Chapter 2. Holy, Holy, Holy
Key Verses:
Isaiah
6: 1-8 – “Woe is me, for I am undone….”; Read all of these verses.
Exodus
33:19-23 – “I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by”;
Numbers
6:24-26 “The Lord … turn his face toward you…”);
1
John 3:2 - “We are children of God; we shall see him as he is.”;
Matthew
5:8 – “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”
Exodus
3:2-5 - “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy
ground.”
James
3:6-12 – “The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the
body…”
Chapter Summary:
This
chapter describes the experience of Isaiah when he met God in a vision. This is
detailed in Isaiah 6:1-8. Please read these verses.
Isaiah
was made painfully aware of his total inadequacy and sinfulness. Isaiah was
greatly respected as the holiest man in Israel. However, the sight of God in
His holy temple and his unveiled holiness, was too much for Isaiah to behold.
He at the same time realized that he was nothing but a sinful man. He went from
the reputation of a man of integrity (literally having it all together), to an
undone (unraveled) man before a holy God.
LORD
– in scripture, when it is spelled out in upper-case, refers to the unspeakable
name of God (Jahweh, or in 4 consonants, “yhwh”, also known as the sacred
tetragrammaton, the unspeakable four letters.
Lord
– in scripture, where only the first letter is capitalized, means “sovereign
one” (Adonai), referring to a title for God, rather than the sacred name of
God.
Only
once in scripture is an attribute (holiness) of God elevated to the third
degree. (“Holy, holy, holy…”)
When
Isaiah said, “Woe is me, for I am undone, for I am a man of unclean lips…”, he
was calling down a curse on himself because he realized his utter sinfulness
before a holy God.
Then,
the seraph touched his lips with a burning coal, cleansing him from sin. Sproul
describes this event in Isaiah 6, as follows:
“The
seraph pressed the white-hot coal to the lips of the prophet and seared them.
The lips are one of the most sensitive parts of human flesh, the meeting point
of the kiss. Here Isaiah felt the holy flame burning his mouth. The acrid smell
of burning flesh filled his nostrils, but that sensation was dulled by the
excruciating pain of the heat. This was a severe mercy, a painful act of
cleansing. Isaiah’s wound was being cauterized, the dirt in his mouth was being
burned away. He was refined by holy fire.”
But
it does not end there. Isaiah 6:8 goes on to say: “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!”
Sproul
explains: “There is a pattern here, a pattern repeated in history. God appears,
people quake in terror, God forgives and heals, God sends. From brokenness to
mission is the human pattern.”
Sproul
concludes with two important points from Isaiah: “The first is that he was not
Humpty-Dumpty… God put him together again. God was able to take a shattered man
and send him into the ministry. He took a sinful man and made him a prophet. He
took a man with a dirty mouth and made him God’s spokesman.
“The
second point…Isaiah still had a personality. Far from God seeking to destroy
the “self” as many distortions of Christianity would claim, God redeems the
self. He heals the self so that it may be useful and fulfilled in the mission
to which the person is called.”
Questions:
Allowing
God’s holiness to touch our lives:
1.
Have you ever had an experience in
which you were overcome by God’s presence, in which you were “undone” by God’s
presence?
2.
Isaiah’s response to God’s revelation
of His holiness was, “Woe is me.” What is your response?
3.
In what ways do you need to be refined
by the fire of God’s holiness?
4.
What aspect of God’s holiness, as described
in this chapter, causes you to worship Him more fully?
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