Holy, Holy, Holy
This is a transcript. It may contain some inaccuracies.
If there's ever a need for Christians today to have a renewing of our vision of God, and the things of God, then surely if you have any kind of understanding of the world in which we live, that time is now. That time is today. We're living in times of confusion, uncertainty, times of fear, times of great foreboding, and in the midst of all that is taking place, political issues, the economic issues, the social issues, and wars all around, rumors of wars, there's something that is conspicuous because of its absence.
There seems to be little or no recognition of God or the vital message of the Word of God. And by and large, the world in which we live has no time for God or for His Word. Of course, that is nothing new.
The world of unbelievers that has never had any inclination to listen to the Word of God or seek God. They're in a state of rebellion against God, the Word of God, the will of God, denial.
They simply live their lives as if there's no such thing as death or eternity. This is why our Lord gave us the great commission to go into the world and preach the gospel to all nations. Now with that in mind, then, if the great need of the unbelieving world is for the message of the Word of God to be proclaimed, then surely the great need of the Christian world is a renewed vision of the greatness of God. And especially for us as we have entered 2025. And I believe that nothing less than that can meet the need of the hour. That is why I want to draw our attention to this sixth chapter of Isaiah. We proclaim the greatness of God.
We preach a high view of God. We endeavor to instill in our minds and in our hearts a high view of God, a towering view of God. The question is, Monday through Saturday, how do we live our lives? Facing this year, how do we live our lives? Is the charge level against us, your God is too small? Is there an element of truth in the way we live our lives? God forbid. May there be harmony between what we sing and how we live, what we proclaim and how we face life.
Let me begin this morning this way, by asking this question. What comes to your mind when you think of the word holy? This morning, we sang holy, holy, holy. What was going through your mind? What concepts come into your mind when you hear the word holiness? To speak of holiness today is usually to invite a certain amount of scorn, you know, oh, he's holier than thou.
It's sort of like the word pious or she's too pious for her own good. A.W. Tozer has told us, and I quote, “We have learned to live with unholiness and have come to look upon it as a natural and expected thing.” End of quote. We no longer expect integrity from our judges. We no longer expect ethics from our business world. We no longer expect upright living from those who are in the public eye. Such is the world's attitude toward any attempt toward holiness. Such is the world's idea toward purity.
But you know, beloved, I don't think it's only the world that seems to have difficulty with the concept of holiness. Professing believers, professing Christians seems awkward about it as well. I mean, think about this. How many churches sing hymns or songs about God's holiness anymore? How many churches, if you're to visit, in which you're going to actually hear a song about holiness or sing about holiness? Now indeed, how many people even believe that the very atmosphere of corporate worship, of Christian worship, should reflect something of the holiness of God, the thrice holy God?
How many people think the occasion merits an approach that reflects that? How many people think that in their own dress, in their own prayers, in their own songs, that it should reflect something of a thrice holy God? Ed Farley commented, “One of the writers, that many churches or contemporary worship creates a tone, a particular tone,” and that is, and I quote, “casual, comfortable, chatty, busy, humorous, pleasant, and at times even cute.” He goes on to say, “if the Seraphim assumed the Sunday morning mood they would be addressing God not as holy, holy, holy, but as nice, nice, nice.” End of quote. You see, start addressing the topic of God's holiness in unbroken fashion, and if you take a breath for air, some professing Christian would jump in and say, yeah, but he's also a God of love, right?
Of course, God is a God of love, but he's a God of love because he's holy, not in antithesis to it. God's holiness is actually at the heart of His love. And any Christian who claims to love God can be tested on his claim by seeing, is that God he claims to love a holy God? And the love that he offers that God is at a holy love. Is He a holy God and is it a holy love? We'll see something of the holiness of God in this well-known scene here in Isaiah 6.
But before we jump right into it, I'm sure we've heard sermons on it, we've read it ourselves, but maybe we haven't really fully grasped what's in, what's going on here because we missed perhaps some of the background, some of the symbolism that gives us the richest meaning bound up in this passage. So let us take a step back and before we delve into it in depth and just look at the background a little bit.
Isaiah, the prophet, lived during that time when the kingdom was divided. The Northern Kingdom, Israel, and the Southern Kingdom of Judah. He was born around 766 BC in Jerusalem, was just a baby when King Uzziah, who was one of the good kings of Judah, was on the throne. The name Isaiah means salvation of Yahweh. We know he was married and had two sons. The first one is Shear-Jashub, which means a remnant shall return. And then the second one is Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz, which means a quick prey. Reading those two names, I couldn't help but wonder how their mother called those boys in for lunch.
Isaiah lived around 80 years of age, had a long ministry around 60 years, mainly under King Uzziah and Hezekiah, also good King Jotham and evil King Ahaz, during whose reigns he ministered. Isaiah was in his early 20s when he began his ministry and his initial call to ministry is described here in this chapter. Chapter 6 is his commission. It's when God calls him into the office of a prophet, the mouthpiece of God, his commission into prophetic ministry. And this is where God commissions him to prophesy to Judah. And we're told when it happened in verse 1. And let us begin to now look at this passage. Let us begin under the first heading.
Look together with me at the dramatic site. Verse 1, it says, “In the year of King Uzziah's death.” The year is 789 BC, middle of 8th century BC. And it is what we need to know. It's a year of national crisis. It's a year of uncertainty. You might remember that Uzziah had done some wonderful things, some great things, but sadly, tragically, some foolish things as well. The foolish thing that he did was he went in and burnt incense into the temple, which was given only, restricted only to the priests alone. And as he barged in and infringed upon that rite, even though the priests warned him, God struck him down with leprosy.
And for the remaining years, he was a leper and could not administer his rule in public because lepers were outcasts, they were separated. And so his son Jotham had to take his place as a kind of a co-regent. He was removed from the throne in shame, in disgrace, replaced by his son, and he lived the final years of his life as a leper, as an outcast, until his death. And, beloved, he is indeed exhibit A of one who would disregard the holiness of God, the glory of God. But for those who remember the great days of Uzziah, it was a time of mourning and sadness. There was a sense of great loss. There was uncertainty. What would happen in the nation with a young king and inexperienced king? The whole nation was shaken. Where will they look? To whom will they turn? You can imagine the uncertainty.
Well, is Jotham going to continue the good work that his father did or is he going to go in a different direction? Well, it is in that context of national crisis that Isaiah receives this vision, which remains one of the most striking visions of God, His holiness, His glory in all of Scripture. In this traumatic hour of uncertainty and crisis, Isaiah unexpectedly is given a vision of the throne of God and with God seated upon that throne. The Lord is giving him a revelation of Himself, of his absolute sovereignty, that He is in control over all things and of His holiness and glory. And I believe that if there was ever a time in the history of the church when there is a need for such a renewed vision of God, then surely it's in the day and age in which we live today.
Look at verse 1, In the year of King Uzziah's death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up with the train of His robe filling the temple.” The first thing we see there in this verse is Isaiah saw the Lord. Isaiah saw the Lord. This vision would define the rest of his life, the entirety of his ministry. He said, “I saw the Lord.” And would you notice with me the word Lord? It's a different word than the one in verse 3. The contrast is clearer in the LSB. Now, in verse 3, the NASB, you find the word there, all capital letters, capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D, capital D, which means the personal name of God, Yahweh.
I AM the covenant name of God, the God of covenant. And so, He is the I AM, Yahweh. But when you see only capital L, and then you have the small letters, O, R, D, that is the Hebrew word, the Hebrew name Adonai, which means Lord. It's the Old Testament equivalent of the New Testament word, Kyrgios, Lord. Reference to the Sovereign One, the one possessing supreme authority over kings, over the nation, over judges, over the people, the supreme ruler, over heaven and earth. This is the One, this is Adonai, the one who controls circumstances, the weather, events, the one who is Lord over everything, over every single molecule in the universe.
He but speaks and it comes to pass. He but issues that decree and it is fulfilled, it cannot be rescinded. So in that year of uncertainty, in that year of crisis and fear and foreboding, Isaiah said, I saw Adonai. I saw the Sovereign One. I saw the Exalted One. What's going on here?
Well, do you remember Matthew 22 verse 44? Jesus told the Pharisees, quoting from Psalm 110. He said, how does David and the Spirit call him Lord?
Saying, Yahweh said to Adonai, Yahweh said to my Adonai, sit on my right hand until I put your enemies beneath your feet. What was he teaching the Pharisees there? He was teaching the Pharisees there that Messiah must be God and man. He must be David's descendant, but he's still the one that David calls Adonai. That there's a distinction between Yahweh and Adonai. So who is Isaiah seeing? Who is Isaiah seeing? Remember, John 1:18, “No one has seen God at any time.”
The only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, he has explained Him. He has exegeted him. Who is Isaiah seeing here? He is seeing, beloved, the eternal Son of God. He is seeing a manifestation of the Trinity, of the Godhead, and the fullness of who he is. The Son, here made visible, here made localized, even though God is spirit, God is omnipresent, here it's been localized in that person, localized in that person who reveals God.
Now, where is this person who reveals God in this vision? Look at the text. What's his position?
What is his posture? What does this text say? Verse 1, “I saw the Lord”,- this is his posture, this is his position, - “sitting on a throne.” Who just died? Who just died? Uzziah, the king.
