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We are in a series looking at different attributes of God and answering the question, God is __________. Last week we looked at the attribute that is most widely believed but also most doubted and that is love. We believe God is love and loves others, but we have a hard time believing that God loves us. Today we are going to consider an attribute that might be the most important one of all, but the least popular. The reason we don’t like this attribute is because of what it means for us. The attribute is the holiness of God. God is Holy. Actually, according to the Bible God is Holy, Holy, Holy. Isaiah 6:1-4
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: with two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.
King Uzziah ruled in Judah, which was the southern kingdom of Israel, for 52 years. For the most part, Uzziah was a strong and faithful ruler and during his reign the people knew prosperity and stability. When Uzziah died, it created a time of uncertainty and anxiety. It was the end of a long and good period, and most of the people only knew Uzziah as their king. It was the end of an era and the people were anxious and scared about the future.
A few years ago I felt some of that same anxiety and fear. It was the end of an amazing era, the most successful our nation had ever seen and I was worried about what was going to happen at Duke when Coach K retired. He had been at Duke for 41 years. He won 5 national championships and went to the final four 13 times. He won 1,129 games in his career, more than any other men’s college basketball coach. Every year I knew Duke would do well with Coach K leading them, but what was going to happen now.
It’s the way many of you felt when Coach Paterno was no longer leading Penn State Football. It was the end of an era and a time of great uncertainty. Maybe you feel this way as you prepare for your first child and you know your life will never be the same again. Or maybe you are facing an empty nest with all your kids away, or retirement is staring you in the face. As a nation we kind of feel this way right now because each side of the political aisle is telling us that this is the most important election in our nation's history. Whether it is or not, we don’t know, but the messaging creates uncertainty and anxiety.
This is the context for Isaiah’s vision. In the midst of all the uncertainty, anxiety, and fear about the future, Isaiah looks up and sees the Lord high and lifted up and six winged seraphim above Him. We don’t know what these seraphs looked like, but they had two wings to fly, two wings to cover their faces in the presence of God, and two wings to cover their feet because all of the ground and space around them was holy. The seraph were calling out to one another, Holy, Holy, Holy. In Hebrew it was, Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh.
In Hebrew, a word being repeated like this was to emphasize its meaning. We do this at times, like when I say I am never going on a tilt-a-whirl again. Never. Never. Never. Or you see your dog going after some food and you say, No. No. No. It’s the same thing here only with heavenly power. Holy, Holy. Holy. God isn’t just holy, God is holy, holy, holy.
So just what does the word holy mean? In our culture it is used in all kinds of ways, some that I can’t say here because we are trying to be holy. You might hear holy cow, or holy smoke when people are amazed at something, or we might hear holy communion or holy matrimony when we are in church. And of course there is the holy grail, whether you like Indiana Jones or Monty Python. It can also be used in a negative way to talk about some Christians. They are holier than thou or holy rollers.
The word holy jut means separate or set apart. It means that what we are talking about is like no other. For example, the Holy Bible is simply a book that is like no other. It is set apart from every other book because we believe it was divinely inspired by God. We usually reserve the word holy to talk about things that are different in good ways or things that are set apart because they are special.
The author Tony Evans helps us understand the word by talking about our dishes. We have ordinary dishes that we use every day, but then many of us have the special dishes we only get out a few times a year. These are the family heirlooms that are not only a cut above the everyday dishes, but they are also stored high up on the shelves or in a completely separate cabinet to keep them safe. These are the dishes we wash by hand because the gold leaf is real gold and we don’t want it to come off in the dishwasher and because the crystal is too thin to be hit by jets of water. These are holy.
God is holy. That means God is separate, unique and like not other. In fact, God is set apart from everyone and everything else. God is pure and perfect and righteous. God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all. God is without fault, without blemish, without sin. God is good, all the time and all the time…. God is all love, all power and all strength. God is all wisdom, and all wisdom comes from God. God is holy. God is so holy that he is Holy Holy Holy. There is no one like our God. The Bible says,
Who among the gods is like you, Lord? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders? Exodus 15:11
So, during a time of uncertainty and anxiety about the future, when Isaiah and the people of Judah didn’t know what was going to happen to them or how God was going to lead them, Isaiah had a vision of the Almighty God and it reminded him and the people that God alone is Holy and because God holy, things were going to be ok.
While this vision had to be an encouragement to Isaiah about the future, look at what happens to him personally.
“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”
Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.” Isaiah 6:5-7
Seeing the holiness of God ruined Isaiah because God’s holiness exposed Isaiah sinfulness. Isaiah, a prophet, a man called to speak the word of God, cries out saying, I am a man of unclean lips. He sees his own sin. He knows how unworthy he is. He confesses his sin and then the sin of his people. And notice that Isaiah does all of this without God ever saying a word. God’s presence alone was enough to drive Isaiah to his knees. It was enough to cause Isaiah to repent.
This is why this attribute of God is often the one we like the least because without a word, God’s holiness exposes our sinfulness. God’s light exposes all that we want to hide in the darkness. God’s goodness exposes all the ways we aren’t good and that is not something we enjoy. We would rather talk about God’s mercy, love and grace than our own failure, sin and brokenness. We like God’s forgiveness but we don’t want to have to come face to face with all those things which need to be forgiven. Billy Graham said.
It is only when we understand the holiness of God that we understand the depth of our sin.
Isaiah just stands before God and confesses his sin. He doesn’t ask or beg for forgiveness - he’s not worthy of it. He doesn’t negotiate and say that he will do better - he knows that he never will do better. The holiness of God has exposed him as a sinner. The more of God’s holiness we see, the more our own sin is exposed.
