To Share in the Glory of God

Prayer

Isaiah’s Vision: The Glory of God

So last week we started into a new book in our journey through the story of the Old Testament, the book of the prophet Isaiah, who spoke the word of the Lord over the reigns of four kings of the southern and now only nation of the Israelite people, Judah. Those kings included Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and the king who endured the siege of the Assyrians, Hezekiah.

Last week, we looked at Isaiah 5, the story of the vineyard owner and his failed vineyard, which was an analogy of the Lord and all he did to provide and care for his people, and yet they failed to produce good fruit.

This morning we’re going to look at one of the most well-known passages in the book of Isaiah, Isaiah 6, where Isaiah has a vision, an encounter with God, and out of that encounter, Isaiah is given his call to bring the word of the Lord to the people of Judah, even though they will not listen.

Vision of Isaiah - We’ll make our way through Isaiah 6, it’s really a remarkable story

Isaiah 6:1-4, In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3 And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” 4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.

Isaiah’s vision takes place right as King Uzziah dies. And it’s a little unclear whether this vision is of the earthly temple or the heavenly throne room itself - either way, it’s clear that it is a vision of the Lord in glory. High and exalted. On his throne, his robe flowing down to the point that the hem of his robe fills the temple itself.

Then we have these strange spiritual creatures - this is the only place in the Bible they are specifically mentioned - called seraphs, beings with six wings. Now the Hebrew word for seraph means serpent, and it connotes burning. So the suggestion that this is a flying fiery serpent.

And as amazing as these two seraphs are, they themselves can hardly bear being in the presence of the Lord in all his glory - with two of those wings they cover their faces while they call out to each other words of praise and exaltation, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord Almighty.” And make the declaration that his glory is so encompassing that it fills the entire earth.

That glory, and the praises of the seraphs, have a profound effect on the temple, shaking the doorposts and thresholds, filling it with smoke.

The effect of the glory of the Lord is not just on the temple, but on Isaiah as well - Isaiah 6:5, “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.” Isaiah is blown away, absolutely humbled by the glory of God.

In the presence of the Lord and all his holiness, Isaiah is confronted with the lack of his. He realizes how spiritually impoverished he is - not just him, but that of the people of Judah as well. Which is astounding, considering that Isaiah is God’s faithful prophet - but compared to God, he is utterly unclean and he knows it.

As a result, Isaiah expects destruction. Woe is me! I’m ruined! Isaiah assumes he will not live. But that’s not what happens.

Isaiah 6:6-7, Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”

One of the seraphs, using tongs, takes a burning coal from the altar, placing it on the lips of Isaiah. Which sounds terrible, it seems like Isaiah is about to be absolutely scalded.

But, again, that’s not what happens, it turns out to be an act of purification. The burning has a cleansing effect. Isaiah, the man with unclean lips, is made clean. His sins are forgiven. Isaiah is being purified, made clean, so that he can be in the presence of the Lord in all his holiness. And not just to be in the presence, but is being purified as an act of preparation.

Which is exactly what we see next, Isaiah 6:8-10, Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” 9 He said, “Go and tell this people: “‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’ 10 Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”

So Isaiah is made clean and then the Lord asks the question, “Whom shall I send? Who’s going to on our behalf (the plural here refers to the divine council, God and the spiritual beings in the heavenly throne room)? Of course, Isaiah immediately responds, “Hineni” - which is the Hebrew for “here I am”! I’m ready. Let’s go. Send me.

And then he’s given the message for the people of Judah. It’s not good news. This may well sound familiar, as both Jesus and Paul quote it. The message is all about the stubbornness of the people of God, their hardened hearts. In spite of all they’ve heard from the Lord, in spite of all they’ve seen, they don’t get it. They refuse to understand. They will not repent.

