THE HOLY ONE FORGIVES

This morning there may be some here who don’t know God, others who have forgotten God, others who have gotten used to God, and others who don’t care about him, and others who love and adore him – but are sometimes caught by the fears of the present moment in the church and in the world.

Isaiah 6 is the remedy for all of you.

Look up and see!! See a holy God! A real God. A real King! See the real problem – not war or conflict but sin! And you will find the real solution – not better programs, or higher wagers, or a change in government – but forgiveness – leading to humility – and love – leading to holiness!

THE HOLY ONE FORGIVES

1. The holy one.

2. The unclean one(s).

3. The unclean are forgiven.

The Holy one

In the year that king Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon the throne high and lifted up; The year that king Uzziah died. He had a long and successful reign, almost bringing back the glory days of David. But they did not respond to it well. 2 Chronicles 26 says about him, “But when he was strong, he grew proud, to his destruction.”

Because of that God was raising up an empire to judge his people. This was the end of an era.

It is like Europe in 1914 after decades of peace and prosperity, was about to be plunged into the 1st world ward, the beginning of the bloodiest century in History.  It was on the eve of the war that Sir Edward Grey said, “The lamps are going out all over Europe, we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime." It was this kind of moment in Judah’s history. His death brought instability. Insecurity. And fear. Judah was about to be plunged into war – and ultimately exile. The lamp was going out and it would not be lit in their lifetime.

And it is in this year that Isaiah gets the vision of eternal stability, strength, and perfect holiness.

Your king – the covenant LORD - He is seated above all thrones, and powers, and kingdoms, and lands, and war.  He is sitting upon the throne - and in Psalm 9:4,6 and Psalm 122:5 we read that God’s throne is his place of judgment. He is the judge of all the earth. He is the one that will give the final verdict. Not people. Not culture. Not even your own conscience!

And the train of his robe filled the temple! It is not his robe, but the hem of that robe filled this temple. This king is greater than any monarch or king who ever lived!

Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet and with two he flew. Seraphim – these are angels that are also most often associated with judgement. The word seraph comes from the same word as “burn.” That is why in numbers 21 the snakes that the Lord sends to punish the Israelites are called Seraphim Snakes – or “Fiery serpents.” They are the burning ones!  In Isaiah 14:29, and Isaiah 30:6 this word is again used to describe snakes that bring destruction. Seraphim are destroyers of enemies, and protectors of that which is holy.

And even these perfect creatures cannot look on the perfection of a holy God. With two they cover their eyes, with two they cover their feet, and with two they fly. Here are guardians of the holy – and the one calls to the other – HOLY HOLY HOLY! Is the LORD of Hosts;

The holiness of God refers to the unparalleled majesty of His incomparable being and his blameless, faultless, unblemished moral purity. God is eternal, preeminent, omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. He was, is, and will be before all things. He is ageless, tireless, and faultless. He is beyond full human comprehension. Indeed, words cant capture. Isaiah needs to break the rules of language to capture the concept!

I think the church has become what is has become due in large part to a lack of seeing Gods holiness as it is. We water down. We think its okay. The church is worried about what the world will think. About what others will think. About what members will think. About what new believers will think. But not about who God is and what he will think.

One author wrote, “How we understand the person and character of God the Father affects every aspect of our lives. It affects far more than what we normally call the “religious” aspects of our lives. If God is the Creator of the entire universe, then it must follow that He is the Lord of the whole universe. No part of the world is outside of His lordship. That means that no part of my life must be outside of His lordship. His holy character has something to say about economics, politics, athletics, romance—everything with which we are involved.”

Nothing or no one satisfies like God, for He is altogether lovely to behold. But at the same time, it is a terrifying and crushing thing to behold for the sinner, for it burns up all that is not holy!

The whole earth is full of his glory! It’s like his holiness was expanding from that central temple, to fill the earth! The whole earth. That includes me and you! Have you encountered his holiness?

God sits enthroned as the king overall and as judge upon his throne as the seraphim call and we read, “the foundations of the thresholds shook at the sound of the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke!” Earthquakes are fearful, but the voice of someone causing an earthquake is terrifying – He speaks and the earth shakes! Psalm 46 says, “He lifts his voice and the earth melts!” Psalm 29 speaks about his voice shaking creation.

What is your view of God? What is your attitude to God’s speaking? Are you meeting with God? When you don’t see God as he is, the cross loses its meaning, your pride inflates,  and the passages on judgement in the Old Testament become hard to understand.

The reason for Gods judgement is because all is not perfectly good and beautiful. And he will not be satisfied until all is set right! The last five chapters started with Holiness where it says in 1:4 “They have despised the Holy one of Israel.” And in chapter 5:24 “they have despised the words of the Holy one of Israel.”

And it is in the light of this vision that we must read the next section chapter 7-12. The people have no vision of God as high and lifted and exalted. Their God is small! And what happens – they start being terrified, and their hearts shake as trees of the forest shake before the wind (Ch 7:2)! There can be no confidence unless their God is seen as Holy as we see at the end in Chapter 12: 6 “great in your midst is the holy one of Israel.” But that does not happen until they recognize their own uncleanness.

We think a lot about what people think of us, until the day we have a real encounter with GOD in worship. We are caught up in the stress of life, and we look for our identity in all kids of things until one day God meets us in the temple and speak to us, and says, AM I REAL?

