Isaiah 6:1-8 Who is God

Isaiah 6:1-8

Who is God? If you could stand before Him now, what would you see?

And who are you? How would God react to you?

These are not questions that people often ask. But they are probably the only questions worth asking. They are the only ones that matter. Who is God, and what does he think about me?

The answer to that question will change your life.

Isaiah got the answer to that question in today's passage. He got a vision of God. He saw God – and he saw himself. And it changed his life.

I mean, it takes some serious courage to say what Isaiah has said over these last few chapters – pointing out the sin of Israel. Especially the last chapter. Hey what should I do with this vineyard of bitter grapes. “tear it up!” say the people. “That's right, I'll tear it up” says God. You can imagine the shock when they hear God’s next words (in 5:7) when he says my vineyard... is YOU.

God is going to judge his people. His people, his vineyard, have failed to produce sweet fruit of righteousness, goodness – but instead the disappointing bitter fruit of sinful, selfish lives, greedy, false religion.

Why? Because they had a wrong view of God. Their god was small and dumb. A god who could be fooled by the outward show of religious duty while you ignore him the rest of life.

And because they had a wrong view of God, they had a wrong view of themselves. They thought God was pleased with them. They thought they were good. See, their God was like them. Maybe slightly better. He was not the God of the Bible, the holy and exalted God, perfectly good, full of power and might.

1. This is the God we worship! Holy, holy, holy God!

Is 6 (NLT) It was in the year King Uzziah died that I saw the Lord. He was sitting on a lofty throne, and the train of his robe filled the Temple. 2 Attending him were mighty seraphim, each having six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. 3 They were calling out to each other, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies! The whole earth is filled with his glory!” 4 Their voices shook the Temple to its foundations, and the entire building was filled with smoke. 5 Then I said, “It’s all over! I am doomed, for I am a sinful man. I have filthy lips, and I live among a people with filthy lips. Yet I have seen the King, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.”

What did you see in your mind’s eye when you heard that read? An old man in a beard with a bright light behind him? Perhaps with a couple of pasty-looking effeminate angels in a white dress, strumming a harp saying “glooory, glooory”. That's our culture's view of “God” isn't it? Maybe a bit of gold thrown in there.

But that's not what Isaiah sees. Look at Isaiah’s reaction – deathly fear! v5 Then I said, “It’s all over! I am doomed! It’s the reaction you have when a lion turns towards you and suddenly lets out a powerful roar. Even though he was over a 1000 metres away and behind two fences – I thought for a moment I was going to die. The power of the roar was overwhelming. The power of the roar said he could do anything – and I was powerless to stop him. And that’s just a lion. Isaiah saw the Lord almighty: Yet I have seen the King, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.

What is the most frightening experience in your life?
My Dad once had a elephant charge at him. It came rushing forward knocking down trees in its path. That’s power. That’s fear.

That’s the kind of fear Isaiah experienced – but much much more. This is not some lion that’s miles away. This is not an elephant that you can get away from by being calm under pressure and reversing very fast.

This is the LORD! The creator of the world. Holy God. Mighty. Power unbelievable! This is the glorious God. And the angels that serve him, the seraphim there in v2: oh, they are not thin, weedy, droopy men in white shirts strumming a harp looking about as frightening as the local vicar in a nightie. No! These are seraphim, angelic beings whose name means literally “holy fire”. These are massive creatures, burning with a holy fire. They're like the Hulk, or a wrestler or gigantic body-builder. Massive, powerful. Their voice is so powerful it shakes the room like an earthquake. The Temple was a huge stone building – great blocks of stone – and they shake so the dust rises when the seraphim speak. Holy, holy, holy Lord.
They have six wings – faces and feet covered as a mark of respect to God on the throne. They may be creatures of holy fire – but for them to look upon the Lord Almighty… – even they cover their face, cover their feet. The seraphim would not even look upon the Lord because of his glory and holiness.
You can understand Isaiah's fear when he says I am doomed...I have seen the King, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.”

I mean, can you picture it? The LORD, Yahweh, the God of Israel, the one who spoke all things into existence; the one who judged the world in the great Flood - but rescued Noah; the one who called his people out of Egypt with a mighty hand, punishing Pharaoh and the Egyptians but rescuing his people. This God! There he sits on his throne. The train of his robe – that’s not a choo-choo train, but it is the long piece of material on the royal robe that trails along the ground. The longer the train, the more important you were. It showed your wealth – you could pay for expensive material just to drag on the ground. And the Lord’s train – well, that FILLED THE TEMPLE. It’s just like all over the place. He has unimaginable wealth. There is nothing anyone can offer him that he does not already have.

