And I just want you to know as we get into this that this has been a subject that has been really my lifelong pursuit ever since I read The Knowledge of the Holy by A.W. Tozer at the end of my freshman year of college. And the Lord had just done a work in my life, and that book opened up to me a vision of God in his greatness that I had never seen in the Baptist church I grew up in, where I was saved. I mean, I'm very grateful for this church in so many ways, but I did not understand how incredibly glorious and great and mighty and majestic and splendor-filled God is. And still I realize, goodness, we can only see what we can see through the lenses of our own fallenness. Now, you know, can you imagine what it will be? when we are with Him in heaven. But nonetheless, God has given to us a glorious revelation of Him, and it really behooves us to spend more time looking in the scriptures for who God is. So I'm, you know, hopefully, by God's grace, that will happen for all of us during these sessions together, grow in our understanding of the greatness and the glory, but also the goodness and the mercy and kindness of God. You know, as I think about how God is understood in our churches broadly, Bible-believing churches across America, I have a worry. And the worry is that we tend, in most of our churches most of the time, to rush to talk about the attributes of what might be called the divine imminence. Imminence meaning God's nearness. God is with us, his kindness, his love, his goodness, his forgiveness, his compassion, his presence with us. We love to talk about the love of God. And we go there first and we go there and we stay there in so many of our churches. And really there are two problems in my judgment by rushing to the divine imminence. The first is this, we don't understand the fullness of who God is. That he is imminent but he is also a God who is transcendent. He is other than us. He is great and glorious. He is mighty and majestic. He is independent. of this world that he has made. So to see God in his fullness requires that we see transcendence and imminence, right? And we'll see that in the passage we look at this evening very clearly. But here's the second problem that comes. It's an ironic problem. The irony of this is thick, and that is, that even those attributes of the divine eminence, the love and the mercy and the kindness of God that we rush to embrace, we don't understand those correctly when we rush there and neglect the divine transcendence. Here's what happens when you hear about the love of God and you don't know about his transcendence, his holiness, his purity, his greatness, his glory, his independence from all. If you hear about the love of God and you live in this culture, you know what you're gonna do? You're gonna hear that God loves you and you're gonna think, well, of course He does. I mean, aren't I lovable? Aren't I worthy of being loved? And it is just the opposite of what ought to happen in us. What ought to happen in us is our jaws ought to drop and we should gasp and say, Really? He loves me? How could that be? The wretched sinner that I am. The unworthy recipient of such kindness. You know, we sing amazing grace, but I don't think we mean it. I think we actually mean entitled grace. You know, expected grace that saves such a worthy person like me. I just fear that in our culture, with the emphasis on self-esteem and an emphasis on entitlement, that we hear the love of God, the mercy of God, the kindness of God in ways in which we feel entitled to it, in which we think, yeah, that ought to be. And we are not aghast that that is true for the likes of you and me. So here's what I think needs to happen. We have to remedy this problem. And the remedy comes first by realizing we have to understand the wholeness of God, which means His transcendence along with His imminence. But here's the other thing we have to do. We have to start with transcendence because you really won't understand the attributes of God's imminence, you won't be stunned by them. You won't be shocked by the attributes of divine imminence. You won't be amazed at grace if you don't start with transcendence. Now I invite you to turn to Isaiah 6. And here is a passage that just models for us beautifully, both the fact that God is transcendent and imminent, and the fact that we start with transcendence. I mean, that's clearly what happens in this vision that Isaiah has of God. So I hope you have, hey, handouts, do you? Is anybody lacking a handout? Up here, I don't know if anybody has one back there they could bring on up. Is it just one person? Anybody else need a handout? Okay. I have handouts and your church staff has kindly made copies of these for each one of the sessions we have together. It'll just help us follow along. I wanna read Isaiah 6, verses one to eight. I'll be reading from the New American Standard translation. And just to have this fresh in our minds as we think through both the majesty and the mercy of God that we see in this text. So follow along if you would please Isaiah 6 verses 1 to 8. In the year of King Uzziah's death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne lofty and exalted with a train of his robe filling the temple. Seraphim stood above him, each having six wings. With two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called out 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 trembled at the voice of him who called out while the temple was filling with smoke. Then I said, 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. Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs. He touched my mouth with it and he said, behold, this has touched your lips. Your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven. Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, whom shall I send and who will go for us? And then I said, here am I, send me. Well, this passage really divides very, very clearly into two parts. The first emphasizing the transcendent majesty of God, and then after Isaiah recognizes his own sin, the imminent mercy of God. And so let's just follow through this text together, beginning with God's transcendent majesty. In verses one to four, we see a number of elements, aspects of that transcendent majesty. Notice it begins in verse one, in the year of King Uzziah's death. Well, King Uzziah was a king of the southern kingdom. You know, Israel was divided after Solomon into two kingdoms. Ten of the tribes constituted the northern kingdom, and only two tribes, Judah and Benjamin, constituted the southern kingdom. And Uzziah was one of the kings of the southern kingdom. He died in 740 B.C., 740. So if you know your Old Testament timeline a bit, you'll realize right away that this was before the Northern Kingdom was taken captive by the Assyrians. This happened in 722 BC. So the Northern Kingdom is still there. They're living in just total idolatry. They have rebelled against the Lord. Not a single king of the northern kingdom did right in the sight of the Lord. You know, when you read through the history of those kings, every one of them did evil in the sight of the Lord. The southern kingdom was better. There were good and bad kings that constituted the southern kingdom, hence they lasted longer before the judgment of God came upon them. That happened in 586 B.C. when the Babylonians came and destroyed the temple and broke down the wall of Jerusalem and took the people captive. So that's the time period of 740, excuse me, before all these terrible things took place. Uzziah, just one more thing about Uzziah. He was by, you know, when you look at the whole of his life, he was one of the good kings of Israel. He followed the law of the Lord. He was faithful to God through most of his life. More on that in just a moment. He was faithful to God until the end of his life. But, you know, God prospered him. He had military successes that were greater, perhaps, than any other king of the south, of Judah. But he ended badly. Do you remember this of Uzziah? This is in 2 Chronicles 26. You can read this yourself later. For some reason, toward the end of his life, he decided that he should go into the temple and burn incense. And he knew this was something that only the priest should do. And the priests told him when he went into the temple, they told him, don't do this. You're the king, you're not a priest. And so don't do this. And of course what's behind that is the line of the kings of Israel and the line of the priests of Israel were from two different tribes. Do you remember? The tribe from which the kings come is what? Do you remember? The tribe of Judah. David was from the tribe of Judah. But the king, the line of the priests came from the tribe of Levi. And Aaron and Moses were both from the tribe of Levi. And the Aaronic priesthood and so on. So indeed, you know, he's from the tribe of Judah. He's not from the tribe of Levi. He's a king, not a priest. He shouldn't do this. But he did it anyway. And God did with him My goodness, I wouldn't be standing here today if he acted toward me, you know, as he did with Uzziah, with immediate judgment, but he did. He doesn't often do this, but he acted with immediate judgment and struck Uzziah with leprosy. So he lived the remaining portion of his life in separation from the people, in shame as a leper while he remained King of Judah. So, that's Uzziah. Now, Remember though, even though he ended badly, remember for the most part he was a good king. And he supported the prophets of Israel. He carried out the law of the Lord. So here is what I think we should hear when we hear the words in the year of King Uzziah's death. I think it's more than merely a date, 740 BC. It is that, but I think it's more than that. In a time when a good king has now passed away, We wonder who's coming next. What will the next king be like? Will he support the prophets of Israel? Will he carry out the law of the Lord? Will he advance worship of Yahweh in Israel? Or will he turn people away from the Lord? Will he promote idolatry? Will he work against the prophets of Israel? In a time of great uncertainty, When we don't know what's coming next, get it now, I saw the Lord seated on his throne, lofty and exalted. Do you get it? No matter what happens horizontally, here is the confidence that we have as believers. We know who reigns all the time, and it reigns in power and dominion in a way in which no one can thwart his purposes. or in any way frustrate his plans. I saw the Lord. So indeed, here is the hope that Isaiah can have in this time of uncertainty, looking to the one who always reigns as King of Kings and Lord of Lords over all of the earth. Okay, so in the year of King Uzziah's death, 740 BC, he has this vision. Let's look at it, verse one. He said, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne. So what does that tell you about him? who this Lord is, who's on a throne. He is a, he's a king, right? He's a king sitting on a throne. And that throne was lofty and exalted with the train of his royal robe filling the temple. Now just picture this in your mind's eye. Here is this likely, anyway, a massive throne chair. That's what they would be for a king. This massive throne chair that somehow was elevated. And he was seated on this throne, lofty and exalted. We're not told how it was elevated. Perhaps it was on a pedestal. Perhaps it was floating in midair. We're not told how this is the case. We're just told that it is the case. But the reason for why we're told that is pretty clear, isn't it? What would be the meaning attached to a throne chair that is lofty and exalted? Ah. This is a king who is over all. He is, look at verse three, the whole earth is full of his glory. You see that? There's no king that can surpass this king. There's no king who can rival this king. He is the king of kings, the greatest, the most glorious king. The whole earth is his domain. You know, there have been many kings, presidents, prime ministers, and so on, dictators through history who would have loved for those words to be said of them. The whole earth is their glory, right? But it never has been the case. Napoleon wanted it, Hitler wanted it, Stalin wanted it, but it never has happened. But here is the king for whom it is always said, the whole earth is full of his glory. So indeed, it's lofty and exalted, indicating his authority over, his reign over everything. But notice also it says, that as he sits on this throne chair, lofty and exalted, the train of his robe wraps around and around and around and fills the temple. I mean, what an interesting image that is, isn't it? I mean, such a long train of this royal robe, so long that it fills the entire temple. I mean, that's just an amazing image to have in mind. And you might wonder why such a long train to his royal robe. What's the point of that? Well, here's what I suggest to you. It's really taking something from another context, but I think it's helpful in getting the point