In the second book of C. S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia, young Lucy returns to Narnia a year after her first adventure. Narnia has changed so that she feels lost. But then she catches a glimpse of Aslan. We read
Oh joy! For He was there: the huge Lion, shining white in the moonlight, with his huge black shadow underneath him…She rushed to him. She felt her heart would burst if she lost a moment. And the next thing she knew was that she was kissing him and putting her arms as far around his neck as she could and burying her face in the beautiful silkiness of his mane. The great beast rolled over on his side so that Lucy fell, half sitting and half lying between his front paws. He bent forward and just touched her nose with his tongue. His warm breath came all around her. She gazed into the large wise face.
“Welcome, child,” he said.
“Aslan,” said Lucy, “You’re bigger.”
“That is because you are older little one,” he answered.
“Not because you are?”
“I am not. But every year you grow you will find me bigger.”
This blog/podcast series, Jesus Said LIFE is KNOWING God, is intended to cause our view of God to get bigger as we grow towards spiritual maturity. My hope is that by the end of today’s episode we will all be able to delight in two of God’s attributes that don’t usually excite us very much—God’s holiness and his wrath.
As we try to stay focused on Christ’s mission for us, we remember that growing in the knowledge of God was often mentioned by Paul as big part of that mission. For example, Colossians 1:9 commands, “walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and INCREASING IN THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD.” Today we consider the temple vision of Isaiah, who in Isaiah 6 discovered, as Lucy did on her return trip to Narnia, that his earlier vision of God had been way too small.
In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train 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. 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.” And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” (vs 1-8).
ISAIAH’S VISION OF GOD
A. Seeing God’s MAJESTY. Isaiah, the prophet, is in Jerusalem. He goes into the temple probably grieving the loss of King Uzziah, anxiously praying because a stable time of Uzziah’s 52-year reign has just ended, probably wondering what his role will be in the future. And he is shocked to encounter a vision of the Lord Himself. Try to put yourself in his place. You’re in the temple courtyard—not in the Holy place—because you are not a priest. You look up and see the Lord, ADONAI. Adonai is the title for the king of all kings. He is seated on his royal throne in the sky, high and exalted—as high as your eye can see—in his majesty. You see the magnificent train of his royal robe winding down from the heights. It covers the holy of holies, and the entire holy place. So exalted and supreme is the sovereign one that the train of his royal robe fills the entire courtyard so there is not even a place to sit. Such was Isaiah’s vision of God’s infinite majesty. Isaiah wasn’t even at the level of God’s feet with layers and layers of royal robe between Isaiah and the bottom of the throne. When you see who God really is, you see that God is so awesome, so great, so absent from limitation, that you become very small. You realize you can’t trifle with him, argue with him, complain to him, criticize him, beat him, avoid him or ignore him. The recognition of God’s weightiness is called the fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Prov 9:10).
B. Seeing God’s GLORY. Isaiah notices strange angelic beings called seraphim with three pairs of wings: one pair with which to fly, one pair covering their feet in humble respect as ANE culture would have dictated. But why two wings covering its face? Because the presence of God brings the blinding radiance of his glory. In 1 Timothy 6:15-16, Paul describes God as one who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. The brightest, most blinding light possible is what is associated with God’s glory. Mark 9 describes Jesus, Peter, James and John ascending a mountain where Jesus is transfigured, before them. The veil that hid the glory of Christ, the Second Person of the Trinity was temporarily removed. Mark’s words were “his clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no cloth-refiner on earth could bleach them.” The glory of God clothes God in unapproachable light. When considering the glory that accompanies God, it is worth remembering what happened when Moses asked to see God’s glory.
Moses said, “Please show me your glory.” And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The Lord.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.” And the Lord said, “Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen” (Exodus 33: 19-23)/
After this took place and Moses descended the mountain, the brilliant radiance of God’s glory so remained upon Moses that the people begged Moses to cover his face—and Moses had only seen the BACK of Yahweh! No one can look upon the face of the LORD of Hosts unveiled and live. So, the seraphim covered their faces with their wings.
