HOLY IS HE Isaiah 6:1-8 October 22, 2017 Dr. Howard K. Batson First Baptist Church Amarillo, Texas Alexander Pope said, so long ago, Know then thyself; presume not God to scan. The proper study of mankind is man. C. H. Spurgeon countered, however, that the proper study of God s people is God. It s the highest science, the loftiest speculation, the mightiest philosophy, the greatest thing you can ever do with your mind, your heart, your time, your effort, and your energy to know more about God. His nature. His person. His work. Contemplating the Divine One. In thinking about God, the subject is so vast that all of our thoughts are lost in the immensity. So deep that our pride is drowned in its infinity. All other subjects with which we grapple, we walk away thinking we re enlightened, we re in the know. When it comes to studying and knowing about God, there is no plumb line that can find its depth, no eye of an eagle that can see its height. Yet, despite the complexities and the enormity, God is the most important subject you ll ever contemplate. Do you want to walk around on earth, simply plodding the path before you, never asking the big questions Why am I here? Who has put me here? What is my purpose? What am I to do? What am I to be? Where am I to go? Who is my God? Thinking about God the Father, there is a quieting for every grief. In studying Christ, there is a soothing for every soul. In pondering the presence of the Holy Spirit there is a comfort for every wound. C. H. Spurgeon posed the question, Would you lose your sorrow, would you drown your cares? Then go plunge yourself in the Godhead s deepest sea. Be lost in His immensity. I know nothing which can so comfort the soul, so calm the swelling billows of sorrow and grief, so speak peace to the winds of trial, as devout musing upon the subject of God C. H. Spurgeon at 20 years of age (J. I. Packer, Knowing God, 1973). Isaiah s call comes in Chapter 6. It all began, he explains, in the year that King Uzziah died. Uzziah had ruled Judah for decades. Judah had known no other king like Uzziah since the time of Solomon. He d been an efficient administrator, an able military leader. Under his leadership, Judah had grown in every way (2 Chronicles 26:1-15). He had been a true king. How easy it must have been to focus one s hopes and trust upon a king like Uzziah. Now what? The king is dead. And Assyria, the enemy, is pushing closer and closer. Maybe Isaiah is saying something like this, In the year King Uzziah died, I had a vision of the true king. Uzziah had given the people a sense of strength and security. He had modernized the army, conquered the territory of Philistia, and led them to know more about agriculture. But now that
Uzziah was dead, they were like a sheep without a shepherd. And take one look at his son Jotham. He could never fill his daddy s shoes. It was that year the year that King Uzziah died that Isaiah was called to see another king, the king seated upon a throne. Even while Judah s throne was empty, heaven s throne was occupied occupied by the King of Glory. Judah s kings might come and go in an endless procession, but this king would reign for ever and ever and ever more. He was the king, and His throne was exalted above all earthly thrones. In fact, even Uzziah, who had been a good king, had become, at the end, arrogant. He had profaned the temple. He contracted leprosy and died in shame. With Uzziah gone, Isaiah s heart and head searched for another king, the true king. I saw the Sovereign, he says. Of course, the Hebrews normally believed that to see God was to die (Genesis 32:30; Exodus 19:21; 20:19; 33:20; Deuteronomy 18:16; Judges 13:22). And when he saw the Sovereign, what was He doing? Sitting on a throne. Look again at verse 1. This is what we call theophany an image of God. As we visualize this scene with Isaiah, as we read his report, we find ourselves on the raw edge of terror, staring where humanity dare not go. Isaiah was there, and, as readers of his text, Isaiah takes us with him. The veil is gone; Isaiah sees God clearly. He s looking at where the Ark of the Covenant should be. It s the great throne. And there is the absolute sovereignty of God. He alone is King. He is high and lifted up. God is seated high and towering on a throne. Isaiah, later, will give us another image of the loftiness of our Lord when he writes in Isaiah 40, verses 12 and following: Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, And marked off the heavens by the span, And calculated the dust of the earth by the measure, And weighed the mountains in the balance, And the hills in a pair of scales? Who has directed the spirit of the Lord, Or as His counselor has informed Him? With whom did He consult, and who gave Him understanding? And who taught Him in the path of justice and taught Him knowledge, And informed Him of the way of understanding? Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, And are regarded as a speck of dust on the scales; Behold, He lifts up the islands like fine dust... All nations are as nothing before Him, They are regarded by Him as less than nothing and meaningless. Take a glare at this globe. Look at the size of the world the variety and complexity of it. Think of the billions who make up mankind, who populate this planet. Look at the vast sky above it. What puny figures we are by comparison to the whole planet on which we live. And yet, what is
