this holy city called Jerusalem. They were all situated in this holy land of Judea. And they would administer God’s holy law.

But notice what happens when this definition of holiness, to be cut apart or be set apart or separated from, is applied to God Himself. From what must God be separated in order to be considered holy? And the answer is everything! God is separate from all that is not God. He is altogether Other. A.W. Tozer once said: “We must not think of God as highest in an ascending order of beings, starting with the single cell and going on up from the fish to the bird to the animal to man to angel to cherub to God. God is as high above an archangel as above a caterpillar, for the gulf that separates the archangel from the caterpillar is but finite, while the gulf between God and the archangel is infinite.” You know, in the end God is holy in that He is God and not man. That’s what theologians call His transcendental holiness, meaning He’s distinct from His creation, He’s transcendent over His creation, He transcends it. Putting it more simply, He is in a class all by Himself. We see that in places like Exodus 15:11, which says, “Who is like You among the gods, O Lord? Who is like You, majestic in holiness, awesome in praises, working wonders?” What a passage like that reveals to us is that God and God alone is inherently and intrinsically holy. And that God and God alone is perfectly and eternally holy. And that we, though God’s image bearers, are mere creatures; and not just creatures, but corrupted creatures who have been corrupted by sin in our imperfection and impurity. Not God. God alone is God. And as God, He alone is holy.

He's not just transcendentally holy though. He’s also morally holy, meaning He’s pure in every way. He’s completely lacking in any form of corruption, stain, sin, or impurity. He does not sin. He cannot sin. He cannot partake in sin. He cannot take pleasure in sin. He cannot have fellowship with sin. And relevant to us, He cannot and will not tolerate the presence of sin. Those aren’t just my observations though. This is not just me riffing up here about what I think God may be like. No, the moral dimensions of God’s holiness are inscribed forever in the pages of His word. I’ll give you just a few. Job 34:10 says, “Far be it from God to do wickedness, and from the Almighty to do wrong.” Psalm 5:4 says, “No evil dwells with you,” speaking of God. Habakkuk 1:13 says, “Your eyes are too pure to approve evil.” Then 1 John 1:5 says, “God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.” God is absolutely holy, He is perfectly holy. We’ve seen that He’s transcendently holy in terms of His otherness and His separation. And now we’ve seen that He’s morally holy, ethically holy.

But there’s a third one. He’s not only transcendentally holy, He’s not only morally holy, He is preeminently holy. Which simply means that, while God possesses each of His attributes perfectly at any given time, the attribute of this holiness is a special point of emphasis in scripture. In fact, the bible teaches quite clearly that God’s very name is holy. Psalm 111:9 says, “Holy and awesome is His name.”
Isaiah 57:15 says, “For thus says the high and exalted One who lives forever, whose name is Holy.”
And the preeminence of God’s holiness is not just in His name though. It’s in the very section of scripture we’re working through tonight, this heavenly throne room scene in Isaiah 6:3, where we see this triple declaration of God’s holiness. The trihagion it’s called. And that’s no accident because that threefold repetition of the word “holy,” again is putting special emphasis on stressing the holiness of God. There’s not another attribute of God that’s described in that way. I challenge you to find the bible verse where it says God is love, love, love. Or God is just, just, just. Or where God is merciful, merciful, merciful. Or God is good, good, good. You won’t find it. It’s only with regard to His holiness that we see this repetitive language.

Ok, back to Isaiah 6, the seraphim here referring to God as thrice-holy. But at the end of verse 3, we see that’s not all they say. Look at what comes at the end of verse 3, they say, “The whole earth is full of His glory.” They’re proclaiming that His glory fills the earth. Which brings to mind scriptures like Numbers 14:21, where God says, “but indeed, as I live, all the earth will be filled with the glory of the Lord.”
Or in Habakkuk 2:14, speaking of this prophetic language, “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” The angels here declaring that the holy God that they are worshiping is glorious and that His glory shall fill the earth.

One other thing about these angels in terms of who they are, their status and what they do, is that they are powerful. Drop down to verse 4, where it says, “And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke.” See, the angelic roar about this thrice-holy nature of God caused the very throne room of God to be shaken right down to its foundation. And that speaks again to the awesome presence and power of God, the one whose name these angels are proclaiming.

