Holiness of God: Part 1
Isaiah by. Gustav DoreThis blog is somewhat of a follow up from another blog I wrote called God’s Unfailing Promise. You by no means need to have read it to understand what I am discussing in this blog. As a matter of fact, this blog will likely help clarify some events that were discussed from 1 Samuel 4-6. I am referring to all the calamity that came upon the Philistines after they stole the ark of the covenant and also what happened to the Israelites when the ark was returned to them. I hinted that the reason there was so much death surrounding those who possessed the Ark of the Covenant was due to the holiness of God. This topic deserves its own book and there are many that Eyes Opened Ministries can suggest but my current goal is to walk through some of the major verses from scripture showcase what it means to be in the presence of a Holy God. This will be part 1 and the text we are looking at is Isaiah 6.
Holy, Holy, Holy
Isaiah 6:1-5 ESV “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. 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. And one called to another and said:
“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory!”
And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. 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!”
This passage gives us a glimpse of heaven from the perspective of Isaiah. Before we talk about Isaiah’s reaction to the glory of God I want to focus on the seraphim(angels) first. The heavenly host of angels were not created by God and left to do whatever they wanted any more than we are. They were created to worship and serve God. Each angel in this scene was equipped with 6 wings to help them fulfill this purpose. Two were used to fly around and be ready to act in the service of God. Two others, however, were used to cover their faces. Even the sinless angels of heaven could not look upon the glory and holiness of God. With the final two wings, they covered their feet. This seems somewhat of a strange detail to include but there is a link to a verse in Exodus that helps clarify this for us. When Moses approached God on mount Horeb the Lord appeared in the form of a burning bush and said: “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” (Exodus 3:5). In the same way, Moses could not approach God because he was near holy ground the angels also had a commandment from God about their feet. Though they are sinless creatures, they are still creatures of God and had to keep their feet covered in His presence. Moses’ feet were bare but he could not even walk in the presence of God near the burning bush.
Being thoroughly equipped to worship in God’s presence they called out to one another saying “Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts”. There are many attributes of God. In scripture God is described as being just or that God is love. He is also described as being merciful and wrathful. In the Hebrew language, they used repetition to put emphasis on describing something and to repeat it three times is to describe it in the ultimate and highest degree. The word holy is the only word in scripture used to describe God in this way. So while it is correct to say that God is love or that God is just, He is ultimately described as being holy. What does this mean for us? Isaiah’s response tells us.
A Man of Unclean Lips
Being in the presence of an infinitely holy God caused Isaiah to have a very specific response. His words were “Woe is me! For I am Lost”. You can tell that there is a sense of fear in Isaiah. When scripture uses the word “woe” it is often telling of the impending doom that was to befall certain individuals. Usually, this is a warning of Judgement if the group of people or individual was to commit some sin against God or their neighbor. Here is an example “Woe to you inhabitants of the seacoast, you nation of the Cherethites! The word of the LORD is against you” (Zeph 2:5). This is how Isaiah feels. That there is a sense of impending doom looming over him. The KJV phrases this sentence as “Woe is me! For I am undone”. This gives us the sense that Isaiah felt that his whole being was falling apart in the presence of God. Why did he feel this way? He goes on to say “for I am a man of unclean lips”. Isaiah is deathly afraid because of his own unworthiness in the presence of the holiness of God.
Isaiah was likely not that much different than the other people in Israel. We know this because of what he says next “and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips”. Compared to everyone else, Isaiah probably did not seem malicious or more sinful than anyone else. The problem is other people are not the standard by which we compare ourselves. These are the words that God spoke through Moses in the wilderness to Israel “You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy” (Lev 19:2). All are sinful and when compared to God none can stand in his presence. This should put an end to all self-righteousness if Christians can remember this one truth. I believe Isaiah knew this thoroughly in the last part of this verse when he says “for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”. The reason for his initial reaction is all due to the fact that he has seen the LORD of hosts for himself. He was laid bare, nothing was hidden and all of his sinfulness was exposed before himself.
Application
The most crucial problem for mankind is that God is holy and we are not. This has been the problem ever since the fall. In Adam and Eve’s innocence, they were holy because they were without sin. Obviously, they were not holy in the same sense that God is holy but it was a holiness that God endowed them with that was appropriate for their creatureliness and sufficiently equipped them to worship and serve God in a way that is worthy of Him. All of that changed when they rebelled against God. When their innocence was lost they were no longer holy and could no longer enjoy the intimate presence of God. The same is true for all of us. One may protest that it is not fair that God judged all of humankind on the action of one man. This is what it means for Adam to be the federal head of the whole human race. The problem with that charge is that we are all sinful ourselves. We cannot blame our hatred, slandering, selfishness, and general disobedience towards God on Adam. We are all fully culpable ourselves. If any of us were to see the same site that Isaiah saw we too would be undone by our own sinfulness. This is why all of the calamity of my previous blog on 1 Samuel occurred. The Philistines had the audacity to bring the ark of God in the temple of their false god and thus they were stricken with plagues. In the same way, the Jews knew how sacred the ark was and how holy God was so it was presumptuous for them to look upon the ark when God brought it back to them. For this reason, 70 men were stricken and immediately died. If this seems to be overly harsh, you do not yet fully grasp the holiness of God. My hope is that future blog posts on this topic will help clarify it.
Conclusion
If we are so sinful to the point that we cannot even stand to be in the presence of God, what hope is there for us? Part of the answer to that question if found in what the gospel of John has to say about this exact passage from Isaiah.
John 12:36-41 “When Jesus had said these things, he departed and hid himself from them. Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him, so that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:
“Lord, who has believed what he heard from us, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”
Therefore they could not believe. For again Isaiah said,
“He has blinded their eyes
and hardened their heart,
lest they see with their eyes,
and understand with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them.”
Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him.”
John is describing the unbelief of the Jews despite all of the signs that Jesus would perform right before their eyes. The scripture quoted above appears later on in Isaiah 6. Their eyes would be blinded so they would not believe. John 12 is the fulfillment of this prophecy. But then John points out something very crucial when he says “Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him”. John is talking about Jesus in this text. He tells us that in Isaiah 6, Isaiah saw His glory and spoke of Him. When Isaiah saw the LORD of hosts, LORD in all capital letters was referring to the divine name Yahweh. John is telling us clearly that Jesus the Son of God is Yahweh. This is one of the proof texts for the doctrine of the trinity and I would be remiss if I did not point out that this is a good text to bring up if you ever engage with a Jehovah’s Witness. I digress. The major point I want to make here is that the same God whom Isaiah saw and caused him to be undone is the same God that came to earth in human flesh hundreds of years later to die for our sins on the cross. Through faith in Jesus Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit through progressive sanctification, we too can be holy again.
Recommended resources:
“The Holiness of God” by R.C Sproul
Lectures on the Holiness of God by R.C Sproul
“Forgotten Trinity” by James R. White
