Behold Our God

Isaiah 6:1-5

King James Version Chapter 6

6:1 In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.

2 Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.

3 And one cried unto another, and said,

Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts:

The whole earth is full of his glory.

4 And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.

5 Then said I, 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 mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.

Throughout the reading of this text, we see an excellent picture of the glory of God and the presence of a doctrine that should terrify us.

As we read and reflect through this portion of Scripture, we will focus on what the Seraphims declare in verse 3.

Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts.

But why is this something that should terrify us?

As we examine the foundational doctrine of the holiness of God, we must keep in mind the position that this puts us in.

But before we do this, we need to understand the context that comes before this statement.

As we look at the book of Isaiah, we see an amazing book.

This is a book that I am sure you have learned about many times over the years.

A book that is called by many as being the “mini Bible” of the Old Testament.

It is referred to this by many because of the length of the book and the contents of the book itself.

Interestingly enough, this book is made up of 66 chapters.

This parallels the length of the entire Bible as we recognized the complete canon of Scripture as being 66 books.

While the length is something that is interesting, what should be more appreciated is the actual contents of the book.

Why do I mean by this?

Simply, as Isaiah pens down what God is giving to him, we read of differing things that again parallel the other mentions in the Bible.

For example, we look in the earlier chapters of the book and incoming judgment.

A judgment that is coming as a vengeful flame.

While this is a judgment that is destructive, we must remember that is a deserved judgement.

After we examine the earlier part of the book, we must acknowledge the latter part of the book as we witness the hope that is to come.

While it may look bad now, and believe me, it will be, God in His providence has willed that peace and sincerity be restored through a particular set of events.

We read in chapters such as Isaiah 4 and Isaiah 53 as we behold the promise of a Seed.

The promise of a Son in Isaiah 9:6.

One of the most famous and popular sections of the Old Testament and rightfully so is Isaiah 53 as God through the prophet Isaiah speaks of the suffering Servant that is to come.

A servant who is none other than Jesus Christ.

So, this is the book of Isaiah.

As we look in chapter 6 of Isaiah, we must understand what has taken place before.

Before we get to this passage, we read of the sinfulness of the nation.

Isaiah lives in the nation of Judah as wickedness has surrounded him.

Evil and terrible things have become the normal in the culture and the society of this day.

Judah has forsaken the God who delivered them from trial after trial and war after war.

Yet, Judah (as the Bible describes) has played the harlot with the other gods and has given into the evil desires and deeds of the pagans.

Chapter 1 describes the sinfulness of Judah.

Chapter 2 describes the judgment of God and His control over all the nations.

Chapter 3 describes the judgment that will come to Judah’s leaders and the people that inhabit the land.

Chapter 4 describes the Branch that will be glorified.

As we know, this Branch is the coming Christ.

While we could dig into so much here, now would not be the proper time.

Chapter 5 describes the the Song of the Vineyard and the woes to those who call evil good.

This again hearkens to the sin of Judah and the rebellion that they have committed against Yahweh.

And now, in chapter 6, we see an introduction to the prophet Isaiah.

Anyone here like well developed characters in movies?

Well, I do.

To get an audience to like a character, the writer will need to make a compelling backstory.

A backstory that allows for the audience to see and understand the motives, the will, and the emotions of the character.

Here in Isaiah chapter 6, we see the powerful backstory of Isaiah.

We see the answer to questions such as “how did he get to be a prophet?” and “where did his story begin?”

If we look in verse 1, we see the setting of this chapter.

Look in verse 1.

King James Version Chapter 6

6:1 In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.

Isaiah opens this chapter up with the death of the King.

A moment that leads to instability within the kingdom.

What will happen now?

Will there be peace?

These are questions that the people could be asking.

However, Isaiah uses this date as a marker for when something supernatural happened.

He looks and sees the Lord sitting on a throne high and lifted up.

He looks up and sees God.

As God sits in a position of authority, Isaiah beholds and looks at the train of his robe that has filled the Temple.

Imagine what Isaiah is witnessing.

This man is looking at God almighty.

God seated on His throne and is beholding the power and the immanence of His glory.

Please, try and imagine what this man is beholding.

Then acknowledge the fact that whatever you are thinking about right now is nothing close to what Isaiah is looking at.

God is so great and we are so low.

We must acknowledge the distinction between the greatness and the vastness of God’s power and the lowly imagination of man.

God. A being so powerful, wonderful, and what… holy.

We will get to that more in a minute.

Compare that to the petty creature that could do nothing without the help of God.

Isaiah is beholding the glory of God.

Verse 3.

King James Version Chapter 6

Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.

3 And one cried unto another, and said,

Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts:

The whole earth is full of his glory.

