God’s Holiness, Transforms Us

I. Setting the Scene: The Weight of Judgment (Isaiah 1–5)

Before we go to Isaiah 6, we need to understand the backdrop: Isaiah 1–5 is a sobering picture of Judah’s rebellion and God’s coming judgment. Over and over, Isaiah pronounces woes on the people for their idolatry, injustice, and hypocrisy.

Isaiah 1:14–15 “Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates; they have become a burden 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 listen; your hands are full of blood.”

Judah is about to face the judgement.

God's judgment is not only coming — it is deserved and inescapable. Picture the arrival of a massive storm. You've seen the clouds build, you've heard the wind howl, and you know: you’re at the mercy of something far more powerful than yourself. That’s the tension Isaiah walks us into before chapter 6.

Isaiah 6:1-8

English Standard Version Chapter 6

6 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.

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.

3 And one called to another and said:

“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts;

the whole earth is full of his glory!”

4 And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. 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!”

6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”

8 And 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.

We will look at three main points in these verses

1. God’s Holiness Exposes Our Sin

2. God’s Holiness Provides Our Cleansing

3. God’s Holiness Compels Our Mission (v.8)

New American Standard Bible (1995) Chapter 6

1 In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple.

The death of Uzziah

Uzziah was a good king, he became king at 16 yeard old and was king for 52 years

He brought peace and prosperity to the kingdom

When the earthly king dies, Isaiah sees the heavenly king “The Lord”

One that is not death but high and lifted up

The robe of the King speaks to His majesty. In the ancient world, the longer the train, the greater the king. Here, God’s robe fills the entire temple — this King lacks nothing in splendor or sovereignty.

English Standard Version Chapter 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.

These creatures only appear here in scripture

One of my favorite teachers explains this

Fish have scales and gills

God made them with 6 wings because they are needed to live in His presence

Seraphim have not sin and they still need to cover themselves

English Standard Version Chapter 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!”

3 things

Holy is repeated 3 times

Holy, Holy, Holy

Lexham Theological Wordbook Holiness

Holiness refers primarily to the quality of God, denoting his transcendent apartness from the rest of creation, his uniqueness, and his total purity.

Apartness

Uniqueness

Purity

ESV Global Study Bible Chapter 6

Holiness implies absolute moral purity and absolute uniqueness. -J.I. Packer

LORD

Lord is one of Yahweh’s titles

The Lord, The LORD

John 12:41 “Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him.”

the whole earth is filled with HIs glory

John Piper puts it this way

The glory of God is the manifestation of his holiness. …his glory is the display of that holiness. “God is glorious” means: God’s holiness has gone public.

In Leviticus 10:3, God says, “I will show myself holy among those who are near me, and before all the people I will be glorified.”

His glory is the open revelation of the secret of his holiness.

English Standard Version Chapter 6

4 And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.

shook - volcano

This is a tourist attraction, we were expecting to see lava, but I was not expecting the ground to shake or to hear thunder cause by the movement below.

Being close to that amount of power makes you feel smaller

smoke - incense

First point: God’s Holiness Exposes Our Sin

English Standard Version Chapter 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!”

Woe is me

Isaiah realized who he was and who God is

I am undone or lost or finished

What does this mean? in the hebrew it connotates

Enhanced Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon II. דָּמָה

vb. cease, cause to cease, cut off, destroy or silenced

Let’s look at other examples in Scripture of people encountering God

Job 42:1–6 “Then Job answered the Lord and said: “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. ‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. ‘Hear, and I will speak; I will question you, and you make it known to me.’ I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.””

Aaron sons die 

Leviticus 10:3 “Then Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the Lord has said: ‘Among those who are near me I will be sanctified, and before all the people I will be glorified.’ ” And Aaron held his peace.”

