Trinity Sunday is May 26, 2024.
Readings for Year B can be found here.
My exegesis for the Gospel, John 3:1-17 — the story of Nicodemus — can be found here and the one for the Epistle, Romans 8:12-17, here.
The First Reading is as follows (emphases mine):
Isaiah 6:1-8
6:1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple.
6:2 Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew.
6:3 And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.”
6:4 The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke.
6:5 And I said: “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”
6:6 Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs.
6:7 The seraph touched my mouth with it and said: “Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.”
6:8 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!”
Commentary comes from Matthew Henry and John MacArthur.
Matthew Henry gives us an overview of Isaiah 6:
Hitherto, it should seem, Isaiah had prophesied as a candidate, having only a virtual and tacit commission; but here we have him (if I may so speak) solemnly ordained and set apart to the prophetic office by a more express or explicit commission, as his work grew more upon his hands: or perhaps, having seen little success of his ministry, he began to think of giving it up; and therefore God saw fit to renew his commission here in this chapter, in such a manner as might excite and encourage his zeal and industry in the execution of it, though he seemed to labour in vain. In this chapter we have, I. A very awful vision which Isaiah saw of the glory of God (ver 1-4), the terror it put him into (ver 5), and the relief given him against that terror by an assurance of the pardon of his sins, ver 6, 7. II. A very awful commission which Isaiah received to go as a prophet, in God’s name (ver 8), by his preaching to harden the impenitent in sin and ripen them for ruin (ver 9-12) yet with a reservation of mercy for a remnant, (ver 13). And it was as to an evangelical prophet that these things were shown him and said to him.
Isaiah tells us of his heavenly vision at this time, saying that in the year King Uzziah died, the prophet saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty, the hem of His robe filling the temple (verse 1).
Before we get into geopolitics, Henry discusses the importance of Isaiah’s vision:
The vision which Isaiah saw when he was, as is said of Samuel, established to be a prophet of the Lord (1 Sam 3 20), was intended, 1. To confirm his faith, that he might himself be abundantly satisfied of the truth of those things which should afterwards be made known to him. This God opened the communications of himself to him; but such visions needed not to be afterwards repeated upon every revelation. Thus God appeared at first as a God of glory to Abraham (Acts 7 2), and to Moses, Exod 3 2. Ezekiel’s prophecies and St. John’s, begin with visions of the divine glory. 2. To work upon his affections, that he might be possessed with such a reverence of God as would both quicken him and fix him to his service. Those who are to teach others the knowledge of God ought to be well acquainted with him themselves.
Henry tells us about Uzziah:
The vision is dated, for the greater certainty of it. It was in the year that king Uzziah died, who had reigned, for the most part, as prosperously and well as any of the kings of Judah, and reigned very long, above fifty years. About the time that he died, Isaiah saw this vision of God upon a throne; for when the breath of princes goes forth, and they return to their earth, this is our comfort, that the Lord shall reign for ever, Ps 146 3, 4, 10. Israel’s king dies, but Israel’s God still lives. From the mortality of great and good men we should take occasion to look up with an eye of faith to the King eternal, immortal. King Uzziah died under a cloud, for he was shut up as a leper till the day of his death. As the lives of princes have their periods, so their glory is often eclipsed; but, as God is everliving, so his glory is everlasting. King Uzziah dies in an hospital, but the King of kings still sits upon his throne.
John MacArthur describes the situation during Uzziah’s rule, telling us that his people grew comfortable under it, perhaps too comfortable:
Just a little background, Isaiah was prophet, not just any prophet. Some feel perhaps the greatest prophet of Israel. Isaiah was a man who was a statesman who spoke for God to common people and also to kings. He was known in the palace; in fact he was a consultant to the monarchs. He prophesied during the reign of four kings, a time of great crisis, a time of great chaos, a time of moral decadence, a time when God’s people were turning their backs on Him. In fact, during the time of Isaiah’s prophecy, the northern kingdom, Israel, was taken captive by invaders. The southern kingdom, Judah, was attached by Assyria. These were unstable times, difficult times, and he had a very strategic ministry.
In the midst of these days of Isaiah, there came along a king in Judah, who compared to the others was a man of some influence, some goodness, some excellence: His name was Uzziah. He is mentioned in verse 1. Uzziah reigned for a long time, 52 years. And he was generally a successful king and brought benefits to his people. In fact, he subdued most of the hereditary enemies of Judah and brought them some times of peace. He was able to turn Jerusalem into a fortified city, well-equipped with arms for its own defense, and he gave the people a great sense of security.