The more radiant God is, the more ruined we are. It’s not a pleasant attribute to think about or focus on because of what it says about us, but if we go on, we will see why this just might be the attribute we need to focus on the most.
As Isaiah stands before God, exposed as a sinner, God sends a seraph with a burning coal to touch Isaiah’s lips, The seraph said, your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.
Isaiah has done nothing to deserve this forgiveness and restoration. Isaiah didn’t ask for it, he didn’t beg for it, he did nothing but stand in his guilt and shame before a holy God. It was the holiness of God that forgave Isaiah and atoned for his sin. It was the holiness of God that initiated forgiveness and chose to forgive. It’s the holiness of God that moves God to love unconditionally. God initiates it. God desires it. God wants to forgive so that we can be in the holiness of His presence. In the New Testament it says,
God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8
While the holiness of God might expose the reality of our sin, it also reveals the perfect power of God’s unconditional love. If God is truly like no other, then He is like no other in His ability to love. If God is like no other in His love, then He will forgive us and restore us and we can trust Him to do it. If God is holy, then He alone is trustworthy. We can trust Him to forgive us and redeem us and help us and heal us. God cannot go back on His love because it is the perfect love of a father who will never forsake us.
Maybe this is the message you need to hear today, that the holiness of God is reaching out not to condemn you but to restore you. We might need to come to terms with the reality of our sin and failures, we might need to fall to our knees and confess our sin and unworthiness, but we also might need to know that God is already on His way to touch us and forgive us. God is already on His way to forgive us and call us to His side and His mission. That might be the message you need to hear today.
When Isaiah was confronted by the holiness of God, it drove him to his knees in confession, and then lifted him up in love to new life. God’s holiness so completely changed Isaiah that he went from saying, I’m a sinner to saying, I am your servant.
Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” Isaiah 6:8
Isaiah was willing to go and do whatever God asked him to do and what God asked him to do was go and give a message to the people. It wasn’t just any message, however, it was a message that would not only give hope to the people of God then, but give hope to God’s people for generations. It is a message that still gives hope and assurance to God’s people, to us, today. Just one chapter after this vision and call of Isaiah, God gave him this message:
The Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. Isaiah 7:14
For the people Isaiah was talking to then, this meant that God was going to send a leader who would deliver them in just a few short years. Those who were seeking to destroy them were going to soon be destroyed. For generations to come, this was a promise of the coming Messiah. A virgin was going to give birth to a son, and he was going to be called Immanuel, which means God is with us. That is what we hear in the gospel of Matthew when Joseph was told when Mary was pregnant. Her child was going to be the Messiah. This was one of the first messages given to God’s people about the coming of the Messiah and today it is a reminder to us that God has sent this Messiah and His name is Jesus.
The prophet with unclean lips was not only forgiven and redeemed by the holiness of God, he was given a message of hope for all generations. The Holiness of God was coming to initiate forgiveness for all the world, and that’s what Jesus did.
Jesus was the holiness of God who didn’t come because we begged and pleaded for mercy or because we were in any way worthy of grace and love, Jesus came because God’s holy love sent Him.
There are a lot of people leaving the church today and leaving the Christian faith. Maybe the church hasn’t been a good example of God’s goodness and love. Maybe we haven’t shared passionately enough that God initiates forgiveness and salvation. Maybe people new and fresh expressions of what it means to experience God has holy and loving. That’s one reason we are working to reach out in new ways through some fresh expressions. As people leave the faith, it makes me want to ask, where are you going to go?
There is no other god like our God. There is no other god whose Holiness initiates forgiveness and salvation. There is no other god whose Holy love comes to us in our filth and shame and sin. There is no other god who comes to save us. There is no other god like our God. The psalmist says:
My whole being will exclaim, “Who is like you, Lord? You rescue the poor from those too strong for them, the poor and needy from those who rob them. Psalm 35:10
There is no one else who can save you. There is no one else who can heal you. There is no one else who can forgive you. There is no one else who can redeem you and restore you and comfort you. There is no one else who will walk with you and talk with you and speak to you. There is no one else who is trustworthy and whose mercy is new every morning. There is no one like our God, a God who is Holy, Holy, Holy.
Next Steps
God Is Holy
What do you think about when you hear the word holy?
How would you define the word holy?
Read Exodus 15:11 and Psalm 35:10
● How often do you think of God as holy?
● How does God’s holiness impact your view of Him?
Read Isaiah 6:1-8
● How does God’s holiness help the people of Judah at this moment in their history?
● What does God’s holiness do to Isaiah? Why?
● What is God’s response?
● What message did God give Isaiah to share with the people? (See Isaiah 7:14)
God’s Holiness in your life:
● When has God’s holiness moved you to repentance?
● Where do you need God’s holiness to shine in your life today?
● Why does God’s holiness not only lead to repentance but to forgiveness and new life?
● God’s holiness moved Isaiah to say, Here am I, send me. Where can God send you with His message of unconditional love and grace?
● Who do you know that needs to hear that God initiates forgiveness in our lives? Share that message with them.
Prayer: Father, You are holy, holy, holy. You are perfect in your love and grace. We want to worship You with all that we have and all that we are. Show us where we might be blind to sin in our lives, and stir and shake us up to repentance. We praise You. We love You. We worship You. Send us forth in your name and with your message of salvation. Here I am, Lord. Send me, in Jesus name. Amen.