So his throne is high and lifted up, his train is everywhere, and his servants, his attendant, are angels of fire – and they are singing his praises: v3 “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies! The whole earth is filled with his glory!”

You know, we will not stand before the Lord and argue with him. We will not negotiate with God. “Hey my friend I got a deal for you”. “I’ll give you a million krone”. “I’ve got this sweet cabin in Kragerø”.
We will not say “But God is a God of love, he’ll like me” “it’s because I’m worth it”
We will not walk in there saying “I’m a pretty good person”. Every one of us will fall horrified to our knees in fear as we see who God really is.

This God will not be impressed with our foolish attempts to please him with our religious activities. Are you really going to stand before God with your church attendance card or baptismal certificate - din 4-åringsbok, dåpsbevis eller konfirmasjonsbevis – are we going to stand before this God with that. The seraphim would laugh and all our pathetic religion would just burst into flame the moment they came close – and they’re not even God himself, just his servants.

When we catch a vision of God we understand, like Isaiah, Our religion is worth nothing. Our money is worth nothing. Our goodness is worth nothing. Our family connections are worth nothing. There is nothing we have that is of any value when we come before the Lord God Almighty. Nothing. What was it the apostle Paul said “I count all things as rubbish (garbage) compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ our Lord” (Phil 3:8)
We are wretched, naked, ridiculous in front of this awesome God.

Brothers, let us see the Lord in all his glory. Holy is he.
Holy means: other, set apart, different. He is not like us. He is something magnitudes greater. He is holy, holy, holy Lord. Holy Father. Holy Son. Holy Spirit.

You know, if we could just see, really see, understand, who God is. Then we see ourselves as we really are, we see others as they really are. We understand the world – everything comes in to focus. As it did for Isaiah. This moment changed his entire life. From this moment on, he was a different man. He was the prophet of God. And no-one could make him stop telling everyone about this God. The Word of God was on his lips throughout his life.

It was the same with the disciples. What does John say? We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is the Word of life

They had a visions of God. They met Him. Saw him with their own eyes. Touched him. But Jesus was not on throne surrounded by flaming angels. So how did they know he was God? Well, he was powerful, yes. But they recognised him as God because he was full of mercy.

You see, the most amazing thing in this passage is not the greatness of God. It is the mercy of God. Mercy which allows a sinner like Isaiah, like you and me, to know this God, to stand in his presence, to serve him, to partner with him in his work on this earth. How incredible is that.

2. The mercy of the holy God

Isaiah is struck down with fear by meeting the holy God. Seeing God’s holiness, his perfection, his glory, Isaiah is suddenly aware of his own unholiness, imperfection, sin.

It’s like going through a dark, muddy cave – and when you come out into the light – whoa! You’re filthy! Covered in dirt. But when you’re in the cave, in the darkness, you can’t see the dirt.

That’s what it was like of Isaiah. Merrily going along thinking he’s a pretty good guy – check my holiness, it’s up to here. I go to church, I pay my taxes, I help my landlady take out her garbage.
And then Isaiah wakes up in the real world – confronted by God – God as he truly is.

5 Then I said, “It’s all over! I am doomed, for I am a sinful man. I have filthy lips, and I live among a people with filthy lips. Yet I have seen the King, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.”

I had a similar experience to Isaiah. I was going along my merry little life. I gave God a bit of worship every day, just enough to you know keep him satisfied. And then got on with MY LIFE.
I’d confused God with a pet. Pat him, give him a bit of food. Then one day, he took hold of me. He grabbed by the scruff of my neck and marched me down to church, where he and I had a little chat. Yes Lord. Sorry Lord. Yes Lord, I will obey you. Yes Lord, I am yours.

And from that day, my life has never been the same again. It was like the sun came up and flooded my life with light. I had deep joy. I had seen the Lord – and I was not destroyed, but lifted up.

What mercy God has to sinners like us. Look at what happens to Isaiah.

6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal he had taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. 7 He touched my lips with it and said, “See, this coal has touched your lips. Now your guilt is removed, and your sins are forgiven.”

Isn’t that incredible? Isn’t that mind-blowing? Isaiah has no place there. He is not glorious. He is not an angelic being of fire. He is not holy. He should be thrown out. Or simply blasted into nothingness – burnt up like the unholy rubbish he is.

As the seraphim approached him – burning coal at the end of a pair of tongs held by a mighty burning creature whose voice shakes the huge stone Temple – I wonder if Isaiah thought “this is it! One touch and I’m dead”. You can imagine the great burning hand reaching out and crushing Isaiah like paper, consuming him in holy fire until nothing remains except ash to be blown on the wind.