According to 2 Chronicles chapter 26, he developed agriculture and he developed commerce for the nation until it became extremely prosperous. The sad story of Uzziah is that in the end pride lifted up his heart. He looked at all the things he’d done – given them a time of peace from their enemies, fortified Jerusalem, brought security, developed agriculture and commerce – he was filled with pride and God gave him terminal leprosy.
Now in spite of how he ended up, his time of reigning in Judah provided a season of peace from all of the chaos. And when he died, apparently there was a certain feeling of panic that began to set in. What are we going to do now? Uzziah has died. They became fearful. I believe that the fear was probably the greatest in the heart of the God-fearing Jews, who through all these years had maintained a true devotion to God, because they knew that through the time of Uzziah, there was an ever increasing moral decadence. There was an ever ascending disobedience. There was a defiant kind of idolatry, and it was almost as if as long as Uzziah was around, he sort of preserved the whole thing from coming apart at the seams. And in chapters 2 thru 5 of Isaiah, Isaiah chronicles some of the terrible sins of the people of God.
But in the midst of their sinning, they were so secure because of Uzziah that they just kind of went on with it all. But then he died and they panicked and they were afraid. There were some events that made them afraid. Five years before Uzziah died, Tiglath Pileser, the ambitious warrior king of Assyria suddenly appeared on the horizon in the near east. And he had a grand design to conquer all the kingdoms between the Euphrates and the Nile, and to establish in their place the great Assyrian Empire. Naturally all of the target nations, the nations that were in peril by his designs began to seethe with apprehension and revolts broke out. They began to form alliances against Assyria. They began to plot political intrigues and sabotage and rebellion. The kingdoms of Samaria and Judah were tottering on the brink of doom, not only because of Tiglath Pileser but because of the spiritual moral rot that was internal.
Instead of turning to God, as Isaiah had told them to do, the people were caught up in a frenzy of self-indulgence and dissipation and moral decadence. In fact, in Isaiah 22, Isaiah says, “And in that day did the Lord God of Hosts call to weeping and to mourning . . . But behold joy and gladness . . . eating flesh and drinking wine; let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” Instead of turning around to crying and mourning, they said, “Let’s really live it up. It may all end tomorrow.” That’s how it was when Uzziah died. The leader was dead.
Isaiah went to the temple when Uzziah died.
MacArthur tells us, as Henry’s commentary does, that Judah had lost a human ruler but God reigns forever. Isaiah saw God in all His glory, as a sovereign not a close friend:
Among all of the God-fearing Jews who may have sought the face of God was the prophet himself, Isaiah; and he goes to the temple in chapter 6. Let’s pick it up there. The king is dead and Isaiah goes to the temple. “In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his robe filled the temple.” Now stop right there. I saw the Lord, he says. I saw the Lord. Incredible statement. Think about the situation. You’ll notice the word Lord there. Whenever you see in the Old Testament Lord with an upper case L and lowercase letters. It’s reflective of the Hebrew word Adonai. When you see it, for example, down in verse 3 where all the letters are uppercase or capital, it is reflective of the word Yahweh. Yahweh has reference to God’s essential nature. Adonai has reference to His sovereignty.
Now with that in mind, you’ll understand verse 1, in the year that we lost our human king, I saw the real King. There never can be much panic set in when you know God is still on the throne. It may have looked to Isaiah as if the whole thing was falling apart, but Adonai is a title meaning the Sovereign One. The human king was dead, but history doesn’t depend on human kings, but on the absolute monarchy, the supreme Lord, Adonai, God Himself. His kingship is infinitely superior to that of Uzziah or anyone else.
Isaiah saw seraphim attending the Lord, above Him; each had six wings, two covering their faces, two covering their feet and two for flight (verse 2).
Each of our commentators explains why God created these angels in such a manner and what this vision looked like in its entirety. Both say that Isaiah saw Christ.
Henry refers us to John 12:41 and John 17:5:
What the prophet here saw is revealed to us, that we, mixing faith with that revelation, may in it, as in a glass, behold the glory of the Lord; let us turn aside therefore, and see this great sight with humble reverence.
