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Isaiah 6:1-7 - Isaiah In God's Throne Room · Tabernacle Talk - A Bible Study Podcast with Pastor Bryon Self

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  Welcome to Tabernacle Talk. Tabernacle Talk is a Bible study
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  podcast brought from Tabernacle Baptist Church in Essex, MD.
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  I'm your host, Brian Self. We hope this podcast encourages
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  you to know Christ, grow in his word, and show his love to
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  others. Let's dive right in.
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  Welcome back to Tabernacle Talk. Today we are in an incredible
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  portion of scripture in Isaiah chapter 6 all the way through
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  Isaiah. Thus far these five chapters, we
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  have seen Isaiah prophesying to the southern Kingdom of Judah
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  that though they were God's people that He had brought out
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  of Egypt, though they were the people that he had brought out
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  through Abraham from Babylon, that they were not acting like
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  God's people. God had given them His law and
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  they had ignored it. He had given them prophets and
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  they had rejected the message and made fun of the declarations
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  of the prophets that God would be faithful to what He had said
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  in Deuteronomy. That as Israel would reject, the
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  Lord would reject His way. They would act like all of the
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  other nations around them in idolatry and in their evil both
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  towards God and towards each other.
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  That God would send them back into the nations that they had
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  come from. And in Isaiah 6, we take a
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  little bit of a turn that instead of Isaiah preaching
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  about everyone else, and you know justifiably what the
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  southern Kingdom of Judah was doing, we now get our attention
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  turned to the Lord Himself into what Isaiah's purpose was.
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  Let's begin reading Isaiah chapter 6, verse #1 I'm going to
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  go through, I believe, verse 7 today.
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  And the next episode I'll take from verse 8 on Isaiah chapter
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  6. In the year that King Uzziah
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  died, this was a king that was fairly good, that did some
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  things that the Lord wanted, but he was also one that through his
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  own pride, determined. OK, I can act like a Levite or
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  like a priest, and so I can offer incense on the altar of
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  the Lord, something that is absolutely prohibited for me as
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  someone that is not from the tribe of Levi and one that is
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  not part of the priesthood of Aaron's line.
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  And so as a result of King Uzziah stepping in and trying to
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  quote UN quote, worship God in a way that God had specifically
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  forbidden and something that God did not command Uzziah to do,
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  Uzziah was actually struck with leprosy.
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  And so King Uzziah, fairly good king with some flaws, but in the
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  year that he died, it says I, Isaiah saw the Lord seated on a
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  high and lofty throne in the hem of his robe filled the temple.
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  So here Isaiah has a picture of God's throne room, which if
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  you'll recall from I think our time in Leviticus and as we went
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  through Hebrews, that the Tabernacle 1st and then the
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  temple later were modeled after what Moses saw in God's heavenly
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  throne room. That even the temple and
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  Tabernacle themselves were not just a religious place, but they
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  were pictures of what God looks like as king.
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  And so here, this is what Isaiah is seeing.
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  And here just the hem of the robe of God fills this temple
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  place. It says seraphim were standing
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  above him. They each had six wings.
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  With two they covered their faces, with two they covered
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  their feet. And with two they flew.
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  Here are these seraphim. These are throne room
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  attendants. The the phrase seraph would be
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  the burning ones. And so these would often be
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  pictured in ancient, in ancient throne rooms and courts like
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  snakes, snake like creatures with wings.
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  And then they would also have some feet as well.
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  So it doesn't fit super nicely into our category of snake.
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  This is a spiritual being. And so even some of the words
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  that are used to describe them are, I'll say, anthropomorphic,
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  that it's describing a spiritual reality using physical terms.
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  So it tells you something about what they are like.
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  So here are the burning ones. Here they have these wings.
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  And even though they are incredible spiritual beings with
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  the ability to be able to fly, even they recognize in the
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  presence of God who they are. We can see this in the following
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  verse. In verse #3 So you have the
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  seraphim circling the throne of God with their six wings, 2
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  covering their face, 2 covering their feet with two.
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  They're flying. And it says in verse 3.
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  And one called to another holy, holy, holy is Yahweh of heaven's
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  armies. His glory fills the whole earth.
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  The foundations of the doorways shook at the sound of their
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  voices, and the temple was filled with smoke.
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  So here, even though there's these incredible beings that
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  they are able to make the room shake with their voices, and
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  though the entire space is filled with smoke as a result of
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  what they are saying and what they are doing, their attention
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  is not on even the beauty of the place.
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  Their attention is not on the greatness of the spiritual
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  beings. Their attention is on God.
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  And they proclaim Him as holy, holy, holy.
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  Many of you might have grown up singing the song holy, holy,
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  holy. Or you might have sing, sang a
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  number of the songs that have been written over the past, you
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  know, even 30-40 years about the holiness of God.
