I Saw The Lord
Isaiah 6:1-7
April 9, 2023
I realize it is Easter Sunday so we may have some family
Visiting with us who have not been in our worship services
Over the past couple of months.
But we have begun a study of the book of Isaiah
And having just finished chapter 5, this morning we come to chapter 6.
I am amazed at God’s timing,
• For this will prove to be a tremendous text to study on Easter Sunday
• As we think about the glory and the wonder of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
So here we come to Isaiah 6.
• Isaiah 6 is a famous chapter for most.
• It and Isaiah 53 are no doubt the two that are the most well-known.
Isaiah 6 is where we find the details
Surrounding ISAIAH’S COMMISSIONING.
The peculiar thing in the book of Isaiah
Is that unlike other prophets,
His commissioning is not mentioned at the first of the book,
But rather Isaiah waits until chapter 6 to give it to you.
Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Jonah, etc.
• Most prophets start there as a way of indicating their authority right from the
start, but not Isaiah.
But when Isaiah’s starts, instead of giving you his credentials
As a commissioned prophet from the LORD,
He just comes out swinging.
• He doesn’t give you the formalities of his calling
• There is nothing of his education or his degree
• He tells us nothing of past experiences.
• There is no testimony or pedigree or anything like that.
Isaiah simply steps up to the pulpit
And punches the children of Israel right in the mouth.
We have already studied 3 sermons from Isaiah
And they have NOT been for the faint of heart or the easily offended.
Things like:
Isaiah 1:10-15 “Hear the word of the LORD, You rulers of Sodom; Give ear to the instruction of our God, You people of Gomorrah. “What are your multiplied sacrifices to Me?” Says the LORD. “I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams And the fat of fed cattle; And I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls, lambs or goats. “When you come to appear before Me, Who requires of you this trampling of My courts? “Bring your worthless offerings no longer, Incense is an abomination to Me. New moon and sabbath, the calling of assemblies— I cannot endure iniquity and the solemn assembly. “I hate your new moon festivals and your appointed feasts, They have become a burden to Me; I am weary of bearing them. “So when you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; Yes, even though you multiply prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood.”
He barely got into his first sermon before he was already referring to the children of Jerusalem as “Sodom and Gomorrah”.
And he wasted no time telling them what God thought about all their worship.
• It was worthless
• It was detestable
• It was an abomination
• God hated it
That’s quite a way to begin.
The second sermon proved no better as Isaiah began to confront their idolatry and their love of the world’s approval.
Isaiah 3:8-9 “For Jerusalem has stumbled and Judah has fallen, Because their speech and their actions are against the LORD, To rebel against His glorious presence. The expression of their faces bears witness against them, And they display their sin like Sodom; They do not even conceal it. Woe to them! For they have brought evil on themselves.”
• Isaiah labeled the children of Israel as those who are “against the LORD”
• He called them rebels and lovers of sin.
• Once again referring to them as Sodom
And then pulling out the word that he would use multiple times,
The infamous word “Woe!”
These are NOT blessed people.
These are people under judgment.
“Woe to them!” Isaiah says.
And then we came to that 3rd sermon located in chapter 5
• Where Isaiah announced them to a be a fruitless vineyard
• That God was about to judge by ripping them out of their land
• And exiling them to a foreign country.
And again Isaiah pulled out the woes!
This time hitting the people of Jerusalem with 6 of them.
Isaiah 5:8 “Woe to those who add house to house and join field to field, Until there is no more room, So that you have to live alone in the midst of the land!”
Isaiah 5:11-12 “Woe to those who rise early in the morning that they may pursue strong drink, Who stay up late in the evening that wine may inflame them! Their banquets are accompanied by lyre and harp, by tambourine and flute, and by wine; But they do not pay attention to the deeds of the LORD, Nor do they consider the work of His hands.”
Isaiah 5:18-23 “Woe to those who drag iniquity with the cords of falsehood, And sin as if with cart ropes; Who say, “Let Him make speed, let Him hasten His work, that we may see it; And let the purpose of the Holy One of Israel draw near And come to pass, that we may know it!” Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes And clever in their own sight! Woe to those who are heroes in drinking wine And valiant men in mixing strong drink, Who justify the wicked for a bribe, And take away the rights of the ones who are in the right!”
We looked at those 6 woes.
It was the worthless fruit of Israel:
• Coveting
• Sensuality
• Indifference
• Depravity
• Pride
• Corruption
Until finally Isaiah announced that these people
Whom he had invited to “walk in the light of the LORD.” (2:5)
Were actually trapped in darkness awaiting judgment.
