AUTHENTIC HOLINESS ISAIAH 6:1-8

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1 AUTHENTIC HOLINESS ISAIAH 6:1-8 Introduction We live in a Photoshop society. What does that mean? We live in a time where magazines, billboards, computer ads, TV commercials, and even personal photos attempt to alter our view of reality. Graphic designers use Photoshop on their computers to make girls look skinner, guys look more muscular, skin look clearer, and so on. The average person can even use Photoshop to make their profile pictures look better. We don t know what s real anymore. Everything is counterfeit. This idea has also crept into the church. Today in the American Church, we have counterfeit holiness. When it comes down to it, we re kind of afraid of the very word holy. It s used in phrases like holier than thou, which seems to paint a picture of a legalistic person. This is a person no one really wants to be around. Holy is also a common adjective used before one s cuss word of choice. Therefore, we don t use the word that often and when we do we use it wrong. In the same way, we are afraid of offending the visitor or unbeliever by talking about God s holiness. So instead we create a different definition of holiness a counterfeit holiness. This type of fake holiness surrounds us so much so that we wouldn t know what to do if something of genuine holiness popped up. God is above all holy, but he has a history of being rejected by man when he pops up, starting with Adam and leading up to the ultimate rejection of Christ by his own people. However, there are many great examples in scripture of man responding to God s holiness. We re going to look at one today, found in Isaiah 6. The first eight verses of this chapter do an excellent job of showing us how man should respond to God s holiness. Background Information Open your Bibles to Isaiah 6. We re only going to looks at Isaiah 6:1-8. Before we begin, some background information on the nation of Israel will help us see the full context of this passage. At this time, Israel was divided, split in two. The northern kingdom had split from the southern kingdom. Isaiah served as a prophet in the southern kingdom, or Judah. This part of Israel was surely not at its worst during this time, but they were definitely turning away from God. They had misplaced their trust in neighboring nations, which would soon come around to really harm them after the death of their king, Uzziah. So, they were in conflict with themselves and in conflict with surrounding nations. Does this sound familiar? American isn t too far off. In all of this, Isaiah s ministry involved calling Judah to repent and turn back to God, which is unquestionably what we need today. As we begin Isaiah 6, we see that Isaiah has a clear crisis on his hands. Here s what we should look for as we study this text. Subject - What is Isaiah s response when he encounters God s holiness?

2 Reading of the Text In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called to another and said: Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory! 4 And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. 5 And I said: Woe is me! For I am lost; for 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! 6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 And he touched my mouth and said: Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for. 8 And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then I said, Here I am! Send me. Thesis When it comes down to it, we re looking at three major responses that Isaiah had when we came face to face, so to speak, with the authentic holiness of God. Isaiah responds first with glory, second with guilt, and third with gratitude. First Compliment Isaiah Responds in Glory Right off the bat, Isaiah is in awe at the heavenly vision that God gives him. He paints us a glorious picture of God seated on his throne. This is not like the earthly throne of Uzziah, who he mentions. This is a throne unlike any other that Isaiah has ever seen. He mentions that this throne of the Lord is high and lifted up. So God is not only high above all others, but he is lifted up, which seems to suggest He rules over all other thrones. Not only that, but the train of his robe filled the temple. It s everywhere! The entire temple is filled with it! Now, this image isn t all too unfamiliar for us. You ve all been to a wedding before, right? The bride is the obvious focal point of the ceremony. Her dress probably costs more than everyone else s in the room combined, right? I m sure you ve seen all kinds of wedding dresses even ones will long trains. These are the ones that usually have a bridesmaid carrying the long extended flowing piece of fabric that follows behind the bride-to-be. You ve all seen this, but have you seen one where the flowing back end of the dress fills the entire church? Imagine every aisle, every window,

