The holiness of God

The holiness of God

Introduction:

1. The book of Isaiah begins with the words: The vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah son of Amoz saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

2. Your vision, how do we see God, how your see ourselves and the world around you. We are not taking just your physical eyes, as the contemporary song goes, open the eyes of my heart Lord.

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!” [1]

1. Ancient Israel believed in tribal gods, as the rest of the ancient world. Isaiah said that there is no God but me and I am not just a tribal god but rather, the whole earth is full of his glory!!!

2.

God drafts Jeremiah but invites Isaiah – what is it, a call or an invitation. It is both.

God drafts Jeremiah but invites Isaiah – what is it, a call or an invitation. It is both.

The message – it is going to get worse before it gets better.

The prophet – perplexed by God’s responses. God’s “means” are confusing.

33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

The term "wholly other" is used in Christian theology to describe the difference between God and everything else. God, the Christian God, is completely different than all other things that exist. God can be described by essential properties such as holiness, immutability, etc. But we have to ask how we, as finite creatures, can relate to the infinite God. It is difficult when he is "wholly other" than we are. It means that we must relate to him by his self-revelation in the person of Christ Jesus, and through the Bible.

33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

34 “For who has known the mind of the Lord,

or who has been his counselor?”

35 “Or who has given a gift to him

that he might be repaid?”

36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. [3]

8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.

9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth,

so are my ways higher than your ways

and my thoughts than your thoughts. [4]

11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,

so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;

12 as far as the east is from the west,

so far does he remove our transgressions from us.

13 As a father shows compassion to his children,

so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.

14 For he knows our frame;

he remembers that we are dust. [5]

Reduce to a stump means to come to an end of yourself. Your pride and mine – to be in control. God means to dethroned you. When king Uziah died

It is laughable how TV envangelists think they can summon God at will, pulling strings to get God to do what we want.

I. Isaiah first delivers the historical context of his vision

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted...

A. Death of a king

1. Like all devoted citizens, Isaiah had venerated King Uzziah. For fifty-two years, king Uzziah had led Judah in a program of peace and prosperity.

2. For most of his life he was a good king who led Israel into an era of expansion and achievement.

3. Now, the king was dead and the throne of Judah was empty, but Isaiah looked up and saw that the throne of heaven was still occupied by Jehovah God!

B. Our historical context

1. Sometimes God uses catastrophic events that changes life forever.

2. Such moments are defining moments: they can either build you up or destroy U

3. There might be confusion and unrest in your life on earth, but God gives his people a vision from above – and in heaven – there is perfect peace.

4. This explains why Christ sailed through the stormy sea unafraid & undisturbed: He commands and nature obeys.

5. The Lord you God is seated in majestic power and glory, and he reigns.

6. The sovereignty of God in history – even personal history – is one of the major themes in the book of Isaiah.

7. This brings me to another major theme in the book of Isaiah.

II. God’s inescapable holiness and sole majesty

Above him there were angelic beings…calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts (heaven’s armies); the whole earth is full of his glory.”

1. The threefold ascription of holiness by the angels has been interpreted in reference to the trinity since the early fathers.

2. Our opening hymn #507 serves as a testimonial of this legacy from the past.

The holiness of God is overwhelming. Listen to what Dr. Tony Evans writes in one of his books: “Holiness is the centerpiece of God’s attributes. Of all the things God is, at the center of His being, God is holy. Never in the Bible is God called, ‘love, love, love,’ or ‘eternal, eternal, eternal,’ or ‘truth, truth, truth…’ But God has stressed that He is holy, holy, holy.”

3. But the threefold repetition of the word holy is used as a superlative indicating a supreme, perfect & infinite holiness that is unequal among all God’s creatures.

4. Not only God is HOLY but the whole earth, not just Israel, is full of his GLORY.

5. As we will see, one of the major themes in the book of Isaiah is God’s unique and absolute glory, power and supreme holiness.

III. Man’s inescapable sinfulness

1. When Isaiah saw a vision of God’s inescapable holiness and sole majesty, he also saw a vision of man’s inescapable sinfulness & hopelessness, him included.

At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. “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.”

2. Often a vision of God’s holiness is accompanied with a vision of our own sinfulness. Take for example:

Job (in 42:6), he saw God’s power and glory and repented in dust & ashes

Peter (in ) saw Jesus’ glory in a miracle and cried out, “Stay away from me Jesus, I am a sinful man”

Paul saw the Lord (in ) and then realized that all his righteousness was but “garbage” next to the glory of Christ (you can read it in )

John the apostle saw the exalted Christ (in ) and fell at his feet like a dead man

“Woe to me!” Isaiah cried. “I am ruined, undone, dead! 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.”

3. One of the major themes in Isaiah is that man’s fundamental problem is not psychological, sociological or even political but sin against a holy God.

4. What could Isaiah do? Nothing! This brings me to the next point.

IV. Only God can save you

1. Isaiah stood together with all the people utterly hopeless and condemned.

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

2. It was a live coal from the altar that took away Isaiah’s sin; not because there was any power in that coal, but because it came from the altar of sacrifice.

3. One of the major themes in the book of Isaiah is that there is only one God and only God can save.

4. As we will see, this is particularly evident in every case when Israel made alliances or put their trust in idols.

“Woe to the obstinate children,” declares the LORD…forming an alliance, but not by my Spirit…who go down to Egypt without consulting me; who look for help to Pharaoh’s protection, to Egypt’s shade for refuge.

Before me no god was formed, nor will there be one after me. I, even I, am the LORD, and apart from me there is no savior.

V. The songs of the Servant

1. Another major theme in the book of Isaiah is being the Lord’s servant

2. Having been made clean:

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!”

3. Isaiah is an excellent book to talk identity and mission.

4. Jesus and the Early Church derived their sense of call from the book of Isaiah

5. Isaiah was called to an apparent unsuccessful mission:

He said, “Go and tell this people: ‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’ Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes.

6. But even when all seems hopeless, God’s redemptive work and plain will not fail.

VI. Eschatology

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…until the LORD has sent everyone far away in exile and the land is utterly forsaken. But as the oak tree leaves a stump when they are cut down, so the holy seed will be the stump in the land.”

1. In the book of Isaiah, the work of the suffering servant in , who is pierced for our transgressions, will see an offspring, the church.

2. Another major theme in Isaiah is that finished work will take away sin and make all things new

Conclusion

God’s ways are incomprehensibles. As high as the heavens from the earth so high. Paul speaks of God’s ways:

Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus’ glory and spoke about him.

33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

2. When Isaiah looked up and saw the Lord, it was Jesus himself who looked right back down.

34 “For who has known the mind of the Lord,

3. The book of Isaiah not only speaks of Christ’s suffering but also of his glory.

or who has been his counselor?”

35 “Or who has given a gift to him

[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

that he might be repaid?”

36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. [3]

[2] Oden, T. C., & Crosby, C. (Eds.). (2009). Ancient Christian Devotional: A Year of Weekly Readings: Lectionary Cycle C (p. 62). Downers Grove, IL: IVP Books.

8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.

[3] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth,

so are my ways higher than your ways

[4] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

and my thoughts than your thoughts. [4]

11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,

[5] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;

12 as far as the east is from the west,

so far does he remove our transgressions from us.

13 As a father shows compassion to his children,

so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.

14 For he knows our frame;

he remembers that we are dust. [5]

Reduce to a stump means to come to an end of yourself. Your pride and mine – to be in control. God means to dethroned you. When king Uziah died

It is laughable how TV envangelists think they can summon God at will, pulling strings to get God to do what we want.