Isaiah 7:14, Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.

Transcription

1 Sermon #1127 The Terror of the Lord Religious confusion rules in our age. Some followers of Christ rely on their own spiritual intuition and credit these ideas to the Father, Son, or the Holy Spirit; others select pet Scriptures to support a religious agenda to the exclusion of other Scriptures that clarify the truth. In this environment, it is crucial to do as you may notice we do on Let the Bible Speak -- to reiterate the Apostle Paul s teaching in 2 Timothy 3:16-17, All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. Clearly, we see from this passage the critical role of ALL Scripture; of course, no book is less important than any other. Meanwhile, though, have you read the book of Isaiah lately? While it is an Old Testament book, the books sixty-six chapters contain many key Bible passages. Isaiah 1:18, " Come now, and let us reason together, Says the LORD, Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool. Isaiah 7:14, Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel. Isaiah 9:6, For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Isaiah 40:31, But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint. Then amidst a string of rousing Messianic prophecies, we find in Isaiah 53:5, But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. Isaiah 55:8-9, For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways," says the LORD. "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 61:1, The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, Because the LORD has anointed Me To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound; This morning, we want to go back to a passage that will help us lay a foundation for a largely neglected biblical theme a biblical theme that is essential truly for knowing God the Terror of the Lord. First, though, we have a song Queen Elizabeth II at age 91 is the longest reigning British monarch at sixty-five years. Can you imagine the reaction of her passing? No doubt, it will devastate the people as they endure 1

2 The Terror of the Lord by Brett Hickey, sermon # of 6 extensive mourning. That s where Isaiah finds himself after King Uzziah dies after reigning over God s people for fifty-two years. Here we see the great majesty of God through the eyes of the man of God in Isaiah 6:1-10, 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. Although his spiritual leadership was mixed, King Uzziah s 8 th century BC rule had been prosperous militarily. Now the King died and Isaiah and his peers are overwhelmed with uncertainly about their future. Would the king s twenty-five year old son, Jotham, manage well his new responsibilities? The sight God gives Isaiah must have given him great assurance. He sees the true king of Israel sitting on the throne the Lord of hosts! The message: earthly power fades; eternal power flourishes forever. The Apostle John writes of Jesus triumphal entry into Jerusalem as the fulfillment of prophecies from Psalm 118:26 and Zechariah 9:9, Fear not, daughter of Zion; Behold, your King is coming, Sitting on a donkey's colt." Repeatedly in the same chapter, John writes of Jesus being glorified. After quoting Isaiah 6:10 regarding the Jews unbelief, John writes, These things Isaiah said when he saw His glory and spoke of Him. This clearly shows that the King that Isaiah sees in Isaiah 6:1 is Christ Himself! While we can envy the magnitude of Isaiah experience here, he would covet the opportunity we have to see the full expression of Jesus life, miracles, teachings, death, burial, and resurrection conveyed in the gospels. Surely, Isaiah would have preferred to live under the new covenant in Christ. Alexander Maclaren makes a comforting point for us to remember as we go through troubles and trials: If the throne of Israel had not been empty, he would not have seen the throned God in the heavens. And so it is with all our losses, with all our sorrows, with all our disappointments, with all our pains (oh, how badly they sting, don t they? BH); they have a mission to reveal to us the throned God. The possessions of the things that are taken away from us, the joys which our sorrows smite into dust, have the same mission, and the highest purpose of every good, of every blessing, of every possession, of every gladness, of all love the highest mission is to lead us to Him.When the gifts that we have misused are withdrawn, we can see the heaven that they too often hide from us. When the leaves drop there is a wider prospect. When the great tree is fallen there is opened a view of the blue above. When the night falls the stars sparkle. When other props are struck away we can lean our whole weight upon God. When Uzziah dies the King becomes visible. Is that what our sorrows, our pains, losses, disappointments do for us?...in them all our Father is saying to us, Seek ye my face. Let us take care that we do not waste our griefs and sorrows. They absorb us sometimes with vain regrets. They jaundice and embitter us sometimes with rebellious thoughts. [Our griefs and sorrows] often break the springs of activity and of interest in others, and of sympathy with others. But their true intention is to draw back the thin curtain, and to show us the things that are, the realities of the throned God, the skirts that fill the Temple, the hovering seraphim, and the coal from the altar that purges. 2

