Scripture: Isaiah 6:1-8; Psalms 29; John 3:1-17
Theme: God's Identity
Proposition: Isaiah 6:1-8 reveal to us God's Identity. In this passage we see I. The Majesty of our God (a. He is God, there is no other b. He is King c. He is holy) 2. The Mercy of God (a. He reaches down to our earth, b. He reaches down to His People c. He reaches down to individual man) 3. The Mission of God (a. To create within us a new heart/spirit b. To enable us to join in praise/worship c. To live out a life of progressive holiness and invite others to join)
INTRO:
Good morning and welcome in the name of the LORD!
Each Lord's Day about 1.5 billion people around the world spend time worshipping the LORD. They come from every tribe and every nation, but they all have one purpose in mind. That purpose is to worship God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Now, each group may have their own unique styles, rituals and methods but all are dedicated to being a faithful and true disciple of Jesus Christ, filled with the Holy Spirit and living out a life of progressive holiness.
For this pastor, that is simply amazing. It is amazing and wonderful to know that some 1. 5 billion people are worshipping the true God of the Universe. One billion and half strong and growing each and every day. That in itself is enough to praise God today!
However, I do have a rather simple inquiry that needs to be examined. In particular, I would like for us to ask ourselves and examine for just a few minutes this question - Do we know exactly who we are gathering to serve and worship? When we say we are coming to Church to serve the LORD, what do we mean? When we say we are coming to worship Him, what exactly do we mean? Who exactly, is the LORD? What are His attributes, His characteristics? How do we come before His Presence? How are we tell others about this God of ours?
Now, that is a great many questions and we don't have the time this morning to answer them all to the depth they deserve. However, our Isaiah passage allows us to begin to understand who our God is, what it means to be in His Presence and what a Relationship with God both looks like and is experienced.
I. Isaiah 6:1-8 shares with us that Our God is a GOD OF SUPREME MAJESTY
"In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the LORD sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and the train(hem) of his robe filled the temple. 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. And one called to another and said: 'Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.' And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke." - Isaiah 6:1-4 (ESV)
Isaiah, immediately shares that he is caught up in an otherworldly experience. The veil that normally separates the common from the divine has been removed and Isaiah is thrust into the presence of heaven and all its glory. The Prophet finds himself in the very presence of God Almighty. He sees God's robe, God's throne and God's fiery attendants.
a. In all of this glory, Isaiah is reminded that there is God. There is simply God and no others - no other gods, no goddess and no rivals. Isaiah sees no other thrones, nor is there a vision of a pantheon of gods and goddesses. There is only God sitting on His throne. To be sure Isaiah sees other heavenly beings, but none to compare with the one on the Throne. There is simply God. He is God and there are no others.
This morning, we need to pause and capture this image, we need to capture this reality. There is only One God - there are no other gods or rivals. There exists only Our God.
Rev. Paul Apple of Solid Rock Community Church is right when he shares:
"Our view of God has suffered from our failure to capture a sense of His Majesty. The God of contemporary evangelicalism is a very personal God--someone with whom we can enjoy intimate fellowship. He is our best friend and the one to whom we can bring all of our troubles. We have a great high priest who became flesh and blood so that He can be a perfect mediator between God and man. But in stressing our closeness to God we have lost sight of His majesty -- the great gulf that exists between God and us because of His greatness. He is not like us -- God is not limited like we are in His wisdom, in His presence, in His power, in His effectiveness. He is eternal, infinite, almighty."
NASA keeps giving us more and more information about our universe. And it seems with each report it gets to be more and more wonderful. Recently, it has been theorized that the universe is over 90 billion light years wide with at least 100 billion earth like planets in the universe. Those numbers mean little to me. I know all the math - the distance of a light year - 5,878,499,810,000 miles ( 5 trillion, 878 billion, 499 million, 810 thousand miles) but just know that my mind is to small to comprehend. 100 billion planets like earth? We serve a great big powerful God this morning!
b. He is the God who sits on His throne. He is King. There are no other powers that can rival His Kingship. He is both God and He is King.
