A Vision of Who God Is

Introduction

Last week, we started a series entitled “Be Thou My Vision”. It’s about having a life-transforming vision of God.

Last time we learn that we don’t have the capability to see God ...and live if God chooses to show Himself in the fullness of His glory. We can only see or know God by revealing Himself to us in a way that He enables us to receive a revelation about Himself.

We also learn that we as humans are by default blinded from the truth about God. Because of our sinful nature, we loved darkness (sin) rather than light as John says in John 3:19. We don’t like God by nature. We hate God. We have nothing to do with God. If we profess to believe in sort of a God it is God made up from our imaginations that support our biases and imagination. Someone says that if your God does not disagree with you then you made a god based on your image and imagination.

But by default we are ALL like that. Without the mercy of God and the grace of God intervening in our hearts through the Holy Spirit we will remain in that blind state. But by his mercy He opens our eyes to see God in the face of our Lord Jesus Christ. Right now we have the privilege to see God’s glory and be transformed by that image as we continually behold Him through the Scripture.

That’s the goal of this sermon and as we read the Bible. We want to see God and be transformed in seeing Him.

The reason we need to be exhorted or challenge to see God or to look to the Lord is because we have the NATURAL TENDENCY to LOOK AT OURSELVES and other CREATED THINGS more than God, the Creator. Even as believers we can fall into this trap of looking at ourselves more than looking to God.

John Webster (Author, Theologian) says that our Christian ministry and activity can be defiled because we are too self-absorption. We care TOO MUCH about what others say about US. We care TOO MUCH about our APPEARANCE, how we look to others, our reputation. We care TOO MUCH about OUR CHRISTIAN PERFORMANCE rather than enjoying the beauty of Christ. Self-absorption or chronic narcissism is a sure path to depression and chronic anxiety. It will lead you in making a decision that is no longer honoring to the Lord and good for you.

So what’s the solution? The solution for self-absorption is “God absorption”. John Webster says “…pay attention to Christian teaching about God’s being and works, for such teaching draws the mind away from preoccupation with Christian practice and invites contemplation of God.”

Learn to contemplate on God. I like the word contemplation, it means “to look at something thoughtfully for a long time.” As a Christian we to look at God thoughtfully, slowly and meditatively through the Scripture. We will not be shock by the sinfulness of our sin and our deep need of the Savior if we don’t see and understand the Holiness of God. You can’t be transformed to be like if you don’t know how to contemplate, know and enjoy the Christ of the Scripture. You cannot effectively communicate and introduce Him to others if you yourself do not know Him and experience Him personally. Is it convincing to persuade someone to eat at a certain restaurant in which you yourself have not experience?

You can only effectively communicate the goodness of the Lord to others if you yourself have tasted and see that the Lord is good. So we need to see Him and contemplate on Him.

Background

(So before we are going to look at Isaiah 6:1-4, here’s a little background…)

Isaiah is a prophet commissioned by God for Judah (Southern Kingdom). Here’s the problem with Judah according to Isaiah 1:2–3 “Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the Lord has spoken: “Children have I reared and brought up, but 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 understand.””

In other words, they don’t know God. That’s why they rejected the Lord and rebel against Him. That’s why before the Lord commissioned Isaiah, Isaiah first need to have a personal encounter of God in order to be an effective spokesman from God. That’s the context as we dive in Isaiah 6. Many scholars believe that Isaiah 6 is the inauguration or the beginning of Isaiah’s call into prophetic ministry.

When did it all began? In the year that King Uzziah died. This is about 740BC. Uzziah or Azariah (2 Kings 15:1) is relatively speaking a good king. He started to reign when he was 16 years old. His reign as King lasted for 52 years (2 Chr 26:3). He started well but in the end he become proud and unfaithful to the Lord. One of his sins is that he went to the temple even though he is not a priest. He was rebuked by the priest and returned he was so angry. God disciplines him by giving him leprosy until he dies.

So Isaiah has received his call from the Lord in the last year of his relatively good king. Isaiah serves under the reign of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah - which is pretty long if you know Israel History. But what sustains him and anchors him to be faithful to God? I believe this encounter of the holiness and the glory of God is the foundation and pivotal moment for his life and ministry. As we study and read this as well, may we see God and encounter Him as He revealed Himself in Scripture.

Read Isaiah 6:1–4 “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. 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. And one called 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 shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.”

So, what did Isaiah see about God that we also need to see? I would like to share at least 10 truths about God in this first four verses.

1) God is the Sovereign One

Isaiah 6:1 “In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord ...”

The word Lord here is the Hebrew Word “Adonai”. Mostly the all caps LORD means Yahweh, and we will talk about the significance of that name. But here Isaiah uses the word “Adonai” not the personal name of God. Adonai is not a name, rather a title like CEO, President, Senator, Leader etc. In the OT, there are humans who are “adonai” (singular) like Abraham (slaves calls him Master). David calls king Saul as “adonai”. “My lord (adonai) and my king. So when this title is used in relation with God, it means that God holds the highest position above all human positions. He is THE Sovereign ONE. The true Master. Master of all human masters. As the master, he is the true owner of all things.

