I'm calling today's message, “God is Awesome in Holiness.” Across Scripture, holiness alludes to God's moral perfection. Therefore, God is pure and holy. God is high and lifted up, exalted above every living creature and thing, in heaven and on earth. He is the Lawgiver and Judge. Perfect in righteousness and justice. In Isaiah 6:1-4 Isaiah gives this account, “I saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne, and the hem of his robe filled the temple. 2 Seraphim were standing above him; they each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. 3 And one called to another: Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Armies; his glory fills the whole earth. 4 The foundations of the doorways shook at the sound of their voices, and the temple was filled with smoke.”
If ever there was a person or place before whom you’d feel terrified—it would be in the presence of the Living God, the Holy One, the Lord of Armies. In Isaiah 6:5 Isaiah says, “Woe is me for I am ruined because I am a man of unclean lips and live among a people of unclean lips, and because my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Armies.” Later in Isaiah 64:5b-7 Isaiah says, “But we have sinned, and you were angry. How can we be saved if we remain in our sins? 6 All of us have become like something unclean, and all our righteous acts are like a polluted garment [Filthy Rags]; all of us wither like a leaf, and our iniquities carry us away like the wind. 7 No one calls on your name, striving to take hold of you. For you have hidden your face from us and made us melt because of our iniquity.”
Why is God’s holiness so terrifyingly awesome? Well, our most righteous acts are like polluted rags, filthy rags. Isaiah is not referring to rags left from dad changing oil in the truck. When the Apostle Paul contemplates the righteousness of God, in Philippians 3 he reckons his most righteous acts “dung” compared to the all surpassing greatness of Christ's righteousness. Of course the Bible cleans up Isaiah's and Apostle Paul's vulgar comparisons and use more palatable language. But you think at the end of the age you're going to be some “good person" waltzing into God's holy presence all proud, announcing, “Here I am!” But the reality is that unless God clothes you in Christ's righteousness, the last place you'd want to waltz into is God's presence. It would be like showing up at a wedding covered in dung or bloody rags.
When the Apostle John recounts his vision of heaven in Revelation 1:12-17 he writes, “12 Then I turned to see whose voice it was that spoke to me. When I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 and among the lampstands was one like the Son of Man,[p] dressed in a robe and with a golden sash wrapped around his chest. 14 The hair of his head was white as wool—white as snow—and his eyes like a fiery flame. 15 His feet were like fine bronze as it is fired in a furnace, and his voice like the sound of cascading[q] waters. 16 He had seven stars in his right hand; a sharp double-edged sword came from his mouth, and his face was shining like the sun at full strength.17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead man.”
God is Awesome in Holiness. We only think we're awesome because we haven’t seen and don't know God. We're proud in our sin because we're ignorant of the Holy. We're you to see God, you'd notice your dung smeared, blood-stained garments and be ashamed. Remember that old movie Rain Man? All these residents of a facility appeared to be dead. But then a doctor discovered that though they appeared dead, they were actually imprisoned by intense, rapid fire, continuous tremors. Only after they calmed the tremors did people regain the ability to walk, talk, dance, and smile. In Revelation 1:17-18 It’s only because God comforts John that he is able to remain, “Don’t be afraid. I am the First and the Last, 18 and the Living One. I was dead, but look—I am alive forever and ever, and I hold the keys of death and Hades.” In Isaiah 6:5 Isaiah says, “Woe is me for I am ruined because I am a man of unclean lips and live among a people of unclean lips, and because my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Armies.” But then in Isaiah 6:6-6 Isaiah says a miraculous thing occurs, “6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, and in his hand was a glowing coal that he had taken from the altar with tongs. 7 He touched my mouth with it and said: Now that this has touched your lips, your iniquity is removed and your sin is atoned for.”
Here me clearly. Entering, standing in God's presence won't be like visiting the local kennel, and being slobbered all over by some doe-eyed puppy. Unless God strips off your filthy rags and clothes you in righteousness, unless God touches that filthy mouth with a white hot coal, unless God himself says, “don't be afraid…” you would otherwise melt in sheer dread and terror. God is awesome in holiness.
Hear again God’s Invitation in Isaiah 1:16-20, we called it PLAN A. “Wash yourselves. Cleanse yourselves. Remove your evil deeds from my sight. Stop doing evil. 17 Learn to do what is good. Pursue justice. Correct the oppressor. Defend the rights of the fatherless. Plead the widow’s cause. 18 “Come, let’s settle this,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are crimson red, they will be like wool.” Why is baptism such a powerful marker of new life in Christ? It's because you cannot wash your away you own sins. Your most righteous badges of accomplishment are like dung in God's sight. The only way to stand in God's presence is for you to present yourself for God for a good old washing. It’s God who must wash, forgive, cloth, and sanctify you. It's only God who can remove that crimson stain, and make you white as snow, as white as wool. Galatians 3:27 says, “for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.” Isaiah 61:10-11 Isaiah will say, “I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. 11 For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the Sovereign Lord will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations.” God is awesome in holiness. Only God can wash you and clothe you and make you fit for his presence. When it comes to baptism it’s a ridiculous thing to sit there say, “Ahh gee, God do I have to?” It’s more like, “Thank you God for washing and clothing and adorning and transforming me.”