3 and every part of that sanctuary overflowing with that train. We d all be blown away. The bride has total command and attention of the room. That s a little more what Isaiah was going through when he saw God s train. This clearly displays his divine authority and majesty. Isaiah had no choice but to stand in awe. He s undoubtedly also struck with awe when he observes the angels that were surrounding the throne. These angels are described as having six wings. Isaiah describes one of the seraphim: he says, with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. Does that seem a little strange to you? The angel only needs two wings to fly, so why does it have the other four? It s using more than half of its wings to do something that wings weren t designed for! That would be like a cheetah only using one leg to run, or a dolphin only using its side fins to swim. The angels were doing this on purpose. They were taking a humble posture before God. The majestic presence of the Lord humbled them. Not only that, but also these beings were exclaiming holy holy holy over and over again. The repetition of this word suggests complete or supreme holiness, which is something that s truly beyond human comprehension, so by repeating it three times there is a sense of transcendence. God s holiness is unlike any kind of holiness that you can imagine. The angels also sing that the whole earth is full of his glory. So, the worship also connects with the previous image of God s train filling the temple. The glory of the Lord is not something that can be contained, but it s something that fills the whole earth. This probably conflicted with the standard Israelite worldview, which held that God was confined to their land. In that case, this sight clearly shattered Isaiah s worldview if in fact he believed God to be limited like the rest of his people most likely believed. So, Isaiah is showing us a bigger picture of what he was experiencing. Not only was he in God s presence, which was filling the temple, he was joined by worshipping angels who were worshipping the Lord whose glory fills the entire earth. Isaiah was surely awestruck in this phenomenal scene of worship. Finally, we see that the scene involved a certain level of intensity. It says that the foundations of the threshold shook because of how loud the worship was and that the house was filled with smoke. I don t know what you would do in that situation, but I think I would be scared out of my mind. I ve only been in one minor earthquake before. It felt like I was standing on one of those wrangling ropes that cowboys use and the cowboy was snapping the rope. The floor rumbled and the foundation shook, but nothing broke and I was left feeling more confused than anything. This vision of Isaiah was a lot more forceful. Imagine the very sound of worship rumbling the foundations of this building. While this is happening, imagine this room completely filling with smoke. Usually people run away at sights like these, but not Isaiah. What s more, smoke in the Old Testament sometimes was a sign of God s presence, but most of the time it was associated with divine judgment. Something big was about to go down, yet Isaiah stayed put. He had every reason to leave: earthquake, smoke, judgment but he stayed there, in awe. Overall, authentic holiness causes shock in those who are exposed to it.

4 Application 1 When we look at this passage we can t help but wonder what we would have done in that situation. Would your worldview of God be shattered? Would you stand silently in awe? Would you run away? I honestly might have! More often than not, when my parents were about to punish me or bring some heavy judgment upon me, I would avoid it at all costs. When my dad would move his hand into the spanking position, I would wiggle away or put my hand in the way. When my dad would catch me in a lie, I d try to lie my way out of it or blame others. That s not what Isaiah did. God s authentic holiness caused him to change. He went from doing whatever he was doing, to standing in complete wonderment before the God of the universe. Transition - He stood there in awe of God s glory, and as we re about to see, he also admitted his guilt as he gazed upon the holiness of God. Second Compliment Isaiah responded with guilt After seeing what he saw, Isaiah says: Woe is me! First, authentic holiness caused shock and awe, and then it caused conviction. Let s remember, this was a prophet of God. This was God s man. Yet, he responds to God s holiness with an awareness of his own sin. Woe is me. That s conviction. He is self-conscious. He is utterly humbled. He even says that he is a man of unclean lips. He is admitting his guilt before a holy God. The holiness of God penetrated him and showed him his faults. This was no doubt painful. W.B. Yeats once said, It takes more courage to examine the dark corners of your own soul than it does for a soldier to fight on a battlefield. When you stand before a holy, pure, undefiled God with your baggage and your sin, it sticks out, it s painfully obvious. It s kind of like smiling next to the color white. Have you ever done this? Maybe this happened in a picture or in real-time. You smile and the color of your teeth looks kind of yellow or dull compared to something that is very white or bright nearby. You can t really tell when you re by yourself. You might even think you have nice teeth. However, when you hold something pure and white next to it you start to look like the before picture in those teeth whitening commercials. Nobody wants that! The point is: when you compare something that is supposed to be pure to something that is actually pure, there is a stark contrast. This was Isaiah, but multiplied by a million. His sin was absolutely apparent to him. He was changed into a man full of conviction for his sin. He also feels the guilt for the sins of his people. He says, I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. I think that situation was probably a little clearer to him than his own sin, but maybe not. Israel clearly had some problems, but they were still God s people. Surely they weren t that bad. Well, Isaiah admits that they are way worse off than they might think. So, we see here that the burden of sin that Isaiah carries is not just for himself, but also for his people. It s not just about his sin, but also about the sin of his entire nation. He feels a sense of responsibility for the moral well being of his people. He is concerned for them. This idea has been popularized in recent years by the mainstream success of super hero movies. The hero must rise up and battle his own demons so that he can save the city. The hero feels responsible, whether it s Batman in Gotham City,