Again, is this your conception of God? Is this how you think of God, the way He’s being described here in this magnificent vision that Isaiah’s receiving? Have you beheld the majesty of God and His holiness as you ought? Have you beheld His glory through His word, in our day, as you ought? Or, instead, have you defanged Him or declawed Him by minimizing, or forgetting, or dimming, as though you could, His holiness? I hope that none of us in this room this evening, is worshiping a weak, tame, domesticated version of God. Because if we are, we were, we wouldn’t be worshiping God at all. Instead, we would be worshiping an idolatrous figment of our imagination. Instead, I hope we have experienced, and right now are experiencing, through Isaiah 6, this vision into the reality of God’s holiness and glory.

And when we have such an experience, how are we to respond? Well, we get a clue in the next verse, verse 5, he says, “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.’ ” Having taken in this terrifying sight of God and all of His splendor and majesty and glory and holiness, Isaiah’s own sinfulness now is placed in the spotlight. And the way he responds is the only way any sinner ought to respond, when they come face-to-face with the reality of the holiness and the glory of God. He says, “Woe is me, for I am ruined!” You know, as we saw earlier in Isaiah 5, Isaiah himself would be pronouncing six “woes” on the people of Judah, these oracles of bad news and judgment and doom and condemnation. But here in Isaiah 6 he’s not saying “woe to you,” he’s saying, “woe is me!” He’s pronouncing a curse of death upon himself. You could even translate his words, “Let me be damned!” Not exactly words of encouragement. Not exactly words that inflate one’s sense of self-esteem. Quite the far cry from what passes for spirituality alot in our days. You know, the statements that “God is just so crazy about you.” And “God just thinks you’re so special.” And “God just wants you to let Him in.” And “God just wants to be a part of your journey.” And “God just wants to take you for a ride.” Or maybe He’s going to join your ride. No, the majesty of God’s holiness does not make Isaiah feel like he’s winning at life. Instead, it makes him feel… the word is “ruined.” Or as other translations have it, “lost.” Wrecked. Destroyed. And why? Why is his reaction so strong? He tells us in the rest of verse 5, “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.”
See, this hopelessly sinful man not only has beheld the majesty of God’s holiness; he has done so as a man of unclean lips. And what does that mean? Does that mean he has a potty mouth? Perhaps. But it means so much more. This ultimately wasn’t a speech issue, a lips issue, a verbalization issue; this was a heart issue.

You know, Luke 6:45 says, “For his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart.” We’ve seen in the Sunday morning sermons in James, recently in James 1: 26, he says, “If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart,” back to the heart, “this man’s religion is worthless.” And in this powerful vision of God’s heavenly throne room, the dark recesses of Isaiah’s sinful heart, things that had not previously been exposed, suddenly are being exposed to the blinding light of God’s holiness. He’s saying here, “I’m devastated,” “I’m wrecked,” “I’m undone.” And why? Again, because of the holiness of God. Isaiah undoubtedly would have been considered a godly example in his community. He was a spiritual voice and leader in Judah. He was a servant of the Lord. But with one glimpse here of God’s holiness, he finds himself coming apart at the seams as he realizes the depths of his filthy and his wretched state. Under the searching light of God’s holiness, the festering nature of his sin is exposed. Like a cockroach scurrying away from the darting beam of a flashlight, he could no longer hide.