Isaiah 5:30 “And it will growl over it in that day like the roaring of the sea. If one looks to the land, behold, there is darkness and distress; Even the light is darkened by its clouds.”
Needless to say, when Isaiah took the pulpit, he came out swinging!
And such a confrontational beginning from the preacher
Would no doubt have the people in a state of shock and confusion:
“Goodness Isaiah, what has you so bent out of shape?”
“What has you so riled up?”
And in chapter 6 Isaiah answers
What has him so fired up:
“I saw the Lord”
And that vision completely changed Isaiah’s view on God, on himself,
On the people, on sin, on the future, etc.
IT CHANGED EVERYTHING
And just in case you suppose Isaiah to be too harsh…
Here in chapter 6 we also find out that
The first “woe” Isaiah ever pronounced was not at the congregation,
But was focused ON HIMSELF.
(5) “Then I said, “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips…”
Isaiah had been a sinful man.
He was clearly one of the people.
• He had been covetous like them.
• He had been sensuous like them.
• He had been indifferent like them.
• He had been depraved like them.
• He had been arrogant like them.
• He had been corrupt like them.
He was a “bloody-handed”, worldly living, idolatrous,
Hypocritical worshiper just like them.
And then “I saw the Lord”
IT CHANGED EVERYTHING!
IN ONE MOMENT, I realized my great sinfulness.
IN ONE MOMENT, I realized the gravity of my error.
IN ONE MOMENT, I realized the justice I deserved.
“Woe is me, for I am ruined!”
That word “Woe” in the Hebrew is OY
It’s that automatic response that comes out of you
When something awful takes place.
• When a football player gets completely run over in a play.
• When a baseball player takes a fastball to the middle of the back.
• When someone does a belly flop off a high dive.
“OH!” Is the word, and even that is not enough
To express the agony of what you have just seen.
Isaiah saw the Lord,
What is more he saw himself in the light of the Lord and cried, “OH NO!”
“I am ruined!”
“ruined” is the Hebrew word DAW-MAW
It means “to cease; to cut off, destroy, perish, to be undone”
It would be comparable to being in a car that went over a cliff
And in those brief seconds before you hit the ground,
The realization would hit you, “I am DAW-MAW!”
I’M A DEAD MAN!
When Isaiah saw the Lord
He was not instantly overcome with warm fuzzy feelings.
• It didn’t feel anything like Thanksgiving at grandmas
• Or sitting on Santa’s lap at Christmas.
When Isaiah saw the Lord, ONE REALITY overwhelmed him.
(1-3) “In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called out to another and said, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory.”
Isaiah saw the Lord.
And if you were to ask him what he saw,
Isaiah did not come of that temple and say, “Oh, it was love, love, love..”
He didn’t say, “I saw such mercy, mercy, mercy…”
Isaiah came out of that temple, no doubt pale and trembling,
And when asked what he saw, the answer was simple, “Holy, Holy, Holy”
R. Kent Hughes writes:
“Holy, holy, holy” is not just repetition; it is emphasis. It isn’t one + one + one; it’s perfection x perfection x perfection. The holiness of God distinguishes him absolutely, even from the sinless angels. The Bible speaks of the splendor of God’s holiness (Psalm 29:2), the majesty of God’s holiness (Exodus 15:11), the incomparability of God’s holiness (Isaiah 40:25). His holiness is simply his God-ness in all his attributes, works, and ways. And he is not just holy; he is “holy, holy, holy,” each word boosting the force of the previous one exponentially. No other threefold adjective appears in all the Old Testament….the seraphim strain at the leash of language to say that God alone is God. He is not like us, only bigger and nicer. He is in a different category. He is holy.”
(Hughes, R. Kent [Isaiah: God Saves Sinners; Preaching The Word Commentary series; Crossway; Wheaton, IL; 2005] pg. 77)
A.W. Tozer says:
“We must not think of God as highest in an ascending order of beings, starting with the single cell and going on up from the fish to the bird to the animal to man to cherub to God. God is as high above an archangel as above a caterpillar, for the gulf that separates the archangel from the caterpillar is but finite, while the gulf between God and the archangel is infinite.”
(ibid, pg. 77)
THE POINT?
Isaiah entered that temple and saw One
To whom he did not compare at all.
He was nothing like God and God was nothing like him.
God was God!
