AUTHENTIC WORSHIP

ISAIAH 6:1-8

INTRODUCTION

          After attending church with his father one Sunday morning, before getting into bed that evening a little boy kneeled at his bedside and prayed, “Dear God, we had a good time at church today, but I wish you had been there.”

          A dear elderly lady was teaching the four-and five-year-old Sunday school class at a church. During one of the lessons, they were learning about the building of the temple. She explained to the students that when the temple was finished, the presence of the Lord filled the temple. Instantly the eyes of each child got wide and full of excitement.

          She soon discovered, however, that the source of their excitement was not joy that God had come to dwell in the temple, but rather, delight at imagining that huge building filled with presents from God!

          Aren’t we often much like those children? We are easily more excited about our presents from God than being in the presence of God.

I.                  THE DEATH OF THE KING V. 1

          The day that President J. F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas has gone down in history as a sad day for the United States. The young and enterprising President had ambitious dreams for the United States but his life was sniffed out too soon. King Uzziah on the other hand died not as a young man like President Kennedy but as an old man. In those days, Judah had not known any king like Uzziah since the time of Solomon. Uzziah had been an efficient administrator and an able military leader. Under his leadership Judah had grown in every way. He was enthroned at the age of sixteen, and he reigned in Jerusalem for fifty-two years. Uzziah was righteous in the sight of God. He sought God and had reverence for Him. As long as he continued to seek God, God gave him success. He was a military leader who defeated the Philistines and all the enemies of Judah. Uzziah provided water and the basic necessities of life for the people of Judah. His military force was one of the best in his days.

          However, there is a sad note to Uzziah’s life from which all of us need to learn. The story is recorded in 2 Chronicles 26:16-23. Verse 15 of 2 Chronicles 26 says that Uzziah’s “fame spread far and wide, for he was greatly helped until he became powerful.” Uzziah was greatly helped by God. Why is it that power can so easily bring down any effective leader? Power brings in its wave pride that leads to our downfall. As long as Uzziah was humble, God helped and gave him every success he needed, but when he was filled with pride it led to his downfall. The Book of Proverbs has much to say about pride. When Uzziah became powerful and full of pride, he usurped the role of the priest. During the time of Moses, God instituted that only the priests and the Levites were to burn incense and sacrifice on His altars. Uzziah took matters into his hands and burned incense. When he did that the priests of the Lord confronted him and asked him to leave the sanctuary but instead he became angry and started hurling insults at the priests. His attitude was an affront to God, because when he insulted the priests, he was indirectly insulting God. God is the one who appointed the priests, and God is the one who had ordained that only the priests and Levites were to burn incense in His sanctuary. God would not tolerate this prideful and arrogant spirit in His presence. Therefore, immediately leprosy broke out on his forehead. He was swiftly removed from the presence of the Lord. Uzziah was confined to a leper’s colony and he died as a leper.

          His affliction and death came as a surprise and discouragement to the people of Judah including the prophet Isaiah. Perhaps when J.F. Kennedy died some people in the United States felt the same thing as the people of Judah felt after the death of Uzziah. Probably they were lamenting and thinking of anyone who could fill such a big shoe. He had been a good king for the most part. How easy it might have been to focus one’s hope and trust upon a king like that. What will happen, then, when such a king dies, and coupled with that death there comes the recognition that a resurgent Assyria is pushing nearer and nearer? In moments like that it is easy to give up hope. No earthly king could help Judah in that crisis hour.

          This was a time of political and leadership crisis but Isaiah went to the temple of the Lord. Let me tell you a timeless truth. When a man of God dies nothing of God dies with him. God can and always replaces His servants. When Moses died God brought in Joshua. When God took Elijah home, He brought Elisha. When Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus and committed suicide, God brought in Matthias. When Stephen and James the brother of John died, God brought in Paul and Barnabas. God always raises a leader to replace a man or woman of God. God always shows up when His children are at our wits end. What causes God to draw nearer to us when we are broken spiritually before Him? God did not show Himself to Moses until he became a nobody at the backside of the wilderness tending his father-in-law, Jethro’s flock.

          “In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne.” This statement is an indication that Uzziah’s death has not caused God to abdicate His throne. He is still on His throne. The throne of God depicts His majesty. Isaiah goes on to describe that the Lord is lofty (high) and exalted. This portrays the transcendence and immanence of God. This transcendent God is the same person who has revealed a glimpse of Himself to Isaiah. The Hebrew people normally believed that to see God was to die (Gen. 32:30; Exod. 19:21; 20:19; 33:20; Deut. 18:16; Judg. 13:22). It is also equally true that various individuals were permitted to see God (Gen. 16:9-13; 28:13-15; Exod. 24:9-11; 34:5-10; Judg. 6:11-24).