across of what I think is taking place here. I remember one night when my wife Jodi said to me, this was many years ago, I'm giving you clues here of what this is about. Some of you will get it right away. My wife Jody came to me and said, Bruce, do you want me to wake you up in the middle of the night so you can watch the wedding with me? on television, and I said, no thank you, dear. You watch the wedding, and when I wake up in the morning, you can tell me all about it. So I went to bed, she stayed up, and watched this wedding on television. Well, there came a particular point in the wedding that it was so amazing, so just glorious, that she could not stand watching it alone. So she came and got me. She said, Bruce, you know, shook my shoulder, come, you've got to look at this. So I come out, I will never forget it because it was just, it was one of those experiences where you're kind of in shock. And I came out to the living room and looked at the television screen and I will never forget what I saw. Lady Diana walking down the center aisle of St. Paul's Cathedral in London, marrying Prince Charles, of course. And, you know this scene? You remember it, some of you? The train of her wedding gown seemed to trail on endlessly behind her. Now, why such a long train for that wedding gown, for that bride, on that occasion? royalty, splendor, majesty, beauty. power, authority. I mean, isn't that what that conveys, right? So now just imagine this scene, Isaiah 6, the train of his robe fills the temple. I mean, think of the majesty of this king, that the royalty, the strength, the power, the authority, the greatness, the splendor of this king. There is none like him. He alone is king of kings. and Lord of Lords. Now, one more detail in verse one, we dare not miss it. It is just amazing. In verse one, we read, as we've seen already, that Isaiah saw the Lord sitting on a throne. And of course, that signals he's what kind of a person? He's a king. And so you would expect, if this is the case, for a king and his throne chair to be located in what kind of a building? A palace, right? That's where kings are with their royal chairs. So you would expect it to be a palace, but look at how verse one ends. And the train of his robe filled the temple. Ah, the irony here with Uzziah could not be more striking. It's incredible. Here we have a vision of a king priest. someone who is both king on his royal chair, but in the temple. And so who could be this king priest? Again, we talked about this a moment ago. Kings are from one line, priests are from another line. How can you have a king priest? Well, of course, the only way you can have this is with the one king priest who comes, whose name is Jesus, right? So this is a vision of the pre-incarnate Son of the Father, whom we know of as Jesus of Nazareth, who takes on human nature and becomes Jesus the Christ. But this is the pre-incarnate Son who is pictured here for us as both king and priest. Of course he's king, as the scriptures make very clear, because he is in the line of David. Remember the promise made in 2 Samuel 7 to David that he would have a son who would reign upon his throne for how long? Forever, right? So indeed, Jesus comes in the line of David. Gabriel made that very clear to Mary when he announced to her, Hale favored one, and he said to her that she will give birth to one who will come in the line of David and sit upon his throne forever. That's in Luke chapter one. So indeed, he's from the line of David, from the line of Judah as king. What about Levi? How do we make sense of Levi? Aren't you grateful for the book of Hebrews? that helps us with this, where we find out, oy vey, I mean, we find, can you believe it? There is one greater than Levi, a priest greater than Levi. Melchizedek. So he comes in the order of Melchizedek, not Levi, and hence is legitimately king-priest together. This Jesus, who is king of kings, Lord of Lord, and high priest for his people. Now, we know we're on the right track on this, not only from what we see here in Isaiah 6, but in John 12, verse 41, you might even have a cross-reference to that in your Bible, I'm not sure. But in John 12, 41, we read that where John has just quoted from Isaiah 6, and then he says that Isaiah saw him and saw his glory and spoke of him. So indeed, we realize that John is confirming that indeed, the one that Isaiah saw here is none other than the pre-incarnate Son, the eternal Son who becomes Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Moving on to verse two, Seraphim, we read here, stood above him, each having six wings. With two, he covered his face. With two, he covered his feet. and with two he flew." Now, this is interesting. With these six wings, these great and glorious creatures, these seraphim, we don't know a lot about them. We're not told much in Scripture. We do know that they are glorious, beautiful, strong creatures. They are sinless creatures. I think this is something to bear in mind. They are moral beings. We know that the angels are moral beings because some of them turned away from God. They fell, and God cast them out of heaven, and they became the demons who are the ones who afflict us in our lives in this fallen world. So these seraphim are moral beings, glorious, great beings. In all likelihood, these seraphim were created before the rest of creation. Have you ever noticed in Genesis 1 that there's no mention of angels? And I think it's because they were created prior to the creation of the universe, of the heavens and the earth, as it were. This was Augustine's view. It's the view of many Christians through the history. And I think there's a bit of confirmation in this, you see this even in the book of Job, that in creation they sang songs of praise to God in the very creation of the world. I think they were created first in order to, oh my goodness, just thrills me to think of it, in order to be witnesses of God. Let there be light." Wow. I mean, just to think of created to bear witness to the glory of God in His creation. So, created for that purpose, but here in particular, these seraphim created to give glory to the God of creation. to the Son by whom all things are brought into being. So the Father creates through the Son, right? We know that. We see that in many passages in Scripture. Hebrews 1, God spoke through the prophets in many portions, in many ways. In these last days, he has spoken to us in his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he, Father, created