The Nature of God – Holiness
Revelation 4:2-11
2 And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne.
3 And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald.
4 And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold.
5 And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.
6 And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind.
7 And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle.
8 And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, LORD God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.
9 And when those beasts give glory and honour and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever,
10 The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying,
11 Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.
ISAIAH 6:1-9
1. In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple.
2. 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.
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.
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."
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.
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."
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!"
9. He said, "Go and tell this people:
I. Nature of God is Mysterious
a. Different than the works of God
i. Typically this is what we talk about because we better grasp understanding
1. Creation
2. Redemption
3. Reigning
b. Beyond our human ability to comprehend –
i. Eternal
ii. Omnipotent
iii. Omniscient
iv. Omnipresent
v. Trinity
c. Beyond our sinful eyes to see
d. Beyond human language to describe
i. Eskimos seven words for snow
ii. Jesse Duplantis said he could better describe his vision in tongues – heavenly language
II. Where to Begin Understanding the Nature of God
a. Salient Key Traits
i. If you were to begin describing someone to a sketch artist, where do you start?
ii. What is there most outstanding trait?
iii. Jerry was looking for me and to a stranger he asked if he had seen someone “short & heavy set”
b. So what trait would be most impressionable about God?
i. When you are in the presence of greatness, have you come away impressed with a trait from someone?
1. Joy Sexton – impression of Bill Clinton as a genius
2. Eric Hensley – impressed with his sense of humor
3. You can think of someone new you walked away from spending time with and you were impressed with their kindness, humor, intelligence
c. So to the seraphim & cherubim – the angelic creatures that live in God’s throne room, what are the top things they talk about?
i. God’s love – because surely it is an overwhelming facet of the Person of God that would compel Him to act in redeeming the world through Christ
ii. God’s power – because how mighty must be the Power of God that is the source of all breath, life, gravity and the universe itself
iii. God’s knowledge – because here is the Knower of all who has yet to learn because his knowledge, wisdom and understanding are perfect and complete
iv. God’s beauty – because perhaps the Artist who sculpted canyons, and painted sunsets, and engraved Adam, as the source of all beauty is overwhelming in His emanating light and rainbows of majesty
d. Yet with all these and many other aspects of God’s nature, let’s look at the top 3 words of the angelic beings
III. HOLY, HOLY, HOLY
a. Why HOLY to the exponent of 3?
i. In the Hebrew language, superlatives are done by repeating a word three times
ii. Perhaps it is a fitting worship for a God who is mysteriously Father, Son and Holy Ghost
b. What is the HOLY nature of God?
i. Indescribable otherness – my ways are not your ways, my thoughts are not your thoughts
1. He is different than all that He has created
2. All creation is rooted in Him and can never reach the heights of His holiness
ii. Brilliant light
iii. Giving Love
iv. Moral Perfection
1. Even when we can’t understand it, God is right – OT genocides
v. Righteousness comes from God, we do not measure God’s rightness by our standards
1. If God says it is sin, it doesn’t matter what popular opinion is
2. Men judge right by:
a. the greatest good for the greatest number
b. the end justifies the means
c. what feels good or right
d. popular opinion
3. Right and wrong have their source in the nature of God
vi. Fearful terror of His wrath
1. “But my God would never send anyone to hell” – this is NOT the Holy God of Scripture
2. God’s Holiness is His burning purity
3. The Holiness that cast out of Eden with flaming sword
4. The Holiness that swept away all but Noah’s family in the flood
5. Holiness that plummeted Sodom & Gomorrah with fire & brimstone
6. Holiness that drowned Pharaoh’s Army
7. Holiness that wiped out the heathen Canaanites
8. Holiness that caused Uzzah to collapse in death when steadying the ark
9. Holiness that caused unholy priests to drop in death when entering the Holy of Holies
10. Holiness that will cause “eye to dissolve in their sockets” to the enemies of Israel that gather round them in Armageddon
11. Holiness that will burn in fiery wrath in hell for eternity to those that reject the grace of Jesus
c. So the angels are so overwhelmed with this Holy nature of God that in 700 BC when Isaiah experience and in 90 A.D. when John experienced the throne room, they were continually crying HOLY, HOLY, HOLY
VISION OF GOD (6:1)
A personal revelation of God is indispensable not only to ministry but also to Christianity. You cannot minister to others from a "textbook" knowledge of God; you must have experienced Him for yourself. God is the very source of our being and our lives must be grounded in him to have meaning. Ministry must flow out of a relationship with Him to be effective because He is both the answer to people's problems and the ultimate meaning that they are searching for.
1. God's Sovereignty (6:1)
a. Since Judah had known no king like Uzziah since Solomon, they had focused their hopes and trust on this great king.
b. Isaiah's vision reminded Judah that they were not protected and prospered by an earthly king, but by the Sovereign Lord of the universe.
c. His Lordship is over all time and space and is unfailing for all eternity.
d. How reassuring to both Judah then and the saints today to be reminded that whatever uncertainties and transitions we face, God is in control.
e. I have been through many times of transition, where God directed my path.
1. Naval intelligence officer & Clinical psychologist
2. Pastor/printer lugging techie
2. God's Glory (6:3)
a. Words break down when one attempts to describe God Himself.
b. The experience is too awesome, too all-encompassing for words to penetrate it.
c. The experience is truly better "felt than telt".
d. Though the prophet describes the "train" of God's glory, he cannot paint us a picture of what God Himself is like.
e. We must experience His glory on our own to truly know it.
f. If I attempt to tell you what it was to like to be saved or to be baptized in the Holy Spirit then it is hard for me to relate this "mystical" experience to you in terms that you can understand it, particularly if you have never had this wonderful experience or have never observed anyone experiencing this blessing. Similarly, Isaiah is trying to crouch the ultimate human experience, man encountering his Maker, in some human word which cannot fully depict the experience.
3. God's Holiness (6:3)
a. God's Holiness is described with the threefold acclamation which is the strongest superlative available in the Hebrew language.
b. God's holiness refers to His absolute ethical perfection and His otherness/distinctness from all that He has created.