King Uzziah died. And here, this king instead remains seated on the throne. King Uzziah has died and he will be followed by Jotham, he'll be followed by Ahaz, he will be followed by Hezekiah, and they'll keep dying. But there is a King who sits on a throne and He lives past kings, past them all. In fact, He even lives past when nations no longer have kings and choose to have parliaments and then choose to behead those guys and go back to kings. Through it all, He's sitting on the throne, still sitting on the throne.
The throne is the seat of government of the universe. The One who sits upon this throne has all authority in heaven and on earth. That He's sitting on the throne means that heaven, the universe is being governed not by a democracy, but by a theocracy, the government of one, the government of one. God is presiding, God is ordaining, God is decreeing, God is controlling, governing, ruling, reigning over all earthly kings and kingdoms. The throne is the highest apex of the kingdom. It is the dominant point of the universe, of all that there is.
And in Revelation 4, the passage that was read in your hearing, John is caught up into heaven and he immediately sees a throne and everything in heaven, if you notice even there, is measured by its proximity to this throne. Under the throne, above the throne, around the throne, next to the throne, going to the throne, coming from the throne. This throne, beloved, is dominant. If this throne does not seek permission, this throne actually gives permission.
And what is Isaiah seeing about God? He's eternal, He's unchanging, He lives past kings.
And the only way that He could be eternal and immutable is if He is self-existent and self-sufficient. You notice that never in Scripture is God fighting for His rule. Never.
He's never trying to get on the throne, never. So often as we see Him in Scripture, what is His posture? He's seated on the throne. The throne is not vacant. He's seated on the throne. The only time a king sits down is when he's conquered. When he is conquered. Isaiah also tells us that not only is sitting on a throne, but He is what? High and lifted up, lofty and exalted.
Towering over every throne. Transcendent over heaven and earth. Elevated over time and eternity.
Towering over the flow of history in regal splendor. No one is equal. No one is peer.
No one at his level. This is not a regular throne. He's coronated and supreme king with absolute unmitigated power. In other words, He is omnipotent, sovereign. He is the most high God. And this is the king who has all knowledge. He has all wisdom. He is perfect in justice, perfect in righteousness. And what we will see by his actions in a few moments is that he's also gracious and merciful.
Well, Isaiah sees something that summarizes all of this. Something that might be a little maybe strange to us or odd to us at first. What does it say in verse 1? “With the train of his robe filling the temple.” What does that mean? What does that look like? Filling the temple. What is that? Well, the greatness of an ancient king was measured by the size and length of his train. The greater the king, the greater the kingdom, the longer was his train. Earthly kings, as they had long flowing trains, as they would enter into the room, the throne room, as they would mount the throne, there would be attendants who would come behind to pick up the train so the king could ascend the throne.
It's not really that foreign to us, come to think of it, even though the custom does belong in the ancient Near East, it's carried over somewhat in our culture, especially if you might have watched some of the royal weddings, and what do you see the bride usually has?
And she has a train, a long train. In fact, Princess Diana; her train was eight meters long. And we still have that in our culture somewhat, where as an image of splendor, this bride, the royal bride, has this incredibly long train and had to be carried by attendants.
Now, as you look at the text, how long is Adonai's train? How long is God's train according to the text? Well, it's filled the temple. It completely filled the temple. Imagine a train that is not just along a pathway held by attendants, but a train that is covering everything. Everywhere you look, it's everywhere. What's the image? Oh, splendor, beauty, glory. Everywhere Isaiah can look, an overwhelming beauty, overwhelming glory that covers the ground.
And so this leads us then to what we can call a first summary point of what God's holiness is. God's holiness, as was quoted earlier, is all of His attributes combined in glorious excellence.
You see, when you've heard the word holiness, you've typically thought perhaps, moral purity.
You've typically thought holiness means the absence of sin. If someone is holy, they're not a sinner, but that's not the primary meaning of holiness. The first and primary meaning of holiness is the idea of perfection. Perfection. In fact, our English word for holiness comes from an Anglo-Saxon word, which means whole, W-H-O-L-E, the idea of something that is not lacking, that is complete, it's healthy. So God's holiness is His perfection.
All that He is combined, if we may so speak, is His holiness. Holiness, then, is the sum and substance of all that God is. It is all of the perfections of God. In other words, God being self-existent, self-sufficient, omnipotent, sovereign, omnipresent, omniscient, always just, righteous, gracious, merciful, faithful, etc. True, all of that, all of that combined, mixed together, and the sum and the substance of all that comes to what? Holiness. Let me put it this way. It's what makes God, God.
Just like the seven different colors of the rainbow combined to make white light, bright light, so all the attributes of God which cannot and must not be split off each other as if they're parts of God, because they're not, all of these attributes of God, when you combine them, when you consider them as one, one, they are the holiness of God. The gloriously beautiful white dazzling light of God's holiness, God's godness, God's uniqueness is His holiness.
We need that vision of God. We need that renewed vision of the greatness of God. Thomas Watson, the great Puritan, once wrote, and I quote, “Holiness is the most sparkling jewel of His crown. In other words, the holiness of God is the crown jewel of the divine diadem. Sovereignty is the scepter in His hand. Righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne. Truth drips from His lips. Love fills His heart. Omnipotence is His arms and in His hands. Omniscience is His eyes and His ears. But the crown jewel of all of the attributes of God is His holiness.” Every attribute of God is defined first by His holiness. Stephen Charnak, another great Puritan writes, and I quote, “His justice is holy justice. His wisdom is holy wisdom. His arm of power is a holy arm.His truth is a holy truth. His name, which signifies all of His attributes, is holy.” End of quote.
Everything about God is holy, everything, everything. His son is holy. His spirit is holy.
His will is holy. His judgments are holy. His ways are holy. And so as Isaiah sees this vision, he sees the beauty of God, the splendor of God, the glory of God filling the temple. This is the beauty of holiness. And beloved, we find that in the Old Testament, this is how God wants to be known. In Leviticus 10, God says, “I want to be known as a God of holiness.” And what he's saying there is he's calling the people to know him as he is, as the unique God, as the beautiful, glorious God, because all of his attributes combine to make him that.
Another Puritan, Henry Scougal, said this, and I quote, “The worth and excellency of a soul is to be measured by the object of its love.” Now think about that for a second. The worth and excellency of a soul is to be measured by the object of its love. What he is saying is the value, the nobility of a person can be tested by finding out what that person loves. You see, if a person loves things that are base, ignoble, defiling, you know something about that person. If a person loves things that are noble and glorious, well, you know something as well about that person.
Question, what sort of things does God love? What sort of things does God love? Do you know what God loves the most? The perfection of all of his attributes combined in holiness, and God rejoices in Himself, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with unspeakable joy. The happiness of God in the shining, bright, brilliant beauty, that is holiness, which manifests His glory. That's what God loves the most. And do you know what that makes Him? That makes Him the most beautiful soul of all. It makes God the most beautiful soul of all. If you love perfect beauty perfectly, then you are the most beautiful person, and that's who God is.
You say, but God is love. Yes, He is love, and this is the first and primary thing that He loves. He loves first and foremost His own holiness, His own glory. But Isaiah sees something else quite spectacular. Look at verse 2. Look at verse 2, the devoted chorus. Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called out to another, said, “Holy, Holy, Holy is Yahweh of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory.” And the foundations of the threshold shook at the voice of him who called out, while the house of God was filling with smoke.” This is a temple scene.
But Isaiah is allowed to see something that probably only takes place in heaven. And above the Lord are these creatures called Seraphim. How many are there? Here we're not told. This is the only time, by the way, we meet them in Scripture. We see something similar in Revelation, as was read earlier in your hearing, where they are called living creatures, but there are enough differences to make us think that perhaps they're not identical. You and I might be accustomed to calling any spiritual being that's not human an angel, but in fact the word angel simply means messenger. And strictly speaking in Scripture, not all these spiritual beings are angels.
Angels might be thought of as the infantry of heaven, but Scripture identifies at least nine different categories of creatures that are spiritual beings. They're created all directly by God.
They're not humans.
Like here are some categories like Archangels, Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones, Rulers, Authorities, Powers, Living Creatures, Angels. And the Seraphim are one of those orders. The Seraph is one of those orders. The word Seraph, that word means to burn, to burn. The name, the plural, Seraphim are the burning ones. And they're burning because they are in the presence of God. They're always burning. They're always on fire for God, we may say. The closer one draws to God, the less lukewarm you become.
And these in the immediate presence of God, they are full of fervency, they are full of energy and fire and intensity and devotion. No one is lukewarm in the presence of the thrice holy God. There is no apathy in the presence of God, only zeal for God. That's what we ought to have when we come to be corporately in the presence of God and sing the praises of God. And these Seraphim are the burning ones. They are on fire for God. And it seems that what these creatures do is they are particularly connected to the holiness of God. Whether they burn with zeal for Him, His holiness, His glory, or whether they are reflecting the burning coals of all that He is, they are positioned specifically around the throne of God above Him. Not above Him in rank or authority, but above Him, that with antiphonal praise, there might be a sort of a cascading torrent over the throne of God day and night unceasing of what we will read in verse 3.
Notice, it says, “Each having six wings: with two he covered his face.” Wow! Wow!