But instead the mighty voice which shakes the room says Isaiah your guilt is removed, and your sins are forgiven.

It's like the paralysed man on the mat in front of Jesus: son your sins are forgiven. What? Could it be true? Or the sinful woman washing his feet with her tears. Or Zacchaeus the short tax collector. Or Legion, filled with demons. Your sins are forgiven.
One touch of the coal from the altar and Isaiah is made holy. He can stand in the presence of God!
The altar was the place where sacrifices for sin were made. It was on the altar that blood was shed to pay the price for sin. It was on the altar where the guilt of the person’s sin was placed on the sacrifice - there was a swap. The sacrifice was treated as if it had sinned, the person was treated as if they were innocent. Isaiah’s guilt was transferred from him to the sacrifice. And he was declared innocent. His guilt was removed. His sins were forgiven.

Isaiah did not know how that could happen. How could one coal take away his sin? But we do. In John 12:41 we read Isaiah.. saw Jesus’ glory and spoke of him.
Isaiah saw Jesus’ glory when he saw the glory of God. He saw Jesus’ glory and later spoke of it: the suffering servant whose sacrifice took away the sins of the world. He saw and experienced Jesus’ glory when the coal touched his lips and he knew that he was no longer a sinner, under judgement, but now a holy one, like the seraphim, able to stand in the throne-room of God.

For each of us who belong to Christ, the same has happened. One touch from his sacrifice on the cross, his altar, and our sins are dealt with. Our guilt was placed on his shoulders – we are guilty no more. Through his death our sins are forgiven.

And so we have moved – from unholiness to holiness. From those who will be thrown out of the presence of God – to those who stand before the Almighty. By His grace, we belong now to him. There is now no fear, no fear even of the seraphim, no fear of his awesome power and might. We are his. In fact, even further than that, because we can call this almighty God, Father. Daddy.
Because that is how Jesus knows him. Jesus, the son of God, swaps places with us and gives us his life, so that we too can be called children of God. Isn’t that incredible?

3. The result of grace: service

What happens as soon as Isaiah is purified, made clean?

The Lord has a task for him. 8 Then I heard the Lord asking, “Whom should I send as a messenger to this people? Who will go for us?”

There’s only one man there. Lots of angels, only one man – one man whose lips have just been made clean.
Who will speak for God? Who will be the Word of God among the people. It’s kind of clear who's supposed to respond… and he does.

V8 “Here I am. Send me.”

See the confidence he has in the grace of God. He is now ready to serve God. No more “I am doomed”. How much we can learn from Isaiah!

I love the interplay here between God’s sovereignty and human choice. It is quite clear that God has called Isaiah to be his prophet. It is quite clear that that is going to happen. God is sovereign, in control.
But it is equally clear that when Isaiah says “Here I am. Send me” that it was his choice. He was not a robot. God was not forcing the words out of his mouth. The angels were not threatening him. Isaiah looks at himself, his new self, his forgiven, guiltless self and says “yes, I can do that”. I can carry the word of God to the people.

That's what Ephesians 2:10 means when it says For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

What we are to do, the good we are to do has been prepared by God. But we are not unwillingly forced along this path – we want to do it! We are created in Chrsit Jesus, a new creation, a new man that wants to walk the path God has prepared – and chooses to walk that path.

This world uses a show of power to force a response – you will obey.
But God here forgives, declares right, stands Isaiah up on his feet. Then he asks “Who will go?”. Not “YOU WILL GO!” but “Who will go?”. And Isaiah answers not from compulsion, not from fear – but from love. God's perfect love drives out fear (1 John 4:18). Oooh, me! Send me! He wants to do this for God because he loves God.

So too with us. We don’t want to sin anymore. We want to please our Lord. Not out of fear for the consequences - because we have already been declared righteous. Our guilt is gone. There is no fear. But respond out of love. Our hearts have been swapped out – from hearts of stone to hearts of flesh – from hearts that hate God and always choose to disobey him, to ignore him, to avoid him – to hearts that love him, and want to obey, want to be with him.

As Christians we are fundamentally changed. We have new nature, a new DNA. The DNA of Christ. The heart… of Christ.

Who is God, and what does he think about me?
He is powerful, He is awesome beyond belief. He is terrifyingly holy. To see him is to be doomed – and we all will see him one day. And all of our goodness and religion will be laughable before him – exposed as dirty faces and unclean hands. Unholy!
But one touch from the altar, one drop of the blood of Christ, and we are made holy. Each of us who belong to Christ are holy, able to be with God. To call him our Dad. Without being afraid. Without being burned up.

Brothers, when we're battling sin, let us remember who we are. Remember who He is. And remember that we are loved.