C. Seeing God’s HOLINESS. Next, Isaiah hears the voices of these Seraphim calling to one another, ““Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” The Hebrew word, “holy” comes from QUADASH, which means to cut, or to separate. God is “set apart” from his creatures. He is utterly distinct from his creatures. He is so exalted above them in infinite majesty, absolute unapproachability, and perfect moral purity that there is a chasm between the most virtuous human and God. Notice that the seraphim ascribe holiness to God not once, not twice, but three times. Grammatically, what occurs here in Hebrew was a totally new phenomenon in the Hebrew language. In Hebrew, repetition was used for emphasis; there were no exclamation points and no ability to “bold” what you were saying. That is why in Aramaic, Jesus would preface some of his teaching with, “Truly, truly, I say to you.” But never, ever was a word said three times, according to the Hebrew laws of grammar—only two. But so totally holy is Yahweh, the Lord of Hosts, our God, that the language Isaiah spoke and heard could not accommodate the concept—the magnitude and depth of his holiness. They had to defy the laws of grammar, crying out, “holy, holy, holy is the Lord.”
Take Away #1: God’s holiness means that his moral attributes are infinitely superior to human virtues.
- Though parents do their best to discipline and train their children properly, God always disciplines and trains us perfectly.
- Though human dependability is frail—people back out of commitments and forget their promises—God never fails to keep his word.
- Though human kindness can carefully consider another’s feelings, such human care often gives way to selfish treatment of others. But God never ceases to treat our emotions carefully with divine kindness.
- On the days when we most need love, the humans we count upon may be preoccupied with themselves or don’t understand our needs. But God never fails to love us, delight in us, and provide what our hearts and bodies need.
- Though humans can sometimes have the patience that all humans desperately need because of our maddening shortcomings, eventually they reach the end of their fuse. But there is no length to God’s fuse. He knows our frame. He knows that we are dust. And he NEVER shames us.
- Though humans can discover vital wisdom through investigation of God’s world (general revelation), the wisdom of God revealed in Scripture is perfect and eternal. It never needs to be culturally updated or abandoned because new technology or scientific discovery makes it obsolete.
- Though humans have the capacity to forgive us many times, their ability to endure our wounds has limits. But God’s forgiveness is inexhaustible; he never tires of forgiving us. Jesus’ blood to cover our sins never runs dry.
Take Away #2: Because God is holy, holiness is a requirement for the health of the universe. A W. Tozer, in his classic, the Knowledge of the Holy writes:
God is holy and has made holiness the moral condition necessary to health in His universe. Sin’s temporary residence in this universe only accents this. Whatever is holy is healthy; evil is moral sickness that must end ultimately in death. The formation of the language itself suggests this, the English word holy deriving from the Anglo-Saxon halig, hal, meaning “well, whole.” Since God’s first concern for his universe is its moral health, that is its holiness, whatever is contrary to this is necessarily under his eternal displeasure. To preserve his creation, he must destroy whatever would destroy it.
One of the most irrational sins that a Christian can commit is to envy the wicked. My sinful nature says it would be nice to have three hundred concubines (as Solomon had) so I could have sex anytime I wanted to or be nice to have so much money I didn’t know what to do with it because I had made money my God. Such a loss of perspective, however, forgets that sin is a moral cancer that always destroys from the inside out. God is holy—you can’t get away from the destructive consequence of sin in his universe because he made it. When we see someone who seems to be getting away with violating God’s moral law, we should be wise enough to know he or she is not. We ought to weep for those enslaved by sin and hate this evil taskmaster that destroys lives. Imagine for a moment that you are a pediatric oncologist. Every day you help children do battle with cancer; but so many of those days end with the precious child succumbing to cancer’s power to destroy them. Would your heart not develop a hatred for cancer? Would you not abhor everything about this hideous disease?
So it is, with the cancer of sin. God hates it because it destroys his good creation. Yes, he has sovereignly ordained the sin that he hates. Satan and Adam’s rebellion are part of his good plan. Nevertheless, holiness abhors evil. Did you know that God commands us to hate? Romans 12:9, Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. The Greek word APOSTUGEO means to hate something so much that you shudder. Do you hate your own sin that much? One of the current controversies in today’s church is over those who experience same-sex attraction. One such celibate group identify themselves as “gay Christians.” Such identification seems benign. Yet my denomination has argued that anyone who experiences same-sex attraction and is truly repentant will abhor that same-sex attraction, not celebrate it by calling themselves Gay Christians.
ISAIAH’S VISION OF HIMSELF
Back in Isaiah 6, we see something profound about his encounter with the Holy One of Israel. When Isaiah saw who GOD was, he discovered who HE was. Vs 5 And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. 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!”
These angelic beings weren’t exactly singing a lullaby. They thundered, “HOLY, HOLY, HOLY IS THE LORD GOD ALMIGHTY. THE WHOLE EARTH IS FULL OF HIS GLORY” so loudly that the doorposts and thresholds shook. Even inanimate objects moved in response to the holiness of God. And Isaiah was terrified.
