God’s Holiness (Isaiah 1–6)

Sermon for MHBC (15 November 2020). You can listen on Facebook, YouTube, Vimeo, or our website. Live at 11:00am on Sundays.

Today we are beginning a series that will take us to Christmas Eve. The series is on the book of Isaiah, so I encourage you to read Isaiah for the next several weeks.

The series is called “Glimpses of the Holy One.” One of the features of Isaiah is how frequently he refers to God as “the Holy One.” Holy One is a designation for the LORD 30 times in the OT. Of these 30 occurrences, 25 occur in Isaiah.

One of the most important tips I can give you for reading the Bible is to recognize that the book is all about God. The book is not primarily about who we are. It’s not primarily about comforting us or even telling us what to do. The primary purpose of Scripture is to make God known. That’ll be a big help as we go through Isaiah. We are asking the question: What does this say about God? Hence the series title “Glimpses of the Holy One.”

Since this is our first week in Isaiah, let me say a quick word about the book as a whole. Isaiah has three sections that are distinct enough to cause scholars to refer to First Isaiah (1–39), Second Isaiah (40–55), and Third Isaiah (56–66). Nevertheless, the book has been weaved into a single book called Isaiah and it has been received as a single book. Isaiah 1–39 is heavy on judgment and exile with glimmers of hope. Isaiah 40–66 is about redemption, renewal, and new creation.

As you are reading Isaiah, you need to know that it is not sequential.[1] That is, ch. 4 doesn’t always help you make sense of chs. 5 and 6. Isaiah bounces around a good bit. So don’t worry if you feel like things aren’t flowing or you’re having troubling following the book. It’s not a sequential story.

The Holy One of Israel

When we hear the word holiness, we tend to think in terms of morality. That’s not exactly how Isaiah uses the term. God’s holiness refers to his utter incomparability, his uniqueness. One OT scholar writes, “To be holy is to belong to a different realm from the everyday, the worldly, the human, the created, the this-worldly.”[2] In other words, God’s holiness means there is no one or thing like him.

Let’s begin in Isaiah 1:2: “Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the LORD has spoken: ‘Children have I reared and brought up, but they have rebelled against me.” So here’s the charge. His children have rebelled.

Verse 3: “The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master’s crib, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand.” See the comparison. Animals understand who cares for them. But Israel has failed to recognize the LORD. This isn’t due to intellectual inability. This is due to willful idolatry. They have chosen to trust in and delight in and hope in other things.

Verse 4: “Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, children who deal corruptly! They have forsaken the LORD, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they are utterly estranged.” What is sin? Look closely at the verse. Fundamentally, sin is a rejection of the Holy One. It is a failure to recognize that the LORD is the true God. Take the Ten Commandments as an example. Remember how they begin? “I am the LORD your God who brought you out of Egypt. You shall have no other gods before me.” There’s a statement about the LORD’s uniqueness. He alone is God. He is the one who delivered them from Egypt. Then the first command—the one on which all the others stand—you shall have no other gods before me. Any violation of the other commands necessarily means a violation of the first command. Idolatry is the root behind all sin. Idolatry is valuing anything more than the one true God.

This means that God is not interested in mere obedience. He wants our hearts. He wants our affections. He wants our desires. Jump down to v. 11: “What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? Says the LORD; I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls or of lams, or of goats.” So all these sacrifices are meaningless. Why? Let’s keep reading. Verse 12: “When you come to appear before me, who has required of you this trampling of my courts?” Verse 13: “Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations—I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly.” Pay attention to that last line: “I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly.” Do you remember how iniquity was defined back in v. 4? Forsaking the LORD. Ceremonial rule following does not please the LORD. In the next few verses, the LORD calls Israel to repent and to quit doing evil. But again, this isn’t a simple issue of following rules. The point is that their deeds reveals hearts that are far from the LORD.

But in spite of all this rebellion, the Holy One is gracious. Verses 18–20: “Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be eaten by the sword; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.” The call is to repentance. The LORD displays his graciousness because he is willing to wipe the slate clean. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.”

And this redemption comes through judgment. We sometimes look at Scripture and wonder at its apparent harshness. But note two things. First, God’s graciousness and glory are always highlighted against the backdrop of his judgment. Grace is only amazing when viewed in light of judgment. Second, the true God is holy. There is none like him. To rebel against him is the greatest possible offense in the universe. And yet, even still, the LORD is gracious. Look at vv. 24–26: “Therefore the Lord declares, the LORD of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel: ‘Ah, I will get relief from my enemies and avenge myself on my foes. I will turn my hand against you and will smelt away your dross as with lye and remove all your alloy. And I will restore your judges as at the first, and your counselors as at the beginning. Afterward you shall be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city.” Redemption comes through judgment.

On this side of the NT, we know how this redemption is accomplished. It is accomplished through judgment. Christ bears all the iniquity of this fallen world. In the ultimate act of rebellion, human beings crucify the Holy One. But in that act, iniquity is swallowed up. The death of death occurs at the death of Christ because the grave does not hold him. Christianity says, “Look, we have all rebelled. All of us have committed idolatry. This is the case Paul makes in Romans 1–3. He says, “No one seeks God … There is no fear of God before their eyes” (3:11, 18). But the rebellion has been laid upon Christ. Quoting from Isaiah, 1 Peter 2:24 puts it this way: [Christ] himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.”

Isaiah 2 looks forward to redemption. Look at 2:2: “It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established as the highest of mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it.” Isaiah says that the LORD is going to act decisively at a moment in the future and he is going to bring people from every nation to himself. In Christ, these promises become realities.