I. See God upon his throne, and that throne high and lifted up, not only above other thrones, as it transcends them, but over other thrones, as it rules and commands them. Isaiah saw not Jehovah—the essence of God (no man has seen that, or can see it), but Adonai—his dominion. He saw the Lord Jesus; so this vision is explained John 12 41, that Isaiah now saw Christ’s glory and spoke of him, which is an incontestable proof of the divinity of our Saviour. He it is who when, after his resurrection, he sat down on the right hand of God, did but sit down where he was before, John 17 5. See the rest of the Eternal Mind: Isaiah saw the Lord sitting, Ps 29 10. See the sovereignty of the Eternal Monarch: he sits upon a throne—a throne of glory, before which we must worship,—a throne of government, under which we must be subject,—and a throne of grace, to which we may come boldly. This throne is high, and lifted up above all competition and contradiction.
II. See his temple, his church on earth, filled with the manifestations of his glory. His throne being erected at the door of the temple (as princes sat in judgment at the gates), his train, the skirts of his robes, filled the temple, the whole world (for it is all God’s temple, and, as the heaven is his throne, so the earth is his footstool), or rather the church, which is filled enriched, and beautified with the tokens of God’s special presence.
III. See the bright and blessed attendants on his throne, in and by whom his glory is celebrated and his government served (v. 2): Above the throne, as it were hovering about it, or nigh to the throne, bowing before it, with an eye to it, the seraphim stood, the holy angels, who are called seraphim-burners; for he makes his ministers a flaming fire, Ps 104 4. They burn in love to God, and zeal for his glory and against sin, and he makes use of them as instruments of his wrath when he is a consuming fire to his enemies. Whether they were only two or four, or (as I rather think) an innumerable company of angels, that Isaiah saw, is uncertain; see Dan 7 10. Note, It is the glory of the angels that they are seraphim, have heat proportionable to their light, have abundance, not only of divine knowledge, but of holy love. Special notice is taken of their wings (and of no other part of their appearance), because of the use they made of them, which is designed for instruction to us. They had each of them six wings, not stretched upwards (as those whom Ezekiel saw, ch. 1 11), but, 1. Four were made use of for a covering, as the wings of a fowl, sitting, are; with the two upper wings, next to the head, they covered their faces, and with the two lowest wings they covered their feet, or lower parts. This bespeaks their great humility and reverence in their attendance upon God, for he is greatly feared in the assembly of those saints, Ps 89 7. They not only cover their feet, those members of the body which are less honourable (1 Cor 12 23), but even their faces. Though angel’s faces, doubtless, are much fairer than those of the children of men (Acts 6 15), yet in the presence of God, they cover them, because they cannot bear the dazzling lustre of the divine glory, and because, being conscious of an infinite distance from the divine perfection, they are ashamed to show their faces before the holy God, who charges even his angels with folly if they should offer to vie with him, Job 4 18. If angels be thus reverent in their attendance on God, with what godly fear should we approach his throne! Else we do not the will of God as the angels do it. Yet Moses, when he went into the mount with God, took the veil from off his face. See 2 Cor 3 18. 2. Two were made use of for flight; when they are sent on God’s errands they fly swiftly (Dan 9 21), more swiftly with their own wings than if they flew on the wings of the wind. This teaches us to do the work of God with cheerfulness and expedition. Do angels come upon the wing from heaven to earth, to minister for our good, and shall not we soar upon the wing from earth to heaven, to share with them in their glory? Luke 20 36.
MacArthur says similarly, referencing the same verses from John’s Gospel:
And so God in the midst of the crisis, to let Isaiah and His people know that all is not lost, makes a personal appearance, and Isaiah sees Him and he sees Him sitting upon a throne. Isn’t it great to know that God hadn’t abdicated. That when the whole world falls apart and everything seems to be going to pieces, God’s still there on the throne. Exalted, it says, high and lifted up and His robe filled the temple. And this of course is a picture of His majesty and His exaltation, His glory and His power. And by the way, make a little note in the margin of that verse. Write down John 12:41, because in John 12:41 the writer tells us that this was Christ. Really a pre-incarnate Christophany, an appearance of Christ.
Now look at verse 2. As Isaiah sees this vision, it says, “And above it” – that is above throne – “stood the seraphim, each one had six wings: With two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he did fly.” Now what is a seraphim? Or what are seraphims, since it’s plural.
‘Seraph’ is the singular, ‘seraphim’ is the plural!
Apparently they are a certain group of angels whose personal calling and design by God was to attend to God’s holiness. They are fiery guardians of the holiness of God. Now why do they have three sets of wings? Have you ever noticed when God makes anything, He makes it to do what He expects it to do. He makes it functional. And if they had six wings, it wasn’t just that God got carried away with the idea of making wings. There was something very purposeful in that.
