Beyond the Veil - Isaiah 6 - June 12, 2011
If we were to stand in Jerusalem this morning one of the structures that would certainly draw our attention would be the Islamic mosque known as The Dome of the Rock. It stands in the old city, upon the Temple Mount, and with it’s golden dome it dominates the landscape of Jerusalem by it’s very presence.
It’s been around for a long time. Construction began in the year 689 and was completed in 691. And I want you to think about that for a moment. There’s a lot of history there. Long before Canada was ever a nation; the Dome of the Rock stood. It has endured the crusades, it has survived two world wars and it’s even withstood a few earthquakes. It has been around for a long time, but it will not stand forever.
Today, access to The Dome of the Rock is prohibited to any non-Muslim and even access to the Temple Mount is severely restricted – not just by Muslims but by Jews as well. At the entrance to the Temple Mount you will see this sign, placed by the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, which says: “Announcement and Warning: According to the Torah it is forbidden for any person to enter the area of the Temple Mount due to it’s sacredness.”
And the concern of the Chief Rabbinate is this: The Dome of the Rock is built upon holy ground. Long before the Dome was built, there stood, somewhere on that same mount, the Temple of Jesus’ day. That Temple was at the center of Jewish worship. And at the heart of the Temple itself were two rooms separated one from another by a curtain, a veil, that hung down between them. The first room was known as the “Holy Place.” It stood between the altar where the sacrifices were made, and the second room, known as the “Most Holy Place,” or the “Holy of Holies.”
The “Holy of Holies” was a sacred place which no one, save only the High Priest, could enter, and then only once a year, on Yom Kippur – the Day of Atonement. He would enter in in order to sprinkle the blood of the sacrifice upon the mercy seat and so make atonement for sins of the people of Israel. It was here, in the Holy of Holies, that the Ark of the Covenant once rested, and therefore it was there, in the Holy of Holies that God dwelt with His people.
And there-in lies the problem. Somewhere on that Temple Mount – no one is quite sure where – is the ground upon which the Holy of Holies once stood. Ground where God dwelt. And because the exact location of the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies is not known, they have ruled the whole Temple Mount off limits for fear of violating the sacred place of God.
In Jesus’ day though, none of this uncertainty existed. The Temple still stood in all it’s glory with it’s curtain, or veil, separating the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies. It’s that very veil which was torn in two, from top to bottom, by the hand of God at the moment that Jesus gave up His spirit upon the cross. (Matthew 27:51) Jesus, whom Scripture calls, our High Priest, has entered in to the Holy of Holies as it were, and made atonement for our sins, not with the blood of bulls as in ages past, but by the shedding of His own blood.
The book of Hebrews explains it this way, saying, When Christ came as high priest of the good things that are already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not man-made, that is to say, not a part of this creation. He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God! For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant. (Hebrews 9:11-15)
This is our hope as Christians and this morning I want to take us beyond the veil as it were that we might better understand the mercy of God. To do that I’m going to ask you to turn with me, please, to the book of Isaiah. Isaiah, chapter 6, beginning in verse 1 … Isaiah was one of God’s great prophets. He served the Lord during the reign of four kings, speaking the truth of God, both to them, and to the people of the nation.
Now Isaiah sets the stage for what is to come with his opening words … In the year that King Uzziah died. Uzziah was an interesting king. He had come to the throne at 16 years of age. In many respects he was a good king and did much that was pleasing in God’s sight during the 52 years of his reign. But friends we need to know this: Like many in our day, Uzziah began well, but he finished poorly.
His fall is detailed in 2 Chronicles 26 where we read these words … But after Uzziah became powerful, his pride led to his downfall. He was unfaithful to the LORD his God, and entered the temple of the LORD to burn incense on the altar of incense. Azariah the priest with eighty other courageous priests of the LORD followed him in. They confronted him and said, “It is not right for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the LORD. That is for the priests, the descendants of Aaron, who have been consecrated to burn incense. Leave the sanctuary, for you have been unfaithful; and you will not be honored by the LORD God.” Uzziah, who had a censer in his hand ready to burn incense, became angry. While he was raging at the priests in their presence before the incense altar in the LORD’s temple, leprosy broke out on his forehead. When Azariah the chief priest and all the other priests looked at him, they saw that he had leprosy on his forehead, so they hurried him out. Indeed, he himself was eager to leave, because the LORD had afflicted him. King Uzziah had leprosy until the day he died. He lived in a separate house—leprous, and excluded from the temple of the LORD. (2 Chronicles 26:16-21)
It was a sad end for a king of Judah who had started out so well. But in many ways his life also represented the life of the nation. Judah may have started well, with her heart set upon God, but, in the prosperous years of Uzziah’s reign, each had begun to think less of God and more highly of themselves and they each began to do what seemed right in their own eyes. That is the danger of comfort and prosperity – we easily lose sight of God.