5 Superman in Metropolis, or Spider-man in New York. They feel a burden for their people. In this sense, Isaiah was an Ancient Hebrew Superhero. He felt the weight of responsibility on his shoulders. Altogether, authentic holiness causes personal as well as corporate conviction. Application 2 Try to empathize with Isaiah. Wrap your head around his situation. He has been given this heavenly, spectacular vision of God that shocked him to his core. His only responses so far involve shock and conviction for his own sin as well as the sin of his people. He felt the weight of his sin. He also felt the deep spiritual need of his fellow Israelites. Do you feel that today? Does the holiness of God move you to a place of conviction and confession? Do you try and hide your sin? Is it swept under a rug? Maybe you deal with your sin like a child deals with clutter in their room. I don t know if you were like me growing up. When my parents would tell me to clean my room I would just shove every loose item under my bed. Is that you today? Do you feel the weight of your sin, or do you pretend like it s not there. Just like Isaiah, we can t really hide it when we stand before a holy God. Authentic holiness causes us to be aware of our sin, but also, like Isaiah, it can also put a burden on our hearts for the sins of our people. Do you feel a burden for people in this country to know the holiness of God? The more you think about it, the heavier your burden should get. It s truly overwhelming. So far, Isaiah went from a man standing in awe of God to a man fully convicted by God. Transition - Isaiah was surely overwhelmed by guilt and was devastated about his spiritual state. Fortunately, God responds to Isaiah s problem, which we ll see as we keep reading. Third Compliment Isaiah responds with gratitude Isaiah 6:6-7 says: Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 And he touched my mouth and said: Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for. This is truly amazing! Isaiah s confession of his sin in the previous verse was followed by a gracious act of God. There is a remedy! There is a solution! God cleansed Isaiah s guilt. He sent one of the angels to Isaiah with a burning coal, which would have been a familiar symbol from the ceremonies to atone for sin in the earthly temple. This was the heavenly temple! God himself sent an angelic servant to perform the ritual of atonement to Isaiah. Unbelievable! Truly, this is climax of the passage. God s love, grace, and mercy are all in focus here. Isaiah didn t deserve anything, other than the woe that he put on himself. Still, God reached out to him. He fully pardoned him. This would be the same as you standing guilty before a good judge in a courtroom. You actually plead guilty because of the devastating amount of evidence against you, but the judge takes your rap sheet and hands you a new record of innocence. What? Why would he do that? The judge just transformed that criminal from a man destined for a well-earned punishment, to a completely free man. Completely free! How would a criminal respond to something like that, knowing and accepting the weight of their guilt? How would you respond? First, we need to understand how Isaiah responded, which we ll see in the final verse.