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  Or from this passage, or from the kind of parallel passage
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  that we would read in Revelation 4:00 and 5:00, as the apostle
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  John interacts with this same courtroom, with this same
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  heavenly throne room, and continues to hear the Angel
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  singing about the holiness of God.
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  God's holiness is the fact that he is set apart, that he is
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  totally unlike us. He is unique.
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  He is perfect in every single way that He is, if you will.
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  He's the quintessential definition.
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  He is the perfect fulfillment of all of his attributes.
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  That he is just, that he is love, that he is kind, that he
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  is patient, that he is long-suffering towards us.
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  All of this is encapsulated in that word holy.
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  When we think holy, we often think of righteousness, right
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  behavior that it's someone that isn't going to perhaps say an
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  off color joke. There's someone that isn't going
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  to just go along with the crowd, maybe participate in something
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  that they shouldn't be participating in.
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  We, we we think of a holy roller.
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  That's not what is necessarily in mind when we think about the
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  holiness of God. Certainly he is righteous and he
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  is, He's not like part righteous, part just part love.
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  He is fully love, fully righteousness, fully perfection
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  in every single way. And so this prompts even the
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  angels themselves, those that can shake the doorways of the
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  heavenly throne room with their voices and with their
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  proclamations. Their focus is God is better, He
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  is greater, He is more transcendent than we could ever
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  imagine. And they say holy, holy, holy is
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  Yahweh of heaven's armies. So here, this is a a phrase that
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  we've seen several times through Isaiah.
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  We saw it many times in some of the other minor prophets as well
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  that we've walked through. And this God is the one that
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  will execute judgement and justice on Judah and on Israel,
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  and as we'll see in the coming chapters, on the other nations
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  all around the world. And what they say about this
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  holy God who commands heaven's armies is that His glory fills
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  the whole earth. And as I think about it, the sun
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  and the moon, that light that reaches each corner of creation,
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  that God created that and his glory is seen in that wonderful
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  gift to mankind and to the animals.
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  I think about his breath, the wind, if you will, the oxygen
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  that we breathe each moment. Or you can think about even in
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  the ocean that you have those creatures, that they are
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  sustained by what God has given that he has made this place to
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  be habitable. And so God's kindness to us is
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  his glory that fills the entire earth.
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  You cannot. I was just talking to a friend
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  the other day and he was saying, man, when I look outside and I
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  see the stars, when I look at the mountains, when I see the
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  beauty of the grass and the flowers, I can't help but
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  realize that God is there. He has created these things and
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  He is good to us. And I think many of those things
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  are encapsulated here in what the angels are saying, that to
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  live on the earth is to experience some of God's glory,
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  His goodness, His kindness, and His provision to us.
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  So God is different, He is perfect, He is the judge, the
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  one that commands the armies of angels, and His glory fills the
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  whole earth. So what would be Isaiah's
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  response to this? After all, he's been the
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  spokesman for God and for God's way and God's mission on the
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  earth. And so he could be rejoicing
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  that though, as we read in the last chapter, though, there were
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  scoffers who said, OK, well, yeah, what's this plan of the
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  Holy One of Israel? You know, let him do it quickly.
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  That way we can see what his plan really is.
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  Because you're saying it's judgement.
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  You're saying we're going to be in trouble.
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  But we seem to be doing just fine.
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  And so if you will put your money where your mouth is.
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  And so Isaiah could have a response of, yes, I'm so excited
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  for this. This is wonderful.
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  This is everything that I've been looking forward to.
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  But we see the way in verse #5 that Isaiah responds when he
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  sees God. Verse #5 then I said, woe is me,
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  for I am ruined because I am a man of unclean lips and live
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  among a people of unclean lips, and because my eyes have seen
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  the king Yahweh of heaven's armies.
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  Isaiah noticed when he interacted with God, the same
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  thing that we must notice when we interact with God and His
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  Word, when we interact with the worship of God, when we
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  encounter creation, what we are called to recognize is that we
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  have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
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  God is amazing and perfect and wonderful and we haven't been
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  like Him. We haven't loved others the way
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  that He has loved them or that He has loved us.
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  We have not refrained from sin and evil.
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  That is a slap in the face of God Almighty.
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  And So what Isaiah says here, he says I am ruined.
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  And he doesn't say because my people are evil.
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  He says because I am a man of unclean lips.
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  Even the prophet of God recognizes as he encounters God
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  himself, he recognizes I am nothing.
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  I am sinful in view of God's perfect holiness.
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  You can think about it like this.
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  If there was a wall that was painted perfectly white,
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  whatever the most white color that you could paint is, and you
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  were to then take a paintbrush with black paint on it, like the
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  darkest paint you could find, and you were to draw a line with
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  that black paint on that white wall, you would instantly tell
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  the difference there. That is what it is.
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  When we truly see who God is and who we are in comparison with
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  him, far too often we compare ourselves with other people.
