The Holiness of God

Context

Taken place in the second half of 8th century BC. The first five chapters of Isaiah are about the judgement of Judah and Israel. The reason why there are two names here is because in the time of Solomon, Israel was being disobedient and were not united and therefore God split Israel into two kingdoms, mainly Judah and Israel. These 5 chapters tell us about God preparing them for judgement. Then we get to Isaiah 6, our reading for tonight. This chapter is about God calling Isaiah to ministry before the judgement happens that was mentioned in the first 5 chapters. Verse 1 has set us up with some context of when Isaiah’s vision here was taking place. It shows us that Isaiah’s vision has taken place in the year that King Uzziah died. Uzziah was the king of Judah and during his kingship, Judah and Israel had 50 years of prosperity until they sinned and forsook the Lord. Uzziah died to leprosy, which happened because he mocked the Lord. The death of Uzziah marked the end of the prosperous time in the two kingdoms because of their sin. So chapter 6 happens before the two kingdoms got taken over by Assyria which would happen around Chapter 36 of Isaiah. Isaiah’s vision here in chapter 6 starts with him seeing the Lord upon a throne, high and lifted up. A question that we may ask is how does the Father show Himself when scripture tells us that He is Spirit and is not able to be seen by human eyes? The explanation can be found in John 12:41 “Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him [Jesus].” So who Isaiah is seeing here is the pre-incarnate Jesus which shows Jesus’ divinity. Isaiah clearly refers to the person he saw as the Lord and John says that Jesus is being spoken about, therefore Jesus is the Lord here. So, Isaiah is seeing the very throne room of the Lord and just the hem of God’s robe filled the temple, a hem of something is small piece of it. This is showing God’s holiness because the temple was a holy place and the small piece of the robe of God filled the whole place. This part also shows God’s authority because this verse gives the picture of a judge and king on a throne and this should bring us to submission to the Lord who deserves our submission and surrendering. In verse 2, Isaiah stood underneath the Seraphim, the seraphim are angelic creatures that were of great power and importance. The word Seraphim literally means “burning ones” and it most likely points to their burning in love for God and who He is. These creatures have 6 wings which most likely signifies a mystery in which God did not want to be shown. With 2 of their wings, they shielded their eyes mainly because the greatness, brilliance, and holiness of God were so great that they couldn’t even look. They use another pair of wings to cover their feet which shows their submission towards God. This should be how we react to the greatness of God, it should bring us to utter submission to Him and His holiness. Are you living a life that shows that you are submitted to the Lord? The seraphim couldn’t even look at the Lord and they are so great of angelic creatures, how much more so with sinners like us shall we show submission? In verse 3, we see the seraphim praising God for his holiness. These angels give a great example that we should also follow. We should continually praise the Lord in song and in our actions. Are you continually praising the Lord? Praising the Lord is not to be done only in the church building, I am not saying worshipping at church isn’t important, it is very important for us to worship with other brothers and sisters in Christ; but we also should worship the Lord every day with how we live. You may not feel like worshipping but that does not make God less deserving of it, God deserves worship no matter what we feel or where we are at. We should also see the content of their worship of God. These seraphim called God Holy, Holy, Holy. This shows also that we should worship in truth, our worship should not compromise truth for entertainment. Now, The definition of holy is “pertaining to being unique and pure in the sense of superior moral qualities and possessing certain essential divine qualities in contrast with what is human.” Philip Graham Ryken says this about the holiness of God “Holiness means separation. Something holy is set apart. In the case of God, holiness means He is set apart from everything He has made. Holiness is not simply His righteousness (although that is part of it), but also His otherness. It is the distinction between the Creator and the creature, the infinite distance between God’s divinity and our humanity.” God is set apart from us, we cannot comprehend God’s holiness because that is how holy he really is, no sinful creature will be able to understand how holy the Lord God truly is. Notice also that they say Holy, Holy, Holy and not just Holy. This further emphasizes the Lord’s “otherness” from His creation and this also shows the importance of this attribute of God, we should dwell on the Holiness of God continually because He rightly deserves to be praised for being Holy. Verses 4 and 5 both give us the reaction to the Holiness of God. We see that the entire building started shaking and smoking up due to the voices of the seraphim. The smoke most likely refers to the presence of God like the cloud when the Israelites were wandering through the wilderness. Then