the world. So through the Son, the creation is made. So here is the one who brings into existence a creation, and yet the seraphim there are to worship the creator, the son who creates all things. So here are these glorious seraphim, they're flying around him, obviously worshiping. You can tell that because of verse three. Boy, it's dry here in 5,000 feet, huh? Excuse me. I'm afraid I'm gonna have a little bit of coughing. I apologize ahead of time, I'm so sorry. Can you turn me off? Give us a chance to meditate right now. Okay, thank you. Good words. So the seraphim are obviously worshiping. There's no question about that. They do so in this particular way that is unique to them, having six wings. So it says with two of them, with two of these wings, as they are flying around, with two of the wings, they cover their faces. Now I just think this is an amazing thing. It is such a rebuke to me, and I think it should be to all of us, because we tend to approach God casually. You know, he's our buddy, he's our friend. And we don't really see more of the awesome glory and greatness of God. And the splendor of his beauty and majesty. But here are these seraphim, remember, they are sinless creatures, and they are themselves glorious creatures, beautiful creatures. I mean, you know, Lewis, I forget where it is, but C.S. Lewis talks about if a seraphim were to come and stand before you, I know what you would do, he says, you would fall down on your face thinking God had appeared in your midst. And so indeed, you know, these glorious beings, but in contrast to who it is they are worshiping, they recognize the infinitely greater glory that is His. And so they cover their faces before Him. I mean, so, you know, what this instructs me in is that while we ought to go before the throne of grace with boldness, through Christ, we also ought to go with a tremendous sense of humility and an awesome fear of the privilege it is to be in the presence of this one who is so great and so glorious, so beautiful, so splendor-filled. So we need to balance these things, don't we? So it isn't familiar, it isn't trite. It is an awesome thing to be in the presence of God. And they know that, they cover their face. With two of their wings, they cover their feet. Now, I pondered this for a long time. You look at the commentaries. I didn't find any help. You know, this is often the case with the one question you've got, nobody says anything about it. So this is my thought on it, is that the covering their feet, in all likelihood, is the expression of worship. Why? Because in the Old Testament, the main bodily expression of worship is to prostrate yourself, right? To bow down before, to fall on your face before the Lord. And so the question is, how do you fly around the one you're worshiping and bow at the same time? Well, thankfully, you've got two extra wings that you can put in a bowing posture. So again, this signals their reverence, their humility, their sense of longing to show him honor and worship as they bow before him, as it were, with those two wings that are put in a bowing posture. And then with the other two wings, they fly. and as they fly around him, they are calling out in an antiphonal refrain, back and forth to one another, and they cry out, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory. Now this is amazing that they cry out, holy, holy, holy. Let me just think about this with you for a moment. What is holiness? Well holiness really refers in the Bible to two main things. And I'm going to use a big word here, I'll explain it to you. But it refers first to God's metaphysical holiness, that is his separateness from all other reality. He is in his own being unique, one of a kind. Can you hear Isaiah saying, there is no one like me, declares the Lord, right? So he is in his being, in his metaphysical state of existence, one of a kind, unique, there is no one like him. But also holiness refers to moral purity. So metaphysical holiness, moral holiness, separateness from all else that exists. and separateness from all impurity, all sin, all wickedness, all evil. So those two areas constitute the holiness of God. Now, in terms of the first one, that metaphysical holiness, I mean, what we should bring to mind are distinctions like this. God alone is creator. We, and everything else, is in the category of what? Created, right? God alone is creator. God alone is eternal. Everything else is temporal. Brought about at some point in time. And for most things, ending at some point in time. You know, we go on forever and ever, but most things don't do that. So time bound, God is eternal. God is in himself infinite. Infinite meaning boundless, limitless. We are, by definition, finite. I mean, here we are sitting, standing, in my case, one place at one time. That's all we can do. You know, you can't be in San Francisco right now. Sorry, you know, you have to be right here. And we are bounded people. God is omnipresent. God is omnipotent. So there is this omni with God, omni everything. So there's no boundary, no limitation in the fullness of all that God is. extremely limited. God is, in his very nature as God, immutable. Do you know that term? The immutability of God? Immutable meaning unchangeable, but for God, this is in the most absolute sense it can be, in the sense that in which it not only is the case that God hasn't changed in his character, he never has told a lie, not even one little white lie, never. He always speaks the truth. Why? Because he cannot lie, we're told in the Bible, right? He cannot do that. So it's not merely that God hasn't changed, though in principle he could. Oh no, no, no, no, no. He cannot change. He is necessarily the infinitely perfect, glorious God that he is. Now this is an interesting point because these seraphim likewise are holy. You know, sometimes I've thought, why didn't they call out something, an incommunicable attribute? You know the distinction here? Communicable attributes are attributes of God, true of Him that can also be true in some degree to some limited measure of some portion of His finite creation. So holiness is one of those, be holy as I am holy, right? So we are called to have the characteristic of God, that he has, but of course we can only have it in finite measure. He has it in infinite fullness. But nonetheless, that's a communicable attribute. Why not call out, the seraphim call out some incommunicable attribute? That is an attribute that is true of God