Notice it says that with two, at the end of the verse, he did fly. Apparently these marvelous, incredible, supernatural, eternal creatures had the capacity to hover like some kind of celestial helicopter around the throne of God, which was high and lifted up. And upon some occasions, as indicated in verse 6, would do the bidding of God as the one who flew with the live coal. But they hovered around the throne of God – amazing.
Then it says they had two more wings with which they covered their feet. Why? There are several possibilities. Some say that was a sign of humility, of lowliness, of humble service. There may be that thought, but that might be stretching the point of the angelic role. Perhaps it’s better to see it this way. Do you remember that Moses was up on a normal plan old dirt hill one day? Probably a hill he’d walked many times. But he turned around and he saw a burning bush, and a voice came to him out of the bush and said – do what? – take off your shoes. Take off your shoes Moses. Why? For you’re standing on – what? – holy ground. Now your reaction to that might have been, “Huh?” I’ve been here a lot. Same old stuff. But whenever the divine presence appears, everything is immediately sanctified. This was holy ground, not for any virtue in and of itself, but because God was there and His pervasive presence sanctified the earth under His feet. There may be a sense in which whatever kind of ground there is in glory, whatever kind of place angels land is a place so sacred that they cover their feet for it’s holy ground.
Then it says, they had two wings with which to cover their face. That’s a little easier to understand. If they hover around the throne of God, they are exposed there to His full glory. You remember in Exodus 33, Moses said so brashly to God, he says – God says to him, “You’re going to be my man. Go lead my people.” And Moses says, “I’m not going to do it alone. Who’s going to go with me?” And God says, “My presence will go with you. I’ll go with you.” And Moses said, “That’s a nice promise God, but I’d like some proof. I mean, I appreciate you saying that, but would you just prove it by showing me your glory.” And God gives him a very good answer. He says, “No man can see my glory and” – what? – “live.” No creature could withstand the sight of the blazing fullness of the glory of God. God promises proximity but never full revelation. So God says to Moses, “I’ll tell you what. I’ll tuck you in the cleft of a rock, and I’ll let my” – and the Hebrew means, my hind quarters, my back parts. I like to think of it as afterglow. You can’t see the whole deal, but I’ll let you see my afterglow. I think maybe that’s why the angels covered their faces. I don’t think they could have existed in the full effulgence of the glory of the holiness of God – incredible creatures.
One seraph called to another and said, ‘Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory’ (verse 3).
Note the repetition. There is an old and famous hymn, Holy, Holy, Holy.
MacArthur calls our attention to the attribute of holiness here. Today, if people were asked to attribute a characteristic to God, they would probably use the word ‘love’, but here we have ‘holy’.
This is not a one-off, either:
By the way, do you know that that is the only attribute of God in all of the scripture that is spoken of in repetition three times? Never does the Bible say God is love, love, love. Never does it say God is light, light, light; truth, truth, truth; mercy, mercy, mercy, wrath, wrath, wrath. But it says He is holy, holy, holy. This is an absolute priority, people. It is impossible to understand the fullness of it, and yet you must understand as much as the scripture gives us. The absence of a clear understanding of God’s holiness is the reason for our shallowness. It is the reason for our impotence. It is the reason for our selfishness. It is the reason for our weakness. It is the reason for our disobedience. We don’t really understand how holy God is, that’s why we compromise. That’s why we are the worse kind of pragmatists who do only what fulfills our desires.
One day the disciples came to Jesus – you know it – they said teach us to pray. He said, “Here’s how to pray. Our Father who art in Heaven” – what? – “hallowed be thy name.” You know what hallowed means? Holy. You want to pray, start out by a recognition of the holiness of God. God is holy.
R.C. Sproul made an interesting statement. He said, “Any attempt to understand God apart from His holiness is idolatry.” It’s true. This is affirmed in the Ten Commandments where we are to have no other gods before us and under no circumstances are we ever to use the name of the Lord God in vain. He is holy, holy, holy. The entire earth is filled with His glory and we have to acknowledge that.
Henry has more about the song of the seraphim:
1. How this song was sung. With zeal and fervency—they cried aloud; and with unanimity—they cried to another, or one with another; they sang alternately, but in concert, and without the least jarring voice to interrupt the harmony.