And so the Lord declares that this lack of seeing, hearing, understanding will continue until he is ready to pour out the fullness of his wrath - Isaiah 6:11-13, Then I said, “For how long, Lord?” And he answered: “Until the cities lie ruined and without inhabitant, until the houses are left deserted and the fields ruined and ravaged, 12 until the Lord has sent everyone far away and the land is utterly forsaken. 13 And though a tenth remains in the land, it will again be laid waste. But as the terebinth and oak leave stumps when they are cut down, so the holy seed will be the stump in the land.”

Isaiah recognizes that this is not good, that the Lord will harden the hearts of his people, ensuring they will continue on the path they’re on. And so he asks, “how long?’’ The Lord tells him how long it will be - until he pours out his wrath, until the destroys Jerusalem and the other cities of Judah. Until the fields are ravaged and the land lies barren. Until the people are dragged off, taken into exile. Everything that happened to the northern kingdom of Israel.

It sounds absolutely terrible - and it is. But there’s a word of hope given at the very end. From the midst of the ravaged land, when only stumps remain, they will merge a seed, a sign of new growth. And it will be a holy seed. A remnant faithful to the Lord will emerge.

God’s Purifying Work in Us

There’s so much packed in this story, I want to take some time to pull out some of the main themes we can see about God and his work in us.

It all begins with the glory of God, which is the visible manifestation of God himself, his nature, his character made manifest, revealed, for us to see. A good analogy is the sun - even when we don’t see the sun (when it’s hidden behind the clouds or it’s nighttime, we experience its effects, it’s power - it still provides light and warmth). But when the sun emerges and shines, visible, it’s brightness is overwhelming. It is glorious, and like the seraphs, we have to cover our eyes.

When you experience the glory of God, his power, his splendor, his holiness, you can’t help but respond in awe and fear. Even the seraphs, glorious beings in and of themselves can’t help but sing to the glory of God - which is always the proper response when you encounter glory and power. You declare it, you praise, you lift up.

In this passage one of the manifestations of God’s glory that is revealed is his mercy. Isaiah, rightfully so, recognizes how absolutely unworthy he is. When he has this vision, this encounter of God in his glory, in his righteousness, he realizes how spiritually impoverished he is. That he is unclean, unholy. All the words he’s spoken have been garbage.

And how does God respond to Isaiah? He shows mercy. He forgives. He takes Isaiah’s sin away. Note that Isaiah didn’t do anything, other than respond in honest humility. Because he cried out for mercy, because his heart was not calloused - because he heard, he saw, he got it. And because he did, and because God is rich in mercy, he purifies him, makes Isaiah clean.

But the live coal isn’t the only act of purification we going on in this passage, the only example of God’s mercy on display. There’s another, and it would be an example of what some have called the severe mercy of the Lord. Severe in that it is painful. Difficult. Costly. But necessary.

The idea of severe mercy is suggested even in the use of the live coal, of purification by fire, that refining process. You burn away the dross, the impurities, so that only the pure, the holy remains. The Lord will sometimes remove, take away, burn away, what we hold on to in order to save us. God will bring suffering into our lives - or allow suffering into our lives - in order to redeem us. Jesus makes this point when he says that it’s better to gouge out your eye or cut off your hand to keep from sinning - so the whole body doesn’t end up in hell.

Which is exactly what’s happening in God pouring out his wrath on the people of Judah. It’s not intended to be punishment simply for the sake of punishment, but to impress upon the people the severity of their sin, of how far they have fallen - and how that has separated them from God. God’s severe mercy confronts them with just how serious their disobedience is.

And it will be a heavy price indeed, as we’ll see when we get to that part of the story. Put simply - Judah, Jerusalem, will be in utter ruins. People dragged off into exile. The nation will be a shell of its former glory. Only stumps remain. But out of that stump a seed, a holy seed, a new beginning, will emerge.

What we learn from the vision and call of Isaiah is that God takes us in all of our unworthiness - and his desire is to purify us, to prepare us to share in his glory.