I think that is very similar to what we see happening in our day. As people think more highly of themselves, and of the so called wisdom of man, they begin to think less highly of God. As they run after the wisdom of this world they give the Word of God less and less authority in their lives. And we see that happening all around us. But the important question is not: What is my neighbour doing with the Word of God? – but rather: What will I do with the Word of God? Think about that for a moment. Which word – the word of the world or the word of God – which has authority to speak into your life? Which will you pay heed to? It’s an important question to answer because God does not change – He is the same today, as He was yesterday, as He will be tomorrow – and He did not take Uzziah’s pride lightly – why would he turn a blind eye to ours?
Well it was at this dismal time in Judah’s history that Isaiah was called to be a prophet and it happened in a most dramatic way. We don’t know all the details of course but it seems that Isaiah was granted a vision in which he, look back to verse 1 with me, saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying.
Isaiah is given this tremendous vision of God’s holiness. God’s glory fills the Temple – fills the Holy of Holies and the Holy Place – you get the impression that the whole Temple is not big enough to contain the glory of God. Indeed the seraphs were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.
Folks, we live in a day and an age when even the people of God do not consider the Holiness of God much. It is popular today to think of God as our friend. To proclaim His love and His kindness and His mercy. There may be some truth to those things but we dare not dismiss the Holiness of our God. To be holy means to be set apart. God is the epitome of holiness! He is set apart from His creation – not distant from it – but separate from it in the sense that He is so much more. His love is more pure than any human love could ever be. His heart is so true that there is no shadow of turning in Him. His wisdom is so much more than that of man that we tremble at His thoughts. And on and on it goes. In God there is no sin. He is completely and utterly holy and His holiness demands a response!
So how would you respond to God’s holiness? I believe if we were ever to catch a glimpse of God’s glory, our first response would be to fall to our knees, or to fall to the ground, shattered by the sudden, and undeniable reality, of God’s pure holiness. That’s what we see in many of the great revivals of years gone by – men and women – suddenly feeling the holiness of God come upon them – too much too bear – and they fall to their knees and they cry out to God for mercy. Why? Not because the holiness of God is too magnificent to see but because it throws the reality of our own sinfulness into stark relief. When confronted with God’s holiness man has nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, from the depths of his own sinfulness.
And it is no different for Isaiah. Verse 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.” Now before he ever saw the Lord in all His glory Isaiah knew that he himself was a sinner. He knew he was unrighteousness. Who among us does not? But it wasn’t until the veil was removed that he saw the glory and the holiness of God in all it’s fullness and then, and only then, did he cry out in despair. He saw the ugliness of his sin for what it really was and he understood, for the first time, just how it separated him from God. In his sin he knew he was undone before a holy God and that awareness is what we have lost in many cases today.
Many today see themselves as righteous. Picture them as the light of a match lit in a darkened room. That darkened room represents the darkness of the world in which we live. Against the depravity of this world – the horrors of war and abuse and neglect and all the evils that you or I could imagine or that man could inflict upon his fellow man – against all these things it is easy for a good man to shine as a flicker of light in the darkness. But his light, no matter how bright, disappears in the radiance of God’s glory and the purity and the depth and completeness of His holiness!
Even our righteous deeds are like filthy rags when seen in the light of God’s glory. No wonder Isaiah cried out in despair for he saw himself as he truly was rather than as he thought himself to be. Friends, if we could see our sin as God sees it, or better yet if we could perceive the extent of God’s holiness, we too would cry out like Isaiah, “Woe is me! For I am ruined.”
