ISAIAH 6 January 2, 2005
KNOWING GOD IN THE NEW YEAR
You may feel a little shaken up coming into 2005. With the huge natural disaster that has happened in Asia, with other events on the world stage like Ukraine, Iraq, Israel in the midst of human disaster or on the brink of it. You may feel shaken. Or you may have experienced some of your own tragedies over the Christmas season. Then again, some of you may be excited to enter 2005 the world may be your oyster and the future looks bright.
For some people, as they enter a new year, they see it as time to take stoke, to ask themselves who they are & who they are becoming, what are they supposed to be doing. I believe that Isaiah 6 teach us that the get that vision of ourselves, and a vision of our calling, we need a vision of God.
"In the year that King Uzziah Died"
It may seem like he is just telling us when he saw the vision - like, "Back in 2001...", but the death of Uzziah meant allot more to Isaiah and Judah than we might think. Under Uzziah’s reign Judah prospered greatly, they triumphed over their enemies, their land was expanded, the saw great prosperity and peace not seen since Solomon.
But now things were looking quite ominous, Assyria was on the rise again, a new king had come to power, and nothing was sure anymore.
As Isaiah stood at the edge of a new and uncertain era, God gave him this vision, and as we stand at the edge of a new and uncertain year, I believe we also need a similar vision.
Isaiah was given a vision of God
-God as King vs. 1
It was as if God was saying, "you mourn for the loss of your king, and wonder about the new king, but I am the true King!"
Majesty – the train of his robe filled the temple
Glory, - smoke & shaking
Holy - most important -Isaiah’s favorite name for God - "The Holy One Of Israel"
-X3! Holy, Holier, Holiest!
Not an ounce of sin - pure radiant light.
Pastor and author Tony Evans says this about God: “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.’ On this aspect of His character, God has laid the most stress.”
For the Hebrews, the number three was a perfect number – so to repeat an attribute three times was a way to express perfection in that attribute – “you are perfect in your holiness” is what they are saying
So holy that even the seraphs - the sinless angels - did not feel worthy of his presence. - covered their face & feet.
Often times we forget the holiness of God, we and forget that he is so pure that if we were to see him the sight would likely kill us.
This led to a vision of himself and his people.
Isaiah stands there in awe of this fantastic sight until his thoughts moved toward himself, and he cries out in agony at the sin in his life and his people’s lives.
"Woe is me" - "I’m a dead man"
- he didn’t start to bargain with God, saying, "But Lord, I’ve been as good as I could, in fact I’m your most faithful prophet..."
No, he dealt with the truth, - even if he only had a little sin in him, it was enough to kill him in the presence of this awesome and holy God.
In fact he picked the most holy part about himself and called it unclean - he was a prophet - out of his lips came the words of God, and yet he says "I am a man of unclean lips"
Once, I took the kids up to the cabin without Pam. The cabin is a rustic place with no running water, no electricity, but plenty of space for the kids to run and play. On the day that we were to come back home, I got them dressed in the morning, packed up the van, and loaded them in. I took a look at them as I was getting them in the van, and thought they look pretty good – a little grubby, but clean enough. They all slept as I drove until we pulled into a McDonalds to get lunch – I looked back at them, and they were disgusting! What looked clean at the cabin, now in the light of civilization looked disgusting!
Isaiah had the same experience – he looked pretty good – good enough to walk into the temple, but in the gleaming light of the presence of a holy God in whom there is no shadow or turning, he was dirty enough to die! “I’m going to die!” he says. He is a prophet of the most high, out of his mouth come the very words of God – and he says “I am a man of unclean lips, and I come from a people of unclean lips.
God is so pure, so perfect, so holy, that the slightest hint of a sin is enough to kill us in his presence. Even the most holy thing that we do is completely impure in comparison with his holiness. One great old preacher used to say “even our repenting needs repentance.”
God’s holiness is something far and above even what we could imagine for personal holiness.
If we gain a true vision of the Holy God that we serve, the only response that we can have is repentance.
Repentance - coming before God and saying, "Lord I know that you are pure, and I know that I can never be pure, but I want to be!"
Isaiah doesn’t even put himself above the culture that he is in – In the prosperity under Uzziah’s reign many of the people of Judah began to worship idols more and sin more. Isaiah doesn’t come to God and say “O Lord, I’ve tried to serve you, but those other people, they are terrible and wicked!” No, he says these people, as wicked as they are, are my people, and their sin is my sin. He doesn’t speak of “their” sin, he speaks of “Our” sin.
Part of intercessory repentance is to understand that we are part of a people who needs cleansing, not separate from them, and when we come to God, we can pray as a part of the people, not separated from them.
This led to a vision of salvation. verses. 6-7
God did not leave him in a state of sin and shame, nor did he say “come on now you’re not so bad.” No, he dealt with the sin.
The seraph flew to him with a coal and touched his sinful lips and cleansed them. He said, "See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin is blotted out."
In this he is taken from death to life, where as before he knew that he would die as a sinful person standing before a holy God, now he was made clean, and he could live!
When we respond to God in repentance, he doesn’t leave us to lie in our guilt and shame, he cleanses us and purifies us.
Isaiah has a vision of God’s Holiness, of his & his people’s unworthiness, but he catches a vision of God fantastic love for him as well. He loves him enough to purify him
When we come before this holy God and understand our sinfulness and impurity, when we look up again we see the cross that Christ died on.
Jesus is our burning coal that takes away our guilt and blots out our sin so we stand before God completely pure just like we had never sinned before. And Jesus is a much more costly burning coal than the one the seraph held – Jesus is God’s own son.
When we have a vision of God, we may also have a vision of our brokenness, but we also ha a vision of our worth to God.
This leads to a vision of service
God calls out, "Whom shall I send and who will go for me?"
Before him stands this man who has just been purified of all he has ever did wrong in life, who has just been brought from death to life. What does this man cry out? - Here am I, send me!
He doesn’t say, "What? You actually want me to do something now? But I’ve got a life to live, a good job..."
No, he understands that he has been saved for a purpose, and that is to serve God.
We too have been saved for a purpose, Eph 2:10 tells us
"For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."
-called to use the gifts and abilities that he has give us.
Conclusion
Isaiah was given this vision of God at a turning point in his and his nation’s life, I believe that we also need a vision of God if we are going to enter into this New Year with confidence.
You may enter 2005 hoping for a new vision of yourself, a new vision of your salvation, or a new vision of your calling. The way to those vision is to seek out a vision of God – as we know him, we begin to know ourselves and our calling.
As we get to know God and gain a better picture of him by reading his word, and praying to Him and as His Holy Spirit enlightens us, we will be brought to repentance, and forgiveness, and ministry.
If we come to know God in this way, we can enter 2005 not being unsure of things, but certain of our situation, knowing that we are forgiven and made pure, with the God who is the true King on our side.