“With two he covered his face.” Who can stand in the immediate presence of God and look upon His blazing, blinding, brilliant glory without being blinded? They covered their faces.
They covered their eyes. Because they stand in the immediate presence of God. It was so blinding even to angels that they had to be equipped with special wings to cover their eyes.
I mean, it could have been, it could be easier to stand on the surface of the sun, barefoot, look directly into the ball of fire that is known as the sun than to stand in the immediate presence of God. You see, God's holiness is so other, so unique that these exalted beings understand that it's only appropriate to humble themselves before God. You know how in some cultures, in the presence of a superior, a monarch, eye contact is considered what? Disrespectful. When a person looks down when speaking to a monarch, it's an expression of reverence, of respect. And here these exalted beings dare not look into the face of Almighty God.
And so they have wings to cover their faces. And the text says, “with two, he covered his feet.” Why? Well, because they are creatures. They're creatures. An expression of humility, an homage, a recognition of being completely unworthy for being in the presence of the one who is holy, holy, holy, perfect. Remember when God appeared to Moses out of the burning bush? He said to Moses, “Moses, take off your sandals. The ground on which you're standing is holy ground.”
Deep, deep, deep, respect, reverence, awe, holy fear, worship. And then it says, “with two he flew.” They're like hummingbirds, if you will, ready to dart out as soon as God but gives the word. And with these two wings, they are but ready to carry out the orders of Adonai in serving him. They are not sluggish. They're not slow to do God's bidding. They are in the immediate presence of the Lord, and God must but speak the word, and they're ready to dash out to carry out whatever assignment would be given to them by the Sovereign Lord. But you know, when you look at this text, as fascinating as the anatomy of these creatures are, is, it's not the anatomy of these exalted creatures that is striking, it's their message. It's their song.
As they fly, they chant in a kind of a responsive antiphony. Look at verse 3, and one called out to another and said, “Holy, Holy, Holy is Yahweh of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory.”
Beloved, these are not those cherubs that you see on hallmark cards. You know, plump babies with little wings. That's not them. And let me tell you, they're not squeaking around the throne. Their voices. If you ever heard a fighter jet go over you, if you've ever witnessed and been, you know, a witness to a live air combat between fighter jets, growing up, I had to see that, the ground rumbles, and you kind of bow and cover your ears. That's their voices.
When these creatures cry out, the foundations, it says, of the threshold shook. They began to tremble. You can only imagine Isaiah blocking his ears, falling to the ground.
That's the power of these beings, these beings, majestic beings, exalted beings. And what do they do? They cover their faces, they cover their feet, and with awestruck reverence, they cry out to each other, Holy, Holy, Holy is Yahweh of hosts.” Three times over, He is holy, which to the Hebrew mind is completion. That's it, completion. But it certainly points to the reality that God himself is in three subsistences, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
What does this tell us, beloved? This teaches us not only is God's holiness the perfection of all of His other attributes, it teaches us that God's holiness is that which sets Him apart from His creation. God's holiness is what sets Him apart. Everybody this way, it's the absolute uniqueness of God. The word holy, its primary meaning, especially in Greek and Hebrew, is other, other. It's separateness, otherness, uniqueness. So much so that you might say that what these seraphim are really crying out is utterly unique, utterly unique, utterly unique is Yahweh of hosts. Why? Because God is completely other from his creation.
It is that theological word that we use when we speak of the transcendence of God. File that word, the transcendence of God. What does that mean? It means that God is so set apart from his creation with a certain unbridgeable gap. God is so set apart from his creation with a certain unbridgeable gap. He is so majestic. He's so high and lofty and lifted up. He is so other than us. He is so utterly separated from us that it's not even close.He's totally, completely set apart from us. He is totally distinct from us. He is totally different from us. We're not even in the same league. We're not even remotely close. When you think of God, don't think of Michael, the Archangel, Gabriel, and then trying to multiply that by a lot.
That's not God. Don't think of some exalted spiritual creature and then say, well, God is the best of the best of the best of the best of that. No, that's not transcendence. That would be mere excellence. Transcendence is the idea, the notion, that God is separate from His creation, so separate, He's separate by an unbridgeable gap. He's utterly, completely, totally distinct.
Just parenthesis here. I hope that makes you and me appreciate really more the incarnation. The violence of the incarnation. That's why the Seraphim covers; cover their faces and their eyes. They're not, remember, they're not unholy in the moral sense. They're not, they're not fallen creatures. They're not unholy. They're not sinful. They don't need atonement.
They can stand in the presence of God morally. That's why they're there. But God is so transcendentally superior to them, so different to them, so other, that these spirit beings are burning with the truth, that God is completely other, beyond. You see, beloved, this is where our theology starts to become... What's the word? The word is apophatic, which means we run out of words to positively speak about God, so we have to start using negative words.
So we say, he's not finite. He's infinite. He's not comprehensible. He is incomprehensible. And what are we doing here? We're not really saying the positive, are we? Because we run out of words. We can only define things by now by negative borders, and we say, he's not material. He is immaterial. He's not a composite. He is a unity, a God in whom exist three separate divine persons, distinct in terms of Their personal relationships to one another, but not in Their essence. All of Them are the being of God. They do not have an independent existence. You could not take away any of the three persons and still have God. Rather, the three persons subsist within the one divine nature, co-equal in terms of their shared essence.
It gives you a headache. You see, when God asks this question in Scripture, there is no answer. There isn't the question, to whom then will you liken me? Or, to whom shall I be equal, says the Holy One. There is no answer to that question.
Psalm 86:8, “There is no one like you among the gods, O Lord, Nor are there any works like Yours.” Holiness is not just the beauty of God, it's his uniqueness, it's his otherness, and the word in scripture means set apart, keep distinct. A.W. Tozer wrote, and I quote, “We cannot grasp the true meaning of the divine holiness by thinking of something or someone very pure than raising the concept to the highest degree we're capable of. God's holiness is not simply the best we know infinitely bettered. We know nothing like the divine holiness. It stands apart, unique, unapproachable, incomprehensible, and unattainable. The natural man is blind to it. He may fear God's power and admire God's wisdom, but his holiness he can't even imagine.”End of quote.
I really find it sad that this is a concept so lost in today's world. You know, even the ancient Roman pagans had a better idea of sacredness than a lot of professing Christians today in the evangelical church. In fact, the word profane comes from Latin vocabulary. It comes from two Latin words, fanum, which means temple, and pro, which means before. What would happen, at least in pagan temples, is that because there was a sense that the God or the gods are unique and different, then what you did is that when you went into the temple was you left your ordinary stuff in front of the temple. You left what was common to average life outside, particularly those things that represented ordinary life, like shoes, where you have gathered up the dirt of the town.
So you left that over there in front of the temple, so that you could go in and worship. Because to introduce the ordinary into the extraordinary was what? Profane.
It was treating the holy as common, treating the transcendent as average, treating what is unique and other and separate as ordinary common and every day. And even the pagans had this idea in their religions, but that's not a pagan idea at all. Do you realize how often in Scripture, particularly in the Mosaic law, God keeps saying, Israel, I'm giving you these laws, Leviticus 10 10, so as to separate between the holy and the profane, between the unclean and the clean?
And how many times do we read in Scripture of events, such as, Asa was struck dead for touching the ark when he was not supposed to, Samuel, in 1 Samuel 6. Uzziah, the king, was disciplined because he presented incense in the temple when he was not authorized to do so. And how about Nadab and Abihu, killed when they offered strange fire before Yahweh, which he had not commanded them to do. Leviticus 10, many people in the Scripture were disciplined because they profaned God's things. They treated as ordinary, what was holy.
And when you come into the New Testament, Paul tells the Corinthians, as we will be reminded today, when we gather around the Lord's table, that they were profaning the Lord's supper, and that is why so many of them were dying. But modern evangelical Christianity, it seems, tragically, sadly, is trying to do everything it can to erase the distinction between sacred and profane, to blur the lines. It seems there's hardly a concept we're more uncomfortable with than the sacred, the holy, and the highest goal for modern evangelical churches seems to be to try to make God seem familiar.
A God you can know in three easy steps. A God who will be your pal, a God who will be your therapist, he will be your buddy, he will be your life coach, you know, he's the man upstairs.
Listen to preaching. Listen to the music and song. Listen to the praying. Does anything you typically hear sound like this? God is unlike anything I know? This God is mysterious, wonderful, unfamiliar, even daunting. You see, it's easy to go and find easy listening music from the top 20, 40 lists. Bring it in and add some Jesus lyrics and hey, you've got a gospel song. Feel good song. Beloved, this is nothing but an attempt to make a holy God seem familiar, ordinary every day.
And that is why Proverbs 9 verse 10 says, “The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” You cannot even begin to know Him if you have no reverence before Him, if you have no holy fear, if you don't have a sense that He is holy, and you have no humility, and it is more likely that you are coming to a god you have made in your own image, one that you are comfortable with. That's why God says in Isaiah 57 and verse 15, and this is really encouraging, Isaiah 57 and verse 15. I love this. “For thus says the One high and lifted up Who dwells forever, whose name is Holy, “I dwell on a high and holy place.”” Praise God, it doesn't stop there. He goes on to say, “And also with the crushed and lowly of spirit In order to revive the spirit of the lowly And to revive the heart of the crushed.” Yes, he is so exalted, but you know who he will stoop to? The lowly one, the crushed one, the one who yields.