That response, by the way, is not unique to Isaiah. Why don’t you turn with me back to the gospel of Luke. Luke 5, starting in verse 1. We have one of Jesus’ miracles here being performed right in the front of Peter. And what I want to really get to is Peter’s reaction to the miracle. But we’ll start in Luke 5:1, it says, “Now it happened that while the crowd was pressing around Him and listening to the word of God, He was standing by the lake of Gennesaret; and he saw two boats lying at the edge of the lake; but the fishermen had gotten out of them and were washing their nets. And He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little way from the land. And He sat down and began teaching the people from the boat. When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, ‘Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.’ Simon answered and said, ‘Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing, but I will do as You say and let down the nets.’ When they had done this, they enclosed a great quantity of fish, and their nets began to break; so they signaled to their partners in the other boat for them to come and help them. And they came and filled both of the boats, so that they began to sink.” I mean, Jesus here, is manifesting His power, His deity, His glory, His ability to take a place in this lake that had no fish and suddenly have it overloaded with fish, so that these tired fishermen now had full nets and boats. And what does Peter do in response to having now his boat full of fish and his nets full of fish? Surely, he now goes into prosperity gospel mode, right? Trust in Jesus, and your nets will always be full. No, look what he says in verse 8, “But when Simon Peter saw that, he fell down at Jesus’ feet, saying, ‘Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man’.” Having just beheld God’s glory in the person of Jesus Christ, Peter here is stricken with his own sinfulness. And like Isaiah, he completely melts. He’s undone.

And again, I ask, what about you here tonight? Do you see yourself in Peter? Do you see yourself in Isaiah? Do you see yourself rightly the way these men did, as an offender of God’s perfect standards? As a criminal who deserves the ultimate penalty of death? If so, praise the Lord. That means that you have beheld God, and beheld His holiness and His glory rightly. The brightness of God’s holiness ought always to cause a severe reaction. It always to cause in the heart of the true believer, awe and reverence and a prostrate heart, and humble submission, and conviction of the blackness of our sin and unholiness, and a godly yearning to be holy as He is holy.

Isaiah had that type of reaction. He had this vision of God’s majesty, and His holiness, and His glory. And he comes to this place of humble recognition that he was a sinner in need of forgiveness and cleansing. Peter did in Luke 5. Ezekiel did when he beheld God’s glory. Job did at the end of that book after he received a lot of bad counsel. The apostle John did in Revelation 1 on the isle of Patmos as he falls on his face as though dead when he beholds the risen, glorified Christ. Isaiah, getting back to the chapter we’re in, was one of the few men, true men of God, in his land. He was this chosen servant and mouthpiece of God. But when he beheld this vision of God in His holiness, he couldn’t help but pronounce his own curse upon himself, “Woe is me.” To see the wickedness and the evil that was in him. That he was sinful and unclean, and that he needed to be pardoned, washed, and cleansed.

And having had that type of reaction, and that type of realization, the scene shifts again in verses 6-7. Isaiah 6:6 says, “Then one of seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs. 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.’” So, Isaiah’s lips which revealed Isaiah’s sinful heart, had separated him and prevented him from knowing and enjoying and loving his Holy Creator. That’s the idea in Isaiah 59:2, which is at the end of this book, where it says, “But you iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.” But now in this setting, that same Creator, that infinitely holy God who these angels are worshiping, takes the initiative to restore the relationship between He and Isaiah, by forgiving him and providing atonement for sin. It’s a beautifully symbolic act. It involves this angel taking this burning coal from the altar where blood sacrifices were typically made for atonement for sin, and then touching Isaiah’s lips with this red-hot coal and pronouncing that his iniquity had been taken away, and that his sin had been forgiven. When the coal touched Isaiah’s unclean lips, the iniquity that had left him ruined in God’s sight, was taken away! All sinful uncleanness was immediately burned away from his mouth. The same God whose holiness and glory had left Isaiah undone, was now extending His mercy and His grace to Isaiah, so that this God who is a “consuming fire”, is now revealing Himself to be this “river of life.” Talk about a change in scenery. Talk about a change in paradigm. God had every right to strike down, smite, and destroy unclean Isaiah. But instead, He accepted Isaiah’s repentant confession of his own sinful condition, and is says here in the text, forgave him. That’s symbolic action signified the removal of this prophet’s guilt and his sin.