2. What the song was; it is the same with that which is sung by the four living creatures, Rev 4 8. Note, Praising God always was, and will be to eternity, the work of heaven, and the constant employment of blessed spirits above, Ps 84 4. Note further, The church above is the same in its praises; there is no change of times or notes there. Two things the seraphim here give God the praise of:—
(1.) His infinite perfections in himself. Here is one of his most glorious titles praised: he is the Lord of hosts, of their hosts, of all hosts; and one of his most glorious attributes, his holiness, without which his being the Lord of hosts (or, as it is in the parallel place, Rev 4 8, the Lord God Almighty) could not be so much as it is the matter of our joy and praise; for power, without purity to guide it, would be a terror to mankind. None of all the divine attributes is so celebrated in scripture as this is. God’s power was spoken twice (Ps 62 11), but his holiness thrice, Holy, holy, holy. This bespeaks, [1.] The zeal and fervency of the angels in praising God; they even want words to express themselves, and therefore repeat the same again. [2.] The particular pleasure they take in contemplating the holiness of God; this is a subject they love to dwell upon, to harp upon, and are loth to leave. [3.] The superlative excellency of God’s holiness, above that of the purest creatures. He is holy, thrice holy, infinitely holy, originally, perfectly, and eternally so. [4.] It may refer to the three person in the Godhead, Holy Father, Holy Son, and Holy Spirit (for it follows, v. 8, Who will go for us?) or perhaps to that which was, and is, and is to come; for that title of God’s honour is added to this song, Rev 4 8. Some make the angels here to applaud the equity of that sentence which God was now about to pronounce upon the Jewish nation. Herein he was, and is, and will be, holy; his ways are equal.
(2.) The manifestation of these to the children of men: The earth is full of his glory, the glory of his power and purity; for he is holy in all his works, Ps 145 17. The Jews thought the glory of God should be confined to their land; but it is here intimated that in the gospel times (which are pointed to in this chapter) the glory of God should fill all the earth, the glory of his holiness, which is indeed the glory of all his other attributes; this then filled the temple (v. 1), but, in the latter days, the earth shall be full of it.
The pivots on the threshold shook with the voices in song and the house — the temple — filled with smoke (verse 4).
Henry says:
V. Observe the marks and tokens of terror with which the temple was filled, upon this vision of the divine glory, v. 4. 1. The house was shaken; not only the door, but even the posts of the door, which were firmly fixed, moved at the voice of him that cried, at the voice of God, who called to judgment (Ps 50 4), at the voice of the angel, who praised him. There are voices in heaven sufficient to drown all the noises of the many waters in this lower world, Ps 93 3, 4. This violent concussion of the temple was an indication of God’s wrath and displeasure against the people for their sins; it was an earnest of the destruction of it and the city by the Babylonians first, and afterwards by the Romans; and it was designed to strike an awe upon us. Shall walls and posts tremble before God, and shall we not tremble? 2. The house was darkened; it was filled with smoke, which was as a cloud spread upon the face of his throne (Job 26 9); we cannot take a full view of it, nor order our speech concerning it, by reason of darkness. In the temple above there will be no smoke, but everything will be seen clearly. There God dwells in light; here he makes darkness his pavilion, 2 Chron 6 1.
MacArthur would agree:
In other words, we begin to see a holy God of judgement. This is not a manifestation, particularly of God’s mercy, but of His tremendous, majestic holiness. It is awful. It is fearful … It is a statement to Isaiah and his people that God is a consuming fire, and you can’t toy around with God. You’ll be consumed.
Isaiah experienced fear at seeing God’s holiness thus manifested and was convicted of his own sins and those of his people, particularly the words that emanated from their mouths (verse 5): ‘Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!’
This is a common experience both in the Old and the New Testaments. Seeing divine holiness makes one feel wormlike.
Henry explains:
… it may be taken more generally; I am a sinner; particularly, I have offended in word; and who is there that hath not? Jam 3 2. We all have reason to bewail it before the Lord, (1.) That we are of unclean lips ourselves; our lips are not consecrated to God; he had not had the first-fruits of our lips (Heb 13 15), and therefore they are counted common and unclean, uncircumcised lips, Exod 6 30. Nay, they have been polluted with sin. We have spoken the language of an unclean heart, that evil communication which corrupts good manners, and whereby many have been defiled. We are unworthy and unmeet to take God’s name into our lips. With what a pure lip did the angels praise God! “But,” says the prophet, “I cannot praise him so, for I am a man of unclean lips.“ The best men in the world have reason to be ashamed of themselves, and the best of their services, when they come into comparison with the holy angels. The angels had celebrated the purity and holiness of God; and therefore the prophet, when he reflects upon sin, calls it uncleanness; for the sinfulness of sin is its contrariety to the holy nature of God, and upon that account especially it should appear both hateful and frightful to us. The impurity of our lips ought to be the grief of our souls, for by our words we shall be justified or condemned. (2.) That we dwell among those who are so too. We have reason to lament not only that we ourselves are polluted, but that the nature and race of mankind are so; the disease is hereditary and epidemic, which is so far from lessening our guilt that it should rather increase our grief, especially considering that we have not done what we might have done for the cleansing of the pollution of other people’s lips …
MacArthur reminds us of the word ‘woe’, which implies divine judgement, and how Isaiah saw his unworthiness before God:
Isaiah uses the word woe at least ten times in his prophecy to refer to God’s judgement on others. Jeremiah used it. Ezekiel used it. Nahum used it. Amos used it. Habakkuk used it. Hosea used it. Zephaniah used it. Zechariah used it. Michah used it. Jesus used it; in Matthew 24 he said, “Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees.” And the angels of judgement in Revelation use it. It is a word of cursing.