And there's some good news here in the Isaiah passage, because notice what else these Seraphim say at the end of verse three. They say, “The whole earth is full of His glory.” “The whole earth is full of His glory.” Though this is unique, God is unique, transcendent, separate.
What does he desire to do in his creation? This is amazing. What does he desire to do in his creation? He desires to spread it throughout the whole earth. You see, he's not only transcendent, but he's also what we call immanent. Oh, the nearness of God.
And just as it happened when the temple was dedicated under Solomon, the glory cloud filled the whole temple, smoke filled the whole temple, it happens here again, and there is a sense of God's pleasure manifest. This again, if you're wondering, how does holiness and love relate?
This is the love of God. This is the love of God. He is incomprehensible, but He can be known. He made Himself known. He is transcendent, but He draws near in His immanence. And though the contrast is huge, God wants to draw near. In fact, He creates a world full of metaphors, living metaphors, analogies that help you understand Him.
Everywhere you look, sky, ground, the human life, it's an analogy that God is giving to your imagination and mind to help us understand what He's like. He is like a rock. He is like a tower.
He's like the sun. He's like a fire. He's like water. He's like bread. He's like light. He created all these things in advance, knowing that it would help you and me understand the incomprehensible God, because He desires to draw near. That's His love that says, I want to spread my glory. I want you to know God's love is self-giving. The three persons of the Trinity gave Themselves to each other for an eternity, and then it overflowed into creation, and now God is giving Himself to the world.
His goodness is over all his works. That's his love. And if you are the most beautiful being in the world, you know the most loving thing you could do? Share yourself. Share yourself. And that's what the triune God does. One more thing that we see of the holiness of God here. Look at verse 5, the deep conviction. “Then I said, “Woe is me, for I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among people of unclean lips; For my eyes I've seen the King, Yahweh of hosts.”” Isn't it interesting? He sees a vision of God. He sees this incredible vision of God, and he doesn't take out a tambourine and start dancing. That's not the first response. His first response is to say what? I am ruined. I'm done. I'm doomed. You see the word woe? It means cursed, judged, damned. You'll find this word used six times in the previous chapter in Isaiah 5. Each one was a pronouncement of divine judgment upon unlawful practices in the nation Israel and six woes in Isaiah 5.
Woe to those, woe to those, woe to those, judged, cursed, ready, fit to be damned. Now, the seventh woe is not pronounced against the Philistines, against Damascus, but the oracle of woe is pronounced by Isaiah upon his own head. The very first prophetic oracle the man ever pronounces is an oracle of doom on himself. He realizes that in the presence of the holiness of God, this God who is holy, holy, holy, he has woefully fallen short of the glory of God, and that he deserves to be accursed. And so he cries out, I'm ruined. I'm done. Undone. I cannot live in the immediate presence of the holiness of God without being increasingly aware of my own sin. I'm undone. I am disintegrating. I am shattered into pieces. I am devastated.I am broken. I am ruined, ruined because of this awareness of God's holiness and my own filthiness. The contrast between himself and God is overwhelming him.
It happened to Job. Don't have time to go there. It happened to Peter in the fishing boat.
It happened to Ezekiel. Beloved, this is it. You find it all over scripture. Whenever someone is confronted with the holiness of God, however righteous you might think you are, when the holiness of God is next to you, you look what? Dirty. Filthy. Filthy. That's what Isaiah sees. And so here's the third truth about holiness, perhaps one that we're most familiar with, and it's this, God's holiness sets Him apart from all corruption. God's holiness is a combination of His attributes. It's what makes Him separate from His creation, but it's also what makes Him separate from corruption. He's perfect. He's other, but He's separate from all defilement, all evil, all blemish, all imperfection. It's not something He can dwell with.
Maybe you can think of a terrible experience you had where a smell or taste or even a sight that actually caused a physical sickness in you. Ever experience that? Your stomach almost involuntarily wants to purge because of how revolted you are at that experience, that sight, that smell? That's what God has toward all corruption, a revulsion in Him that wants to get out and destroy corruption. That's what makes the cross the revulsion, the sin bearer for Christ to become the sin bearer. And so scripture says in Isaiah 59 verse 2, “But your iniquities have made separation a between you and your God, And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.” - the revulsion of God. Habakkuk 1:13, “Your eyes are too pure to see evil, And you cannot look on trouble.”
So you know how in scripture God sets up barriers between himself and the unholy. In the temple, only purified priests could go in, and then you had the veil, the most holy place, only the high priest once a year after a special purification ceremony would go in here, would go in there. But once again, I want you to see how God's holiness and how God's love coincide. Look at verse 6, the divine cleansing. “Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs. And he touched my mouth with it and said, “Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away, and your sin is atoned for.””
Oh, beloved, God is so holy, he's so separate from corruption that as Isaiah fell to his knees and thought this was it, he's going to be judged, he's going to be destroyed, he's ruined, he's undone. God could have said, that's right, Isaiah, at least you know it before you die. What did God do instead? God's desire to spread his glory. Remember, His love is that He says, I'll find a way to make sure that sinners can approach. And so, one of the seraphs goes to the altar. We don't know whether it was the altar of incense or perhaps the altar of burnt offering.
He takes a coal and he puts it to Isaiah's lips. And as he explains in verse 7, it symbolically explains the fact that his iniquity is taken away, his corruption is gone, where he feels it most acutely.
What does it all teach? That God will supply atonement. End of verse 7, and your sin is atoned for,” and ESP renders it forgiven. But a better translation is atoned for. You know what the word atonement means? It was invented by the way by English translators. They had no word to translate the Hebrew and the Greek. So all they could do or think of was the fact that what God is doing is He is holy and we're not. He is holy and we're not and He is acting to make us at one.
And there was a time in the English language when we used to pronounce the word one as on and so they used to say for at one, at-tone and so they simply took those words and put them together and said what God is doing is that he is creating at one meant between God and us at one meant between the creator and the creature. That's what He's doing here. It's His love, His love spreading his glory. He loves spreading the happiness of his creatures in him and He hates the corruption. So what did he do? He made a way.
And as the temple and the sacrifices were only signs and symbols of the final atonement, when Jesus Christ, the son of God, would hang on Calvary's cross, suspended between heaven and earth, the Mediator with His Hands, both on God and man, the Creator and the creature. This is God's love. Can you see that it's not separate from his holiness? He delights in Himself. He is other from the creation. He is separated from our corruption, but He wants to share himself, and He wants us to experience that joy. And so He stretches Himself out in grace and in love. And look at Isaiah's response to this love in verse 8, “Then 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!” He said, “Go, and tell this people.”
You see, Isaiah is now so unburdened in his conscience, so unburdened in his conscience, so free that when he hears within the Council of God, definitely a foreshadowing of the Trinity, he hears God saying, “Who will go for Us?” There is a sense in which Isaiah goes, Pick me, pick me, send me, send me. He's so overwhelmed by joy in God, he says, Lord, I will go, I'm ready. And when God's love draws you into His holiness, the results in us is what? Love, love. “We love,” - Him - “because He first loved us.” 1 John 4:19. In closing, beloved, I want us to understand better who it was that Isaiah saw. That's a good segue to John, right? John 12. Turn to John 12. See, I couldn't wait to get to John 12, so I had to get to John 12 before we get to John 12. Verse 37. John 12:37, “But though He,” - Jesus, referring to Jesus, - “had done so many signs before them, they still were not believing in Him.” Now, follow closely. “So that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke: “LORD, WHO HAS BELIEVED OUR REPORT? AND TO WHOM HAS THE ARM OF THE LORD BEEN REVEALED?””
For this reason they could not believe, for Isaiah said again, He has blinded their eyes, and He hardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes, and understand with their heart, and return, and I heal them. These things Isaiah said, because he saw His glory, and he spoke about Him. Whose glory did Isaiah see? Whom did Isaiah speak of? The person in verse 37. And who's the person in verse 37 of John 12? Jesus Christ. Sitting on the throne, high and lifted up, the train of His rope filling the temple, with the Seraphim above Him calling out His glory, it was Jesus Christ, the Son of God. God, the Son. And all that we said about holiness combines, all of it combines in Jesus. All the perfection, the beauty, the glory is seen in Jesus.
Hebrews calls Him the Radiance of His Glory, the radiance of God's glory, and the exact representation of his nature. The fact that God is transcendent and other, and that we need Him to be immanent, it comes to us in Jesus Christ. Because what do you have there? God who joins Himself with man. And now, in the flesh, we have God. And in Jesus, all that moral purity is reconcilable to sinners because He paid the penalty for your sin and mine on Calvary's cross. He is beloved, the Mediator. He is the Substitute. He is the Offering. He is the Altar. And when you come to Him and receive Him by faith, you will respond like Isaiah.
Remember Moses when he asked God, I beseech you, show me your glory. He says, I beseech you, Lord, Yahweh, show me your glory. You know, God's ultimate answer to that request is to give Jesus. To give Jesus. Here's my glory. Here are my perfections. Here is me made visible and more comprehensible and more available to all who will receive Him. Christ is in the end, the glory of God made visible to us. Behold him. Behold the Son. Behold Jehovah Jesus.