alone. Self-existent, self-existent, self-existent, right? You know, instead of holy, holy, holy. But I think the reason is because holiness really does get at what might, especially in this metaphysical side, it really gets at what might be thought of as the godness of God. What distinguishes God from everything that is not God. everything in these ways we're talking about, creator, creature, infinite, finite, eternal, temporal. And here's another one, immutable, meaning he cannot be other than he is in the fullness of his perfection versus mutable. Now, see, the Seraphim are holy, but they have a mutable holiness. That is, in principle, they might not be. How do we know they might not be? Many of the angels fell and became unholy and became wicked creatures, these demons, right? So indeed, their holiness, though it's true, is derivative. God's holiness is intrinsic. You see the difference? I can't suck on them and talk at the same time, though, so afterwards, I think they'll help me. They do. Same as we do. But it's not free will like most people think. You know what? Let's save questions for the end. Shall we do that? Because I'm afraid that's a great question. But I'm just afraid of 15 minutes later trying to get back here. So let's not do that right now. But yes, they do. So you think of the ways in which God is different from everything else constitutes the metaphysical holiness of God. But that's not everything. In this passage also it's very clear the moral purity of God is on display. How do we know that? Look at Isaiah's response. So when he sees the Lord, what does he see of himself? I'm ruined, I'm a man of unclean lips, and so on. So we realize the moral purity of God is on display here. And again, here, we have to think of it in the most absolute terms, where the moral purity of God is not only that he never has sinned, he never has done something wrong, and so he never has gone back on his word, but he is perfectly pure. in a way in which he cannot be other than that. And it also means that for anyone to be in his presence as the seraphim are, they too must be holy. They too must be pure. I mean, this is part of the force of this. This is at the heart of the gospel. How are we to be with God forever and ever? We who are sinners. We who cannot be with Him, do you feel the weight of that? Do you understand we cannot be with Him? He is holy, He is perfectly pure, morally pure. He cannot abide sin. And this is conveyed clearly to Isaiah. He sees this when he sees the glory of God, His holiness. not only his transcendent excellencies by which he is separated from all of creation, he sees his moral purity, the beauty of holiness, the purity of holiness. And he realizes it is stunningly glorious. and so unlike himself." Well, we'll get there. Now, one more thing about holy before we leave it, and that is the thrice-fold holy, right? Holy, holy, holy. A number of people, especially the church fathers, once the doctrine of the Trinity got in place, they... tended to default to the position that this was Trinitarian. So the Father is holy, the Son is holy, the Spirit is holy, which of course is true, but I don't think that's it. The reason I don't think that's it is because this is the Son. We saw that a moment ago, right? So the one they're worshiping is the Son, is the second person of the Trinity here. And so I don't think when they're crying out, holy, holy, holy, they are meaning to indicate the three persons of the Trinity. Here's what I think it is, and that is in the Hebrew language, the way that you express a superlative, the greatest, the best, the most. The way that you express a superlative is with a single repetition of a term. So in the Hebrew Bible, king, king, single repetition of king would be translated for us in our English Bibles as king of kings or greatest king, Lord, Lord. greatest Lord or Lord of Lords, right? So you realize that, okay, that's how superlatives are done. Here in the Hebrew Bible is a unique case in terms of describing God where you have a double repetition. Holy, holy, holiest one, the most holy, holy, holy, but holy, holy, holy. And I think the point is that human language is incapable of expressing the infinitely great superlative quality of the holiness of God. We just can't put it adequately into words, and so we break the rules of grammar to try to do so. I think that's what this is, just infinite holiness, glorious holiness, beyond our comprehension, holiness of God, metaphysically, morally, in both ways, superlatively holy in infinite measure. So, this vision of the holiness of God, then in which they then complete that thought, the whole earth is full of his glory, as we thought of earlier, indicating, indeed, he's the one who reigns supreme over all, is the ruler of heaven and earth, and all is under his dominion. And then, verse four, there are two other details here that are in this category of the transcendent greatness, majesty of God. Notice we read, that the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out while the temple was filling with smoke. Okay, two details here, and you just, you know, each of them, you just kind of think about, huh, what would this be? So the first one is the very foundation stones of the threshold of this temple building, this massive, weighty temple, are trembling as these seraphim call back and forth to one another, holy, holy, holy. And as they cry out to that refrain of worship, the foundation stones tremble. Now here's what I think this is about. I recall in my youth, I probably don't hear as well today, literally hear as well today as I would have if I hadn't have done this, but some of the rest of you did too, I'm pretty sure. I went to some really loud concerts when I was a stupid teenager, and I can remember one time I went to this concert, it was packed out, there were no seats left, and so I leaned against a wall, a brick wall, kind of a concrete block wall, And I remember as that bass guitar was playing, that wall vibrated, you know. So you could hear the windows rattle, the wall vibrating. But can you imagine the volume and intensity, so great, that of a gigantic, massive temple building, the foundation stones tremble? Wow, what does this indicate? the intensity of worship, the intensity of worship, the volume. I mean, these seraphim are giving everything they have in the worship of this king, so much so that the foundation stones tremble. What does that signal? Ah, the worthiness of the one worshiped with