And here is an amazing thing: A prophet of God pronounces a curse on himself – incredible. This is the best man in the land. This is a servant of God, but when he sees the holiness of God he can but pronounce a curse upon his own head. He can only see his defilement not his goodness. And then he says this, “For I am undone,” nid methi, from a root word which means in the passive to be lost or to perish or to be annihilated or to be destroyed. I am destroyed; I am devastated, by the holiness of God. I’m wiped out. I’m falling apart. I’m coming loose at the seams. I’m disintegrating. Why? Because he saw God, and when he saw God for the first time in his life he saw Isaiah and he knew how wretched he was. He may have been a secure fellow before this. Everybody honored him, patted him on the back. Everybody who was godly said he was the best of men, spiritual leader, voice of God, obedient saint, servant of the Lord. One glimpse of God’s holiness and the man was a wretch in his own eyes.
What was the most important element of a prophet? What was the most important instrument of a prophet? His mouth, right? His mouth to speak. Look what he says, “I am a man of unclean lips.” You know what that means? I have a dirty mouth. Me, the prophet of God who should open my mouth to speak of God, I’ve got a dirty mouth and I dwell in the midst of a people who have dirty mouths. How do you know this? Mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts. And for the first time I see myself; I’m a dirty man; I have a dirty mouth. I’ve seen Yahweh of Hosts.
No one can stand in the presence of God without becoming profoundly and devastatingly aware of his own wretchedness, sinfulness. That’s why I’m telling you, if we don’t understand the holiness of God, we don’t understand our sinfulness and we don’t understand how heinous it is and we don’t understand the consequences of it. To see even the smallest glimpse of God’s holiness is to be devastated – devastated. Isaiah would never be the same, never; neither would anybody else.
MacArthur gives us examples of other people in the Bible who met with the divine presence:
Let me give you some illustrations. Look at Habakkuk. Habakkuk, that wonderful prophet … Habakkuk was second guessing God …
In chapter 2, he really kind of gets to the place where he says, I’m just going to sit here until God gives me an answer. Come on, God. So chapter 2 verse 1, “I’m going to stand on my watch. I’m going to set myself upon the tower, and I’m going to watch to see what He will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved.” I’m know I’m going to get it, but I’m going to stick around for the answer. God, I want an answer. Verse 2, “And the Lord answered me;” God gave him an answer.
You know what happened? When he got all done with the answer, Habakkuk was a wreck. That’s right. Because God was thundering like lightening and fire and the recitation of the history of what he’d done, and you finally come down to chapter 3 verse 16. God gives him this long answer, and then you have Habakkuk praying, and then you have this, “When I heard” – 3:16 – “my belly trembled.” When’s the last time you trembled in the presence of God? “My lips quivered at the voice, rottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled in myself, that I might rest in the day of trouble: when he cometh up unto the people, he will invade them with his troops.” Man, he says, when I heard the voice of God and I heard him speak, I shook from top to bottom and I long to rest in the day of trouble …
Look at Job … chapter 38. Job is finally to the place where he says, “All right, God, what’s going on?” I mean, I’ve heard all the answers from all of these friends I’ve got. The total of which adds up to nothing, and I want an answer, Lord. What is the deal? Chapter 38 verse 1, “The Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind.” You want an answer? Here it comes. God spoke; and then you know what happens, folks? Job gets the worst browbeating in human history. God literally bats him from pillar to post. “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?” What ignoramus stands before me? You better gird up your loins like a man, because you’re going to get it in this answer; and I want one back. “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?” Huh? Where were you when the morning stars sang together. “Who shut up the sea with doors when it broke forth?” And He does this chapter after chapter after chapter. Where were you? Where were you?
