Holy Different
Isaiah 6:2-5, Exodus 15:11, Revelation15:4, Isaiah 40:18, 25, Isaiah 46:9-11, Daniel 2:20
Isaiah 45:7, Job 9:4, Romans 11:33, Psalm 139:4-16, Jeremaih 23:23-24, Isaiah 6:5, 6-7, 8
November 8, 2004
I. John Speke was an English explorer. He stood one day staring at a wall of water that he spent the biggest part of 1858 trying to reach, and he described it as only and Englishman could, " We were well rewarded" was what he said.
A. He was describing the falls of the upper Nile River. For weeks he and his exploration party had hacked through brush, waded rivers, run from natives, and watched Crocodiles watch them with that lunch look in their eyes.
B. Only an Englishman could so understate what He was looking at with the words he wrote in his journal, "we were well rewarded.....it made as interesting a picture as one would want to see."
C. But Speke couldn’t leave the falls. He spent a whole day just staring at it. He sketched the falls over and over again. He was stunned by what he saw.
D. About 2600 years before Speke stood stunned at the falls of the upper Nile Isaiah laid on the floor of the temple with his face to the floor, and his arms crossed over his head, begging for mercy.
E. Like John Speke he had just seen the unseen. But unlike Speke had he had not seen the creation, He had seen the creator. Isaiah had seen God.
F. Isaiah was the Billy Graham of his time in that he was something like a Senate Chaplain, a minister to the political leaders. He was a court Priest.
G. His family was a part of the upper crust of society. He was a sophisticated professional. He was successful, but the day he saw God the only thing he could say was "Woe is me for I am ruined."
H. What would make a man like Isaiah say what he said? It was the words repeated three times by the seraphim, the angels appear only once in scripture. The words that they repeated three times were, Holy, Holy, Holy!
(Isa 6:2-5 NIV) 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. And they 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. "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."
I. Only once in scripture do we see the Seraphim, and only one thing do we hear them say, Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord Almighty. In the Hebrew language when a word is repeated it is kinda like you using a highlighter to mark something.
J. Repeating a word in Hebrew is to emphasize something. The angels were not saying God is Holy, they were not saying He was Holy, Holy. They were saying God is Holy, Holy, Holy.
K. There is no other characteristic of God that gets the emphasis that His holiness does. We are never told in scripture that God is wise, wise, wise, and we are never told that strong, strong, strong, we are never told that God is powerful, powerful, powerful.
L. Only his holiness is repeated again and again and again, because His holiness needs to be recognized as more important.
M. God’s Holiness emphasizes who God is more than any other thing about God. God is worthy of our praise because he is holy.
N. The first and last songs of the bible are about the holiness of God. When the Israelites crossed the Red Sea they sang not so much about His power as his Holiness.
(Exo 15:11 NIV) "Who among the gods is like you, O LORD? Who is like you-- majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?
O. When the ones who had been triumphant over the beast in Revelation sang about God they sang about His Holiness.
(Rev 15:4 NIV) Who will not fear you, O Lord, and bring glory to your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed."
P. The Hebrew word for Holy means to be separated or cut off. God’s Holiness reminds us that God is in all ways different than us or anything of this Earth.
II. Max Lucado makes an observation that helps bring this to light. "He says’ what you are to a paper airplane, God is to you."
A. What he means is, if you make a paper air plane it is your creation, and can never be your equal. In any contest that you might get in with that airplane you will with out a doubt be the greater.
B. In a race you would win, in a game you would win, in strength you would win. And you should, because the thing has no brain, pulse, or ability to match yours. It only exists because you formed it, and it only flies when you empower it.
C. And if you multiply the difference between you and the paper airplane by infinity You might get close to the differences between us and God.
D. What can we compare to God? Isaiah knew that answer to that question.
(Isa 40:18 NIV) To whom, then, will you compare God? What image will you compare him to?
(Isa 40:25 NIV) "To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?" says the Holy One.
E. The answer is NOTHING! And, Isaiah knew that because God made it clear to him.
(Isa 46:9-11 NIV) Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please. From the east I summon a bird of prey; from a far-off land, a man to fulfill my purpose. What I have said, that will I bring about; what I have planned, that will I do.