6 This passage concludes with Isaiah s response to God. Before the scene closes, God lays a mission before Isaiah. He says: Who will go for me? This is probably referring to the problem that Isaiah realized earlier, that of the nation s overwhelming guilt. There was a clear lack of holiness in Israel. God was establishing the need for someone to show this to his people. Astonishingly, it seems like Isaiah responds immediately when he says those famous words: Here am I! Send me! He takes God s mission as his own. He s been exposed to the holiness of God, convicted of his own sin, redeemed from his sin, and now given an opportunity to show his thanks towards God. Isaiah didn t know how long this mission would take, where he would have to go, what he would have to do, how difficult it would be, but he volunteered anyway! Think about that! He didn t say, I ll go if I have success or I ll go if the conditions are right. He was willing to spend the rest of his life in service to God, no matter what. God didn t have to force Isaiah; He merely presented the mission and Isaiah took it up as his own. D. A. Carson interprets the situation like this: God here shares with the prophet the critical significance of his ministry. Sinful Israel has come to the point where one more rejection of the truth will finally confirm them for inevitable judgment. The dilemma of the prophet is that there is no way of saving the sinner but by the very truth whose rejection will condemn him utterly. Isaiah was going to be rejected, because Isaiah s mission was to expose the people to their sin and to the holiness of God. Still, he jumps at the opportunity with joy! He is willing to go through suffering in order to serve God. Through and through, authentic holiness led Isaiah to a joyful response of service. Application 3 How many of us are willing to have that kind of attitude? Sure, we re willing to admit that we re sinners and we re willing to accept God s forgiveness, but how many of us live our life with the type of attitude that says yes to God no matter what consequences come about. We like to play it safe. We like to know what we re up against before we say yes. I m totally guilty of this. I m the type of person who has to weigh their options fully before making a decision. I never jump right in. Are you that way? Sure, that s not a bad thing, necessarily, but when it comes to serving God I think you are probably like me. You error on the side of playing it safe. For that reason, we re afraid to expose ourselves to the holiness of God, to really get a clear picture of our spiritual condition and the spiritual condition of others in light of how awesome and perfect he is, because we re afraid that he might tell us to do something about it! That s the society we live in. That s you and that s me. Transition - So what do you do now? Conclusion You must respond. Isaiah 6:1-8 gives us an awesome example of what to do. We have to expose ourselves to the authentic holiness of God. We have to stand in glory. We have to admit guilt and be aware of our sins. We have to respond to God joyfully in gratitude. The prophet was totally changed when he was exposed to authentic holiness. You saw a total transformation: one from awe and conviction to one of forgiveness and eagerness. Simply put, you need to expose ourselves to the authentic holiness of God on a regular basis. God s holiness is clearly revealed to you in scripture. Do you spend enough time in

7 awe of God? You cannot take it for granted. You have to see God for who He really is, and respond. You can t turn God into someone he s not. You cannot Photoshop God. Ask yourself. Have you photoshopped God? Have you photoshopped Him into a God who is okay with the TV Shows you watch, the talking heads on CNN or Fox News that you listen to more than you listen to God? Or how long you watch TV? Have you photoshopped Him into a God who is okay with the things you look at online, or the things you post online, or the time you spend online? Have you photoshopped Him into a God who is okay with your secret sins? No. We must know God authentically, in his true holiness. I challenge you to expose yourself to God. Exposing yourself to God might be painful, but it s what you need to do. Look at Isaiah. The encounter was so eye opening and life changing for him that he responded to God with a focused attitude of joy. Don t you want that? Don t you want to have true joy? Don t you want to do something meaningful with your life? You can expose yourself to God s holiness today: through prayer, through personal study of His Word. Don t shy away. Don t leave it for another time. Do it today. Authentic holiness is not distant. It s here now, and if you let it, it will change your life. Expose yourself to God. Respond to God. See how He changes you.