The Throneroom

Isaiah 6

Intro

Continuing with our series through the book of Isaiah called: City of God

Jesus’ mission was to establish the City of God here on earth

You and I are citizens of that city

What does it look like for us as Christians to live as citizens of the City of God?

Intro

What are the similarities between these two pictures

Although they are on opposite sides of the aisle in terms of tradition, they are the same in one major way: an awareness that the presence of God is among them.

Catholics - The eucharist

Charismatics - The power of the Holy Spirit

Studies show that these are the two denominations that are on the rise amongst Christian young people, while most other Christian denominations are on a steady decline

This isn’t an endorsement of catholicism or charismatics, but they did get at least one thing right: they have a deep and holy longing to experience the presence of God

Here’s the reality: If I asked every single person in this room if they want an encounter with the most high God, every one of us would say “yes.”

But if I then asked you if you wanted an encounter that looks like this, I think a lot of you would say “no.”

Why? Because you recognize that an encounter with God doesn’t exclusively look like this

You don’t have to be face down on the ground or sitting in the pews of a Catholic mass to encounter God. Those are not requirements, these people just happen to be encountering the presence of God in those specific ways

So here’s the question we have to answer though: what does an encounter with God really look like? What are the requirements for an encounter with God. 4 things we see from Isaiah’s encounter:

Experience of beauty

Experience of humility

Experience of purity

Experience of calling

Experience of BEAUTY

Isaiah experienced the beauty of the Lord

Isaiah doesn’t give too much description although he surely could have, but the description he does give us is more than enough

He’s on a throne | He’s high and lifted up | The train of His robe (continuously) fills the temple

And the seraphim, these magnificent heavenly creatures in their own right, can’t stop singing their praises to God

Notice how they cover their faces. The holiness of God is so great that they cannot look upon his unveiled glory with their naked eyes

And yet they don’t run and hide out of fear. They’re captivated by Him. They circle His throne almost as if to show that they’re getting as close to Him as they can physically bear

And notice how they sing songs of praise to each other. When you’re captivated by beauty, you have to tell someone else about it and invite them into sharing this experience

That’s what makes worship in a group so special, that’s why you should talk to your friends about God

God is holy and terrifyingly holy, and yet He is beautiful

And I would posit to you that being captivated by the holiness of God is a true marker of love because the holiness of God is not useful

What do I mean by this?

Is music useful? Not really, then why do you listen to it? You listen to it because you find it beautiful

Have you ever gone to an art museum? Did you like it? For those of you who didn’t like it very much, you probably thought it was a waste of time. Why? Because looking at art for hours is not particularly useful. But for those who find it beautiful, they don’t need to find it particularly useful

God’s holiness is not useful. God’s holiness is of no benefit to you. In fact, it’s nothing but a threat

But if you love God for His holiness, it shows that you love Him for who He is, not what He can give you

Experience of HUMILITY

Verse 1 - In the year that King Uzziah died

Was he a good king? He wasn’t the worst. But he made one huge mistake: he entered the temple (only priests could do that)

Because of this, he was struck with leprosy

So Isaiah has been in this context of seeing everyone around him messing up. The king was an idiot - he entered the temple when he wasn’t supposed to, and because of his stupidity, he was struck down with a sickness

Maybe some of you can relate to Isaiah here, where everyone around you seems to be messing up, and yet it affects you negatively

Your parents | Political leaders

And yet, in the presence of God, Isaiah has an experience of humility - where he sees that it was not King Uzziah that was the problem, it was he who was the problem

Look at verse 5 (Isaiah 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!””

He’s cursing himself. He’s literally pronouncing a curse upon himself because he hates himself and his sin so much

Anyone who moves into the presence of God begins to hate themselves

Job

Moses

Peter

But why is this? Why does everyone who experiences the raw power of God have this experience of guilt and self hatred?

I stood in St. Peter’s Basilica, I didn’t feel guilty

Beauty doesn’t often make us feel guilty

You might also say: “I don’t believe in a God of low self-esteem, I believe in a God of love”

In order to understand why Isaiah feels guilty, you have to first understand that human greatness is humbling

I thought I was a good musician until I went to Biola

They weren’t making me feel like an inferior musician, but by the very nature of how good they were, I had to feel like an inferior musician

If that is the case with humans, than how much more would that be the case with God?

We cannot expect to feel inferior around other humans and not expect to feel that to a significantly greater degree with God

If there is a real God, it would have to feel like that

Experience of PURITY

But God doesn’t revel in our guilt and self-hatred, and He doesn’t leave Isaiah in that place for long. In fact, he very quickly pulls him up out of that place of self-hatred

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

When the angel comes to him with the burning coal, Isaiah would have thought he was being judged

Any time the fire of God comes down, it’s almost always in judgement or power, it’s almost never a purifying thing

Isaiah has an experience of the holiness of God, of course he would think he was about to be struck down

But he isn’t. He’s purified

One thing Pastor Dustin loves to say is: Cheer up- you’re worse than you think. But cheer up - you’re more loved than you ever dare imagine

This is what happened to Isaiah

He’s brought to a place of radical humility and self-hatred, but it’s only by experiencing those lows that he can be lifted to the heights of the grace and love of God

Experience of CALLING

Look down at verse 8 (Isaiah 6:8) “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.”

Notice how Isaiah’s eagerness to go on mission is motivated by experiencing the presence of God

He’s seen the holiness of God, that’s why He’s worthy of Isaiah’s “yes.”

But He’s also experienced the love and mercy of God in such a profound way that it is Isaiah’s joy to say “yes.”

And Isaiah needed this because, frankly, God’s mission is terrible

He tells Isaiah that he’s going to speak words of warning to Israel, that if they don’t cut it out, God is going to judge them

And they won’t listen to you Isaiah, and I will judge them. You and your people will be taken into captivity from your homeland, many people will die

The rest of your life will be marked by speaking words of warning that you know won’t be heeded

And you might immediately think: “how cruel of God to do this.” Until you realize that this is what He Himself has been enduring for hundreds and thousands of years up to this point

Isaiah was called to warn the people of coming judgement he knew would come because of the hardness of their hearts, that is exactly what God has been experiencing ever since Genesis 3

But God is a just and fair God. He will not judge a nation without first pleading with them to turn and repent even though He knows that they won’t

But there comes a time where God stops standing in the way, and simply lets them run headlong into their sin

Tim Keller - The worst thing God can give somebody is what their unregenerate heart really wants

But that is Isaiah’s calling, and just like Isaiah, whenever you have an experience with the presence of God, you experience some sort of calling from God

To preach the Gospel

To forgive an enemy

To go home and read your Bible or pray in your car on the way home

A calling can look as extreme as what Isaiah was called to do, or it can look as simple as finally doing that thing the Holy Spirit has been impressing on your heart up until now

Conclusion

Let me close by saying this: In light of Isaiah 6, we can see that a citizen of the city of God has a yearning for God’s persistent presence

How can you read this passage and conclude that you don’t want the presence of God?

In Hunting Magic Eels, Richard Beck uses the analogy of a 2-story apartment

Most of us view life as living on the first floor while God lives on the second floor

We mind our business down on the first floor while God minds his business on the second floor

We can sometimes hear Him

We don’t expect to run into Him

We might run into Him occasionally

Beck encourages us to view life not as an apartment building, but as a one story house

“We’re roommates with God and we should expect to see Him all the time.”

Expect to run into God this week, yearn for the presence of God