F. That was pretty plain.
G. There is nothing that we can see ever that will compare to God.
1. Nobody gives God advice!
2. Nobody helps him out!
3. He calls the shots, end of discussion!
4. You may have power, but God is power, end of discussion!
H. If we want to compare ourselves to God then, we are a lightening bug and He is lightening. All the wisdom and power in the universe is His. (Dan 2:20 NIV) and said: "Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever; wisdom and power are his.
I. We say we create things, but we don’t. We reshape things that are already created, if you want to say you created something try making some dirt out of nothing, because that’s what God did.
J. God took nothing a created something. He did not have any material that already existed, He made all that exists from nothing.
K. Before God started our universe was an empty space, we say at times God brought light to our dark world, that is true in a way but really its not, cause God even made the darkness.
(Isa 45:7 NIV) I form the light and create darkness.
L. He creates everything and it is all for his pleasure. It’s for His pleasure? Yes, we cover that last week...get over it!
M. God is measureless strength and knowledge (Job 9:4 NIV) His wisdom is profound, his power is vast. Who has resisted him and come out unscathed?
N. God does not use His power carelessly, because his wisdom matches His strength, (Rom 11:33 NIV) Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!
O. And his knowledge about you and me is as in depth as His knowledge about the universe, because we too are His creation, and we like the airplane can only fly when He empowers us..
(Psa 139:4 - 16 NIV) Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD. You hem me in--behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me," even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.
P. The things that blur our vision for what is going to happen don’t affect God. The unspoken is spoken, the unseen is seen, the future is history to God. There is nothing that He does not know.
Q. He is all powerful, all-knowing, and ever present. David said in what we just read where can I go to hide from you presence? God gave us the answer to that question in (Jer 23:23-24 NIV) "Am I only a God nearby," declares the LORD, "and not a God far away? Can anyone hide in secret places so that I cannot see him?" declares the LORD. "Do not I fill heaven and earth?" declares the LORD.
III. When the bible says that God is Holy it means that He is set apart from everything else. He is unique! And The ones that see him the clearest are that one that honor Him the most.
A. Maybe if we don’t honor God it is because we have not allowed ourselves to be in the position to see Him.
B. The picture that we see in Isaiah’s encounter with God is that God is so Holy that the sinless Seraphim can’t bare to look at Him. They cover their faces with their wings.
C. You ever wonder why it says they cover the feet? Because the Hebrew word for feet, is the same as the Genital area. The idea if you will for give me, is that the Seraphim are impotent in the presence of God.
D. Isaiah could relate. When he saw the holiness of God, he didn’t start saying, I SAW GOD! He fell on His face and begged for mercy!
(Isa 6:5 NIV) "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."
E. Isaiah realized something that a lot of us don’t. His vision was not about Him it was about God. You can summarize what Isaiah said in a few words, it all about God and not about me.
F. Isaiah found that humility was not found in looking for humility but in seeing God for what He really is.
G. One glimpse of God made Isaiah see himself for what he really was when compared to God. He said I am infected, diseased, I am Unclean is what he said and it was the phrase used to describe lepers.
IV. Compared to God we are all leprous in the Holiness department. But God’s mercy makes us Holy even when we aren’t.
A. Look at what happened with Isaiah.
(Isa 6:6-7NIV) Then one of the seraphs 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."
B. Isaiah didn’t ask for grace, and from what he did when he saw God its plain that he thought it was impossible.
C. But God who is always merciful cleanses Isaiah’s sin and redirects his life. Which is exactly what He did for all of humanity that will receive it, at the Cross.
D. But the story doesn’t end there. God does one more thing. He asks for someone to speak up for Him. He asks for someone to be set apart and Holy. Someone who is willing to stand out from the crowd and be different. (Isa 6:8 NIV) 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!"
E. Isaiah had experienced God and when God said who will be different for me? Who will speak up for me? Who will tell people about me? Isaiah raised His hand and said OOO, OOO, OOO, I will, I will!
F. Isaiah got a glimpse, of God’s Holiness and He had to speak up. It was just a glimpse but a glimpse was enough, and he was forever different. He was HOLY DIFFERENT!
G. IF you are a Christian, you have had a Glimpse of God too. Has it made you HOLY DIFFERENT? Has it made you ready to be different from the world around you? Has it made you ready to speak up for God?
H. If it hasn’t maybe you need to think back and remember what you saw!