such intensity. I mean, honestly, my friends, we are going to be overwhelmed one day, freed from sin, eyes open to behold the glory of Christ, freed to worship unrestrained, we will join the seraphim in this intense worship of the worthiness, the infinite worthiness of this glorious king. And I would suggest to you if that's where we're going, if this is kind of a picture of what it really looks like, ought we not move closer to that here? See more of his beauty and glory here? be moved more and more to feel the intensity of that worship here? Ought we not? Yeah, so let's do that as people who want to honor what truly ought to be honored. People who seek to praise what truly is praiseworthy. seeing him as the one who is praiseworthy. Seeing him as the one who is worthy of exclusive honor and glory at this level. And free up our affections to worship him with a greater zeal. So this is what you see in the seraphim. But then the other detail here is also that the temple you see at the end of verse four is filling with smoke. the temple is filling with smoke. Now here the commentaries do have a suggestion and they're helpful. They do comment on the fact that there are times in the Old Testament where the majesty of God is manifest. And smoke is kind of the theater in which that takes place. So for example, when Moses is atop Mount Sinai, and the Lord is giving him the law, and he's conversing with God in that holy place, Smoke is at the top, not merely a cloud, but smoke is at the top of Mount Sinai. So I think that's true. I think that is, in my view, part, it is true, but I think it's part of what is being conveyed with the smoke that is here, something of the majesty, the glory, the mystery even, the beauty and the splendor of God. But I think there's more than that. Notice it's the last detail mentioned before, woe is me, I am ruined, right? The last detail. So here's my thought. There is something else in this temple room that we haven't seen yet. You're gonna see it in another couple verses. Something else there that would be capable of giving off smoke. Do you see what it is? Look down a couple verses. Do you see it? There is what? An altar with? burning coals. Obviously, an altar with burning coals will emit smoke. Okay, now here's my thought. What does God, I'm jumping ahead here, but what does God instruct the seraphim to do with one of those coals? Take a coal from the altar, touch Isaiah's lips with it, tell him your sins are forgiven, you're purified. Okay, so here's what I think. Those coals, those burning coals are a symbol then of the purity of God, the sinless perfection of his very being. And the temple is filling with smoke, indicates there is no one who can be there with him who is unlike him, who would be stained, who would be spoiled, who would be filled with sin. No, the temple was filling with smoke, indicating the fact God cannot abide sin, He cannot have sin in His presence. So yes, the majesty of God, but the moral purity of God, I think both of those really kind of brings together both aspects of holiness. The metaphysical perfection of God, but also the moral purity of God is manifest in that smoke that's there. And notice that's the last detail, the temple was filling with smoke, The purity of God, he cannot abide sin. And then what do we read in verse five? Then I said, 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. Let me just make three quick points in relation to Isaiah's response here. First of all, notice that Isaiah does not say, in light of seeing the Lord, he does not say, you know, I realize now I've got a few problems. There's a couple things, a couple things about me that I know I've got to work on. And where's that section in Barnes & Noble on self-help? You know, I can fix those things. Oh no, this is nothing like that. This is, woe is me, I am ruined. I am undone. I am destroyed. I realize there is absolutely nothing in me that is worthy of God's kindness, of His attention, of His favor. Nothing in me. I'm worthy only of His judgment. I deserve His everlasting rebuke, rejection. That's what I am before God. And my friends, I just encourage you, if you've heard the voices out there of how good you are, you know, come discover the champion within. and that sort of a thing. I fear, I fear in such a case you may not understand the gospel. Because the gospel is good news to destitute, ruined, helpless, hopeless, unworthy sinners who have nothing to commend themselves, nothing that God would look at and approve. This is the gospel, the good news to people who come, this is Isaiah 55, they come empty handed. Come all you who hunger, who thirst, come buy wine and buy milk without money, without cost. You can't buy it, you can't say, oh, well here's this quality in me that commends me, will that be good enough? It won't work. So really to understand the gospel, You've got to know what a miserable, wretched sinner you are. And if you don't like the sounds of it, it's just because your culture has told you you shouldn't hear those things. But the Bible says you need to know that because only then will you understand grace. Grace, God's unmerited kindness to those who do not deserve what they receive. So here is Isaiah, it is not I've got a few problems, it is I'm ruined, I'm undone, I'm destitute, I am hopeless, I am unworthy, and there's nothing I can do about it. That's the condition he's in. Secondly, notice that when he sees God the way he is, that any comparisons that might have been the case between the relative goodness or badness of him with other people is just leveled out. Right? What does he say? I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips. Right? So, you know, this is Isaiah the prophet who might have said, yeah, I've got some problems, but the people I'm around are much worse. I'm a prophet of the Lord. I've been faithful to God. I've been serving him. So compared to those people, I'm in pretty good shape. Then he sees the Lord. What happens? We are all equally undone, all equally destitute, all equally helpless and hopeless. So we just realize this is the condition of all of humanity before the Lord. And then the last thing, I've hinted at it already, the third thing to see is the end of verse 5. I live among a people of unclean lips, for, for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts." How was he able to get to this understanding of who he really is before the Lord? What his condition really is as a wretched sinner? How was he