By the way, if you'll take the time to read Isaiah 2 through 6 this week, God paints a vivid picture of a vineyard to help us grasp what God's people (Israel) was to be. Israel was to be a sprawling, fruitful, life-giving, God-exalting, God-glorifying vineyard, a light to the nations. Read it. In Isaiah 5, God does everything imaginable to enable his vineyard flourish. But instead of a being a people who exalted God, they exalted themselves in God's place. In Isaiah 5:7 the Lord of Armies announces, “For the vineyard of the Lord of Armies is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah, the plant [God] delighted in. He expected justice but saw injustice; he expected righteousness but heard cries of despair.” In Isaiah 3:14 God says, “you have devastated the vineyard!”
Here is a principle evident throughout Isaiah. When we exalt God in his holiness, all of humanity is raised up! But when we exalt ourselves, humanity is brought down. Isaiah 2-5 is an indictment on a self-exalting people. You into this further.
Isaiah 2:1:11 describes how we exalt ourselves in all our Affluence. Our land is filled with silver and gold. There is no limit to our treasures. We take security in all the horses, chariots, war machinery, idols, political alliances we've made. Affluence create a false sense of security. In Isaiah 2:11 the Lord of Armies warns, “The pride of mankind will be humbled, and human loftiness will be brought low; the Lord alone will be exalted on that day.”
Isaiah 2:22, 3:1 describes how a culture exalts itself because of its heroic men and leaders. The pride of a nation is its heroes, warriors, judges, prophets, elders, commanders, dignitaries, counselors. Israel even took pride its in fortune tellers, magicians, and necromancers. In Isaiah 2:22 the Lord or armies says, “Put no more trust in a mere human, who has only the breath of his nostrils. What is he really worth?”
A nation exalts itself because of its affluence, its heroes. In Isaiah 3 the youth rise up as lead in the vacuum of Israel's dying heroes. But the youth are no more competent than the heroes of old. The youth who decried oppression become oppressors themselves. The youth act arrogantly toward all that is old, worthwhile, and honorable. They mistreat every good, holy, and sacred thing.
Affluence failed Israel. Heroic Leaders failed. The arrogant youth failed. The women come along but prove themselves to be haughty. They hold their heads high. They seductively look upon men, prancing along. They clothe themselves in finery… “ankle bracelets, headbands, crescents, pendants, bracelets, veils, head dresses, ankle jewelry, sashes, perfume, amulets, signet rings, nose rings, festive robes, capes, cloaks, purses, garments linen clothes, turbans shaws…
The Lord or Armies announces, Isaiah 3:24, “instead of perfume there will be a stench; instead of a belt a rope; instead of beautifully styled hair, baldness. Instead of fine clothes, sackcloth; instead of beauty, branding..” If you care to look into it, Isaiah 2-5 is an indictment on cultural Marxism. No matter which group rises to power in society, (what gender, what age, whatever)humanity is brought low time and again.
But what brings humanity up? What elevates society is a when a people emerge who instead of exalting self, exalt God. When a people, instead of putting confidence in their own affluence, or heroics, or youth, or self-exalting beauty… present themselves to washed, forgiven, sanctified, and made Holy by God.
Hear the gospel of Jesus in Isaiah 4:2-6, “In that day the Branch of the Lord will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land will be the pride and glory of the survivors in Israel. 3 Those who are left in Zion, who remain in Jerusalem, will be called holy, all who are recorded among the living in Jerusalem. 4 The Lord will wash away the filth of the women of Zion; he will cleanse the bloodstains from Jerusalem by a spirit of judgment and a spirit of fire. 5 Then the Lord will create over all of Mount Zion and over those who assemble there a cloud of smoke by day and a glow of flaming fire by night; over everything the glory will be a canopy. 6 It will be a shelter and shade from the heat of the day, and a refuge and hiding place from the storm and rain.” God is awesome in holiness, and only he can cleanse us with water, refine us with fire, and allow us to stand on day judgement. Lord of Armies be exalted indeed!
In Isaiah 6 Isaiah overhears God asking, “Who will I send? Who will go for us.?” Who will exalt me in a self-exalting culture? Who will exalt me in a leaderless culture where no one dare stand up to lead? Having been humbled, having been cleansed, Isaiah says, “Here I am, send me! I'd go…” Who is hearing God's call to exalt God in a self-exalting world?