For Isaiah this brought great comfort in his day. For all of his life, he and most of the people of Judah had only had one king - King Uzziah. Uzziah had ascended to the throne of Judah at the young age of 16 and was able by the grace of God to serve as its king for over 52 years. Under his leadership the nation of Judah had prospered and was at peace. Uzziah was a man of God, not perfect but a man who desired to serve the LORD. 1
And now the citizens of Judah were experiencing a governmental transition from King Uzziah to King Jotham. They were going from an experienced and highly successful king to a young man who was only 25 years of age. No doubt, Jotham had been properly trained and had a good heart, but, the reality was that his father had been serving for some 27 years before this young man was even born. You can simply replace 52 years of experience and wisdom overnight.
No doubt all the nation of Judah was dealing with excitement on one hand and a dash of anxiety. So much about their daily lives depended on the character and leadership abilities of the king. Every king who had ascended to the throne who had a heart after God, led the nation and people into a time of prosperity. However, each time a king ascended to the throne who rejected God, who sought after the pagan gods of Baal, Ashoreth and others, the land, the temple and the people suffered. As the king goes, so goes the nation.
But here in this supernatural experience, Isaiah is reminded that GOD is King. There is only one true throne and it is in heaven and forever and ever its King is God. Isaiah can take refuge in knowing that God is on the throne of Heaven. And whatever is to take place here on earth, God is in control.
c. And God is Holy. It is not by accident that the first words Isaiah hears are the words Holy, Holy, Holy. This scene is parallel to that of Rev. 4 where again the heavenly hosts begin by singing out the words, Holy, Holy, Holy.
The Hebrew word used here for holy is the word - “qodesh”. Qodesh, Qodesh, Qodesh, the seraphim call out for all to hear. Literally, it means “apartness, set-apartness, separateness, sacredness, purity, consecration." It refers to God's “otherness, transcendent and totally other” because our God is totally above His creation and His creatures, including us. Holy has the idea of heaviness or weight of glory This word applies to God because God Himself is totally other, separate, sacred, transcendent, divine and set apart from every created thing. He is absolute, pure and there is no evil or sin in God. Neither can sin or evil remain in His presence.
All of this vision allows Isaiah to understands that His God - He is the only God. There are no other gods. He is the King of the Universe. The very hem of His garment is able to fill Solomon's Temple. The mere praise of His Seraphim shakes the foundations of that Temple. Just their singing is able to rattle God's Temple. God's smoke (the symbol for His Glory) fills the whole temple.2 . God is a Holy God, a God of Purity and Righteousness.
II. Secondly, Isaiah shares with us Our God is a GOD OF MERCY!
"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!' 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.'" Isaiah 6:5-7 (ESV)
As swiftly as Isaiah was thrust into seeing God in all His glory, his soul is filled just as quickly with guilt, shame and remorse. Capturing all the vision, hearing the voices of the seraphim, experiencing holiness firsthand, Isaiah is gripped with the reality of his own shame, of his uncleanness and of his sin. Isaiah experiences what it means for fallen man to come into the presence of a holy God.
Robert Lowth, the 18th century Bishop of London, remarked in his writings that Isaiah's unclean lips prevented him from joining the seraphim in their praise to God and prevented him from being able to minister to the people of Judah. Lowth and others rightly point out that Isaiah was not concerned with clean hands but with clean lips. Isaiah seems to be aware what comes out of the mouth begins in the heart and Isaiah knew that his heart needed cleansing. (Matthew 15:8).
Now, was the prophet an evil man? Was he a man steeped in gross sin? By no means. No doubt by this time in his life he had done all he could humanly do to be a man of holiness and purity. After all he was a prophet. He was a man dedicated to hearing from the LORD. He was a man who had dedicated his life to be one of holiness. And yet, here in the presence of God Himself he is fully aware of his own sins, his own impurities, his own failures. Isaiah's light shone for the LORD, but when his light came into the presence of God's light of holiness, he fully understood its diminutive (tiny) nature.
Deep in his spirit, Isaiah wants to proclaim the name of God. Isaiah yearns to join in the song of the seraphim but he is overwhelmed by his ability to not sing. His voice is silent. It is by mercy that he can even hear them at all. He is filled with sorrow as he has to keep silent. Here he is in the presence of the King only to have to remain quiet.
And so he cries out for help. He calls out for assistance. " I am a man of unclean lips and from a people of unclean lips." His lack of holiness drops him no doubt to his knees in confession and repentance.