May you and I have a renewed vision of the greatness of God as we face this coming year. May we keep our eyes fixed on Him. And may we be like Isaiah, like the Seraphim. May we behold the greatness of our God who is holy, holy, holy.
There seems to be little or no recognition of God or the vital message of the Word of God. And by and large, the world in which we live has no time for God or for His Word. Of course, that is nothing new.
The world of unbelievers that has never had any inclination to listen to the Word of God or seek God. They're in a state of rebellion against God, the Word of God, the will of God, denial.
They simply live their lives as if there's no such thing as death or eternity. This is why our Lord gave us the great commission to go into the world and preach the gospel to all nations. Now with that in mind, then, if the great need of the unbelieving world is for the message of the Word of God to be proclaimed, then surely the great need of the Christian world is a renewed vision of the greatness of God. And especially for us as we have entered 2025. And I believe that nothing less than that can meet the need of the hour. That is why I want to draw our attention to this sixth chapter of Isaiah. We proclaim the greatness of God.
We preach a high view of God. We endeavor to instill in our minds and in our hearts a high view of God, a towering view of God. The question is, Monday through Saturday, how do we live our lives? Facing this year, how do we live our lives? Is the charge level against us, your God is too small? Is there an element of truth in the way we live our lives? God forbid. May there be harmony between what we sing and how we live, what we proclaim and how we face life.
Let me begin this morning this way, by asking this question. What comes to your mind when you think of the word holy? This morning, we sang holy, holy, holy. What was going through your mind? What concepts come into your mind when you hear the word holiness? To speak of holiness today is usually to invite a certain amount of scorn, you know, oh, he's holier than thou.
It's sort of like the word pious or she's too pious for her own good. A.W. Tozer has told us, and I quote, “We have learned to live with unholiness and have come to look upon it as a natural and expected thing.” End of quote. We no longer expect integrity from our judges. We no longer expect ethics from our business world. We no longer expect upright living from those who are in the public eye. Such is the world's attitude toward any attempt toward holiness. Such is the world's idea toward purity.
But you know, beloved, I don't think it's only the world that seems to have difficulty with the concept of holiness. Professing believers, professing Christians seems awkward about it as well. I mean, think about this. How many churches sing hymns or songs about God's holiness anymore? How many churches, if you're to visit, in which you're going to actually hear a song about holiness or sing about holiness? Now indeed, how many people even believe that the very atmosphere of corporate worship, of Christian worship, should reflect something of the holiness of God, the thrice holy God?
How many people think the occasion merits an approach that reflects that? How many people think that in their own dress, in their own prayers, in their own songs, that it should reflect something of a thrice holy God? Ed Farley commented, “One of the writers, that many churches or contemporary worship creates a tone, a particular tone,” and that is, and I quote, “casual, comfortable, chatty, busy, humorous, pleasant, and at times even cute.” He goes on to say, “if the Seraphim assumed the Sunday morning mood they would be addressing God not as holy, holy, holy, but as nice, nice, nice.” End of quote. You see, start addressing the topic of God's holiness in unbroken fashion, and if you take a breath for air, some professing Christian would jump in and say, yeah, but he's also a God of love, right?
Of course, God is a God of love, but he's a God of love because he's holy, not in antithesis to it. God's holiness is actually at the heart of His love. And any Christian who claims to love God can be tested on his claim by seeing, is that God he claims to love a holy God? And the love that he offers that God is at a holy love. Is He a holy God and is it a holy love? We'll see something of the holiness of God in this well-known scene here in Isaiah 6.
But before we jump right into it, I'm sure we've heard sermons on it, we've read it ourselves, but maybe we haven't really fully grasped what's in, what's going on here because we missed perhaps some of the background, some of the symbolism that gives us the richest meaning bound up in this passage. So let us take a step back and before we delve into it in depth and just look at the background a little bit.
Isaiah, the prophet, lived during that time when the kingdom was divided. The Northern Kingdom, Israel, and the Southern Kingdom of Judah. He was born around 766 BC in Jerusalem, was just a baby when King Uzziah, who was one of the good kings of Judah, was on the throne. The name Isaiah means salvation of Yahweh. We know he was married and had two sons. The first one is Shear-Jashub, which means a remnant shall return. And then the second one is Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz, which means a quick prey. Reading those two names, I couldn't help but wonder how their mother called those boys in for lunch.
Isaiah lived around 80 years of age, had a long ministry around 60 years, mainly under King Uzziah and Hezekiah, also good King Jotham and evil King Ahaz, during whose reigns he ministered. Isaiah was in his early 20s when he began his ministry and his initial call to ministry is described here in this chapter. Chapter 6 is his commission. It's when God calls him into the office of a prophet, the mouthpiece of God, his commission into prophetic ministry. And this is where God commissions him to prophesy to Judah. And we're told when it happened in verse 1. And let us begin to now look at this passage. Let us begin under the first heading.
Look together with me at the dramatic site. Verse 1, it says, “In the year of King Uzziah's death.” The year is 789 BC, middle of 8th century BC. And it is what we need to know. It's a year of national crisis. It's a year of uncertainty. You might remember that Uzziah had done some wonderful things, some great things, but sadly, tragically, some foolish things as well. The foolish thing that he did was he went in and burnt incense into the temple, which was given only, restricted only to the priests alone. And as he barged in and infringed upon that rite, even though the priests warned him, God struck him down with leprosy.
And for the remaining years, he was a leper and could not administer his rule in public because lepers were outcasts, they were separated. And so his son Jotham had to take his place as a kind of a co-regent. He was removed from the throne in shame, in disgrace, replaced by his son, and he lived the final years of his life as a leper, as an outcast, until his death. And, beloved, he is indeed exhibit A of one who would disregard the holiness of God, the glory of God. But for those who remember the great days of Uzziah, it was a time of mourning and sadness. There was a sense of great loss. There was uncertainty. What would happen in the nation with a young king and inexperienced king? The whole nation was shaken. Where will they look? To whom will they turn? You can imagine the uncertainty.
Well, is Jotham going to continue the good work that his father did or is he going to go in a different direction? Well, it is in that context of national crisis that Isaiah receives this vision, which remains one of the most striking visions of God, His holiness, His glory in all of Scripture. In this traumatic hour of uncertainty and crisis, Isaiah unexpectedly is given a vision of the throne of God and with God seated upon that throne. The Lord is giving him a revelation of Himself, of his absolute sovereignty, that He is in control over all things and of His holiness and glory. And I believe that if there was ever a time in the history of the church when there is a need for such a renewed vision of God, then surely it's in the day and age in which we live today.
Look at verse 1, In the year of King Uzziah's death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up with the train of His robe filling the temple.” The first thing we see there in this verse is Isaiah saw the Lord. Isaiah saw the Lord. This vision would define the rest of his life, the entirety of his ministry. He said, “I saw the Lord.” And would you notice with me the word Lord? It's a different word than the one in verse 3. The contrast is clearer in the LSB. Now, in verse 3, the NASB, you find the word there, all capital letters, capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D, capital D, which means the personal name of God, Yahweh.
I AM the covenant name of God, the God of covenant. And so, He is the I AM, Yahweh. But when you see only capital L, and then you have the small letters, O, R, D, that is the Hebrew word, the Hebrew name Adonai, which means Lord. It's the Old Testament equivalent of the New Testament word, Kyrgios, Lord. Reference to the Sovereign One, the one possessing supreme authority over kings, over the nation, over judges, over the people, the supreme ruler, over heaven and earth. This is the One, this is Adonai, the one who controls circumstances, the weather, events, the one who is Lord over everything, over every single molecule in the universe.
He but speaks and it comes to pass. He but issues that decree and it is fulfilled, it cannot be rescinded. So in that year of uncertainty, in that year of crisis and fear and foreboding, Isaiah said, I saw Adonai. I saw the Sovereign One. I saw the Exalted One. What's going on here?
Well, do you remember Matthew 22 verse 44? Jesus told the Pharisees, quoting from Psalm 110. He said, how does David and the Spirit call him Lord?
Saying, Yahweh said to Adonai, Yahweh said to my Adonai, sit on my right hand until I put your enemies beneath your feet. What was he teaching the Pharisees there? He was teaching the Pharisees there that Messiah must be God and man. He must be David's descendant, but he's still the one that David calls Adonai. That there's a distinction between Yahweh and Adonai. So who is Isaiah seeing? Who is Isaiah seeing? Remember, John 1:18, “No one has seen God at any time.”
The only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, he has explained Him. He has exegeted him. Who is Isaiah seeing here? He is seeing, beloved, the eternal Son of God. He is seeing a manifestation of the Trinity, of the Godhead, and the fullness of who he is. The Son, here made visible, here made localized, even though God is spirit, God is omnipresent, here it's been localized in that person, localized in that person who reveals God.
Now, where is this person who reveals God in this vision? Look at the text. What's his position?
What is his posture? What does this text say? Verse 1, “I saw the Lord”,- this is his posture, this is his position, - “sitting on a throne.” Who just died? Who just died? Uzziah, the king.
