Though humans can discover vital wisdom through investigation of God’s world (general revelation), the wisdom of God revealed in Scripture is perfect and eternal. It never needs to be culturally updated or abandoned because new technology or scientific discovery makes it obsolete. Though humans have the capacity to forgive us many times, their ability to endure our wounds has limits. But God’s forgiveness is inexhaustible; he never tires of forgiving us. Jesus’ blood to cover our sins never runs dry.

In the second book of C. S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia, young Lucy returns to Narnia a year after her first adventure. Narnia has changed so that she feels lost. But then she catches a glimpse of Aslan. We read

Oh joy! For He was there: the huge Lion, shining white in the moonlight, with his huge black shadow underneath him…She rushed to him. She felt her heart would burst if she lost a moment. And the next thing she knew was that she was kissing him and putting her arms as far around his neck as she could and burying her face in the beautiful silkiness of his mane. The great beast rolled over on his side so that Lucy fell, half sitting and half lying between his front paws. He bent forward and just touched her nose with his tongue. His warm breath came all around her. She gazed into the large wise face.

“Welcome, child,” he said.

“Aslan,” said Lucy, “You’re bigger.”

“That is because you are older little one,” he answered.

“Not because you are?”

“I am not. But every year you grow you will find me bigger.”

This blog/podcast series, Jesus Said LIFE is KNOWING God, is intended to cause our view of God to get bigger as we grow towards spiritual maturity. My hope is that by the end of today’s episode we will all be able to delight in two of God’s attributes that don’t usually excite us very much—God’s holiness and his wrath.

As we try to stay focused on Christ’s mission for us, we remember that growing in the knowledge of God was often mentioned by Paul as big part of that mission. For example, Colossians 1:9 commands, “walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and INCREASING IN THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD.” Today we consider the temple vision of Isaiah, who in Isaiah 6 discovered, as Lucy did on her return trip to Narnia, that his earlier vision of God had been way too small.

In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.” And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” (vs 1-8).

Isaiah’s Vision of God

A. Seeing God’s MAJESTY. Isaiah, the prophet, is in Jerusalem. He goes into the temple probably grieving the loss of King Uzziah, anxiously praying because a stable time of Uzziah’s 52-year reign has just ended, probably wondering what his role will be in the future. And he is shocked to encounter a vision of the Lord Himself. Try to put yourself in his place. You’re in the temple courtyard—not in the Holy place—because you are not a priest. You look up and see the Lord, ADONAI.  Adonai is the title for the king of all kings. He is seated on his royal throne in the sky, high and exalted—as high as your eye can see—in his majesty. You see the magnificent train of his royal robe winding down from the heights. It covers the holy of holies, and the entire holy place. So exalted and supreme is the sovereign one that the train of his royal robe fills the entire courtyard so there is not even a place to sit. Such was Isaiah’s vision of God’s infinite majesty. Isaiah wasn’t even at the level of God’s feet with layers and layers of royal robe between Isaiah and the bottom of the throne. When you see who God really is, you see that God is so awesome, so great, so absent from limitation, that you become very small. You realize you can’t trifle with him, argue with him, complain to him, criticize him, beat him, avoid him or ignore him. The recognition of God’s weightiness is called the fear of the Lord.  The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Prov 9:10).

B. Seeing God’s GLORY. Isaiah notices strange angelic beings called seraphim with three pairs of wings: one pair with which to fly, one pair covering their feet in humble respect as ANE culture would have dictated. But why two wings covering its face? Because the presence of God brings the blinding radiance of his glory. In 1 Timothy 6:15-16, Paul describes God as one who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. The brightest, most blinding light possible is what is associated with God’s glory. Mark 9 describes Jesus, Peter, James and John ascending a mountain where Jesus is transfigured, before them. The veil that hid the glory of Christ, the Second Person of the Trinity was temporarily removed. Mark’s words were “his clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no cloth-refiner on earth could bleach them.” The glory of God clothes God in unapproachable light. When considering the glory that accompanies God, it is worth remembering what happened when Moses asked to see God’s glory.

Moses said, “Please show me your glory.” And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The Lord.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.” And the Lord said, “Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen” (Exodus 33: 19-23)/

After this took place and Moses descended the mountain, the brilliant radiance of God’s glory so remained upon Moses that the people begged Moses to cover his face—and Moses had only seen the BACK of Yahweh! No one can look upon the face of the LORD of Hosts unveiled and live. So, the seraphim covered their faces with their wings.

C. Seeing God’s HOLINESS. Next, Isaiah hears the voices of these Seraphim calling to one another, ““Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” The Hebrew word, “holy” comes from QUADASH, which means to cut, or to separate. God is “set apart” from his creatures. He is utterly distinct from his creatures. He is so exalted above them in infinite majesty, absolute unapproachability, and perfect moral purity that there is a chasm between the most virtuous human and God. Notice that the seraphim ascribe holiness to God not once, not twice, but three times. Grammatically, what occurs here in Hebrew was a totally new phenomenon in the Hebrew language.

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