Here Isaiah sees a glimpse of heaven. There is His God, sitting on the throne of Heaven. He is surrounded by heavens angels of fire called Seraphim. They are flying all around God proclaiming His praise - proclaiming His Holiness. And here, Isaiah was - a mere man - one who could do nothing but be silent.
And what do we see God do? This is so good ....
a. He reaches down to the earth - He opens up this view of Heaven
b. He reaches down to His People - His hem fills the temple
c. And he reaches down to the Prophet Isaiah (to humankind)
He reaches down and sends one of the seraphim to take up the very healing that Isaiah requests - he needs the fire of God to cleanse away his brokenness, his sin, his inability to be in God's presence, to sing God's praises and to be God's spokesperson.
Our God is not just a God of holiness - He is a God who mercifully enables us to be cleansed and made whole. The Prophet here suffers from an inability to praise the LORD. There is something that is not allowing Him to fully praise the LORD. He sees God, he understands that he is in the presence of God, but He is not enjoying his time with the LORD.
If only people could understand this truth. So many people do not enjoy their time in church and they do not understand why they do not enjoy it. They come and they do not experience anything. They do not sing, the do not rejoice and most of the time they sit and judge, critique and complain. You can hear them in the hallways, in the corners and after the service. Nothing is right, the music not right, the way the church does things is not right, the message is not right. And they don't know why they feel that way. They certainly don't want to feel that way. They did not come to judge or to complain but that is what happens more often than not in their lives.
Most of the time, nothing in the church is out of order. Heaven is right there to be experienced. But it is impossible to praise God with either a negative attitude or with a critical spirit, with unforgiveness in our heart or with sin in our lives.
This is why we need the fire of the LORD in our lives. We live in a sinful world. A world that lives, exists and speaks evil. And it carnal spirit is contagious. That is why Paul speaks so powerfully to us about allowing the LORD to renew our minds and for us to make sure that we do not conform to the way, the attitude and the mind of this world (Romans 12:1-3).
Instead, we must allow God to constantly cleanse our hearts, our minds and our lips. We must allow Him at all times to burn away the dross of our world. We like Isaiah are in need constantly of God's consuming fire.
As a kid I grew up in Eastern Kentucky and my father worked in the oil fields. There were some oil wells that they would have a flame burning all the time. The well would be full of natural gas along with oil and the only way to safely work the well was to allow the natural gas to burn. And so come rain or shine you would see these "eternal flames" burning all the time. We need a similar flame burning in our hearts constantly.
For when our sins are removed, when we allow God's fire to come in every service - then we notice something - suddenly we find ourselves in praise mode. Suddenly, our eyes are no longer on other people, instead they are focused on God. Suddenly, we find ourselves bowing before Our King offering our resources, our lives and our hearts to Him. Suddenly, we cry out in prayers of intercession and thanksgiving. Suddenly, we are worshipping the God of Heaven and earth.
It is the only way to worship. It is the only way to join in praise and adoration. Otherwise, we will just become people with bad attitudes, people who want to argue and fight and people filled with divisions and anger. And all of that is the way of the world. Not the way of God.
III. Thirdly, Isaiah shows us our God is a GOD OF MISSION.
"And I heard the voice of the LORD saying, 'Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?' Then I said, 'Here am I! Send me." - Isaiah 6:8 (ESV)
We see from this overall passage that God is a God of Mission
a. He is a God who seeks to give all of humanity a new heart, a new spirit - the fire of coal for Isaiah and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon His church. He is the God who seeks to restore relationship.
b. He is a God who seeks to allow us to join in relationship and in praise and worship.
Notice the major transition that takes place in verse 8. Before this verse, the prophet is filled with awe coupled with remorse. He is unable to even speak to the LORD or to join in His praise.
However, fast forward to verse eight. Following the cleansing, the fire touching his lips - the Prophet is able to not only hear from the LORD, he is invited to join the LORD in His Mission of sharing the news of redemption and reconciliation with the people of Judah.
With the barrier of sin and guilt removed, there is a flow of information and an experience of holy relationship. No longer does the Prophet shy away. No longer is the Prophet overwhelmed by his lack of cleansing. No longer does he speak of his unclean lips. Instead, through a clean heart and mouth, he speaks up to join with God in being His spokesperson.
The invitation to be God's spokesperson appears to be an overall call to commit oneself to be with God. Already, we know that the seraphim were constantly proclaiming the holiness of God. And now the prophet believes that he too, will be able to share God with his people. He accepts the call and the commission.