King Uzziah died. And here, this king instead remains seated on the throne. King Uzziah has died and he will be followed by Jotham, he'll be followed by Ahaz, he will be followed by Hezekiah, and they'll keep dying. But there is a King who sits on a throne and He lives past kings, past them all. In fact, He even lives past when nations no longer have kings and choose to have parliaments and then choose to behead those guys and go back to kings. Through it all, He's sitting on the throne, still sitting on the throne.
The throne is the seat of government of the universe. The One who sits upon this throne has all authority in heaven and on earth. That He's sitting on the throne means that heaven, the universe is being governed not by a democracy, but by a theocracy, the government of one, the government of one. God is presiding, God is ordaining, God is decreeing, God is controlling, governing, ruling, reigning over all earthly kings and kingdoms. The throne is the highest apex of the kingdom. It is the dominant point of the universe, of all that there is.
And in Revelation 4, the passage that was read in your hearing, John is caught up into heaven and he immediately sees a throne and everything in heaven, if you notice even there, is measured by its proximity to this throne. Under the throne, above the throne, around the throne, next to the throne, going to the throne, coming from the throne. This throne, beloved, is dominant. If this throne does not seek permission, this throne actually gives permission.
And what is Isaiah seeing about God? He's eternal, He's unchanging, He lives past kings.
And the only way that He could be eternal and immutable is if He is self-existent and self-sufficient. You notice that never in Scripture is God fighting for His rule. Never.
He's never trying to get on the throne, never. So often as we see Him in Scripture, what is His posture? He's seated on the throne. The throne is not vacant. He's seated on the throne. The only time a king sits down is when he's conquered. When he is conquered. Isaiah also tells us that not only is sitting on a throne, but He is what? High and lifted up, lofty and exalted.
Towering over every throne. Transcendent over heaven and earth. Elevated over time and eternity.
Towering over the flow of history in regal splendor. No one is equal. No one is peer.
No one at his level. This is not a regular throne. He's coronated and supreme king with absolute unmitigated power. In other words, He is omnipotent, sovereign. He is the most high God. And this is the king who has all knowledge. He has all wisdom. He is perfect in justice, perfect in righteousness. And what we will see by his actions in a few moments is that he's also gracious and merciful.
Well, Isaiah sees something that summarizes all of this. Something that might be a little maybe strange to us or odd to us at first. What does it say in verse 1? “With the train of his robe filling the temple.” What does that mean? What does that look like? Filling the temple. What is that? Well, the greatness of an ancient king was measured by the size and length of his train. The greater the king, the greater the kingdom, the longer was his train. Earthly kings, as they had long flowing trains, as they would enter into the room, the throne room, as they would mount the throne, there would be attendants who would come behind to pick up the train so the king could ascend the throne.
It's not really that foreign to us, come to think of it, even though the custom does belong in the ancient Near East, it's carried over somewhat in our culture, especially if you might have watched some of the royal weddings, and what do you see the bride usually has?
And she has a train, a long train. In fact, Princess Diana; her train was eight meters long. And we still have that in our culture somewhat, where as an image of splendor, this bride, the royal bride, has this incredibly long train and had to be carried by attendants.
Now, as you look at the text, how long is Adonai's train? How long is God's train according to the text? Well, it's filled the temple. It completely filled the temple. Imagine a train that is not just along a pathway held by attendants, but a train that is covering everything. Everywhere you look, it's everywhere. What's the image? Oh, splendor, beauty, glory. Everywhere Isaiah can look, an overwhelming beauty, overwhelming glory that covers the ground.
And so this leads us then to what we can call a first summary point of what God's holiness is. God's holiness, as was quoted earlier, is all of His attributes combined in glorious excellence.
You see, when you've heard the word holiness, you've typically thought perhaps, moral purity.
You've typically thought holiness means the absence of sin. If someone is holy, they're not a sinner, but that's not the primary meaning of holiness. The first and primary meaning of holiness is the idea of perfection. Perfection. In fact, our English word for holiness comes from an Anglo-Saxon word, which means whole, W-H-O-L-E, the idea of something that is not lacking, that is complete, it's healthy. So God's holiness is His perfection.
All that He is combined, if we may so speak, is His holiness. Holiness, then, is the sum and substance of all that God is. It is all of the perfections of God. In other words, God being self-existent, self-sufficient, omnipotent, sovereign, omnipresent, omniscient, always just, righteous, gracious, merciful, faithful, etc. True, all of that, all of that combined, mixed together, and the sum and the substance of all that comes to what? Holiness. Let me put it this way. It's what makes God, God.
Just like the seven different colors of the rainbow combined to make white light, bright light, so all the attributes of God which cannot and must not be split off each other as if they're parts of God, because they're not, all of these attributes of God, when you combine them, when you consider them as one, one, they are the holiness of God. The gloriously beautiful white dazzling light of God's holiness, God's godness, God's uniqueness is His holiness.
We need that vision of God. We need that renewed vision of the greatness of God. Thomas Watson, the great Puritan, once wrote, and I quote, “Holiness is the most sparkling jewel of His crown. In other words, the holiness of God is the crown jewel of the divine diadem. Sovereignty is the scepter in His hand. Righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne. Truth drips from His lips. Love fills His heart. Omnipotence is His arms and in His hands. Omniscience is His eyes and His ears. But the crown jewel of all of the attributes of God is His holiness.” Every attribute of God is defined first by His holiness. Stephen Charnak, another great Puritan writes, and I quote, “His justice is holy justice. His wisdom is holy wisdom. His arm of power is a holy arm.His truth is a holy truth. His name, which signifies all of His attributes, is holy.” End of quote.
Everything about God is holy, everything, everything. His son is holy. His spirit is holy.
His will is holy. His judgments are holy. His ways are holy. And so as Isaiah sees this vision, he sees the beauty of God, the splendor of God, the glory of God filling the temple. This is the beauty of holiness. And beloved, we find that in the Old Testament, this is how God wants to be known. In Leviticus 10, God says, “I want to be known as a God of holiness.” And what he's saying there is he's calling the people to know him as he is, as the unique God, as the beautiful, glorious God, because all of his attributes combine to make him that.
Another Puritan, Henry Scougal, said this, and I quote, “The worth and excellency of a soul is to be measured by the object of its love.” Now think about that for a second. The worth and excellency of a soul is to be measured by the object of its love. What he is saying is the value, the nobility of a person can be tested by finding out what that person loves. You see, if a person loves things that are base, ignoble, defiling, you know something about that person. If a person loves things that are noble and glorious, well, you know something as well about that person.
Question, what sort of things does God love? What sort of things does God love? Do you know what God loves the most? The perfection of all of his attributes combined in holiness, and God rejoices in Himself, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with unspeakable joy. The happiness of God in the shining, bright, brilliant beauty, that is holiness, which manifests His glory. That's what God loves the most. And do you know what that makes Him? That makes Him the most beautiful soul of all. It makes God the most beautiful soul of all. If you love perfect beauty perfectly, then you are the most beautiful person, and that's who God is.
You say, but God is love. Yes, He is love, and this is the first and primary thing that He loves. He loves first and foremost His own holiness, His own glory. But Isaiah sees something else quite spectacular. Look at verse 2. Look at verse 2, the devoted chorus. Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called out to another, said, “Holy, Holy, Holy is Yahweh of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory.” And the foundations of the threshold shook at the voice of him who called out, while the house of God was filling with smoke.” This is a temple scene.
But Isaiah is allowed to see something that probably only takes place in heaven. And above the Lord are these creatures called Seraphim. How many are there? Here we're not told. This is the only time, by the way, we meet them in Scripture. We see something similar in Revelation, as was read earlier in your hearing, where they are called living creatures, but there are enough differences to make us think that perhaps they're not identical. You and I might be accustomed to calling any spiritual being that's not human an angel, but in fact the word angel simply means messenger. And strictly speaking in Scripture, not all these spiritual beings are angels.
Angels might be thought of as the infantry of heaven, but Scripture identifies at least nine different categories of creatures that are spiritual beings. They're created all directly by God.
They're not humans.
Like here are some categories like Archangels, Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones, Rulers, Authorities, Powers, Living Creatures, Angels. And the Seraphim are one of those orders. The Seraph is one of those orders. The word Seraph, that word means to burn, to burn. The name, the plural, Seraphim are the burning ones. And they're burning because they are in the presence of God. They're always burning. They're always on fire for God, we may say. The closer one draws to God, the less lukewarm you become.
And these in the immediate presence of God, they are full of fervency, they are full of energy and fire and intensity and devotion. No one is lukewarm in the presence of the thrice holy God. There is no apathy in the presence of God, only zeal for God. That's what we ought to have when we come to be corporately in the presence of God and sing the praises of God. And these Seraphim are the burning ones. They are on fire for God. And it seems that what these creatures do is they are particularly connected to the holiness of God. Whether they burn with zeal for Him, His holiness, His glory, or whether they are reflecting the burning coals of all that He is, they are positioned specifically around the throne of God above Him. Not above Him in rank or authority, but above Him, that with antiphonal praise, there might be a sort of a cascading torrent over the throne of God day and night unceasing of what we will read in verse 3.
Notice, it says, “Each having six wings: with two he covered his face.” Wow! Wow!
“With two he covered his face.” Who can stand in the immediate presence of God and look upon His blazing, blinding, brilliant glory without being blinded? They covered their faces.
They covered their eyes. Because they stand in the immediate presence of God. It was so blinding even to angels that they had to be equipped with special wings to cover their eyes.