that entire planet in comparison to God? Isaiah 40:22 said, in harmony with Isaiah 6, God is high and lifted up. Isaiah 40:22 says, It is He who sits above the vault of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in. J. I. Packer says, The world dwarfs us, but God dwarfs the world. The world is His footstool, above which He sits secure. In Isaiah 40, the prophet stargazes looking at the myriad of heavenly bodies above. Lift up your eyes on high and see who has created these stars, the One who leads forth their host by number, He calls them all by name; because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power not one of them is missing (Isaiah 40:26). We gaze into the sky above and see the comets as they soar. Millions of stars in number, billions of light years in distance our minds reel; our imaginations cannot grasp it. The unfathomable depths of outer space - it s nothing to God. They re all numbered in His hand and subject to His will. This first thing I want you to see in Isaiah 6 this morning is I. Isaiah calls you to behold your God. That s what he says in Isaiah 6. Behold the Lord is seated on a throne, lofty and exalted. God is the center of this drama, with His robe filling the temple. When we see God in Exodus 24:10, it s the pavement under God s feet that is described. So here, the description of God s appearance can rise no further than the hem of His robe. Isaiah cannot bring forth the words to depict God Himself. We press the elders of Israel, and they tell us how blue the pavement is under His feet. Then we press Isaiah, and what does he tell us? His robe filled the temple. Of course it wasn t really the robe that filled the temple it was God that filled the temple. But there is a barrier beyond which the curious cannot penetrate. The experience for Isaiah is too personal, too awesome, too all-encompassing. It can t be merely reported. Each one of us must aspire on our own to experience His presence. Not only behold your God, but II. Isaiah calls you to behold the seraphim. Now Isaiah suddenly is aware not only of God Himself, but of other beings divine beings who are busy about the throne. The seraphim stood above God, each having six wings. With two, he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew (v. 2). These six-winged creatures occur only here in the Old Testament. Two cover his eyes, in deference to God s glory. Two cover his feet Oriental modesty. And two are used to fly, a symbol of readiness to serve.
They declare God s glory a three-fold repetition of Holy, Holy, Holy, emphasizing, ultimately, the uniqueness of the One on the throne. As sovereign as God is in Isaiah 6, it s not the primary revelation of God s character. First and foremost, it s the holiness of the Lord that Isaiah senses. His holiness is His moral character He is pure; He is complete. Holiness is the only attribute of God that is presented in Scripture in the superlative. It is holy, holy, holy, not love, love, love or justice, justice, justice. No, the only thrice repeated attribute is holy. Holy, Holy, Holy. The word holy comes from the Hebrew root which means to separate, to cut off. It is to say that God is holy; He is not like us. He is separate from all that is creaturely and sinful. He is Holy, the Other One. Hosea 11:9 says, For I am God, not man, the holy one in your midst. God is holy, and, yet, He is in our midst. Perhaps we dare to get too close sometimes. God s not a friend, a pal, to be placed in our own back pocket. But, He s not distant. As Hosea says, He is the God in our midst. He s not distant but He is different. He s other. These seraphim declare His nature. The root word for these creatures comes from the root word fiery or blazing. And fire is everywhere associated with God s holiness. The burning bush in Exodus 3 (see also Exodus 13:21; 19:18; Leviticus 10:1-2; Numbers 11:1-2; 1 Kings 18:24; Isaiah 6:6-7). In the book of Isaiah, the common title for God is the Holy One of Israel, occurring no less than 26 times. As these fiery creatures fly back and forth about the throne, singing one to another of God s incomparable, indescribable glory, their voices cause the doorways to shake. Their hymn was thunderous, rocking the great building to its foundations. Not only behold God and behold the seraphim, the fiery ones who praise God, finally III. Isaiah calls you to behold yourself. It s almost brutal. All of a sudden Isaiah becomes aware of himself. Isaiah 6:5, 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. Being exposed to God, Isaiah suddenly had a painful self-awareness. He was guilty before the God who was holy.
