Be Holy Week 1

INTRODUCTION

Good morning and welcome to First Christian. We are so glad you are here with us to worship this morning. This morning, we are starting a new series entitled, Be Holy. We are going to take a few weeks and look at what it means for us to be holy, what holiness is, and why it is important for us as believers. Today, we will look at Isaiah chapter 6, verses 1 through 7. I invite you to go ahead and turn there this morning. If you do not have a Bible with you, there should be one in the pew in front of you, and the verses will be on screen as well.

This past week, Buford High School in suburban Atlanta hosted its first football game in a brand new football stadium. When you think of a high school stadium, you may envision some metal bleachers, a sheet-metal or plywood press box, and some cinderblock buildings housing the concession stands. That is not the case at Buford. This new stadium costs roughly $62 million, has 10,000 seats, and VIP suites. This doesn’t sound like a high school stadium, but a small college one.

Buford is a football powerhouse, developing high school athletes into college and professional players. The stadium represents the success and the level of football being played at this public high school. But imagine being a visiting team from a school with fewer resources, an older stadium without the impressive amenities, and years-old uniforms. Walking into that stadium might give you some different feelings. You may feel awe to be in a place like that. Maybe it makes you aware of your inadequacies.

This would be the natural reaction to being confronted with something different and more impressive than what we have. We, as humans, have eyes and a brain that can recognize the magnificence of what is around us. When we experience those types of events, we will react.

Today, in the book of Isaiah, we will get to see what Isaiah experienced when he was in the presence of God, and how he reacted to it. Would you join me in prayer this morning as we look into the Word of God?

Pray.

Isaiah’s Vision

Let’s start by taking a look at our text first:

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.”

Isaiah 6:1–7.

Here is a quick snapshot of where we are in chapter 6. The book of Isaiah was written by the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah started his ministry around 740 b.c, and this book is a record of the things that God showed Isaiah and had him share with Israel. This section of scripture in Isaiah 6 is the most personal part of the book. We do not have a lot of personal information about Isaiah. We know who his father was, and we also know that he would have been married and had children.

We know that in the setting of chapter 6, King Uzziah has died. During the reign of Uzziah, Israel had prospered, but in 2 Chronicles 26, we see that Uzziah had puffed up with pride and would find punishment for it. God gives him leprosy, and Uzziah will be sent out to live on his own until his death.

The scene opens with Isaiah seeing the throne room of God. This throne is high and lifted up. The king of kings is elevated above all that He has spoken into existence. Isaiah sees the infinite God in His rightful place above creation, filling the place with just the bottom of His robe. The whole temple is filled with the bottom of the robe of God. Isaiah would have been struck by the significance of just the size of what was happening. He would have recognized how small he was in the presence of the Almighty.

Not only does he see the bottom of the robe, but above God are seraphim. These would have been angelic beings; seraphim translates to burning ones. This gives the picture of these beings not just being humans with wings, but something more spectacular. Notice that they are covering their face with the wings. Even these angelic beings are shielding their eyes from the glory of God. They are not only above the head of God, but they are crying out a song of praise. And we are not given a specific number of seraphim that are here to praise God.

This song, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” perfectly encapsulates what is happening in this story. What is on display? The holiness of God is fully on display for Isaiah to see. What does it mean that God is called holy? Why would these beings choose to proclaim this attribute of God over Him?

When we look for a definition of holy, it is best summed up as “separate from human infirmity, impurity, and sin.” The seraphim are crying out that the almighty God is holy, holy, holy. He is separate from man. He is not impure, or sinful. God is separate from who we are. The repetition of the description of God is used to intensify the meaning of it. God is not just holy, or holy, holy, but He is holy, holy, holy. There is only one instance where an attribute of God is repeated three times in the Bible, and this is it. There is no verse that proclaims God to be love, love, love or mercy, mercy, mercy. His holiness is what makes Him God, and we will see that this holiness is also what causes Isaiah to recognize his sinfulness.

What is the importance of looking at this? I believe that the Church can, at times, forget about what it means for God to be Holy. The modern church, especially the American or Western church, has placed such an emphasis on making God into something we like. We fashion God into the image we want Him to be. We soften Christianity to make it more palatable to an unbelieving world, and in doing so, clip the wings of what it is. We are not to fashion God into what we want, but should be allowing God to shape us into what He wants.