Which leads us to the final part of this scene in verse 8 where he says, “Then 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!’ ” Having experienced this awesome revelation of God’s holiness, having been confronted by the miserable condition of his sin, having believed with certainty that he was about to be crushed and smitten by the holy God of all. Having now witnessed this astounding display of grace through atonement and forgiveness, what do we see Isaiah doing here? We see him, as the one who once was shrinking back when his sin was exposed, to now standing up, saying, I’m ready to proclaim! And to whom is he ready to proclaim? Well, he’s ready to proclaim to the wicked, adulterous people of Judah, to whom God had sent him to minister. This people who were sold out to idolatry and corruption and wickedness and immorality. He knew that it was not only his lips which were unclean, but the same was true of the lips of the people all around him. What he had received he knew his entire nation needed. The people of Judah needed to respond the way he did and acknowledge their need to be cleansed from sin. And note, he’s not being prompted here. He doesn’t need encouragement or coaxing or nudging to go and proclaim this message. No, it was his natural and reasonable reaction to go do so. Having received this forgiveness, having been taken out of the pit of destruction, from the miry bog, as Psalm 40:2 says, He was not about to look with indifference upon those who were sinking in quicksand the way he once was. No, he says, right away, “Here am I. Send me!”

Now, you might be asking or thinking to yourself, “What does this have to do with me? Isaiah was an Old Testament prophet. We live on the other side of the cross. We live under grace, Isaiah was under law.”
Well, if you haven’t picked up on it already, Isaiah 6 foreshadows, at least, the greatest news any of us could ever hear. Sure, its in it’s context in Israel, in this temple scene, but there are things that happen in the Old Testament that point to things that would happen later. And this is one of them. This scene foreshadows the gospel of Jesus Christ. It contains in seed form the key components of the gospel message that would later go out. Think about it. In this heavenly throne room encounter of Isaiah we’ve seen God’s holiness. We’ve seen man’s sinfulness. We’ve seen repentance. And we’ve seen God’s gracious provision of atonement.

In fact, why don’t you turn with me to John 12. Speaking of the New Testament, let’s turn to John 12 as we close out the evening. In John 12, John here is commenting broadly on how so many people in Jesus’ day were witnessing Jesus’ great miraculous signs and wonders. And yet, their hearts remained hardened and they remained unconverted. And we’re going to start here in John 12:39, John is narrating here, and he says, “For this reason they could not believe, for Isaiah said again, ‘He has blinded their eyes and He hardened their heart, so that they would not see with their eyes and perceive with their heart, and be converted and I heal them.’ ” Now, that language there in verse 40, that’s drawing from Isaiah 6:9-10. We’re not going to get there tonight. But note what he says here in verse 41. John 12:41, it says, “These things Isaiah said because he,” that’s Isaiah, “saw His,” capitol H, “glory, and he spoke of Him.” Isaiah saw whose glory? What John is saying here is that Isaiah saw Jesus’ glory! The “Him” here is Jesus. This is a reference to a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ in the Isaiah 6 heavenly throne room scene. Let’s go back to Isaiah 6 once again. It says, “In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord.” I mentioned earlier, that’s Adonai in Hebrew, Kurios in Greek, the Lord in English. What do we know about this Lord? Well, from Isaiah 6 we’ve already seen He was sitting on this throne, high and lifted up, the train of his robe filled the temple. We know that the blazing holiness of the Lord caused these burning seraphim to cover their face and their feet.

But we also know, from other parts of the Old Testament, as well as the New Testament, that at the appointed time, this Lord would leave His glorious throne in heaven. And He would come down to earth and He would live as a man. He would live as a man among who? A people of unclean lips, a people of impure hearts. And this Lord, the God-Man, Jesus Christ, would come down and live a sinless and perfect life here on earth. And this Lord went to the cross to take the punishment, not for His sins because He had none, but rather, for your sins and for mine. And on the cross this Lord experienced the full fury and the wrath of God. And on that cross He died and then He was buried. And then on the third day He rose from the grave. And this Lord eventually ascended back to the Father’s right hand where He is now seated once again in this heavenly throne room scene, the same throne from which He left. And now that He’s accomplished all of this, coming and living and dying and rising again, this Lord comes to touch unclean lips and unclean hearts even today. All of those who see their hopeless state before this holy God, and all of those who, like Isaiah, cry out in repentance, “Woe is me, for I am ruined,” while trusting in Jesus Christ now, to purify them and to atone for their sins. See, when a ruined sinner, like you and me, when we repent of our sinful ways, and when we believe in that good news message of the gospel, the bloody cross of Jesus Christ becomes to us like the burning coal that touched Isaiah’s lips. Cleansing us of our sinfulness, and rendering us, though we are sin-stained criminals and wretches, acceptable in the eyes of a holy God.