To that point, someone shared this quote with me recently, it comes from a book titled, The Pastor as Counselor: The Call of Soul Care: You are called to do the impossible. It is curiously comforting to know that your calling is beyond your capability. That is another way a leader’s call is unique. You can place no confidence in your gifts, experience, education, technique, professional persona, credentials, maturity or wisdom. You are called to do what God must do.

In other words, you’ll never be capable or good enough or smart enough. You will always need the Lord. Like Isaiah, we are woefully unprepared. Unqualified. But the Lord, thankfully, is not. He is the God of all glory, the one of whom the praises lifted up to him cause the temple itself to shake. He is the exalted one, high and lifted up. His glory fills the earth. It is everywhere. Everywhere there are signs pointing to his majesty, his creative power, the wonders of his grace - if we have the eyes to see it. If we have the ears to hear it, a heart open to the glory and mercy of the Lord.

And out of that mercy our Lord prepares us. He purifies us. He makes us clean, like he did with Isaiah. Here’s the difficult part about that - it’s often painful, difficult, severe. Transformation is hard, it’s a struggle (think of a butterfly and the struggle they have to endure in order to emerge from the cocoon). But the struggle is necessary. And so it is with us. We have to die to old ways of being. To let go of things we’ve cherished, that we’ve found solace in, helped us feel secure.

But it’s always because God has something better for us. That better is to share in his glory. Isaiah was terrified - but also in utter awe and wonder - that he got to gaze upon the glory of God. I can’t even begin to fathom what that must have been like. We will go to a lot of expense and effort to see glorious things - travel hundreds of miles to see some of the most amazing, scenic sights. Spend thousands of dollars. Huff and puff our way up a mountain - for beauty, for glory. Watch people who are tremendously gifted in a particular area - sing with heavenly voices, perform incredible feats of athleticism, design and build awe-inspiring structures, works of art.

All around us, we get a glimpse of the glory of the Lord that fills the earth - but God’s invitation is to experience it in him, to know him, his glory. This was God’s invitation to Isaiah, and his invitation to us - to share in his glory, in his holiness. To know him and the relentless nature of his love, the fullness of his mercy, the lavishness of his grace, the quiet assurance of his peace, his incomparable power, the wellspring of his unfettered joy.

We come to share in God’s glory not just by knowing God himself, but by participating in the work he has for us, by responding to his call. It’s so telling how ready Isaiah is to share in whatever God calls him to after he has the vision of God in his glory - he doesn’t even know what what the Lord wants him to do, but he’s like, me, me, pick me! I’ll do it! And not because he thinks he’s so worthy, so qualified - quite the opposite. He just wants to share in whatever our glorious Lord is doing.

And my hope is that we would embrace more and more of Isaiah’s willingness, his desire to share in that glory, open to God’s purifying work in us, ready to participate in whatever God’s doing. Because I’ve got to be honest, that can be a real struggle - parts of me that just want the comfort of my own little world - stay at home, it’s warm, it’s comfortable - watch TV, grab something to eat, do what I want. And look, it’s good to have some down time, we all need that.

But I know, I know, it’s when we open ourselves up to Jesus, that attitude of ever deepening surrender, that’s when the really good stuff happens. When we’re willing to let Jesus do his purifying work in us, even when it’s painful. When we have that same attitude as Isaiah, I’m in, here I am, send me. And we pour ourselves into what God has called me to - for me, that’s leading worship, our Spiritual Formation Group, being with Capernaum kids, that’s when I feel most alive. That’s when we experience the greatest joy and contentment, sharing in whatever adventure God has for us. And we get to experience more of the glory of God himself. And that was true for Isaiah, it’s true for me, it’s true for us as a church, and it’s true for you.

Spiritual Practices

Spend time this week with an openness to experiencing the glory of God. Make it a daily prayer, trusting that indeed, the whole earth is full of the glory of God.

Pray through your day with a heart of self-offering. Whatever you have on your calendar, places you’ll be, people you’ll be around. Here I am, send me! Closing Prayer - Time of Reflection