Your fears betray your idols. What you fear is what you worship. If your greatest fear is instability, you worship stability for yourself and will do everything to get it. If you fear sickness above all you idolize health. If you fear aging, you will do everything to stay young. But fear God and all these other fears dissipate – because if you fear God – God will be your refuge. But how? Is the question  if we are unclean?

The unclean ones.

Look at what Isaiah says when he is confronted with this God! V. 5, “And I said, WOE is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes of seen the KING, the LORD of hosts.”  

WOE is me! – this is a curse that he calls down on himself. In chapter 5 there were 6 curses the Lord laid on his people. Now he says about himself, “I AM DAMNED.” You and I deserve damnation. No one in hell is surprised that they are there. No one is saying, now wait a minute, I am not supposed to be here. Not after they meet God as he really is.

In the light of holiness, the first reaction is always a deep fear, and the realization of our lostness. This is me. This is you. Something is wrong with humanity. We see it all around – but it’s not just out there, is it? It’s in here.

But we don’t really think about it too much. Maybe it is we are afraid of what we might find. Well dear church – don’t be afraid. Enter Gods holiness. Place yourself in the light of his glory. Firmly. Squarely this morning. The only way we are going to really deal with who we are is if God deals with who we are. Don’t hide behind your good works. Don’t be afraid of your sin.  We can ignore, excuse, avoid for only so long. It’s like an ostrich with her head in the sand, thinking the storm will go away. It wont. But we must all stand before the LORD GOD of HOSTS!

So here we have the dilemma of a people. the dilemma of Isaiah. The dilemma of the entire Old Testament since Adam rejected Gods holiness. This is the heart of the problem. Whether we have problems domestic (in the church) or foreign (in the country) the root issue is always always the same. SIN.We won’t get a step farther in solving problems until we deal with this problem. And the problem is we can’t.

The unclean are made Holy.

Before Isiaah is ready for service, he had to see himself for who he is – and be crushed. In a sense die to himself – so that Gdo could give him life, forgiveness and hope. We want to make our own clothes to cover our nakedness, rather than receive God’s remedy..

“Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his had a burning coal he had taken with tongs from the altar. We are in the temple according to verse 1. This is where Isaiah meets God. What happens at the temple? Sacrifice! That is where we meet God! People would go to the temple to sacrifice to God. It was where heaven met earth. It was where sin was symbolically atoned for with the blood of bulls and goats. But we know they could never atone for sins. There is only one who suffered and died on the altar of Gods justice that could atone. He who said he is the temple.

I believe it was the altar of burnt offering. The words “the altar” is what the altar of burnt offering is often referred to.. And he takes that coal upon which the lamb was slain and touches the lips of this child who is unclean and lives among unclean people.

And he touched my mouth and said, “Behold this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.” None of us are called in this way to be a prophet of Israel – but all of us are called in this way. God comes to us and says I will wash you; I will pay for your sin. I suffered the full wrath of that fiery hell when I suffered as the lamb that was slain on the altar – so that you can be mine! So that you might be holy as I am holy. I will take the curse upon myself.

Our lips cannot speak until they are opened by God. We can talk all we want about religion, and faith, but it’s not really coming from the heart, until God himself comes to us in the sacrifice of his son, and takes away our guilt, and atones for our sin. Then we are truly changed. Then we desire holiness. We preach holiness – because we have encountered the power of a purifying holy God! But know that the sinner hates holiness.

Holiness provokes hatred. The greater the holiness the greater the human hostility toward it. It seems insane. No man was ever more loving than Jesus Christ. Yet even His love made people angry. His love was a perfect love, a transcendent and holy love, but his very love brought trauma to people. This kind of love is so majestic we can’t stand it in our natural state. But he changes us – he fills us so that we are enabled to receive this holy love.

These are gospel words. For weak and weary sinners. And for the self-righteous moralist who is crushed under the weight of trying to be good enough. These are gospel words for people that live in fear of judgement. Gospel words for people that live in fear that the past might catch up to them. Gospel words for people that live in fear of Gods judgement! Gospel words! And they change us! They truly make us want to life for him not out of slavish fear, but childlike love!

Have you experienced this cleansing? Do you see the fruit of this? After this Isaiah is bold fearless, and calm and at peace in the face of great political pressure, in the face of persecution.

At the cross – God broke our fears. He said do not be afraid. I will love you. You are secure. What do you fear? The future? – Look to him the great I AM! Loneliness? – Look to him who says never will I forsake you never will I leave you! You don’t need to be afraid – for I am for you! He comes to us in our fears and calms them all!

And as you gaze upon him you will grow in holiness. You will be as he is. As one theologian says, “Holiness is the habit of being of one mind with God,… hating what He hates, loving what He loves, and measuring everything in this world by the standard of His Word.

What are you coming to the temple to see? I think Isaiah had gone to the temple hundreds of times before. He had gotten used to going, offering sacrifices believing he was okay!  We go to church, but are we still expecting to meet God in church? He didn’t get it until he got the full reality of God one day at the temple. A holy God – a forgiving God. May you see your God today in his holiness, and be touched by the sacrifice that brings healing, forgiveness, and peace. And so may your lips be opened to declare the splendor of his holiness.

Amen.