we see Isaiah’s reaction to what he saw. He says in Isaiah 6:5 “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!” The first thing that we notice is his acknowledgement of himself. He finds himself to be a lost man and his lips were unclean, a prophets lips were very important in their ministerial duties since they proclaimed what God revealed to them. This part of the verse brings a great lesson that we can learn: God’s holiness brings us to a right knowledge of who we are, and who we are are sinners. God’s holiness caused Isaiah to acknowledge his sin. John Calvin puts it this way: “men are never duly touched and impressed with a conviction of their insignificance, until they have contrasted themselves with the majesty of God.” Isaiah saw God for who God was “Holy, Holy, Holy.” One author has this to say about knowing God “True Worship and true wisdom comes not through an exercise in autonomous introspection but by presenting ourselves humbly to the living God. The knowledge of God and of ourselves grow within this fellowship: We can never properly understand ourselves if we attempt to do this apart from God.” Whenever we try to understand ourselves without God then we will have a false view of ourselves. We are usually biased towards ourselves, thinking we are better than what we really are. One analogy is that of the sun rising in the morning. At night we cannot see too well and we have no clue where we are stepping, but when the sun comes out, we can then know where we are going accurately instead of just guessing. Its the same type of thing with us and God, until we take seriously the Holiness of the Lord, we will only be guessing who we really are. As said earlier, the result of seeing God’s holiness is that we find out that we are terrible sinners. However, we should not stop there because it should also bring us to the cross of Jesus. When a doctor diagnoses a patient with a sickness, that patient then understands that they need medicine to be healed from that sickness. That is the same thing with sin, sin is the cosmic disease that we have and God is the ultimate doctor, diagnosing the sin that we have and he also brings healing to our sin through Jesus when He died on the cross for our sins. When we understand that we are sinners, then we also understand that we need a Savior. Another reaction in the Bible that is like that of Isaiah’s is found in Luke 18:9–14 “He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” The tax collector understood the Holiness of God and therefore he humbled himself and comes to the knowledge of his own sin. The pharisee on the other hand did not understand the holiness of God and therefore had a clouded knowledge of who he was, instead it resulted in pride. Are you like the tax collector or do you relate to the pharisee most? If you relate to the pharisee most then I pray that you come to understand that God is Holy, Holy, Holy. If you relate to the tax collector, know that your salvation is not based on what you did but is wholly of what God has done, you cannot take credit for your salvation. The second thing we see from this verse is that Isaiah sees the evil around him. Isaiah says, “I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips.” He became aware of the sin around him. So Isaiah sees his own sin and the nations sins as well. We too become aware of our sins and also the sin of others, the holiness of God awakens us to both of these things and this should bring us to obey Him and also to call for others to obey as well. In verses 6 and 7, we see that God prepares Isaiah for his calling as a prophet. A seraphim touches Isaiah’s lips with a burning coal. Fire is seen to purify and the burning coal was taken from the altar where sacrifices were offered to atone for sin. So, this is a symbolic representation of the Lord forgiving Him of his unclean lips. This is what ought to happen when we see that the Lord is holy, we are to go to Him for forgiveness and He will forgive out of his grace. God’s holiness is what draws sinners to the table of grace where their sins will be forgiven. The last verse we will be going over is verse 8. In verse 8 we see Isaiah’s readiness to serve the Lord. This shows us that God’s forgiveness brings about obedience in the one being forgiven. Isaiah was so ready to serve the Lord because, as we read, He was forgiven in verse 7. We should follow in Isaiah’s steps here. Our hearts should be full of gratitude for God forgiving us that it results in a full desire for obedience to His will. The Father sent His son to die the cruelest death one can die for our sins, He has also washed us clean from the guilt of our sins in regeneration, so the only reaction I can think of to this type of grace and kindness is to obey Him out of love and gratitude. F.F. Bruce once said, “Where love is the compelling power, there is no sense of strain or conflict or bondage in doing what is right: the man or woman who is compelled by Jesus’ love and empowered by His Spirit does the will of God from the heart.” Is fear your motivating factor or is the love of Christ the motivating factor in obeying the Lord? If fear is that motivating factor, then i admonish you to dwell deeply on God’s holiness and on his grace, love and forgiveness. If it is love, never take your eyes off of the Lord’s love towards you and also remember that the Lord is “Holy, Holy, Holy.”