Do you believe in that message? Have you received that gift? If so, praise the Lord! You know, on Christmas morning, my kids, they were sharing with anybody who would hear them, what they had received for Christmas. They were so excited to share with anybody who would listen to them, the gifts they had received. When was the last time you shared the news of the gift of your salvation with somebody? When was the last time you delivered the message of the gospel? When was the last time you implored someone to be reconciled to God through the blood of His Son? If you have beheld the glory of God… Not in the heavenly throne room scene like Isaiah did -- I’m not asking anybody to get wacko like that in our day today. But if you’ve beheld Him through “the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ,” 2 Corinthians 4:6, that ought to be enough to stoke a fire in you to proclaim the one and only message that can save. Now that your lips have been cleansed, are you ready to use those lips to proclaim the good new message of the gospel of grace?

One such man who used his cleansed lips to proclaim the gospel was John Newton. And in addition to being a brilliant theologian, John Newton, of course, is known as the man who wrote the words to the hymn, “Amazing Grace.” You know, earlier in his life, in his early years he was a slave trader. In fact, he made quite the fortune transporting slaves from Africa to the British Isles. And after his slave ship endured a terrible shipwreck, Newton eventually left the slave trade. And after reading some older Puritan Christian authors of his day, Newton eventually gave his life to Christ. And soon after receiving this gift of salvation, he began preaching, and in fact, he preached for the next 50 years. And when he died, he was buried in the yard of the church that he had served for 27 years. And the headstone over his grave contains this epitaph, which Newton himself wrote: “John Newton, cleric. Once an infidel and libertine, a merchant of slaves in Africa; Was by the rich mercy of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, preserved, restored, pardoned, and appointed to preach the Faith he had labored long to destroy.”
See, like Isaiah, John Newton came to this place, where at some point leading up to his conversion, he encountered through the Word, God’s holiness and glory, and he fell on his face. Like Isaiah, John Newton was overwhelmed with his own sinful nature. Amazing grace had saved a wretch like him. Like Isaiah, John Newton was overcome with gratitude for the rich mercy and grace that God had shown him in pardoning him. And like Isaiah, John Newton’s response to this amazing grace, was to go and proclaim the good news of the salvation he’d received. And finally, like Isaiah, John Newton served this holy God until the day that he died.

In fact, there’s a record of Newton in his last years of ministry, that the church that he was at for 27 or so years, they had to eventually appoint an assistant to stand by him in the pulpit, and point to his notes whenever this feeble, old preacher was getting lost as he was going through his material. But when he was asked about retirement, Newton, he’s aged and he’s sickly now, replies, “Why would an old blasphemer stop when he can still speak?” I pray that that would be each of our attitudes here this evening. Having encountered the holiness of God, having received forgiveness from God, that we, a bunch of old blasphemers, are ready to go out there and be faithful ambassadors for God. And specifically, of His gospel. Amen?

Let’s pray. God, thank You again for this time in Your word this evening. Thank You that around the world today and this evening, You use imperfect men to put a bible on top of a pulpit, to proclaim its riches and its truth, to get out of the way, to allow You to do the work, as Your Spirit moves in the midst of Your people, and convicts unbelievers of sin and righteousness and judgment. And that You do a work, ultimately, through the Word, that does Your purposes and brings You glory. Thank You for these dear people and thank You for their patience. And thank You for their love for You, and for each other, and for Your Word. I ask, as we’ve learned this evening, that we would have deeper and richer thoughts of who You are. That we would be compelled and gripped by the reality that You are a thrice-holy God. A God who is altogether glorious. A God who forgives and atones for sin and offers atonement ultimately through Your Son, Jesus. I pray that we would bask in that truth, revel in that truth, find great joy in that truth. And that would spur us on to share that truth with so many in this world who today reject that truth and if they die, they’ll die in their sin and be separated from You for eternity. God, place a burden on our hearts to seek out the lost, to share with the lost, and to be faithful in our task to be sent by You as ambassadors of Your gospel. We love You. We give You thanks and praise. It’s in Jesus’ name we pray. Amen