He is a man on fire. And a person on fire for God can do amazing things. History is full of such individuals, men and women like Paul, Polycarp, Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, Martin Luther, Susanna Wesley, Charles and John Wesley and George Whitfield.
George Whitefield is such a fascinating case. Whitefield was not born in the church. He was born very much outside of the church. Whitefield grew up in a saloon, in a tavern, and he, he knew nothing in the days of his youth but the seamy, sordid side, the gutter side of humanity.
But Whitefield was a man who was baptized in the fire of God. And what a fire God put in this man's soul. David Garrick, the great English actor, said, "Oh, that I had his voice and his dramatic gestures." David Garrick said, "He could pronounce the word of Mesopotamia and bring me to tears." John Newton, who, who wrote “Amazing Grace,” John Newton said, "I don't know who is the second great preacher in England, but I know who's the first, George Whitefield."
When George Whitefield was preaching in Philadelphia, Francis Hopkins and Benjamin Franklin went to listen to him. They had heard that he makes an appeal for money for the Lord, so Francis Hopkins said, "I am going to leave everything I have at home so I can't give anything." And those two men stood there and listened to Whitefield. And Benjamin Franklin, as he heard him, resolved first, "I'll give him my coppers." And as Whitefield continued, Benjamin Franklin said, "I'll give him my silver." And then as he continued, Benjamin Franklin said, "I'll give him my gold." And when finally the collection was taken, Benjamin Franklin gave everything that he had. And Francis Hopkins, the great legal jurist and essayist, having left everything at home so he wouldn't give, listening to George Whitefield, he turned to a neighbor and said, "Neighbor, lend me some money. I have to give."3
The truth is simply this - when a person has the fire of God in them, people around them take notice. Oh, how we need the fire of God in our lives this morning. How our world needs men and women, boys and girls who are ready to ask God to bring a fire to their souls that will not just cleanse them but with empower them to go and be witnesses for the LORD.
You and I are privileged to serve and worship the God of all Creation. Our God is the God of holiness, mercy and mission. We serve a God who will forgive us, redeem us and sanctify us. We serve a God who invites us to join Him in restoring His Kingdom here on earth. We serve a God who wants us to partner with Him to restore men and women, boys and girls back to the image of Jesus Christ.
We cannot go out on our own. We cannot approach God on our own. Our voices would be rendered silent, our sins would overwhelm us. We could do nothing, say nothing and actually be nothing. But with the fire of God, we are cleansed and empowered. With the fire of God we can have the power to go and share the message of salvation. With the power of God we will say - SEND ME. I WILL GO!
This morning, do you have that fire - that power? Do you possess God's eternal flame that continually burns away the selfishness of sin, the dross of sin in your life?
Do you desire that kind of cleanings? Do you want the fire of God burning in your heart, your mind and in your spirit this very day? Do you want to worship God with all your heart, your soul and your strength?
If you do - I want to invite you this morning to
1. Grab your hymn book and turn to Hymn # 455, to the song - Take My Life, and Let it Be Consecrated
2. Bring your hymn book and come down and stand before God's altar and join us as we sing this song. And as we sing each verse let us in our hearts ask the LORD to renew the fire that He has already placed in our hearts. Let us ask the LORD to rekindle it, to increase its capacity and to increase its intensity. Let us lift up our hearts and sing this song and by singing once again commit and consecrate -
Your Life Your Hands Your Voice Your silver and gold
Your will Your love
And after singing we are going to pray - we are going to pray for God to touch all of us with His fire - a fire of cleansing and a fire of consecration and a fire of commitment and commission this morning.
1Both 2 Kings 15:1-7 and 2 Chronicles 26 share with us both the good and bad that occurred in the life of King Uzziah. While it is true that in his last days he had to suffer God's punishment for breaking the laws of the Temple, it is also true that God blessed the kingdom of Judah under his leadership. Uzziah was responsible for many wonderful reforms and as long as he served God, God had both him and his people prosper.
2For more information on the Smoke of God's Glory see Exodus 19: 18; 40:34-35; 2 Chronicles 5:13-14 and Revelation 15:8.
3Excerpts taken from a message by THE PASSION FOR SOULS by Dr. W. A. Criswell on Acts 6:8