          The whole quality of Isaiah’s experience is one of awe, perhaps more so than any other recorded theophany. I believe the reason why many church goers do not live differently is that they have not had an encounter with the exalted Christ. The reason many cannot worship the Lord in their homes and the house of God is because they have not had a personal encounter with Him. If you encounter the Lord, you will never be the same. The reason we do not share the gospel with our family, friends, co-workers, and neighbors is that we do not truly worship the Lord. Isaiah goes on to say that “the train of His robe filling the temple.” This indeed is an awesome sight. Nobody is awesome but God. Words fail to describe the greatness of this God. Words can rise no higher than the hem of His robe. God is utterly outside our categories. To try to describe Him in terms of the created world is always to fail. The Scripture does not say it explicitly, but I believe that when Isaiah caught this glimpse of the majesty of God, he fell prostrate before the Lord. Here we see the absolute sovereignty of God. While Isaiah is lamenting the death of King Uzziah, in this indescribable vision God is saying to him, “I am the King of kings. God alone is King. So here the temple is God’s palace. He is the King, not Uzziah or Jotham or Ahaz. When a spiritual or a political leader dies don’t lament as if God has died. God is still on the throne, high and lifted up. Pride and self-exaltation are the heights of human folly, because only God is exalted. Usually when people caught a glimpse of God, they were lost for words to describe that encounter. It is as though words break down when one attempts to depict God Himself. Isaiah’s experience is too personal, too awesome, and too all-encompassing for mere recording. Each one of us must aspire to own our experience of God’s presence. When Peter caught a glimpse of the glory of Jesus, He said, “Depart from me for I am a sinful man” (Luke 5:8). When Peter, James, and John caught a glimpse of the glory of Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration, they buried their faces (Luke 9:28-36). When Job caught a glimpse of the glory of God, he said, “I abhor myself, And repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:6). When you have a special encounter with God, your life will never be the same. Others may fake and play church, but you cannot, because your eyes have seen the Lord of Host and you cannot resist His calling and presence in your life.

II.   THE DETAILS OF THE VISION VV. 2-6

          Not only did Isaiah see the majestic and the transcendent Lord, he also saw the attendants or the messengers of God. He saw the Seraphim, which literally means, “the fiery ones.” These were angelic hosts. One pair of wings is used to cover their faces, for even the most perfect creatures dare not gaze brazenly into the face of the Creator. The sight would be too much. Another pair covered their feet. As the creature should not look upon the Creator, so the created should not be displayed in the sight of the Creator. That is why I warn people not to worship angels. Why do you settle for something less when you can worship the true living God? Why should you worship a created being when you have access to the Creator?

          To be in the presence of the Creator is not only to be prostrated with awe, but also to be filled with praise. That is why the Psalmist says, “Enter His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise” (Psalm 100:4). In verse 3 the seraphim were calling to one another. This is an indication that the singing of the angels was antiphonal; and not only that but they were also delighting with one another in the glory of God (Ps. 145:11). Here are their words: “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory” (v. 3). Holiness is one of the attributes of God. Nobody is inherently holy except the Lord. Any holiness that we have is derivative. In other words, it is God who makes us holy. God alone deserves to be called holy, for His glory fills the entire earth. This statement implies that God’s presence is not limited to a temple. But it is a way of saying that the earth’s abundance is merely a reflection of God’s being. God’s being is profoundly ethical. Therefore, where God is manifested, there is judgment for sin, for the two cannot exist side by side (Ps. 29:1-9; 89:6-19; Josh. 7:19; Jer. 13:15-17; Amos 4:13; 5:8-9; 9:5).

          When the fiery ones begin to sing, the foundations of the temple tremble and the temple was filled with smoke. The holy God is not to be surveyed casually with an unveil eyes. At this point Isaiah becomes aware of himself. He has been aware of the desperate need implicit in the political situation. He has been made aware of the awesome holiness of God with all that it means of the transcendence and yet the immanence of God, and now he is suddenly and brutally aware of himself. To his fellow men perhaps Isaiah taught that he was somebody, but when he grasps a glimpse of the majestic presence of God, he realizes that he is a sinner. What an awesome experience when the finite comes into contact with the infinite God; when the mortal sees the immortal one; when the creature encounters the Creator; when the sinner is confronted with the Sovereign Lord; and when the fallible sees the infallible One; and when the natural man experiences the supernatural God; and when the ordinary man encounters the extraordinary God. You and I may rub shoulders with our peers and even boast of what we are but when we encounter the Divine Presence, we become aware that we are nothing after all.

          Isaiah the prophet who had been pronouncing woe upon others now must pronounce woe upon himself. Prophetic announcement is not enough. Personal confrontation is necessary. But such confrontation cannot help but produce despair. When Isaiah encounters the majestic, transcendent, and holy God, he utters a cry of dereliction (6:5). When you and I see the Lord, we become keenly aware of what separates us from God. We realize that God is holy but we are unholy and sinful. Isaiah realizes that what separates humans from God is not finitude but moral corruption. It is not his finitude which crushes Isaiah; it is uncleanness. And he knows that such corruption cannot coexist with the God who has been revealed to him. Unless you acknowledge your moral and spiritual bankruptcy, you are not ready to worship the Lord; neither are you ready to serve Him.

          Therefore, you cannot come to the presence of the Lord to worship Him under any false pretence, because He already knows who you are. The primary element about God’s holiness that distinguishes Him from you and me is not His essence but His character. Consequently, Isaiah recognizes with sickening force and stark reality that his character is not any more than his people, in keeping with God’s character. The reason why many Christians do not worship God wherever they are is that their lips do not belong to Him. If your lips belong to God, instead of it becoming unclean, it would pour out praise to the Lord like the seraphim. Why does Isaiah confess that his lips are unclean? It is simple. That which his lips are an expression, the heart and the will, do not belong to God. That which God possesses is clean, for it is like Him. Therefore, if you are to serve God, sin and iniquity are to be removed from you. And this has been accomplished at the cross of Calvary.

          Isaiah confesses that he is a man of unclean lips because what comes out of the lips is the evidence of the heart (Matt. 15:18-20). James echoes a similar statement in James 3:9-12). Will God allow His servant to die in despair? God forbid. In conclusion, it cannot be mere coincidence that the year of King Uzziah’s death Isaiah saw the King—Yahweh. The prophet Isaiah has recognized that the fate of the nation of Israel, as well as his own fate, does not rest in the hand of any human king, however, competent and faithful that king may be. Rather, it is the hands of the only One who is King of kings, and Lord of lords. He alone is worthy of our worship.