Holy, Holy, Holy!
Nowadays it seems that too
many people are getting too familiar with God. They think of
Him as their best friend, who He is, but they treat Him that
way most of the time. They might come to Him saying, "Old
buddy, old pal, You say in Your word that You will do thus
and so. I want that and I want it now." They don't think it
matters how they live since God is in the forgiving
business. They just go on living their lives just as they
want and only come to him when they need something. They
treat God like a sugar daddy who can provide all their wants
with no strings attached. Is this the real picture of God?
Is this the way we should think of God? How did Isaiah see
God?
Isaiah 6:1-8 (GNB) "In the year that King Uzziah died, I
saw the Lord. He was sitting on his throne, high and
exalted, and his robe filled the whole Temple. 2 Round him
flaming creatures were standing, each of which had six
wings. Each creature covered its face with two wings, and
its body with two, and used the other two for flying. 3 They
were calling out to each other: "Holy, holy, holy! The Lord
Almighty is holy! His glory fills the world." 4 The sound of
their voices made the foundation of the Temple shake, and
the Temple itself was filled with smoke. 5 I said, "There is
no hope for me! I am doomed because every word that passes
my lips is sinful, and I live among a people whose every
word is sinful. And yet, with my own eyes, I have seen the
King, the Lord Almighty!" 6 Then one of the creatures flew
down to me, carrying a burning coal that he had taken from
the altar with a pair of tongs. 7 He touched my lips with
the burning coal and said, "This has touched your lips, and
now your guilt is gone, and your sins are forgiven." 8 Then
I heard the Lord say, "Whom shall I send? Who will be our
messenger?" I answered, "I will go! Send me!"
Isaiah saw God high and lifted up. It was an awesome sight!
There were these creatures that were praising God
continually. They didn't just say God is holy. In the Hebrew
language they didn't have punctuation, so to stress a word
or phrase, they would repeat it. That is why it was printed
that God was holy, holy, holy. He is completely holy,
completely without sin. He has always been, is living now
and will always live and will always be holy.
When Isaiah heard and saw this, he said he was a man of
unclean lips. Was that his main sin, or was there some other
reason he said this? That may have been his main sin, but
here is what Jesus had to say:
Matthew 12:34 (GNB) "You snakes-how can you say good
things when you are evil? For the mouth speaks what the
heart is full of."
Whatever is in your heart is what will come out of your
mouth. Sin starts in the heart then comes out in the actions
that we take. When we see how completely sinless God is, we
can see how sinful we are. Isaiah saw this and confessed
this. The angel touched the hot coal to Isaiah's lips, which
symbolized the cleansing of his lips or heart. Isaiah's sins
had been forgiven because he saw he was sinful and confessed
that he was a sinful man and all the people he lived with
were sinful. He realized that no person is sinless.
God then didn't ask Isaiah to go for him but asked who would
go for him. Isaiah was filled with awe and had just been
cleansed. He wanted to go do whatever God wanted him to do.
WE do need to see God as a friend who will provide what we
need but we also need to see God as the Holy, Almighty God.
WE need to see our sinfulness so that we can confess it and
be forgiven through the blood of Jesus Christ. Then we need
to be ready to do what God wants us to do, go and make
disciples, take care of the poor, whatever He puts on your
heart.
By Dean Masters
©2003
Unaltered article may be used with copyright intact.