He was Holy, Holy, Holy
• How could I have been so mistaken?
• How could I have been so far off in my understanding?
• How could I have so grossly underestimated who He is?
• How could I have so grossly overestimated who I am?
In an instant Isaiah evaluated himself, not by his contemporaries,
But by the perfect and holy God!
And he felt like Peter on the boat when he caught a sense of the glory of Jesus.
Luke 5:8 “But when Simon Peter saw that, he fell down at Jesus’ feet, saying, “Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!”
It is the realization: I DON’T BELONG HERE WITH YOU!
And Isaiah announces to the people.
“I saw the danger I was in, and I saw the danger you were in.”
“Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.”
If you want to know why I came out of the gate swinging
It’s because you don’t realize who we are dealing with!
When you bring those sacrifices, you have NO IDEA who you’re bringing them to.
When you come into His courts, you have NO IDEA who you’re approaching.
When you pray, you have NO IDEA who you’re appealing to.
When you attend Easter Sunday worship, you have NO IDEA who this Holy One is!
He is Holy, Holy, Holy and I feared for my life and I feared for your life.
BUT…
In spite of His unapproachable holiness, I FOUND MERCY in His sight.
(6-7) “Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs. He touched my mouth with it and said, “Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven.”
I found that this God who is holy beyond comprehension
Is also merciful to sinners who grieve over their sin.
And when I confessed my sinfulness before Him,
He took away my iniquity and He forgave my sin!
He didn’t kill me!
He didn’t destroy me!
HE PARDONED ME!
It’s as David had said:
Psalms 32:5 “I acknowledged my sin to You, And my iniquity I did not hide; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD”; And You forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah.”
That would be ISAIAH’S TESTIMONY as well.
God was merciful to that sinful prophet.
And Isaiah would then reveal that
When this holy God who had forgiven his sin asked
Who would go and proclaim what he saw to the children of Israel?
• Who would go and tell the people how sinful they were?
• Who would go and tell the people how holy God was?
• Who would go and tell the people how much danger they were in?
• Who would go and tell the people how mercy and forgiveness could be found?
Isaiah said:
(8) “Here am I. Send me!”
That is WHY I CAME TO PREACH to you,
And that is WHY I HAVE COME OUT SWINGING.
God is holier than you have ever imagined
And when you are compared to him,
You have no concept of how far short you have fallen of His glory.
We quote it sort of nonchalantly all the time:
Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”
We say that almost as an excuse for sin.
“Oh well, we all fall short!”
Isaiah would put his hand over his mouth and FALL TREMBLING to the ground.
• You have no idea how far short you have fallen.
• You have no idea the gravity of your sin.
• You have no idea how glorious He is.
The fact that all have sinned is not a reality to boast in,
It is one to grieve over.
• That reality DOES NOT TEACH us to find comfort in our common failing.
• That reality TEACHES us to fear the holiness of a God who has every right to immediately annihilate us.
And this is WHY ISAIAH HAS COME with such a message
To the children of Israel and by extension to us as well.
“I saw the Lord” and trust me, you are not ready.
And perhaps that helps those of you who have been with us through the first 5 chapters of Isaiah to understand why the preaching of Isaiah has been so heavy.
He is preaching as a dying man to dying men.
• All of life’s trivialities have faded away.
• His petty covetousness, his ridiculous sensuality, his unbelievable arrogance and indifference and corruption and depravity…
THOSE THINGS ARE GONE!
Seeing the Lord changed everything for him.
NOW, YOU SAY, that’s all well and good,
And it certainly clarifies the first 5 chapters of the book of Isaiah,
But this is Easter, what does this have to do with the resurrection?
WELL FIRST OF ALL,
• When we read Isaiah 6 we see that Isaiah saw “the Lord”
• In verse 5 Isaiah said the person He saw was “the King, the LORD of hosts.”
But it is not until we come to the NEW TESTAMENT
That the reality of WHO ISAIAH SAW comes into full view.
TURN TO: JOHN 12:36-41
Jesus is speaking and like Isaiah He calls men to come to the light.
• It is a calling from sin to righteousness.
• It is a calling from ignorance to wisdom.
But as we see in verse 37 they were not listening to Him
Any more than they were listening to Isaiah.
And this was all a fulfillment of what Isaiah spoke of.
(38-40).
But then comes the revealing verse.
(41) “These things Isaiah said because he saw His glory, and he spoke of Him.”
Who did Isaiah see?
• He saw Jesus.
