“Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.”
– Isaiah 6:5
I would rate myself as five out of ten. On the observant scale, that is. I would like to think I am higher, maybe 7.5 to 8.5 out of ten, but I can’t because I know better. I know there are things that escape my attention. There are things that happen off the radar of my awareness. I notice something has changed in the community—a new building goes up, a house gets a face lift—only to find out it happened months (or longer) ago and I just had not noticed. The reality is, for as much as I do notice, there is at least as much that I do not notice. Further, there is a cautionary element to this, as there can be negative consequences when things escape our notice. Awareness is good, even when it is disturbing.
The prophet Isaiah had a powerful vision in “the year of King Uzziah’s death.” Succinctly put, Isaiah saw God in all of God’s glory. In the text of scripture Isaiah says the Lord was “on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple” (Isaiah 6:1). Standing above the throne were Seraphim, angelic beings having six wings. The name of these creatures is understood to mean “burning ones,” which adds to the intensity of the scene. They call out to each other, “Holy, Holy Holy is the Lord of Hosts. The whole earth is full of His glory” (v. 3). The sound of their voices reverberated so powerfully that the foundations of the throne room trembled. The vision obviously was unexpected, and moved the prophet to the core of his being.
The Bible offers numerous accounts of people who, in one form or another, experienced divine revelations. Those encounters may have come through angelic visits, in dreams, burning bushes, mountaintop transfigurations, or an assortment of other ways. Much of the joy of reading about those encounters is to observe the reaction from the person for whom the revelation occurred. In the case of Isaiah, finding himself in the very presence of God made him suddenly aware of something he already knew but, in the course of day to day life, had largely passed from consideration. He became suddenly aware of his sinful nature as it was exposed in the presence of an absolute holy God.
It has been a number of years since I read Matt Chandler’s book The Explicit Gospel. It is a great work, one I highly recommend. Because so much time has elapsed since reading (and because the book is not presently at my disposal), I will just confess that I am putting my words on an idea Chandler conveyed. It has to do with the way we tend to look at human sin in relationship to the way we think about God’s holiness. We tend to have no problem with ascribing holiness to God, but unwittingly we undermine our confession of God’s holiness by minimizing the gravity of human sin. To think lightly of sin is to think lowly of God. That may sound rather harsh, but I believe it is essentially true. If we think sin is no big deal, we obviously have little comprehension of what holiness means.
Honestly, I don’t go around constantly thinking about the gravity of sin in my life, and I am not suggesting that you do either. I do give thanks every day that Jesus died the death that I deserve to die because of my sin, and gives me instead the ability to be in fellowship with a holy God. What I am suggesting is that we should not lose our awareness of the contrast that exists between God’s holiness and human sinfulness. When the sudden awareness of that contrast hit Isaiah, it made him despair for his life. The saving grace came for him when one of the Seraphim took a burning coal from the altar and touched it to Isaiah’s lips, purifying him so he could stand in the presence of God.
You and I don’t need the burning coal. We have the blood of Christ that cleanses us from all unrighteousness when we confess our sin (1 John 1:9). But if you ever feel like you are losing your appreciation for what Jesus has done for us, let Isaiah help you recover that. He will remind you of the desperate feeling of being in the presence of holiness without the cleansing only God can provide.
See you along the Winding Path
The Winding Path 