Holiness is important because it is who God is. The seraphim are proclaiming the holiness of God to Isaiah and declaring that the whole world is filled with the glory of God. Out of the holiness of God, we see the glory of God. God is without sin, the creator of the world, and should be worshipped as so. In this, we see that the glory, the perfect completeness of God, fills the earth.

We see the glory of God around us now. We can see it in His creation, which should drive us to worship the one who spoke all of this into creation. Though satan works to twist it so we no longer seek to worship the creator, but instead we worship creation. All of the glory that we can imagine, all the gloriousness of the world we see, does not compare to the glory that Isaiah was seeing in this moment.

Can you imagine the view that he had in that moment? The almighty God. The living God was pulling back the curtain for a moment to allow this mere mortal man to see his brilliance. For this span of time, Isaiah was allowed to see God properly exalted. To see Him seated on his throne, filling the temple with his robe, and being worshipped by the seraphim. And in this moment, how did Isaiah respond?

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

Isaiah reacts to the sight of the holiness and splendor of God with confession and humility. In the sight of perfection, Isaiah is completely aware of his own imperfection. He is aware of the sin that has contaminated his body. And not only his own sin, but he is keenly aware of the sin of the nation of Israel in this moment. The holiness of God is the bar that the Israelites must reach to be with God. The law, the 10 commandments, all of Deuteronomy, and Leviticus are built around this very understanding that God is holy and we are not.

Isaiah can do nothing but cry out in confession in the sight of this. He is humbled in the presence of a holy God. The holiness of God is not simply an attribute but the very essence of His being. 1 Samuel describes it this way:

There is none holy like the Lord:

for there is none besides you;

there is no rock like our God.

1 Samuel 2:2.

And in Exodus, it talks of the holiness of God like this:

Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods?

Who is like you, majestic in holiness,

awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?

Exodus 15:11.

There is nothing else that is holy like God. This attribute alone is given to God. It is this attribute that sets us apart from God. Why so? Because of sin. That is the response that Isaiah has to this scene; he is more aware of the presence of sin.

In this moment of crying out, the seraphim approach Isaiah with a burning coal from the altar of atonement, press it to his lips, and inform him that his guilt is removed and his sin is atoned for. This removal of guilt and atonement now prepares Isaiah to go out from here and proclaim what God has given him and to praise the holiness of God. His confession and humility are immediately met with the atonement needed to cleanse him of his guilt. Isaiah recognizes the holiness of God, the sinfulness of himself, and receives the atonement that was needed.

How Do We Respond

Not only is this a beautiful picture of the holiness of God that is recorded by Isaiah, but it is also a beautiful reminder for us today. The God that Isaiah sees in his vision is the same God that we serve today. If God were to remove the veil, let us peek in, for just a moment, we too could see God enthroned above. We would be in awe of the magnificence of God as well.

We don’t have to wait for that moment, though. When we get to the New Testament, we see the birth of our Savior. John describes it this way:

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John 1:14.

Isaiah sees the God enthroned, in his rightful place, and in the incarnation of Christ, we see God take on flesh and come to earth. And while we know Christ has come, the call to us is still the same. We are to be holy people, set apart, just as our God is.

Our response to God should be the same as Isaiah’s. When we are confronted with the holiness of God, this should cause us to acknowledge our sin and cry out for his mercy. The holiness of God has not changed! Just as Isaiah cried out for mercy at the recognition of his sin, we should as well.

Church, I need you to hear me this morning, our sin is serious. We cannot afford to downplay the seriousness of sin to make ourselves feel better. Anything that breaks the command of God is sin and separates us from God. If you are in this room and you are a follower of Jesus, if you believe in Jesus and have put your faith in Him, you should take seriously your sin. Just because your sin has been forgiven does not mean that you do not strive to put your sin to death. Listen to what Paul says in Romans 6:

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

Romans 6:1–4.

In light of God being holy and calling us to be like Him, we should be striving to kill the sin that still wants to control us. Not through our power, but through the power of the Holy Spirit. An old British pastor described it this way:

Some Christians sow to the flesh every day and wonder why they do not reap holiness. Holiness is a harvest; whether we reap it or not depends almost entirely on what and where we sow.

John Robert Walmsley Stott (English Preacher)

So, what are you sowing in light of God’s holiness?

Today’s Takeaway:

When we are purified through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus, we are now restored and able to be sent out to do the work of God.

GOSPEL.