We will have an unhealthy lofty high view of ourselves the moment we forget this truth about God. When we have a small view of God and big view of ourselves - everything in our life will be twisted and distorted. Singer and Songwriter Michael Gungor this year release a remake of the hymn “Amazing grace” where he replace the line of “a wretch like me” into “of love that sets us free.” He then caption it “A WRETCH like me? no thanks. This is what happens when you have low view of God and a big view of self.

Let’s not forget that He is the LORD the Sovereign one. We are just living in his universe. We are drinking His water. We are breathing his oxygen.

This leads to the next thing we learn about God. Look at how Isaiah describes him as Lord…

English Standard Version Chapter 6

sitting upon a throne

2) God is the Reigning King

We have learned that Uzziah died and has been replaced by his son. But God is still sitting (continually) on His throne. He continues to reign as King. The picture of the throne refers to His right to rule the earth and the cosmos.

One of the difficulties in understanding this is we don’t live in the monarchial government. We live in a democracy - we believe power to the people and the masses. But the Scripture paints to us that God is the ultimate ultimate King who fights to against evil to rescue His people and continually established and advance His kingdom.

That’s why when Jesus Christ came to reveal God to us one of his teaching is the gospel of the kingdom of God. What is the good news of the kingdom? That sin and evil will be defeated and that their reign in this age is ending because the King has given his life as a ransom for many and rose from the dead to prove his power and authority. He then commissioned his disciples and church as to preach this good news “There’s a new King who reigns who is worthy of your allegiance and loyalty” Because he offers amnesty and forgiveness to those who repent and trust in Him.

So Isaiah saw God as the reigning King. Do we see the gospel as the ticket to heaven or a pledge of allegiance to the One True King?

Not only Isaiah saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, but he saw him sitting - high and lifted up.

3) God is All-Powerful

This means God reigns above every king and kingdoms in the past and in the future.

Isaiah 46:10 “...declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’” In other words, what God set, it will be fulfilled.

Daniel 4:35 “all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?”” He is not accountable to anyone.

We need a God like this - Sovereign, Reigning ALL Powerful King to RULE OUR LIVES. If this is our view of God, we don’t have to take CONTROL of everything in our lives. We don’t have to be the KING of our lives, which is pretty exhausting and tiring. We can rest in His purpose and sovereign will.

No matter what happens in your life. There are things in this life that doesn’t make sense. But if your view of God is he is powerful, sovereign, there’s no such thing as accidents in my life - then you’ll be okay.

4) God is Immensely Majestic

Let’s look at continually how Isaiah describes his vision of God in v1. He says “…the train of his robe filled the temple...”. When I was a new Christian this phrase really bewildered me - how come his robe has a train?

The train in the robe refers to the long back portion of robe, coat or dress. I think the closest picture to us this day is during the wedding day. Some bride we are gown that has a long train… and in Biblical times human kings wear robe and typically it has a long train as the march in the aisle or the assembly.

So the vision of Isaiah is that the train of his robe “fills the temple”. It fully occupies the temple. So here is talking the immensity of the majesty of God. Robe represents grandeur, beauty of royalty as the enthroned reigning King. His grandeur and beauty is immense - because it fills the temple.

We all experience some sort of like that - especially in the wedding day. When the bride walks in. God’s vision is supremely like that… which leads us to the 5th point...

5) God is Reverential

It means he is worthy of our AWE. I think one of the ingredients that is missing in our worship today is the sense of AWE of God. There’s a song called “I Stand In AWE”. Again one of the reason for this lack of awe is we don’t know God.

Look how the Seraphim in v2. Isaiah 6:2 “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.”

Seraphim - is a heavenly creature, the original word means “burning ones”. They were like serpent that emits a light so bright that looks like they are burning. That’s why the word means “burning ones”. They have six wings, two covers their eyes and other two covers their feet. This pictures their awe, humility and worship of God. The other two they use for flying.

These creature by themselves are so bright yet they cover their feet and faces because the One before them is so bright and glorious. If these heavenly beings act like this before the Lord then we should learn to humble and prostrate in humility before God.

In the past, people often express their reverence and awe before God by prostrating in the ground - that’s very humbling posture… but it’s a humble expression that one before you is worthy of worship.

6) God is the Commander

Isaiah 6:3 “And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!””

The Lord of hosts means the Commander of armies. God has heavenly armies that does his bidding. We see this seraphim but there are other heavenly creatures like the angels, archangels, cherubim. We don’t fully understand them but they are heavenly beings that God created that obeys His command. Millions of them are under God’s command.

When Jesus was about to be arrested, Peter comes into his defense by drawing a sword and struck off the ear of one that will arrest Jesus. In Matthew 26:53 Jesus says “Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels?” Roman Soldiers - one legion could have 5 to 6000 soldiers. So 12 legion means more or less 72,000 angels. But that’s just a fraction of them under God’s command.

So whatever God says with these heavenly beings, they will execute it.

7) God is Holy

The seraphim sings “Holy Holy Holy is the Lord of hosts. When we hear the word holy we usually think of the word purity or moral purity. “Oi Holy...” Of course this is included.