Edgar Allen Poe wrote the short story, The Telltale Heart. As always, Poe himself is the culprit in a violent scene. An old man who lives with him has a vulture-like eye with which Poe becomes obsessed. To escape the eye, Poe decides that he must kill the old man. So, in the dark of night, he enters the old man s room, lets a crack of light out of his lantern, and sees the vulture-like eye fixed upon him. The old man s heart begins to pound, faster and louder, as Poe toys with his victim. Then, when the old man screams, Poe smothers him with a pillow and makes sure that he is dead. To cover his crime, the murderer takes up the planks of the living room floor and buries his victim. Suddenly, there is a knock at the door. The police are there to check the report of a scream coming from the house. Poe explains that he himself screamed in a nightmare and invites them in for a spot of tea. As they sit in the living room, Poe places a chair directly over the body of his victim. The policemen smile and chat as they drink their tea. What s that? Poe hears a beat, muffled at first, and then rising to a staccato sound for all to hear. Louder and louder it grows, but still the officers smile and chat. Louder, louder, and LOUDER until Poe shrieks, Villains, dissemble no more! I admit the deed! tear up the planks here, here it is the beating of his hideous heart! Edgar Allen Poe comes close to a truth from which we cannot escape. As he sat in the presence of the officers, the imaginary beating of the telltale heart betrayed his guilt and exposed his sin. In the presence of the holy God, Isaiah s telltale heart also caused him to cry out, Woe is me, for I am undone. Because I am a man of unclean lips. (David McKenna, Mastering the Old Testament, Isaiah 1-39) When we come in contact with the holiness of God, we feel anguish for our sin. Translations give the cry various ways. Woe is me, I am undone (KJV). Another says, Woe is me, I am lost. Still another, Horrors, my doom is sealed. Whatever the cry, Isaiah is confessing that he is unworthy to join the seraphim in singing, Holy, Holy, Holy. Isaiah had never realized the depth of his sin and the depravity of his mind until he stood in the revealing light of God s holiness. And then, he was at once aware of the defilement of his lips and the lips of his people. His lips were unclean, like the flesh of a leper. I am a man of unclean lips. Can I translate that for you? I am a foul-mouthed sinner. There is no exception, no room for shifting the blame. Isaiah is saying he has no place in the presence of God, no right to praise God, and no authority to speak for God. He is a sinner. We all become victims of the theological bluff, the contemporary ruse that makes sin a nonfatal sickness for which someone else is responsible. I saw a little sign the other day that said, The wages of sin are death... That s right; that s what the Bible says. But the sign elaborated, The wages of sin are death, but by the time taxes are taken out, it s just sort of a tired feeling. (Paula Poundstone). The wages of sin are death, but by the time we rationalize our woeful behavior, we re not so bad after all. But Isaiah calls the bluff on himself and, thus, calls it on you. In the presence of the
holy Lord, we and we alone are responsible for the unclean lips that betray the sin of our heart. Watch now as one of those fiery creatures brings fire itself, bringing a burning coal which he d taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. He pressed this to Isaiah s lips, thus symbolizing the removal of Isaiah s guilt. There is no painless cure for sin. Forgiveness has always been secured at the price of suffering and death. Only the fire of God can take our guilt away, and only the white heat of the live coal from His altar can atone for our sins. This verse speaks of the depth of God s grace. Isaiah does not plead for mercy, nor does he make great vows if God will but deliver him. All the evidence makes it appear that he considers his case hopeless. Yet out of the smoke comes a seraph with a purifying coal. God does not reveal Himself to destroy us. Rather, God reveals Himself to us to redeem us. Our God is a consuming fire, and, with the coal, Isaiah is cleansed. The coal for us, of course, is the cross the price being no less than the life of the Son of God Himself. The depth, the totality, and the severity of our sin requires the violence of the cross, the heat of the coal, the purging of fire if our guilt is finally to be atoned. Verse 7. Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven. Isn t that what we all want to hear the words that Isaiah heard when he saw the image of the holy, holy, holy God? I can say those words today. Your sins are forgiven. The proclamation does not come by my power, but by the power of the one crucified and resurrected from the dead. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). I like that. If we confess our sins, He is faithful... And He forgives. I don t know what burden you carry today. I don t know what you ve done that s become your undoing. But I know that whatever it is, through the spilt blood of the Christ of the cross which is the hot coal of God s wrath you can be forgiven. Would you come today and bring your sin to the altar? Would you seek the freedom that can only come through forgiveness? Romans 6:6 says, [For we know] that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin. Would you come to the cross today? Would you let His death be your death, his cross your coal, that you can stand for eternity in the presence of a holy and righteous God? Not because of who you are, but because of who He is. Not because of what you ve done or undone with your sin, but because of what He s accomplished through the cross.
The real climax of this passage, perhaps, comes in verses 8-9. Then 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! He said, Go, and tell this people... The touch of the burning coal had made him a new man. To his vision of God, of himself, of the redeeming grace, there was now an added further vision the vision of a world in need of his ministry. The consequence of his being cleansed and forgiven was something unique. Instead of pleading his inadequacies, like a Moses or a Jeremiah, he volunteered to be sent. And even before he knew the nature of his mission, he was so overwhelmed with a sense of gratitude that he was willing to place himself completely in God s hands. God had taken care of his past, and he trusted God would take care of his future. Here am I, send me. How do you see yourself? When you look in the mirror, what do you see? Sometimes it s hard to look yourself in the eye in the mirror, isn t it? Maybe you see a composite of all your failures. Even though we can t see beyond our failures, isn t it good to know that God has a new way of seeing us? God doesn t see people as they are; God sees people as they can be, through the cross. The cross has touched our lips, and we have been forgiven. You re a parent. You re a father, a mother. Can you imagine introducing your children, This is my daughter, Megan, who stained our carpet with grape juice when she was two. Or, This is my son, Miles, who broke that valuable vase last week. Loving fathers don t have a need to memorize their children s failures. And know, through the cost of the cross, the heavenly Father has no use for such memories either. Did He not say in Hebrews 8:12, For I will forgive their wickedness, and I will remember their sins no more. Or Isaiah 43:25, I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake, and I will not remember your sins. (Max Lucado, Love For the Least) And then we can go, seeing ourselves in God s grace, and serve His kingdom. What about you today? Do you dare come into this place, this sacred space, to find the sovereign God? Have you seen the King high and lifted up, the whole place full of His glory? Do you listen as the choir sings, shadowing the seraphim, Holy, Holy, Holy is He. The whole earth is full of His glory. And do you call out for a hot coal to touch your lips the Christ on the cross, whose blood is shed that you might be spared, called clean by God. It s all so serious, so eternal, so essential. Study whatever you want to study, but nothing is more important than knowing God, high and lifted up. Holy, holy, holy is He. Let us pray. Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of Hosts. The whole earth is full of His glory.