A Response to Holiness

Now we’ve seen the LORD’s holiness and we’ve seen judgment due to a failure to grasp the incomparability of the LORD and to gaze upon him and to value him above all else. Surely, we can see the same in our own hearts. We can see the tendency to hope in numerous things but not the LORD. We can see faith and confidence in people and organizations and events. But can we see faith and confidence in the LORD. We value and prioritize what is important and weighty. Do our values and priorities reflect the holiness of the one true God?

Look at 1:29: “For they shall be ashamed of the oaks that you desired; and you shall blush for the gardens that you have chosen.” When compare the LORD to what we’ve hoped in, we should be ashamed. When the blazing incomparability of the LORD hits our eyes, everything else is empty by comparison.

Notice how this issue is highlighted in 2:5–8:

O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the LORD. For you have rejected your people, the house of Jacob, because they are full of things from the east and of fortune-tellers like the Philistines, and they strike hands with the children of foreigners. Their land is filled with silver and gold, and there is no end to their treasures; their land is filled with horses, and there is no end to their chariots. Their land is filled with idols; they bow down to the work of their hands, to what their own fingers have made.

The best goods in the world still pale in comparison to the LORD. In Psalm 63:3, Scripture says, “Your steadfast love is better than life.” If it is better than life itself, it follows that it is better than all that life has to offer. Judgment comes to the house of Jacob because they are hoping in the pleasures of this life. Their hearts are idolatrous.

Look at vv. 17–18: “And the haughtiness of man shall be humbled, and the lofty pride of men shall be brought low, and the LORD alone will be exalted in that day. And the idols shall utterly pass away.” We tend to think of humility as not speaking well of ourselves or something like that, but notice that the issue with pride is failing to recognize the worth of the LORD. Isaiah says, “The LORD alone will be exalted in that day. And the idols—that is, everything that competes for God’s throne—will pass away. The only proper response to an incomparable God is to value him above all else.

This is illustrated by Isaiah’s own experience. Go to Isa 6:1: “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.”[3] Here is this glorious vision of the one true King sitting upon his throne, which is elevated in a position of prominence. So glorious is he that his robe fills the entire temple. Verse 2: “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. These are angels of some sort. They use two wings to fly. But the other four wings are response to the glory and incomparability of the LORD. They cover their faces so as not to look upon him directly. They cover their feet out of respect or even as a potential sign of their inferiority and guilt before a holy God.[4] And what do they do?

Verse 3: “And one called to another and said: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!’” The LORD “is not merely once holy, or twice holy, but thrice holy; not merely holy, or very holy, but utterly holy.”[5] These heavenly beings live to exalt the Holy One. And in response to their cry, the foundations shake in a scene of sheer power and coming judgment.

How Isaiah’s response is instructive. Verse 5: “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!’” Isaiah is confronted with his unworthiness before the one true God. This is the only proper response to the Holy One.

But, once more, the LORD is gracious. Verses 6–7: “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.’” Isaiah can’t make himself pure. The LORD does that for him. And here we have a picture of the gospel. We can’t make ourselves pure, but in Christ, God acts unilaterally to make us pure. This whole vision is critical to the book of Isaiah. From here, he will be sent out with a message of judgment if there is no repentance. He will be calling people to respond to the LORD in the same way he has—by recognizing his worth and value, his incomparability, and by contrast, their own unworthiness. He can proclaim this message because he has seen the Holy One and the Holy One has purified him.

Conclusion

What can we say about these first six chapters of Isaiah? I think we can summarize with three points of application.

1. Take an inventory of idols. Our hearts are very good at producing idols. They want things to attach to, to love, to give themselves to. Pay attention to what makes you angry and sad. Pay attention to what you give your time to. Pay attention to what you consider important. And remember that even good things can become idols when they replace the one true God.

2. Remove distractions. Let me make a suggestion. Idolatry is hard to spot when distractions are present. That’s part of the critique in Isaiah. They had a country full of stuff. It will take judgment to open their eyes. We live in a distracted world. If you took a break from TV, social media, and the internet for 30 days, and read large chunks of Scripture and spent time in prayer, what do you think would happen? I wonder if we might experience something of what Isaiah experienced—an eye-opening moment of encounter with the Holy One. It could change your life.

3. Value the Lord above all else. This is especially difficult because our hearts are wayward. We are bent in on ourselves. But this goes back to something I said a moment ago. Reading large chunks of Scripture, spending time in prayer and solitude, contemplating the attributes of God and the glories of Christ, singing to the Lord, proclaiming the gospel, these practices shape us. What you give your time and attention to will be what you value.

In his book God Is the Gospel, John Piper asks this piercing question. He writes,

The critical question for our generation—and for every generation—is this: If you could have heaven, with no sickness, and with all the friends you ever had on earth, and all the food you ever liked, and all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed, and all the natural beauties you ever saw, all the physical pleasures you ever tasted, and no human conflict or any natural disasters, could you be satisfied with heaven, if Christ were not there?[6]

The greatest tragedy would be or us to value anything above the living God. May our heart rest in the Lord alone.[7]

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[1] The exception is Second Isaiah (40–55).

[2] Goldingay, The Theology of the Book of Isaiah, p. 97.

[3] The mention of King Uzziah’s death is probably not incidental. Second Chronicles 26:16 speaks of Uzziah’s haughtiness (cf. Kidner, New Bible Commentary, p. 636).

[4] If feet are a euphemistic reference, then this may address sexuality and guilt. See Watts, Isaiah, WBC, p. 106.

[5] Goldingay, The Theology of Isaiah, p. 97.

[6] God Is the Gospel, p. 15.

[7] Here I am alluding to the famous Augustine quote: “Nevertheless, to praise you is the desire of man, a little piece of your creation. You stir man to take pleasure in praising you, because you have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you” (Confessions, Chadwick’s translation, p. 3).