• He saw “the King”
And again, what was Isaiah’s estimation when he saw Jesus?
• He is more holy than you can imagine.
• He is not like us and we are not like Him.
• I was terrified in His presence and were it not for His mercy, I would have
immediately perished.
Isaiah had a vision of what we might call the PREINCARNATE JESUS.
• This was Jesus before the incarnation.
• This was Jesus before He took on flesh and walked among us.
The picture we are used to is the human Jesus.
The picture of Jesus in His humility.
Philippians 2:5-8 “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”
• That was Jesus in His humiliation.
• That was Jesus when His glory was concealed by human flesh.
• That was Jesus when He emptied Himself of glory.
We only saw His true identity for a brief moment on a mountain.
Matthew 17:2 “And He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light.”
• But that scene was only witnessed by 3 of His disciples.
The rest of the world only ever saw Him in his humiliation.
Including the moment in which He died upon the cross.
In that moment, on the cross, to a world steeped in darkness,
He appeared weak and we saw no glory that was attractive.
Isaiah 53:1-3 “Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, And like a root out of parched ground; He has no stately form or majesty That we should look upon Him, Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him. He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.”
When you read that passage in light of Isaiah 6
You can finally feel Isaiah’s frustration breaking through.
• I saw Him!
• I know Him!
• He is more holy and more magnificent than you can imagine.
But when Jesus came in His humiliation, the world didn’t see that.
And Isaiah asked, “Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?”
Where was this glory we heard about?
Where is this magnificent holy you spoke of?
• This Man is despised.
• This Man is forsaken.
• This Man “has no stately form or majesty”
But there was an answer for that.
There was a reason why He looked so ordinary.
Isaiah 53:4-6 “Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.”
He looked unattractive because He was identifying with us.
He was standing in the place of sinners.
No man alive would ever be able to ascend
And become like the One Isaiah saw in chapter 6,
So the King would have to descend and become like Isaiah.
We couldn’t put on glory, so He put on flesh.
He came to stand as one of us
That He might bear our sin and take our punishment.
This Jesus, the glorious holy King,
Humbled Himself to become like us that He might take our punishment.
IT IS THE ULTIMATE HUMILIATION.
BUT THIS MORNING WE PUSH THE STORY 3 DAYS LATER.
We don’t stop on Friday, we look to Sunday morning.
Romans 1:3 “[He] was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord”
When the world looked at Jesus on the cross,
Suffering and humiliated
They had a very difficult time seeing the One Isaiah spoke of.
The Centurion saw it when he saw how Jesus died, but few others did.
He looked weak, He looked like a criminal, He looked anything but holy.
That would come 3 days later when the glory would break out again!
• Jesus would step out of that tomb.
• Jesus would step out of His humiliation.
• The One Isaiah saw would come bursting forth.
Those guarding the tomb would become like dead men and would freeze in fear.
They weren’t the only ones.
Saul of Tarsus had an encounter with this glorified Jesus.
• He was on his way to Damascus to arrest and kill Christians.
Acts 9:3-9 “As he was traveling, it happened that he was approaching Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him; and he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” And He said, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, but get up and enter the city, and it will be told you what you must do.” The men who traveled with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing; and leading him by the hand, they brought him into Damascus. And he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank.”
The church’s leading persecutor encountered just a flash of this Holy One
And it sent him to the ground in fear and trembling.
Just one look at this glorified Jesus
And Saul was transferred from the church’s greatest enemy
To the church’s most dedicated missionary.
Sound like what happened in Isaiah’s day?
And while we see Him a few more times on earth,
Certainly with more glory than we had seen previously.
It isn’t until John is imprisoned on the island of Patmos
That he finally sees the One Isaiah spoke of.
TURN TO: REVELATION 1:9-18
John saw the One Isaiah saw.
This same one, by the way, will show up again in Revelation 4
And there we see a similar scene.
Revelation 4:8 “And the four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within; and day and night they do not cease to say, “HOLY, HOLY, HOLY is THE LORD GOD, THE ALMIGHTY, WHO WAS AND WHO IS AND WHO IS TO COME.”
This is the same thing Isaiah saw.
John saw it also on the island of Patmos.
It is “The King”
It is the Holy One
And I make sure you see this because THIS IS THE REAL JESUS.
This is who He is!
• We certainly love that He took on flesh and dwelt among us.
• We certainly love that He humbled Himself to become a servant.
• We certainly love that He submitted Himself to death on a cross.