able to see this? He saw the Lord. He saw the Lord's holiness, the Lord's greatness, the Lord's splendor, the majesty, the glory of God. and he realized, in contrast, what a wretched, ruined sinner he was. So, you know, we really need to help our people understand their own sin, but how do we get there? See, this is the better path. Some people think we should get there by beating them down, by just exposing the sin, you know, for them. How much better, expose God, so that when they see him, they go, Oh my, how wretched I am in comparison with such glory. So indeed, this is where Isaiah was before the Lord at the end of verse five. Now my own theology tells me that this account could have ended at the end of verse five. God is perfectly holy. He cannot abide sin. Isaiah is wretchedly unholy. deserving only God's judgment, end of story. It could be. Now, why do I say that? Because not to say so is to entertain the idea that God is obligated to show mercy on sinners. But what do we read in Romans 9? I will have mercy, on whom I have mercy. It is humbling, isn't it? To realize there is nothing in God or in us that obligated God for there to be a verses six to eight. No, it didn't have to be. Here's another evidence of that. Fallen angels. There is no salvation plan for fallen angels. Isn't that interesting? They're moral beings as well. Glorious beings. But it is as if God is saying, I'm the sovereign one. I am God. And I have chosen for reasons that I'm not telling you. I don't have to tell you. You just need to trust me. I have chosen for reasons I haven't told you. That I have chosen not to save any of the fallen angels. I have created hell, says Jesus, for the devil and his angels. So indeed, you just realize when we come to these next verses, our jaws should drop, our breath should hardly escape our lungs because we are so amazed of what happens next. What is that? Well, so we read in verses six to eight, Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with togs, and he touched my mouth with it, and he said, behold, this has touched your lips. Your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven." Notice three things here. You'll see them on your outline there. First of all, the initiator of this mercy is God. He's the one who commissions the serif to come and bring the burning coal to bring forgiveness to Isaiah. There is nothing that Isaiah could do to make this happen. This is surely the sovereign grace, the sovereign kindness, the mercy of the Lord to bring this forgiveness to an unworthy recipient. So God sends him. Notice, secondly, the means of mercy as he brings this burning coal to touch his lips. Notice how personal this is. Remember in verse 5, what did Isaiah say? Say, I am a man of unclean Lips. And I live among a people of unclean lips. Now we don't know why he said lips. Why not? I am a man of unclean hands, unclean feet, unclean eyes, unclean mind. I mean, there are many things he could have said. What he did say is I am a man of unclean lips. My guess is, it's only a guess because we're not told, that Isaiah knew the principle we find in both Old and New Testaments out of the abundance of the heart. the mouth speaks. So indeed, the mouth betrays what's inside, right? When you say what you wanna say, when you're free to talk, you realize what's in there. Is it all sports? Is it all cooking? Is it all, you know, I mean, really, what's in there? Well, you find out when a guy or a gal speaks what he or she wants to speak when they're free to do so. So out of the abundance of the heart, So perhaps that's why he said that, but for whatever reason, we do know this, that's what he said. He said, I am a man of unclean lips. So what does God do? He sends the seraph with his burning coal to touch his lips. And it's as if to say, Isaiah, I want you to know that I have forgiveness that exactly matches your sin. It's personal. Do you know that God's forgiveness of you is personal? When Jesus bore our sins in his body on the cross, it doesn't mean he took some abstract concept, sin, upon himself. It means he took the lies you and I have said. He took the the pettiness, the pettiness, the jealousy, the envy you and I have had in our hearts. He took every lustful thought. He took every wicked deed. He took the actual sins of your life upon himself. And so the forgiveness is a forgiveness that indeed is tailor-made for every one of those sins. It's incredible. It's an amazing thing to contemplate that, how personal this is. He experienced in that moment when he bore our sin in his body on the cross, the horror of every one of those sins. I mean, no doubt this is the lion's share of why he said in the Garden of Gethsemane, if you be willing, let this cup pass from me. It wasn't the physical torment that was most on his mind. It was this, bearing our sin and then experiencing the wrath of his father against him for our sin. So here is this personal forgiveness that God brings to Isaiah. I have forgiveness for you that matches your sin. And then notice the goal of mercy. I'm just astonished at this. It is not only what you see in verse seven, your iniquity is taken away, your sin is forgiven. I mean, that's amazing. But then we have verse eight. Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, whom shall I send and who will go for us? Then I said, here am I, send me. I mean, here's how it might have been after verse seven. Yes, your sin is forgiven, your iniquities are no more. And then God says, so Isaiah, you're forgiven now, so get out of my sight and don't do it again. Don't bother me anymore. But oh no, oh no, you're forgiven and so, Isaiah, come here, come here. It's kind of like, now I can't relate to this a whole lot, you'll see what I mean in a moment, but it's kind of like you're sitting on the bench and you're watching your teammates play, and all of a sudden the coach says, it only happened a couple times, and then the coach says, where? You're in the game. You all know what that's like, don't you? You're in the game. You get to play. Wow. So I mean, this is God. So His mercy is not only the mercy of forgiving us. Here is yet more mercy. to actually call us into His work. It's incredible. The privilege of this is just astonishing. I mean, part of what makes me so amazed at this is because I am so unlike this. I am so jealous of my own work. I don't like to share it with anybody. I can remember times when I would be working on some woodworking project in the basement. Years ago, I