I mean, it could have been, it could be easier to stand on the surface of the sun, barefoot, look directly into the ball of fire that is known as the sun than to stand in the immediate presence of God. You see, God's holiness is so other, so unique that these exalted beings understand that it's only appropriate to humble themselves before God. You know how in some cultures, in the presence of a superior, a monarch, eye contact is considered what? Disrespectful. When a person looks down when speaking to a monarch, it's an expression of reverence, of respect. And here these exalted beings dare not look into the face of Almighty God.
And so they have wings to cover their faces. And the text says, “with two, he covered his feet.” Why? Well, because they are creatures. They're creatures. An expression of humility, an homage, a recognition of being completely unworthy for being in the presence of the one who is holy, holy, holy, perfect. Remember when God appeared to Moses out of the burning bush? He said to Moses, “Moses, take off your sandals. The ground on which you're standing is holy ground.”
Deep, deep, deep, respect, reverence, awe, holy fear, worship. And then it says, “with two he flew.” They're like hummingbirds, if you will, ready to dart out as soon as God but gives the word. And with these two wings, they are but ready to carry out the orders of Adonai in serving him. They are not sluggish. They're not slow to do God's bidding. They are in the immediate presence of the Lord, and God must but speak the word, and they're ready to dash out to carry out whatever assignment would be given to them by the Sovereign Lord. But you know, when you look at this text, as fascinating as the anatomy of these creatures are, is, it's not the anatomy of these exalted creatures that is striking, it's their message. It's their song.
As they fly, they chant in a kind of a responsive antiphony. Look at verse 3, and one called out to another and said, “Holy, Holy, Holy is Yahweh of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory.”
Beloved, these are not those cherubs that you see on hallmark cards. You know, plump babies with little wings. That's not them. And let me tell you, they're not squeaking around the throne. Their voices. If you ever heard a fighter jet go over you, if you've ever witnessed and been, you know, a witness to a live air combat between fighter jets, growing up, I had to see that, the ground rumbles, and you kind of bow and cover your ears. That's their voices.
When these creatures cry out, the foundations, it says, of the threshold shook. They began to tremble. You can only imagine Isaiah blocking his ears, falling to the ground.
That's the power of these beings, these beings, majestic beings, exalted beings. And what do they do? They cover their faces, they cover their feet, and with awestruck reverence, they cry out to each other, Holy, Holy, Holy is Yahweh of hosts.” Three times over, He is holy, which to the Hebrew mind is completion. That's it, completion. But it certainly points to the reality that God himself is in three subsistences, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
What does this tell us, beloved? This teaches us not only is God's holiness the perfection of all of His other attributes, it teaches us that God's holiness is that which sets Him apart from His creation. God's holiness is what sets Him apart. Everybody this way, it's the absolute uniqueness of God. The word holy, its primary meaning, especially in Greek and Hebrew, is other, other. It's separateness, otherness, uniqueness. So much so that you might say that what these seraphim are really crying out is utterly unique, utterly unique, utterly unique is Yahweh of hosts. Why? Because God is completely other from his creation.
It is that theological word that we use when we speak of the transcendence of God. File that word, the transcendence of God. What does that mean? It means that God is so set apart from his creation with a certain unbridgeable gap. God is so set apart from his creation with a certain unbridgeable gap. He is so majestic. He's so high and lofty and lifted up. He is so other than us. He is so utterly separated from us that it's not even close.He's totally, completely set apart from us. He is totally distinct from us. He is totally different from us. We're not even in the same league. We're not even remotely close. When you think of God, don't think of Michael, the Archangel, Gabriel, and then trying to multiply that by a lot.
That's not God. Don't think of some exalted spiritual creature and then say, well, God is the best of the best of the best of the best of that. No, that's not transcendence. That would be mere excellence. Transcendence is the idea, the notion, that God is separate from His creation, so separate, He's separate by an unbridgeable gap. He's utterly, completely, totally distinct.
Just parenthesis here. I hope that makes you and me appreciate really more the incarnation. The violence of the incarnation. That's why the Seraphim covers; cover their faces and their eyes. They're not, remember, they're not unholy in the moral sense. They're not, they're not fallen creatures. They're not unholy. They're not sinful. They don't need atonement.
They can stand in the presence of God morally. That's why they're there. But God is so transcendentally superior to them, so different to them, so other, that these spirit beings are burning with the truth, that God is completely other, beyond. You see, beloved, this is where our theology starts to become... What's the word? The word is apophatic, which means we run out of words to positively speak about God, so we have to start using negative words.
So we say, he's not finite. He's infinite. He's not comprehensible. He is incomprehensible. And what are we doing here? We're not really saying the positive, are we? Because we run out of words. We can only define things by now by negative borders, and we say, he's not material. He is immaterial. He's not a composite. He is a unity, a God in whom exist three separate divine persons, distinct in terms of Their personal relationships to one another, but not in Their essence. All of Them are the being of God. They do not have an independent existence. You could not take away any of the three persons and still have God. Rather, the three persons subsist within the one divine nature, co-equal in terms of their shared essence.
It gives you a headache. You see, when God asks this question in Scripture, there is no answer. There isn't the question, to whom then will you liken me? Or, to whom shall I be equal, says the Holy One. There is no answer to that question.
Psalm 86:8, “There is no one like you among the gods, O Lord, Nor are there any works like Yours.” Holiness is not just the beauty of God, it's his uniqueness, it's his otherness, and the word in scripture means set apart, keep distinct. A.W. Tozer wrote, and I quote, “We cannot grasp the true meaning of the divine holiness by thinking of something or someone very pure than raising the concept to the highest degree we're capable of. God's holiness is not simply the best we know infinitely bettered. We know nothing like the divine holiness. It stands apart, unique, unapproachable, incomprehensible, and unattainable. The natural man is blind to it. He may fear God's power and admire God's wisdom, but his holiness he can't even imagine.”End of quote.
I really find it sad that this is a concept so lost in today's world. You know, even the ancient Roman pagans had a better idea of sacredness than a lot of professing Christians today in the evangelical church. In fact, the word profane comes from Latin vocabulary. It comes from two Latin words, fanum, which means temple, and pro, which means before. What would happen, at least in pagan temples, is that because there was a sense that the God or the gods are unique and different, then what you did is that when you went into the temple was you left your ordinary stuff in front of the temple. You left what was common to average life outside, particularly those things that represented ordinary life, like shoes, where you have gathered up the dirt of the town.
So you left that over there in front of the temple, so that you could go in and worship. Because to introduce the ordinary into the extraordinary was what? Profane.
It was treating the holy as common, treating the transcendent as average, treating what is unique and other and separate as ordinary common and every day. And even the pagans had this idea in their religions, but that's not a pagan idea at all. Do you realize how often in Scripture, particularly in the Mosaic law, God keeps saying, Israel, I'm giving you these laws, Leviticus 10 10, so as to separate between the holy and the profane, between the unclean and the clean?
And how many times do we read in Scripture of events, such as, Asa was struck dead for touching the ark when he was not supposed to, Samuel, in 1 Samuel 6. Uzziah, the king, was disciplined because he presented incense in the temple when he was not authorized to do so. And how about Nadab and Abihu, killed when they offered strange fire before Yahweh, which he had not commanded them to do. Leviticus 10, many people in the Scripture were disciplined because they profaned God's things. They treated as ordinary, what was holy.
And when you come into the New Testament, Paul tells the Corinthians, as we will be reminded today, when we gather around the Lord's table, that they were profaning the Lord's supper, and that is why so many of them were dying. But modern evangelical Christianity, it seems, tragically, sadly, is trying to do everything it can to erase the distinction between sacred and profane, to blur the lines. It seems there's hardly a concept we're more uncomfortable with than the sacred, the holy, and the highest goal for modern evangelical churches seems to be to try to make God seem familiar.
A God you can know in three easy steps. A God who will be your pal, a God who will be your therapist, he will be your buddy, he will be your life coach, you know, he's the man upstairs.
Listen to preaching. Listen to the music and song. Listen to the praying. Does anything you typically hear sound like this? God is unlike anything I know? This God is mysterious, wonderful, unfamiliar, even daunting. You see, it's easy to go and find easy listening music from the top 20, 40 lists. Bring it in and add some Jesus lyrics and hey, you've got a gospel song. Feel good song. Beloved, this is nothing but an attempt to make a holy God seem familiar, ordinary every day.
And that is why Proverbs 9 verse 10 says, “The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” You cannot even begin to know Him if you have no reverence before Him, if you have no holy fear, if you don't have a sense that He is holy, and you have no humility, and it is more likely that you are coming to a god you have made in your own image, one that you are comfortable with. That's why God says in Isaiah 57 and verse 15, and this is really encouraging, Isaiah 57 and verse 15. I love this. “For thus says the One high and lifted up Who dwells forever, whose name is Holy, “I dwell on a high and holy place.”” Praise God, it doesn't stop there. He goes on to say, “And also with the crushed and lowly of spirit In order to revive the spirit of the lowly And to revive the heart of the crushed.” Yes, he is so exalted, but you know who he will stoop to? The lowly one, the crushed one, the one who yields.