… Chapter 41, “Can you draw out leviathan” – the sea monster – “with a hook?” Can you control the animal world? Can you control the rain, the clouds, the snow, the vegetation, the movement of the stars? Where were you? Can you do this? If you can’t, Job, be quiet. When it was all said and done, Chapter 42 verse 5, Job said this, “[God], I have heard about you by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye sees You.” I always had heard what You were like, now I know. What’s his reaction? “I abhor myself. I repent in dust and ashes.” No one ever comes before the holiness of God without devastation …
Look at Luke …
… chapter 5 verse 1, “Came to pass as people pressed on him to hear the word of God, He stood by the lake of Gennesaret” – or the Sea of Galilei, same thing – “saw two boats standing by the lake, but the fishermen were gone out of them, washing their nets. He entered into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him that he would thrust out a little from the land. And He sat down and taught the people out of the boat. When He has ceased speaking, He said to Simon, ‘Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a draught.’ Simon answering” – he always had an answer, didn’t he? Master, we’ve been fishing all night and we haven’t caught anything. I mean, there’s no fish around here. “Nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net. And when they had done this, they enclosed a great multitude of fish and the net broke. And they beckoned unto their partners” – who were in the other boat – “they should come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats so that they began to sink. And Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees and said “ – Oh, thanks so much for the fish. Is that what he said? What did he say? “Depart from me” – go away, get out of here. Go away. Why are you telling him that? “I’m a sinful man, O” – what? – “Lord.” He realized in that moment by that incredible miracle that he was standing in the presence of God. He said go away, I don’t want to be so exposed. He was astonished. He knew God was there.
Returning to Isaiah, Henry says:
Note, A believing sight of God’s glorious majesty should affect us all with reverence and godly fear. We have reason to be abased in the sense of that infinite distance that there is between us and God, and our own sinfulness and vileness before him, and to be afraid of his displeasure. We are undone if there be not a Mediator between us and this holy God, 1 Sam 6 20. Isaiah was thus humbled, to prepare him for the honour he was now to be called to as a prophet. Note, Those are fittest to be employed for God who are low in their own eyes and are made deeply sensible of their own weakness and unworthiness.
Then one of the seraphs flew to Isaiah with a live — flaming hot — coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs (verse 6).
The seraph touched the prophet’s mouth with it and said, ‘Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out’ (verse 7).
Henry says that this fire was not intended to harm Isaiah but to purify him:
Here is, 1. A comfortable sign given to the prophet of the purging away of his sin. The seraph brought a live coal from the altar, and touched his lips with it, not to hurt them, but to heal them—not to cauterize, but to cleanse them; for there were purifications by fire, as well as by water, and the filth of Jerusalem was purged by the spirit of burning, ch. 4 4. The blessed Spirit works as fire, Matt 3 11. The seraph, being himself kindled with a divine fire, put life into the prophet, to make him also zealously affected; for the way to purge the lips from the uncleanness of sin is to fire the soul with the love of God. This live coal was taken from off the altar, either the altar of incense or that of burnt-offerings, for they had both of them fire burning on them continually. Nothing is powerful to cleanse and comfort the soul but what is taken from Christ’s satisfaction and the intercession he ever lives to make in the virtue of that satisfaction. It must be a coal from his altar that must put life into us and be our peace; it will not be done with strange fire. 2. An explication of this sign: “Lo, this has touched thy lips, to assure thee of this, that thy iniquity is taken away and thy sin purged. The guilt of thy sin is removed by pardoning mercy, the guilt of thy tongue-sins. Thy corrupt disposition to sin is removed by renewing grace; and therefore nothing can hinder thee from being accepted with God as a worshipper, in concert with the holy angels, or from being employed for God as a messenger to the children of men.” Those only who are thus purged from an evil conscience are prepared to serve the living God, Heb 9 14. The taking away of sin is necessary to our speaking with confidence and comfort either to God in prayer or from God in preaching; nor are any so fit to display to others the riches and power of gospel-grace as those who have themselves tasted the sweetness and felt the influence of that grace; and those shall have their sin taken away who complain of it as a burden and see themselves in danger of being undone by it.
At that point (verse 8), Isaiah heard the Lord’s voice saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’ Isaiah eagerly replied, ‘Here am I; send me!’