But the word Holy is more comprehensive than that. The basic meaning of it is “cut off” or “separate” “removed from the common use”. We often read in the Scripture is “Holy Temple” Holy Scripture, Holy City, Holy Nation etc.

It’s because these things are separated from ordinary or common use. These things are anointed by the presence of God for special purposes. That’s why it’s called holy because it is separated unto the Lord.

When it is used to describe God, the meaning gets different. Because nothing can be compared to God. Nothing is even closely similar to God. He is a class of it’s own. He is totally separate from his creation. No one is like Him.

Isaiah 40:18 “To whom then will you liken God, or what likeness compare with him?”

Isaiah 37:16 ““O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth.”

John Piper says on God’s holiness - God’s holiness is his infinite value as the absolutely unique, morally perfect, permanent person that he is and who by grace made himself accessible — his infinite value as the absolutely unique, morally perfect, permanent person that he is.

Note: Seraphim doesn’t sing Holy is the Lord but “Holy Holy Holy”. Some says it talks about the Trinity. But I don’t believe that’s the point of Isaiah although I absolutely believe that God is Triune.

In Hebrew, when they want to emphasize something - they repeat the words. So for us in digital age, we create bold letters, underline them.. etc. That’s the point of emphasis. In Hebrew, the literary device is repetition. That’s why you heard Jesus saying “Truly, Truly...” Or Simon, Simon… when words are repeated in Scripture take note of that… that’s the point of emphasis.

But here the word holy is not just repeated two times but three times.

RC Sproul observes that this attribute of God is elevated to the third degree of all attributes of God. You don’t see love love love in the Scripture, or mercy mercy mercy or justice justice justice.

In other words, this is the most important thing that God wants us to understand about Him - that He is Holy. This character encompasses every other character. It means that his love is holy love, his justice is holy justice, his mercy is holy mercy. Nothing and no one is like Him.

8) God is Glorious

So God is holy, but as a result or display of that holiness according to the angels “The whole earth is full of his glory!”. God’s glory is his holiness gone public. It’s like the sun, how do you know there’s a sun, because you see his light blazing in the atmosphere around us. The glory of God is like that. His glory display who He is.

So the whole earth, the whole creation, mountains, seas, birds, all of creation displays his glory. That’s why when we climbed in the mountain and sense the beauty and majesty of nature - we don’t say glory to mother earth, but glory to God our creator. You see we can enjoy God in creation and in nature. That’s why there’s therapeutic effect in walking in nature and enjoying God’s creation.

Paul Tripp gives us warning. “The glories of the created world are meant to be glorious, but they are not meant to be the thing that you look for life. No, all the glories of the created world together are meant to be one big finger that points you to the God of glory, who made each one of them and is alone able to give you life.” (New Morning Mercies, January 29)

Let’s know God through his creation, but let’s not make his creation god.

9) God is For His Covenant People

In v1, we learn that Lord means Adonai - Master, Sovereign one. But here in v3 the LORD is here is all caps in NASB translation which means YAHWEH, the personal name of God.

Jews revere this name so much that they are afraid to speak this name in their lips.

Furthermore, His name signifies that He is the God who covenanted with His people to have a special relationship with Him. He decided by his grace to choose them to be his special people. It’s not because they are good and lovable. It’s based solely by grace.

God is God of Israel. He doesn’t have any special relationship to other nation. Only Israel. But in the New Covenant you can have a relationship with Yahweh through the person of the Lord Jesus Christ - the one who establish the new covenant. Yahweh means a covenant keeping God. The one who fulfills His promise to his people. To bring salvation through the person of Jesus Christ.

If you are a Christian today, you are actually the recipient of the reality of this covenant keeping God.

10) God’s Voice is Powerful

In Isaiah 6:4 “And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.”

The foundations of the thresholds shook… what causes it? the voice of Him.

The voice of God is not boring. When God speaks, the earth quakes. In OT earthquake and cloud of smoke signifies oftentimes the presence of God. But all in all this is pretty astonishing and powerful experience of Isaiah as he encounters God.

We may not experience exactly what Isaiah experience but isn’t it true that brings His Word into our hearts like an earthquake to quicken us from our spiritual sleep. Isn’t it that we sense a transcendent experience the moment we ponder and meditate who He is as we listen to His Word.

Isaiah 55:10–11 ““For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.”

What’s the purpose of His Word? That we may know Him and be fully absorbed in our contemplation of Him.

Conclusion

Our greatest problem is that we are so self-absorbed and self-focused. The solution is to contemplate on God.

Isaiah 40:9 “Go on up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news; lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, “Behold your God!””

Behold him. Gaze upon Him. Look how awesome and great He is. Look to him more than you look to yourself or your performance. Recognize that He is holy and no one is like Him. This is the God who reigns forever as King. This is the God who says be holy for I am holy.

If you will see God ash He is you will be ruined - HOLY RUINED. You will be ruined or wreck. But it’s a good kind. Next we will Isaiah what happens to Isaiah after this astonishing vision of God. Let’s pray.