And there's some good news here in the Isaiah passage, because notice what else these Seraphim say at the end of verse three. They say, “The whole earth is full of His glory.” “The whole earth is full of His glory.” Though this is unique, God is unique, transcendent, separate.
What does he desire to do in his creation? This is amazing. What does he desire to do in his creation? He desires to spread it throughout the whole earth. You see, he's not only transcendent, but he's also what we call immanent. Oh, the nearness of God.
And just as it happened when the temple was dedicated under Solomon, the glory cloud filled the whole temple, smoke filled the whole temple, it happens here again, and there is a sense of God's pleasure manifest. This again, if you're wondering, how does holiness and love relate?
This is the love of God. This is the love of God. He is incomprehensible, but He can be known. He made Himself known. He is transcendent, but He draws near in His immanence. And though the contrast is huge, God wants to draw near. In fact, He creates a world full of metaphors, living metaphors, analogies that help you understand Him.
Everywhere you look, sky, ground, the human life, it's an analogy that God is giving to your imagination and mind to help us understand what He's like. He is like a rock. He is like a tower.
He's like the sun. He's like a fire. He's like water. He's like bread. He's like light. He created all these things in advance, knowing that it would help you and me understand the incomprehensible God, because He desires to draw near. That's His love that says, I want to spread my glory. I want you to know God's love is self-giving. The three persons of the Trinity gave Themselves to each other for an eternity, and then it overflowed into creation, and now God is giving Himself to the world.
His goodness is over all his works. That's his love. And if you are the most beautiful being in the world, you know the most loving thing you could do? Share yourself. Share yourself. And that's what the triune God does. One more thing that we see of the holiness of God here. Look at verse 5, the deep conviction. “Then I said, “Woe is me, for I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among people of unclean lips; For my eyes I've seen the King, Yahweh of hosts.”” Isn't it interesting? He sees a vision of God. He sees this incredible vision of God, and he doesn't take out a tambourine and start dancing. That's not the first response. His first response is to say what? I am ruined. I'm done. I'm doomed. You see the word woe? It means cursed, judged, damned. You'll find this word used six times in the previous chapter in Isaiah 5. Each one was a pronouncement of divine judgment upon unlawful practices in the nation Israel and six woes in Isaiah 5.
Woe to those, woe to those, woe to those, judged, cursed, ready, fit to be damned. Now, the seventh woe is not pronounced against the Philistines, against Damascus, but the oracle of woe is pronounced by Isaiah upon his own head. The very first prophetic oracle the man ever pronounces is an oracle of doom on himself. He realizes that in the presence of the holiness of God, this God who is holy, holy, holy, he has woefully fallen short of the glory of God, and that he deserves to be accursed. And so he cries out, I'm ruined. I'm done. Undone. I cannot live in the immediate presence of the holiness of God without being increasingly aware of my own sin. I'm undone. I am disintegrating. I am shattered into pieces. I am devastated.I am broken. I am ruined, ruined because of this awareness of God's holiness and my own filthiness. The contrast between himself and God is overwhelming him.
It happened to Job. Don't have time to go there. It happened to Peter in the fishing boat.
It happened to Ezekiel. Beloved, this is it. You find it all over scripture. Whenever someone is confronted with the holiness of God, however righteous you might think you are, when the holiness of God is next to you, you look what? Dirty. Filthy. Filthy. That's what Isaiah sees. And so here's the third truth about holiness, perhaps one that we're most familiar with, and it's this, God's holiness sets Him apart from all corruption. God's holiness is a combination of His attributes. It's what makes Him separate from His creation, but it's also what makes Him separate from corruption. He's perfect. He's other, but He's separate from all defilement, all evil, all blemish, all imperfection. It's not something He can dwell with.
Maybe you can think of a terrible experience you had where a smell or taste or even a sight that actually caused a physical sickness in you. Ever experience that? Your stomach almost involuntarily wants to purge because of how revolted you are at that experience, that sight, that smell? That's what God has toward all corruption, a revulsion in Him that wants to get out and destroy corruption. That's what makes the cross the revulsion, the sin bearer for Christ to become the sin bearer. And so scripture says in Isaiah 59 verse 2, “But your iniquities have made separation a between you and your God, And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.” - the revulsion of God. Habakkuk 1:13, “Your eyes are too pure to see evil, And you cannot look on trouble.”
So you know how in scripture God sets up barriers between himself and the unholy. In the temple, only purified priests could go in, and then you had the veil, the most holy place, only the high priest once a year after a special purification ceremony would go in here, would go in there. But once again, I want you to see how God's holiness and how God's love coincide. Look at verse 6, the divine cleansing. “Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs. And he touched my mouth with it and said, “Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away, and your sin is atoned for.””
Oh, beloved, God is so holy, he's so separate from corruption that as Isaiah fell to his knees and thought this was it, he's going to be judged, he's going to be destroyed, he's ruined, he's undone. God could have said, that's right, Isaiah, at least you know it before you die. What did God do instead? God's desire to spread his glory. Remember, His love is that He says, I'll find a way to make sure that sinners can approach. And so, one of the seraphs goes to the altar. We don't know whether it was the altar of incense or perhaps the altar of burnt offering.
He takes a coal and he puts it to Isaiah's lips. And as he explains in verse 7, it symbolically explains the fact that his iniquity is taken away, his corruption is gone, where he feels it most acutely.
What does it all teach? That God will supply atonement. End of verse 7, and your sin is atoned for,” and ESP renders it forgiven. But a better translation is atoned for. You know what the word atonement means? It was invented by the way by English translators. They had no word to translate the Hebrew and the Greek. So all they could do or think of was the fact that what God is doing is He is holy and we're not. He is holy and we're not and He is acting to make us at one.
And there was a time in the English language when we used to pronounce the word one as on and so they used to say for at one, at-tone and so they simply took those words and put them together and said what God is doing is that he is creating at one meant between God and us at one meant between the creator and the creature. That's what He's doing here. It's His love, His love spreading his glory. He loves spreading the happiness of his creatures in him and He hates the corruption. So what did he do? He made a way.
And as the temple and the sacrifices were only signs and symbols of the final atonement, when Jesus Christ, the son of God, would hang on Calvary's cross, suspended between heaven and earth, the Mediator with His Hands, both on God and man, the Creator and the creature. This is God's love. Can you see that it's not separate from his holiness? He delights in Himself. He is other from the creation. He is separated from our corruption, but He wants to share himself, and He wants us to experience that joy. And so He stretches Himself out in grace and in love. And look at Isaiah's response to this love in verse 8, “Then 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!” He said, “Go, and tell this people.”
You see, Isaiah is now so unburdened in his conscience, so unburdened in his conscience, so free that when he hears within the Council of God, definitely a foreshadowing of the Trinity, he hears God saying, “Who will go for Us?” There is a sense in which Isaiah goes, Pick me, pick me, send me, send me. He's so overwhelmed by joy in God, he says, Lord, I will go, I'm ready. And when God's love draws you into His holiness, the results in us is what? Love, love. “We love,” - Him - “because He first loved us.” 1 John 4:19. In closing, beloved, I want us to understand better who it was that Isaiah saw. That's a good segue to John, right? John 12. Turn to John 12. See, I couldn't wait to get to John 12, so I had to get to John 12 before we get to John 12. Verse 37. John 12:37, “But though He,” - Jesus, referring to Jesus, - “had done so many signs before them, they still were not believing in Him.” Now, follow closely. “So that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke: “LORD, WHO HAS BELIEVED OUR REPORT? AND TO WHOM HAS THE ARM OF THE LORD BEEN REVEALED?””
For this reason they could not believe, for Isaiah said again, He has blinded their eyes, and He hardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes, and understand with their heart, and return, and I heal them. These things Isaiah said, because he saw His glory, and he spoke about Him. Whose glory did Isaiah see? Whom did Isaiah speak of? The person in verse 37. And who's the person in verse 37 of John 12? Jesus Christ. Sitting on the throne, high and lifted up, the train of His rope filling the temple, with the Seraphim above Him calling out His glory, it was Jesus Christ, the Son of God. God, the Son. And all that we said about holiness combines, all of it combines in Jesus. All the perfection, the beauty, the glory is seen in Jesus.
Hebrews calls Him the Radiance of His Glory, the radiance of God's glory, and the exact representation of his nature. The fact that God is transcendent and other, and that we need Him to be immanent, it comes to us in Jesus Christ. Because what do you have there? God who joins Himself with man. And now, in the flesh, we have God. And in Jesus, all that moral purity is reconcilable to sinners because He paid the penalty for your sin and mine on Calvary's cross. He is beloved, the Mediator. He is the Substitute. He is the Offering. He is the Altar. And when you come to Him and receive Him by faith, you will respond like Isaiah.
Remember Moses when he asked God, I beseech you, show me your glory. He says, I beseech you, Lord, Yahweh, show me your glory. You know, God's ultimate answer to that request is to give Jesus. To give Jesus. Here's my glory. Here are my perfections. Here is me made visible and more comprehensible and more available to all who will receive Him. Christ is in the end, the glory of God made visible to us. Behold him. Behold the Son. Behold Jehovah Jesus.
May you and I have a renewed vision of the greatness of God as we face this coming year. May we keep our eyes fixed on Him. And may we be like Isaiah, like the Seraphim. May we behold the greatness of our God who is holy, holy, holy.
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