Henry explains:
… Some think this refers to the particular message of wrath against Israel, v. 9, 10. “Who will be willing to go on such a melancholy errand, on which they will go in the bitterness of their souls?” Ezek 3 14. But I rather take it more largely for all those messages which the prophet was entrusted to deliver, in God’s name, to that people, in which that hardening work was by no means the primary intention, but a secondary effect of them, 2 Cor 2 16. Whom shall I send? intimating that the business was such as required a choice and well-accomplished messenger, Jer 49 19. God now appeared, attended with holy angels, and yet asks, Whom shall I send? For he would send them a prophet from among their brethren, Heb 2 17. Note, [1.] It is the unspeakable favour of God to us that he is pleased to send us his mind by men like ourselves, whose terror shall not make us afraid, and who are themselves concerned in the messages they bring. Those who are workers together with God are sinners and sufferers together with us. [2.] It is a rare thing to find one who is fit to go for God, and carry his messages to the children of men: Whom shall I send? Who is sufficient? Such a degree of courage for God and concern for the souls of men as is necessary to make a man faithful, and withal such an insight into the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven as is necessary to make a man skilful, are seldom to be met with. Such an interpreter of the mind of God is one of a thousand, Job 33 23. [3.] None are allowed to go for God but those who are sent by him; he will own none but those whom he appoints, Rom 10 15. It is Christ’s work to put men into the ministry, 1 Tim 1 12.
… Isaiah had been himself in a melancholy frame (v. 5), full of doubts and fears; but now that he had the assurance of the pardon of his sin the clouds were blown over, and he was fit for service and forward to it. What he says denotes, (1.) His readiness: “Here am I, a volunteer, not pressed into the service.” Behold me; so the word is. God says to us, Behold me (ch. 65 1), and, Here I am (ch. 58 9), even before we call; let us say so to him when he does call. (2.) His resolution; “Here I am, ready to encounter the greatest difficulties. I have set my face as a flint.” Compare this with ch. 50 4-7. (3.) His referring himself to God: “Send me whither thou wilt; make what use thou pleasest of me. Send me, that is, Lord, give me commission and full instruction; send me, and then, no doubt, thou wilt stand by me.” It is a great comfort to those whom God sends that they go for God, and may therefore speak in his name, as having authority, and be assured that he will bear them out.
MacArthur delivered this sermon in 1980, at the height of the American trend for being ‘born again’. I say ‘trend’, because, like MacArthur, one wonders how true it was that so many millions really were ‘born again’.
He says:
… whenever I read that 50 million people in America are supposed to be born again, and I see in comparison with that statistic the constant ever increasing secularization of our society, I find that the two don’t go together very well. We’re supposed to be a Christian nation – it’s even popular to be born again – yet the impact of Christianity on our country seems to be weak, seems to be shallow, it seems to be superficial, it seems to be saccharine.
Being a Christian may be in, but it doesn’t seem to be having much of an impact. We are caught up in a kind of self-indulgence and self-centeredness that even views God only in terms of what He can do for us. God becomes sort of a utilitarian genie; you rub your little theological lamp, he pops out and says, “Three wishes.” People are preoccupied with relational things. A person who criticizes the teaching of the Word of God by saying, “Well, it’s too strong. It alienates people,” is really saying, “We want a God who makes us comfortable.”
And I guess what I really see in Christianity as I look at it across our country is the absence of a theology. It just seems to me that there isn’t one. There’s a lot of talk about God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit, but in terms of a substantive definition of the trinity and an understanding of theology, it just really isn’t there. We’re really big on relationships and we certainly don’t really understand the source of all of them – God Himself. And I guess if there’s one element of theology that we really don’t understand, it is the theology of God, theology proper it’s called. We don’t understand God, God’s nature. The fundamental fact of our faith is God, and the fundamental fact about God is that God is holy. God is awful, if you want to use that sense. God is majestic. God is fearful. He is mighty. He is awesome. He is transcendent. In fact, in Exodus 15:11, it says He is glorious in holiness. The beauty of the Lord is the beauty of holiness. I don’t think we understand the holiness of God.
Now I would also want to add that I don’t think we can understand fully the holiness of God, but I think we can understand it a lot better than we do … I confess at the very beginning that I don’t really understand the fulness of His holiness, but I’m sure working at it … The central thing I want you to see about God is that He is holy and that weighs very heavily on our hearts if we understand it.
What better time to reflect on the holiness of the Triune God than on Trinity Sunday.
May all reading this have a blessed Trinity Sunday and bear divine holiness in mind as we move through the rest of the Church year through to the end of November. This is no Ordinary Time. Whether it be Sundays after Pentecost or Sundays after Trinity, may we be reminded of that holiness and, with divine grace, imitate it the best way we can in our lives, using Christ Jesus as our example.
Churchmouse Campanologist 