used to do that. And the worst sound in the world was the sound of the pitter patter of little feet coming down the stairs because I knew what was coming next. Daddy, can we help you? And inside I'm just screaming, no, go away, stay away from my work. That's me. I think of God. Come on. You know, that I'm here with you tonight I just, I feel, I feel the weight of the privilege of being able to share such glorious things. Why would God entrust such wonder, such weight, such glory to the likes of me? I can't believe it. Well, I do believe it, but I can hardly believe it. See, you know, the first word, and by the way, there's a sense in which this is true in a particular way for people who are pastors and teachers and so on, but every one of us in the body of Christ is given a gift to be used in ministry to others, right? We all know that, right? You know that? I'm not seeing heads nod quick enough here. You know, every one of us is given a gift for the common good. 1 Corinthians 12, 7. In Ephesians 4, the pastors and the teachers are to equip the saints for the work of ministry, the work of service. So who are the servants? Who are the ministers in the church? It's not the upfront folks, it's you. We equip, the pastors and the teachers equip you to minister. So this is a comment to all of us. When you think of Christian ministry, Christian service, if the first words that pop to your mind are words like difficulty, sacrifice, opposition, drudgery. If those are the kinds of words that pop to your mind first, you're missing it. You just are. You're missing it. Now, those things may be entirely true. Wait till I tell you what Isaiah had to do. Just wait. Those things may be entirely true, but here's the first word that ought to just flood to your mind when you think Christian ministry. It's the word privilege. Can you believe it? That God has been so kind and so gracious to share with us the most meaningful work there is to do, period. Period. Because this is the work of ministry where we are used by God to build up one another in Christ and thereby bear eternal fruit. There is nothing greater, nothing better, nothing more satisfying. You could have your billions of dollars for that work you do. You can have your estates in the Riviera and who knows elsewhere. You can have it. I wouldn't trade any of that, all of that, for what I do. It is such a privilege. And why God would do it is just astonishing. He doesn't need any of us to do any of this. He could have designed it in such a way that everything that needs to be done in you, in me, he just does unilaterally, himself, by his spirit, just pumps it in there. But instead he uses conduits. You know what conduits are? These pipes through which it flows. So from God, through us into others. So much of his work is that way. So marvel at the fact that this forgiveness of God brings with it also restoration and service. Now, when you look at Isaiah's service, oh my, it is astonishing. You know, verse eight, who will go for us? Who will I send? Here am I, send me. Well, Isaiah was accepting a call at that point to engage in an incredibly difficult kind of service. If you read the rest of the chapter, I won't read it right now, but if you read the rest of it, basically, here's the idea. I'm gonna send you to a people that you're to preach the truth to, preach my word to them. And as you preach it to them, they will absolutely hate what you say. They will despise you. They will mock you. No pats on the back. Thank you, pastor. It's slaps in the face. So how do you endure that kind of ministry year after year after year? And the answer is, you've seen the Lord. You know the glory of God and you know the incredible grace that has brought you forgiveness. and the privilege of being His and serving Him forever and for the whole of your life, you know that. And you think, what is it that can sustain one year after year after year in this? Because you know there's nothing better. There's nothing greater. This is it. And so I think of words like Jesus, blessed are you when men persecute you for my name's sake. Great is your reward in heaven. So indeed, the beauty of seeing this service flow out of his knowledge of God and then cause him to endure. By the way, you might wonder why would God, if these people are gonna reject him, if they're gonna mock his preaching, why would God even call him to do it? What's the point? Okay, here's the point. Remember this is 740 B.C.? Remember what's coming? God called his prophets oftentimes to bring the word of the Lord to people whom he knew were disobedient, hard-hearted people as evidence of their wickedness, as testimony on the day of his judgment of them of why they deserved exactly what they're getting. So that's why he was called to do this. And yes, there would be a few, it speaks about this in verse 13, there would be a few who would be responsive to his call, but very few, very few. So indeed, what an amazing thing to take up that kind of service. I mean, I think of Adoniram Judson or William Carey, you know, who, William Carey, translating, you know, the Indian language, writing a dictionary, 10 years of labor on paper in a room in which a fire comes and consumes all of it. And William Carey says, this is a very difficult providence. I must work hard to recover. Wow, I mean, this man knows the Lord. He knows that the privilege it is, the obligation and the reward to come, he knows. So indeed, in conclusion, let us be a people who knows God more fully as he is, transcendent, glorious, great, mighty, holy, and, gasp, kind. merciful, gentle, forgiving, gracious, accepting, allowing us to participate with him in the greatest work there is. Let's know the Lord more fully, follow him more faithfully, and bring to him greater glory in the way we live our lives, amen? Amen, let's pray together. Father, thank you for our time this evening. for the richness of this text, of this marvelous vision that Isaiah had of you. And we pray, Father, that you would use this passage to move us, Lord, to long to pursue you more fully, to long to know you more as we read the Bible, to keep in mind all the way through, we wanna see God. We wanna see the beauty, the splendor, the majesty, the mercy, the kindness, the compassion, the forgiveness of God. as we read his word. So do this work in us, Lord, that we might pursue you with greater zeal, find greater joy in you, and bring greater honor to your name. We pray all these things in Christ's name, amen.