But you must understand that
From the scope of eternity past to eternity future
That humiliated Jesus was the exception, not the rule.
He was humbled for 33 years, He is glorified for all eternity.
We praise, honor, and give thanks to THE CRUCIFIED JESUS who bore our sin and took our punishment that we might be forgiven.
But now we look to the resurrected Jesus
Who is more holy than anything you can imagine.
And catching a glimpse of Him will CHANGE YOUR LIFE!
A failure to see Jesus for who He is,
Is why so many have no problem living in sin.
It’s why so many covet the world.
It’s why so many are indifferent.
• Jesus doesn’t care about my sin.
• Jesus loves me just as I am.
In fact, many suppose themselves to be more like Jesus
When they do tolerate sin.
THAT IS AN INCOMPLETE PICTURE OF JESUS!
When John saw Him, “I fell at His feet like a dead man.”
• Had John not lived 3 years with Jesus?
• Was it not John who rested his head on Jesus’ bosom during the Last Supper?
• Does John not refer to himself as “the disciple whom Jesus loved”?
So what was John so afraid of?
John saw Jesus in His glory, and like Isaiah before him,
John realizes that He is more holy than I could have ever imagined.
• I was a dead man before Him!
• If He had not extended mercy to me, I would have been undone.
And John, though imprisoned for following Jesus, would “prophesy again” and tell the world of this Holy One He encountered.
Easter Sunday is NOT the time to mourn the humiliated Jesus who died on the cross.
Easter Sunday is the time to look higher to the glorified Jesus who conquered sin, death, and the grave.
Easter Sunday is the time to realize that He is more holy than you can ever imagine and if not for His mercy you would never stand before Him.
Easter Sunday is the time to rise to your feet and proclaim this glorified Lord to all the earth.
We go and preach the same message of repentance
The same message that Isaiah, Paul, and John did
Because we now realize that apart from His mercy
No man will survive an encounter with Him.
AND THIS IS THE MESSAGE THE WORLD MUST HEAR.
• Someday, at the judgment, it is not the meek and lowly Jesus that you will
stand before.
• At the judgment, it is the Holy and glorified Jesus you will stand before.
Listen to Paul as he preached to the city of Athens:
Acts 17:30-31 “Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.”
God will judge the world “in righteousness through a Man”
What Man?
• The man He raised from the dead!
• The righteous one!
• The holy one!
• The One who caused Isaiah and Paul and John to fear for their lives.
• The One who made guards faint like dead men.
Thanks to Isaiah, and thanks to Paul, and thanks to John,
We have seen the resurrected and glorified Lord.
And we know what they have told us;
That we are too sinful to stand before this Holy One.
But they have also told us that He is merciful to sinners
Who confess their sin and run to Him for mercy and forgiveness.
This morning, if you have never repented of your sins, you must!
Coveting, Sensuality, Indifference, Depravity, Pride, Corruption and a host of many others.
YOU MUST REPENT.
You dare not stand before the Holy One in your sin.
You must ask for His forgiveness
You must trust His saving work
That you may be clothed in His righteousness
And justified in His sight.
AND IF YOU HAVE BEEN SAVED and justified then you must respond as Isaiah did and say, “Here am I, send me!”
• You must respond as Paul did and turn from enemy to missionary.
• You must respond as John did and write the things which you have seen and heard, you must prophesy again.
We are here to proclaim, not just the humbled and dying Jesus,
But the exalted and glorified Lord!
• The One who is so Holy that even angels tremble to look upon Him.
• The One who put Isaiah, Paul, and John on their faces.
• The One who made guards faint as dead men.
• The One who will one day cause every knee to bow and every tongue to confess that He is Lord!
Psalms 2 “Why are the nations in an uproar And the peoples devising a vain thing? The kings of the earth take their stand And the rulers take counsel together Against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying, “Let us tear their fetters apart And cast away their cords from us!” He who sits in the heavens laughs, The Lord scoffs at them. Then He will speak to them in His anger And terrify them in His fury, saying, “But as for Me, I have installed My King Upon Zion, My holy mountain.” “I will surely tell of the decree of the LORD: He said to Me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You. ‘Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, And the very ends of the earth as Your possession. ‘You shall break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them like earthenware.’ ” Now therefore, O kings, show discernment; Take warning, O judges of the earth. Worship the LORD with reverence And rejoice with trembling. Do homage to the Son, that He not become angry, and you perish in the way, For His wrath may soon be kindled. How blessed are all who take refuge in Him!”