As the angelic creatures known as the Seraphim praise and glorify God, they shout something that we must understand.

Holy, Holy, Holy.

The holiness of God is a doctrine that is fundamental in the religion of Christianity.

The holiness of God strikes to the heart of what we know about God.

It answers the questions of why there is pain in the world, and why death is something that every life must face.

But, you may ask, how does this answer the question.

When we refer to the holiness of God, we speak of the character of God.

We see that God hates sin and that God demands justice for sin.

This is what His holiness means.

And this should be a terrifying thing.

I say this because of the simple reason that God is holy and we are not.

We see this in the rest of the Scripture that we had read previously.

Look in verses 4 and 5.

King James Version Chapter 6

4 And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.

5 Then said I, 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 mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.

Here we see the reason for why the holiness of God should be something that we should be terrified of.

Isaiah, as he witnesses the glory of God in front of him, He is terrified.

This is a man who is in such an uncomfortable position.

I say that because of the position that he acknowledges himself as being in.

I am undone!

I am a man of unclean lips!

Do you know what He is doing?

He is making the sharp difference between God and between himself.

The being that is God, is so great and Isaiah is so “un-great.”

He is wicked and terrible as he compares himself to God.

The holiness of God has shown him that he is not worthy of being in the presence of God.

The sin that Isaiah has committed and participated in has led him to be terrified because of the danger that he sees himself as being in.

Remember God is holy and his holiness demands judgment.

As Isaiah stands before God, imagine what he is thinking.

Is this it?

Is this the end?

Am I done for?

He acknowledges that he deserves nothing but wrath because of the position of his sin.

Yet, this is not what he got.

Instead of getting the wrath that he clearly deserves for being a transgressor and sinner in the eyes of God, God calls him for a greater task.

God looks at the man in front of Him and forgives the man by purging the sin that he possess in verse 7.

Isaiah is pardoned of his iniquity and is given the task of being the prophetic voice of God in his day.

And what does Isaiah do?

He does exactly as he has been commanded.

So, you may saying right now, “wow, that was cool, but what does this have to do with anything?”

Flip to the book of John chapter 12.

In this passage we see something that seems almost familiar.

Look in verse 37 as Jesus is describing the nature of Himself and the fact that the Son of man must be lifted up.

King James Version Chapter 12

But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him:

38 That the saying of Esaias the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed?

39 Therefore they could not believe, because that Esaias said again,

40 He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.

41 These things said Esaias, when he saw his glory, and spake of him.

Did anyone catch it?

Jesus is referring to the Old Testament Scriptures that his audience would have known.

He uses this to His advantage as He explains that the things which Isaiah was describing was about Him.

And finally in verse 41, Jesus says links the vision of God in Isaiah chapter 6, to Himself.

Think about that!

Isaiah all those years ago, looked at God and His glory and saw Jesus Christ.

Like what we have looked at over the last couple of Wednesday nights, the Old Testament and the New Testament go hand in hand.

So what do we do with this knowledge?

What does all of this have to do with me?

Well, as we look into the presence of an almighty God, we must understand our position.

Are we in danger of facing the just wrath that He will give to sinners or are we in a position wherein God has granted us mercy and grace through the gift of salvation?

We as Christians should rejoice in the holiness of our great God and relish in the fact that God has shown His holiness through the putting on of wrath on His Son instead of us.

God put the reward of death that we should have recieved on Jesus Christ.

The one who Isaiah witnessed was the one who took his punishment.

We must be thankful for the holiness of God.

Let us be like David in psalm 21 as he writes this song.

King James Version Psalm 21

To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.

1 The king shall joy in thy strength, O LORD;

And in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice!

2 Thou hast given him his heart’s desire,

And hast not withholden the request of his lips. Selah.

3 For thou preventest him with the blessings of goodness:

Thou settest a crown of pure gold on his head.

4 He asked life of thee, and thou gavest it him,

Even length of days for ever and ever.

5 His glory is great in thy salvation:

Honour and majesty hast thou laid upon him.

6 For thou hast made him most blessed for ever:

Thou hast made him exceeding glad with thy countenance.

7 For the king trusteth in the LORD,

And through the mercy of the most High he shall not be moved.

8 Thine hand shall find out all thine enemies:

Thy right hand shall find out those that hate thee.

9 Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of thine anger:

The LORD shall swallow them up in his wrath, and the fire shall devour them.

10 Their fruit shalt thou destroy from the earth,

And their seed from among the children of men.

11 For they intended evil against thee:

They imagined a mischievous device, which they are not able to perform.

12 Therefore shalt thou make them turn their back,

When thou shalt make ready thine arrows upon thy strings against the face of them.

13 Be thou exalted, LORD, in thine own strength:

So will we sing and praise thy power.

Prayer