3 The Terror of the Lord by Brett Hickey, sermon # of 6 Let s back up. As a descendant of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Isaiah knew about Jehovah the Holy One of Israel, but now Isaiah REALLY knows Him. Isaiah was human; Isaiah was flawed, but God recognizes something special that went down to his very core. In a world of hypocrisy and religious compromise, God sees Isaiah as a man of conviction a man who would stand for right even if it meant standing alone. God can still see the diamonds sparkle when surrounded by charred coal; God can see the potential in you no matter your background, your history, your environment. They claimed to be God s people; but it was an ugly, shameful time for Israel; God needed a voice of integrity; He needed a man who could take the heat. The Bible says in Isaiah 1:1-3, 9, The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth! For the LORD has spoken: "I have nourished and brought up children, And they have rebelled against Me; The ox knows its owner And the donkey its master's crib; But Israel does not know, My people do not consider. 9Unless the LORD of hosts Had left to us a very small remnant, We would have become like Sodom, We would have been made like Gomorrah. Next, God soundly refutes the idea that God receives worship from those living double lives. He wants none of it; He rejects it. Isaiah 1:10-15, Hear the word of the LORD, You rulers of Sodom; Give ear to the law of our God, You people of Gomorrah: "To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me?" Says the LORD. "I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams And the fat of fed cattle. I do not delight in the blood of bulls, Or of lambs or goats. "When you come to appear before Me, Who has required this from your hand, To trample My courts? Bring no more futile sacrifices; Incense is an abomination to Me. The New Moons, the Sabbaths, and the calling of assemblies--i cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting. Your New Moons and your appointed feasts My soul hates; They are a trouble to Me, I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands, I will hide My eyes from you; Even though you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood. The bleak picture, the dark clouds unveil God s disgust and disappointment; God saw in Israel s behavior Sodom and Gomorrah resurrected in His people. The prodigal here was not a man, but a nation. The worship that once honored and pleased the Holy One of Israel, now repulses Him. God says, No more sacrifices; no more worship! Only a very small remnant, like Lot in Sodom and Noah in an earlier age swim against the current of corruption. The Lord says in Isaiah 1:21 that the nation that once typified wholesomeness now lives as a harlot. The Mighty One of Israel readies Himself for housecleaning. Isaiah 2:10, Enter into the rock, and hide in the dust, From the terror of the LORD And the glory of His majesty. He warns of the terror of the Lord again in Isaiah 2:19 and 21. Listen. Does this not sound familiar? Isaiah 3:8-9, For Jerusalem stumbled, And Judah is fallen, Because their tongue and their doings Are against the LORD, To provoke the eyes of 3

4 The Terror of the Lord by Brett Hickey, sermon # of 6 His glory. The look on their countenance witnesses against them, And they declare their sin as Sodom; They do not hide it. Woe to their soul! For they have brought evil upon themselves. Doesn t this remind you of the U.S? And again, Isaiah 5:11-12, Woe to those who rise early in the morning, That they may follow intoxicating drink; Who continue until night, till wine inflames them! The harp and the strings, The tambourine and flute, And wine are in their feasts; But they do not regard the work of the LORD, Nor consider the operation of His hands. The Lord makes it clear, however, that there is a price to pay; judgment is surely coming. Isaiah 3:16, 24, Moreover the LORD says: Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, And walk with outstretched necks And wanton eyes. 24And so it shall be: Instead of a sweet smell there will be a stench; Instead of well-set hair, baldness; Instead of a rich robe, a girding of sackcloth; And branding instead of beauty. Again, we see the terror of the Lord, Isaiah 5:24-25a, Therefore, as the fire devours the stubble, And the flame consumes the chaff, So their root will be as rottenness, And their blossom will ascend like dust; Because they have rejected the law of the LORD of hosts, And despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. Therefore the anger of the LORD is aroused against His people; He has stretched out His hand against them And stricken them, And the hills trembled. Their carcasses were as refuse in the midst of the streets. The Lord is hurt, and angry, and disturbed, but He still longs for their return. He loves them so He loves us so but they then and we today must return His love. Isaiah 5:25b, For all this His anger is not turned away, But His hand is stretched out still. He loves them so, but He is holy and must reinforce His boundaries. Now back to Isaiah s call to be a prophet and the Mighty One of Israel s majesty and holiness. We see in Isaiah 6:2, above the throne of Christ, two seraphim or angels. 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. We find the word seraphim nowhere else in Scripture. These angels do not resemble those commonly seen in artistic renderings on canvas or in curio shops; these angels project power and awe. Hear Macculloch, on the six wings of the seraphim: We cannot look at the sun shining with meridian splendour, but we are obliged to cover our eyes with our hands. Such is the infinite glory of the eternal Jehovah, that celestial spirits around His throne appeared to our prophet covering their faces with their wings. Light inaccessible and full of glory, in which God resides, was too strong for them directly to contemplate. Now hear the Hebrew scholar, Delitszch, on the identity of seraphim which literally means fiery ones : [T]he seraphim were the vehicles and media of the fire of divine love, just as the cherubim in Ezekiel are vehicles and media of the fire of divine wrath. For just as the case before us, a seraph takes the fire of love from the alter; so there, in Ezekiel 10:6-7, a cherub takes the fire of wrath form the throne-chariot. Consequently the cherubim appear as the vehicles and the media of the wrath which destroys sinners, or rather of the divine doxa, with its fiery side turned to the world; and the seraphim as the vehicles and media of the love that destroys sin 4