Many think of themselves as good people, even righteous people, and when compared against one another they may be right. But hold them up to God’s holiness and the sin becomes self-evident. It’s like that old saying, “How do you tell if a stick is crooked? - You hold it next to one that is known to be straight.” And so it is with our sin. Against the light of God’s glory Isaiah sees himself as he has never seen himself before and I would pray that each of us here today would see ourselves as we are in light of God’s holiness that we, like Isaiah did, may call out to God for mercy! Broken of the same pride that so tripped up Uzziah. Humbled like Peter, who suddenly aware of his own sinfulness, cried out for Jesus to go away from him, or like John who confronted with the glory of the Son of Man in his vision, fell to the ground as though dead. What a gift these men received! To see themselves as they really were and to catch a glimpse of God’s glory! Oh, if only we were given eyes to see and ears to hear and hearts to perceive the holiness of our God! For the good news is that these three men, in their brokenness, were ready to be raised up by God! Verse 6 … Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar.
Throughout the Bible fire has been a symbol of God’s presence. He appeared to Moses in a burning bush and He lead the nation of Israel through the desert as a pillar of fire at night. And here we have this picture of this live coal, imbued with flame, and perhaps touched with the blood of the sacrifice, being placed against Isaiah’s mouth. And then we hear those wonderful words of life, verse 7, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.” And I want you to note that Isaiah did nothing to have his guilt taken away. This was the gift of God and it put’s those great words from Ephesians into a deeper perspective - For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9)
There is new life in those words! And with new life comes new priorities. Look at verse 8 … 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!” Did you notice what just happened there? One moment Isaiah believes that he is completely undone, that his life is forfeit. The next instant his sins are atoned for, his guilt is taken away, and his response is immediate! Though the words of Romans 12 would not be written for hundreds of years yet at this point, Isaiah took the sentiment that Paul would later pen to heart. Romans 12:1 says, Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. (Romans 12:1)
That’s the very thing that Isaiah does! He experiences the mercy of God and offers his body as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. “Here am I. Send me!” What a tremendous response to the mercy of God!
Those words can be at the heart of our response to God as well. If we don’t have that willing response of worship to God’s mercy, perhaps it is because we have never experienced His mercy, we’ve never known our own sinfulness and therefore have never known the freedom and the hope and the life that come when we receive forgiveness; when the sinfulness of our hearts is exchanged for the righteousness of Christ and God declares “Your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for!”
It may be today that there are some among us who are dead in their sins and transgressions, who are walking in the pride of Uzziah and doing their own thing with little regard for God. God sent Isaiah to just such a people as this, saying, verse 9, “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. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.” Then I said, “For how long, O Lord?” And he answered: “Until the cities lie ruined and without inhabitant, until the houses are left deserted and the fields ruined and ravaged, until the LORD has sent everyone far away and the land is utterly forsaken. 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 6)
The message that Isaiah had to proclaim was not an easy one to hear – many of them never would. They would make their hearts hard, and their ears dull and they would close their eyes to the things of God and they would not receive His message. But Isaiah was to keep proclaiming the words that God had given him anyway because out of the utter ruin, out of the brokenness and heartache, would rise up a holy seed to bring new life to the land. God would preserve for Himself a people who called upon His name, who walked in His ways, and who sought His face.
John quotes Isaiah’s words here in the 12th chapter of his gospel. And he adds to our understanding by telling us that glory of the Lord that filled the Temple was the glory of Jesus for it was Jesus that Isaiah saw in his vision that day. (John 12:41). And it was in Jesus’ day that Isaiah’s words found fulfillment. It was then that so many refused to believe even though Jesus walked among them and performed many miracles. And so it is today. Though the glory of the Lord fills the earth many turn a blind eye to it. Though the Spirit of God calls out telling people to turn to Jesus, many turn a deaf ear. And though the love of God would seek to draw all to Him, many harden their hearts and will not receive His love.
But the good news is this: Though the world goes it’s own way you can choose to stand for God. Though the world walks by sight you can choose to walk by faith. Though we are dead in sins and transgressions we can know the cleansing of Christ’s blood and enter into new life. Though hopelessness pervades every corner of our world we can stand on the certain hope that only God can give. Though the world goes in it’s own power we can go in God’s name and in the power of His Spirit as we cry out “Here I Am! Send me!” And we can respond to God’s mercy by offering ourselves as living sacrifices to the glory of God. And that is something that you can do today as you set your heart to live for God, as you walk in step with the Spirit and as you give yourself to the Lord who gave everything for you!
Let’s pray.