Uzzah

English Standard Version Chapter 13

7 And they carried the ark of God on a new cart, from the house of Abinadab, and Uzzah and Ahio were driving the cart. …

9 And when they came to the threshing floor of Chidon, Uzzah put out his hand to take hold of the ark, for the oxen stumbled. 10 And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzzah, and he struck him down because he put out his hand to the ark, and he died there before God.

RC Sproul and what he said about this

Uzzah thought his hand was cleaner than the dirt of the ground.

Peter

Repeat: God’s Holiness Exposes Our Sin

Second point: God’s Holiness Provides Our Cleansing

English Standard Version Chapter 6

6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”

The coal is taken from the altar

The altar is where the sacrifices are made, the anotement is achieve in the altar.

Repeat: God’s Holiness Provides Our Cleansing

Third point: God’s Holiness Compels Our Mission (v.8)

Verse 8: Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?

This is not God needing or asking for help. We just saw His glory fills the whole world.

This is God asking in a similiar way, when in Genesis Adam and Eve sin and God asked: Where are you?

He is asking because Isaiah has been transformed and Isaiah is ready to go.

How do we know this?

Isaiah responds by: Here am I, send me

He does not say: “Here I am”, meaning location but “Here am I”, meaning eagerness. Like if he was saying, At your disposal am I, I am ready to go!

Isaiah has seen God’s Holiness, Isaiah has been cleansed this Holy God. Isaiah is compeled to go because he knows who is he being sent by.

The Holy and majestic Lord of all

The next verses are quoted in the new testament

John 12:41 “Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him.”

The Lord, THE LORD

God’s Holiness Compels Our Mission

I believe there is lack of Knowledge and that is why we do not go

Isaiah 5:13 “Therefore my people go into exile for lack of knowledge; their honored men go hungry, and their multitude is parched with thirst.”

You know Every believer is commanded to go

Matthew 28:18–20 “And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.””

We need to grasp God’s Holiness and when we do. We will go

The rational response of sinners, who have been forgiven and have peace with God is to say as Isaiah said.

Here am I, send me!

I was bought with the blood of Jesus, therefore use me as You please!

Jesus’ blood has cleansed us, and He said to those who have been cleansed.

Go and make disciples!

Thank God, He does not leave it for us to wonder if we are suppose to go.

He plainly says Go!

Judgement is coming and is coming soon, we must proclaim His salvation.

May God’s Holiness convicts us, cleanse us and Compels us to go!

Let’s pray

We become like what we worship

Context

Rebuke of their evil ways

Isaiah 1:14–15 “Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates; they have become a burden 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 listen; your hands are full of blood.”

Isaiah 2:11 “The haughty looks of man shall be brought low, and the lofty pride of men shall be humbled, and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.”

Isaiah 3:11–12 “Woe to the wicked! It shall be ill with him, for what his hands have dealt out shall be done to him. My people—infants are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, your guides mislead you and they have swallowed up the course of your paths.”

Isaiah 3:24–25 “Instead of perfume there will be rottenness; and instead of a belt, a rope; and instead of well-set hair, baldness; and instead of a rich robe, a skirt of sackcloth; and branding instead of beauty. Your men shall fall by the sword and your mighty men in battle.”

Isaiah 5:24 “Therefore, as the tongue of fire devours the stubble, and as dry grass sinks down in the flame, so their root will be as rottenness, and their blossom go up like dust; for they have rejected the law of the Lord of hosts, and have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.”

Hope

Isaiah 1:26 “And I will restore your judges as at the first, and your counselors as at the beginning. Afterward you shall be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city.””

Isaiah 4:4–6 “when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem from its midst by a spirit of judgment and by a spirit of burning. Then the Lord will create over the whole site of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud by day, and smoke and the shining of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory there will be a canopy. There will be a booth for shade by day from the heat, and for a refuge and a shelter from the storm and rain.”

The lack of Knowledge

Isaiah 5:13 “Therefore my people go into exile for lack of knowledge; their honored men go hungry, and their multitude is parched with thirst.”

We need to grasp God’s Holiness