5 The Terror of the Lord by Brett Hickey, sermon # of 6 The sight of the fiery seraphim alone is sufficient to strike terror in the heart of Isaiah even though they are nothing compared to the King of Kings. Now, amazing sound complements the phenomenal sight. Isaiah 6:3-4, 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. The words that shook the doors reinforced the prophets feelings of insignificance and sinfulness. Isaiah 6:5, 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." The prophet is the most godly man on the planet and yet unhesitatingly declares his unworthiness of this moment. I am undone can also be translated, I perish. I am cut off. Why? He declares his own sinfulness with the term unclean lips and throws in the fact that the same unworthiness is found in all of his people. He knows not what to do. He knows no escape. And then Isaiah 6:6, 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. What horror must have filled Isaiah s heart as this strange looking, fiery creature flies toward him with a white-hot coal. Surely, he expects death at any moment. Closer and closer he comes to the prophet. Isaiah 6:7, And he touched my mouth with it [the coal], and said: "Behold, this has touched your lips; Your iniquity is taken away, And your sin purged." Not only does Isaiah live, but he is pronounced forgiven. The prophet knows the terror of the Lord and is empowered to live godly and fulfill the great task before him. When we think of the character and attributes of God, we think of love! After all, 1 John 4:16, God IS love. However, we emphasize the love of God to the exclusion of His holiness, we present a warped picture of God. God is 100 percent love, but He is also 100 percent holiness. God is love, but we never read of God, loving, loving, loving. God is forgiving, but the Bible never says, forgiving, forgiving, forgiving. God is merciful, but Scripture never reads, merciful, merciful, merciful. The Scripture DOES say, Holy, holy, holy, likely pointing to the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit while emphasizing the great holiness of God. When we know God s holiness, we understand His high standards and it should strike fear, reverence, and awe in our hearts. The Bible is filled with this image. Knowing this about God, helps us reject temptation and motivates us to promote the good news and persuade others to dedicate their lives to God. 2 Corinthians 5:10-11, For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men 5

6 The Terror of the Lord by Brett Hickey, sermon # of 6 Joseph Thayer says in his Greek-English Lexicon that the word terror here comes from a Greek word, phobos that is defined, fear, dread, terror; that which strikes terror. In the King James Version it is translated fear forty-one times and terror three times. In the New American Standard Bible it is also translated intimidation, respect, reverence, and sense of awe. Each of these words appropriately describe how man should view God. The word persuade comes from the Greek word peitho. Thayer explains that the word means to induce one by words to believe...or to do something to listen to, obey, yield to, comply with My son, Joey Hickey, wrote, Hope is the expectation that we will be rewarded in the next life for serving Him; fear of the Lord is the expectation that the lost and airing will be punished for not serving Him. Solomon concludes his investigation of life s purpose in Ecclesiastes 12:13, Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man's all. This is what life is all about? Do you fear God? Are you keeping his commandments? Have you obeyed the gospel? Come to Jesus and adopt the spirit of the prophet Isaiah who says in Isaiah 6:8, "Here am I! Send me." If you would like a copy of this message, stay with us and we ll tell you how to do so, after our song Thank you for watching Let the Bible Speak. If you d like a copy of The Terror of the Lord (#1127), please write or call us. Sign up for our free Bible study course to complete at home. In some markets where the program airs, our new Bible course is available. You will be gratified by how much you learn about fundamental Bible truths including those oft critical truths neglected in the modern superficial religious environment. Visit LetTheBibleSpeak.com to watch videos, hear podcasts and review transcripts of the program. Finally, we echo the sentiment of the apostle Paul when he wrote in Romans 16:16, the churches of Christ salute you. Until next week, goodbye and God bless. Are you searching for the truth of God's word and have a sincere desire to learn about the Bible? Do you want to know what the Bible says about salvation and about Christ and His church? If you are looking for Bible Founded discussion on these topics and many others, then please accept this invitation to explore "Let the Bible Speak" and then contact us for additional studies. We are members of the church of Christ as found in the New Testament. We are not members of a denomination or earthly religious organization. We are a brotherhood of believers, joined by a common bond, Jesus Christ. We try to live and worship following the patterns found in the New Testament. (For manuscripts of other sermons visit: COPYRIGHT Let The Bible Speak. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. IMPORTANT COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Express permission is granted to distribute any video, audio, or transcript of any broadcast message as long as the material is: unedited and attribution is given to Let The Bible Speak; a hyperlink to LetTheBibleSpeak.com is included for electronic distribution; a text reference is included to for printed distribution; and the original author receives attribution. An irrevocable, world-wide, royalty free license for distribution is granted as long as such distribution has the intent of: supporting the truth as presented; giving glory and honor to God; and spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ. 6