BEHOLD THE CALL OF GOD
Isaiah 6
In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 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. 3 And one called to another and said:
“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!”
4 And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. 5 And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.” 1
In the year that King Uzziah died...
“The king is dead. Long live the king.”
That statement was apparently first made when Charles VII ascended the to the French throne following the death of his father Charles VI. It was a phrase declaring the transfer of power in the monarchy to the new king. This phrase has been used many times since as new monarchs have ascended in various nations as well as in literature and in film.
This chapter begins at a time of mourning for the nation, but also a time of new leadership to come.
Uzziah
The king of Judah, Uzziah reigned in the land for 52 years. He is a significant character in the history of God’s people. It is good for us to know of him and the context the prophet writes. In 2 Chronicles 26 we get his bio and initially he was a king who sought God and did right.
Though initially he did what was right in God’s eyes, eventually he became complacent.
2 Chronicles 26:16
16 But when he was strong, he grew proud, to his destruction. For he was unfaithful to the LORD his God and entered the temple of the LORD to burn incense on the altar of incense.2
He fell to the same sin that we all face and that many with any position of leadership are prone to – pride.
So goes the king, so go the people.
Now, THE KING IS DEAD...
LONG LIVE THE KING...
I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple.
It is a day of worship and Isaiah is in the temple. This is not unlike other days for Isaiah. Religion is cemented in the culture of the people of
Israel. Worship in the temple with the sacrifices, the rites, the rituals and all that has been passed down for ages is expected and normal.
It is not unlike any of us here who woke up today and out of routine and desire, made our way to the gathering of the church for the weekly worship on the Lord’s Day.
We also know, that more often than we’d want to admit, routine becomes very common for us. And amid routine, in this moment when Isaiah went into the temple, God moved in such a way that EVERYTHING CHANGED.
For the first time Isaiah’s vision was lifted beyond the familiar and he is brought into the presence of God. It’s not an emotional response or reaction. It is not based on anything Isaiah has done to prepare. It occurs and the prophet is brought before the one, true King.
As the nation is reeling from the death of Uzziah, the Sovereign continued reigning as he always has. The King is holding court and Isaiah SAW it.
2 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.
The temple of the Lord became the throne room of the king, and it is a very busy place. Heavenly beings that look nothing like we can imagine are in the room. Six winged seraphim stand floating above the Lord. “Seraphim” means burning ones.” So, no white robed humans with halos and wings here. These are living flames. Humbled before their king.
A.W. Tozer shares this:
We must not think of God as highest in an ascending order of beings, starting with the single cell and going on up from the fish to the bird to the animal to man to angel to cherub to God. God is
as high above an archangel as above a caterpillar, for the gulf that separates the archangel from the caterpillar is but finite, while the gulf between God and the archangel is infinite.
The seraphim hover, yet they’re continually moving. They’re at the ready, awaiting God’s command. We have no idea how many are here. Isaiah doesn’t say, but John the Apostle stated in his writings in the book of Revelation that during his view into the heavenlies he saw “myriads of myriads and thousands and thousands” – meaning millions!
These seraphim are filling heaven with their worship and Isaiah gets a glimpse.
The worship is in word and the words matter.
3 And one called to another and said:
“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!”
One said it to another. Then that one said it to another. The heavenly responsive reading was occurring as the angelic beings are declaring the reality of God, the King, the Sovereign, the Lord.
When these words appear, we must not skim over them. “Holy, holy, holy”
This is not repeated for the fun of it. It is for emphasis.
HOLY! HOLY! HOLY!
As Ray Ortlund states, “It isn’t one plus one plus one. It’s perfection plus perfection plus perfection.”
Holiness is distinctive.
Holiness separates.
Holiness elevates.
God is holy and it is more than just one of many characteristics of God. It is the nature of God.
Holy, holy, holy is an emphasis of absolute.
Throughout scripture we are told of the splendor of his holiness, the majesty of his holiness, the incomparability of his holiness.
R.C. Sproul stated it this way in his work The Holiness of God
“When we understand the character of God, when we grasp
something of His holiness, then we begin to understand the
radical character of our sin and hopelessness. Helpless sinners can
survive only by grace. Our strength is futile in itself; we are
spiritually impotent without the assistance of a merciful God. We
may dislike giving our attention to God's wrath and justice, but
until we incline ourselves to these aspects of God's nature, we will
never appreciate what has been wrought for us by grace.”
The seraphim’s responsive words affirm and declare the reality of the Trinity. Holy is the Father. Holy is the Son. Holy is the Holy Spirit.
Holy – they are ONE. HE is holy.
And each word...each “holy” boosts the force of the previous. God is holy.
God is holy. HOLY!
God is holy. Holy. HOLY!!!
God is not like us. He is not the bigger version of us. Cultists and false religions have humanized God to make him just a bigger us. Whether that be the creation of Zeus or Jupiter or Odin or another in ancient mythology. Or the Mormon version given by President Lorenzo Snow back in the 1800s that states that “As man now is, God once was; as God now is, man may be” which is little more than heretical deconstruction of orthodox Christianity that turns God into the uber-man, all human- devised constructs of God end up being God made in our image rather than the biblical reality that is otherwise.
But even Isaiah was shaken by these words.
Holy God is filling the earth with his glory. He is not the “God out there” but the “God right here.”
The never lonely God created. He created everything. He created humanity. Not because he was lacking something or because he wanted some friends. He created to enjoy his goodness. The delight that God feels in being God is so great that it spills over into the creation...that is filled with his glory.
Like a cup flowing over, the glory of the Lord fills the temple, fills the earth, fills this place.
AWE TURNS TO DESPAIR
What would you do if the clarity of God’s holiness were placed before you? We may say “Well, I’d worship louder” or “I’d thank him for all he does” or “I’d read some scripture” or “give an offering” or other such thing.
But what Isaiah does is what I would do and I believe what you would do, too. He despairs. This holiness before him of the one true God is revealing how much he doesn’t deserve to be there. To be anywhere.
5And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”
THE ONLY RESPONSE
Help me God!
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”
THE CALL
But why Isaiah? Why on this day? Why in this way?
We don’t have all these answers, but we know that God has been preparing this man for this work and this cleansing for the calling he has upon him.
To the one who is called, the logical explanation of it makes no sense to those who have never experienced it.
The calling was clear. The cleansing was required. The request was made. The answer was needed.
8 And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.”3
You stand before the one true king. The king of the universe. The king of kings. Lord of lords. Sovereign of all. The holy, holy, holy ONE and your sin convicts you. He cleanses you. Then he asks “Who will go?”
And the only right response from Isaiah and from you and me is “I will. I am right here! Send me. Send me.”
And that is the today’s calling to you to me to all who would refuse another day of empty religion, routine spirituality, good deeds based righteousness and for those who see the futility in building one’s Life Group to be bigger and better than others, or our own church right here on Kingsley to offer the most exciting events in the county, or any other secondary or tertiary thing that church has done and become only to keep the Good News to ourselves when the world that doesn’t want to hear, may not listen, and could even persecute us from at least hearing.
Who will go to that world when all you get is ME?” is the question God asks.
And he longs for his church to stand up, get cleaned up, and to respond with more than a check mark on a decision card and more than an emotional youth camp yes, but an all in repentance, receiving, and filling of the Spirit of God, equipped to be so we can go.
Who will go?
Footnotes
1 The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Is 6:1–7). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.
2 The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (2 Ch 26:16). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.
3 The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Is 6:8). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.