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  And if you will, that's one very dark shade, 1 shade of black
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  compared with another shade. And so you might not really be
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  able to tell much of a difference.
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  You might not say, oh, I'm not that bad because when I look at
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  someone else, I don't say everything they say.
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  I don't do everything they do. I don't use all the words that
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  they use. And so I think I'm pretty good.
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  But when you put us in comparison with the very
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  definition of holiness and perfection, goodness,
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  righteousness and love, we begin to see our glaring failure, so
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  that even the priests and prophets, the preachers and
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  theologians, the only conclusion we can come to is that we are
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  flawed. We are people of unclean lips,
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  and we live among a people of unclean lips.
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  Here Isaiah doesn't just Suffice it to say, I am.
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  I'm a problem in the holiness of God, he says.
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  I have a problem and all of my people have a problem, and
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  because I'm part of a nation, if God is holy and my nation is
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  unholy, that is both my problem individually and our problem
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  corporately, that we are in massive trouble.
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  Though you are an individual, your city, your state and your
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  nation are also something that you should consider that we
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  ought to pursue good and righteous things within wherever
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  our kind of sphere of influence is.
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  Whether that's, you know, I'm here in Essex and so I want to
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  make sure even coming up to like the midterms, coming up to some
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  local officials, I want to do my part to encourage right
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  behavior, right laws, good lawmakers that would not be like
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  the ones that we have seen over the preceding chapters in
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  Isaiah. But because I live in a
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  particular people group, I don't want there to be the judgement
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  of God on this people group. And so I'm going to pray and I I
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  want to preach faithfully. But what Isaiah recognizes is
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  even though he's been preaching the word of God, he is unclean
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  and the people are unclean. This is why we would read that
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  we need Jesus because even the very quote UN quote, best and
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  brightest, the holiest people on earth when they they recognize
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  who God is, they recognize their inadequacy and we go, man, we
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  need help, we need salvation. This is what Isaiah has said.
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  Woe is me, I am ruined because I am a man of unclean lips.
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  And then we can see in verse number six.
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  Then one of the seraphim flew to me, and in his hand was a
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  glowing coal that he had taken from the altar with tongs.
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  He touched my mouth with it and said, Now that this has touched
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  your lips, your iniquity is removed and your sin is atoned
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  for. Here though Isaiah recognizes
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  his wickedness in the sight of God, God makes a way that Isaiah
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  can experience forgiveness, a removal of iniquity, and an
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  atoning of his sin. Now certainly you could say, OK,
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  well can't God just take all of the coals from this altar and
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  just put it on everyone's lips and therefore everyone will be
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  fine here. Certainly there's some poetic
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  aspects to what is going on, but the important thing that we need
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  to recognize it is only from Heaven's actions towards us that
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  we can be forgiven. Isaiah did not experience a
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  removal of iniquity through his preaching, through his keeping
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  of the law, through his own personal holiness.
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  It was only as from the altar atonement was made for him.
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  And that altar there is not just the regular altar in Jerusalem
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  that so much sin was taking place there in that temple at
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  Jerusalem. Instead it just from the very
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  altar of God, the same altar that we are told in Hebrews 10
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  that Jesus presented his blood as the sacrifice in that place
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  to atone for the sins of all that would call on Him to be
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  their Savior and their Lord. And so it's only through the
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  altar of Yahweh, only through the altar that Jesus placed his
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  blood on, that we can experience forgiveness of sin.
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  Can I ask you, what have you been trusting in to give you a
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  right relationship with God? Have you been trusting in your
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  good works, your attendance, your listening to Tabernacle
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  talk, you reading of the Bible? Or have you placed your trust in
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  the God who came down from heaven to earth, who died in our
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  place, who shed his blood? And then, as we learned in
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  Hebrews 9 and 10, He took that blood and placed it on the
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  altar? And so we can experience this
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  removal of our sin and atonement for our iniquity as a result of
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  trusting in this God and what He has accomplished, not what we
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  have accomplished. What a sobering thought that we
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  find in just these 7 verses. God is holy, He is perfect, He's
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  incredible, He is amazing. He overseas angels that are far
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  beyond our comprehension, who are incredible in their own
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  right, but they are nothing compared to Yahweh.
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  They're nothing compared to Jesus, the Incarnate Word.
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  And so as we see God and who he truly is, what he is capable of,
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  how perfect He is in every way, our only response can be
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  repentance, that we recognize our sin in light of a holy God.
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  And we recognize that we can experience forgiveness as a
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  result of heaven moving towards us, not as a result of us moving
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  towards heaven. We'll pick back up next episode
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  in verse #8 because when we are forgiven, when we have that
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  relationship with God, it's going to prompt us to do some
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  things. And we're going to see what it
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  prompted Isaiah to do next time. Thanks for tuning in.
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  Have a great day.