A. Isaiah declares an Oracle of Woe upon himself. Isaiah stood in the presence of God’s brilliant light totally exposed—every thought, every motive, every word ever spoken. As the author of Hebrews says, “no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account (4:13). Isaiah’s role as prophet is to be the mouthpiece of Yahweh, to announce oracles of benediction upon obedience and oracles of woe as a consequence of evil. In fact, in the fifth chapter of Isaiah, he had pronounced numerous woes upon the workers of evil in Judea. Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and shrewd in their own sight! Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine, and valiant men in mixing strong drink, who acquit the guilty for a bribe, and deprive the innocent of his right (5:21-23). But in the presence of the holiness of God, Isaiah does what no other prophet had ever done, He says, “Woe to ME.” He announces an oracle of doom upon himself. Because of his uncleanness, his response was “I’m finished.” “I am ruined.” The Hebrew word which the ESV lightly translates lost is translated ruined by the NASB and NIV. It is translated undone by the KJV and NKJV. It could be translated, “I am coming apart at the seams.” We need to soberly understand that every person not clothed in the righteousness of Christ will one day go through this terrifying experience.
B. Isaiah’s woe upon himself reflects the wrath of God upon all who sin. The theme of God’s wrath against evil-doers is a subject about which the Biblical writers feel no inhibitions whatever. There are more references to God’s wrath in Scripture than to God’s love. The wrath of God is not a very popular concept outside the church or within. Perhaps it is because we subtly believe that wrath is unworthy of God. Wrath suggests an extreme, out-of-control, angry fist of God hitting back those who have refused to honor him. Shouldn’t God be above such capricious emotional reactions to those who do things displeasing to him? Yes, he should and is. This human view of God’s wrath is totally wrong. J.I. Packer corrects:
“God’s wrath in the Bible is never the capricious, self-indulgent, irritable, morally ignoble thing that human anger so often is. It is, instead, a right and necessary reaction to objective moral evil. God is only angry when anger is called for. Even among men there is such a thing as righteous indignation, though it is perhaps rarely found. But all God’s indignation is righteous. Would a God who took as much pleasure in evil as He did in good be a good God? Would a God who did not react adversely to evil in His world be morally perfect. Surely not” (Knowing God).
God’s wrath is always judicial—that is, it is the wrath of the Judge administering perfect justice. It is God’s just punishment upon the sinner. Isaiah confessed that at the very core of his calling as a prophet, he was unclean. “I am a man of unclean lips.” As God’s prosecuting attorney, he knew that no one could see God and live. He deserved wrath, which is why he pronounced God’s curse (woe) upon himself.
ISAIAH’S VISION OF THE CROSS
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.” There are no richer words in the English language than these. Your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for. Notice that the coal was taken from the altar in the temple on which the paschal lamb was sacrificed for the sins of the people. On that altar for hundreds of years, God had been teaching his people one basic truth: Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin. On the heavenly altar in the heavenly temple 800 years later, God’s ultimate sacrifice, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, Jesus Christ, was slain. Notice that it was Isaiah’s lips that he had confessed were unclean and it was his lips that were touched by the coal—his guilt was burned away.
ISAIAH’S ALL-IN RESPONSE TO GOD’S GRACE
And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” What a picture. Isaiah was traumatized by seeing the holiness of God, because it exposed the heinousness of his sin. In those moments of awful exposure, he knew his need for the atoning action of the Seraphim as he had never felt that need before. In those moments, gratefulness for God’s atonement for his sin so flooded his soul that he could not help himself. In love, he had to offer himself back to his savior—Here I am. Send me.
Unless we are wounded by the holiness of God exposing the true us, we can never be healed by the grace of God and our hearts will remain lukewarm. 800 years after Isaiah’s vision, in the presence of holiness, a prostitute quietly wept, wetting Jesus’ feet with her tears. She wiped them with her hair, which she had scandalously let down, and kissed his feet, anointing them with the ointment she’d brought. Throughout all of eternity, she will be remembered as the embodiment of this great truth from Scripture: Whoever is forgiven much loves much. May God give us eyes to see God’s holy hatred of every germ of evil. May God give us eyes to see how great our sin really is. And may our increasing need for a BIG savior generate a BIG LOVE for God—a love which says, “Here I am Lord, send me.”
For Further Prayerful Thought
- What stood out most to you about Isaiah’s vision of the LORD in Isaiah 6?
- How would you explain God’s holiness to a child?
- What is most attractive to you about God’s holiness?
- What does it look like to abhor evil?
- How does a BIG view of God’s holiness take us through a process that leads to a BIG devotion to put our lives on the altar to Him?
