Isaiah 6:1-8
Intro: It is a challenge to communicate from one culture or worldview to another. First of all, just trying to communicate ideas are tricky. In marketing this can be disastrous and cost thousands of dollars.
When Kentucky Fried Chicken broke into China, they thought their slogan would go over well- “Finger lickin’ good!” But it was translated as “We will eat your fingers off!” Pepsi Cola tried to hire an expensive marketing firm to make sure it didn’t make the same mistake. Their slogan “It brings good things to life” was translated, however, into “We bring your ancestors back from the grave!” In Germany, Clairol Hair products had a new curling iron model called the “Mist Stick” but in German, the word “mist” stands for “manure.” No girl wanted to use a manure stick for their hair. This problem is not limited to companies. The American Dairy Association tried to expand its market into South America. Its famous campaign with the milk mustache “Got milk?” was translated as “Are you lactating?” Finally, one more. You would think that translating something from English to English needs no help. That’s was a vacuum company from England thought when it tried to sell its very successful vacuum brand called Lux to America. But it flopped, because the English slogan was “Nothing sucks like a Lux!” You get the point.
Second, even facts do not always reveal the world of reality behind it. Steven Covey tells about a Sunday morning experience he had on a NY subway train. It was a quiet morning, some people were listening to music, reading the newspaper, even taking a short nap. But when the doors opened, a father with several young children came in and immediately disrupted the peace. They kids were loud and obnoxious, even trying to take the papers away from some people, climbing all over the seats. The father had sat down next to Steven Covey, looked dazed at the floor and seemed to be oblivious to the commotion he had brought in with him. Steven tried to be patient and wait as long as he could, but finally, his anger and irritation was too much. “Sir, he said, your children are bothering the other people on the train, can you try to control them?” The father looked up, confused as if he was seeing reality for the first time, “Yes, I guess you are right, I should do something. We just came from the hospital and their mother died one hour ago. I just feel totally lost and don’t know what to do, I guess they are having a hard time with it too.” In an instant, Steven’s feelings of resentment vanished and sympathy and compassion swept over him changing his attitude and behavior- “Oh! I’m terribly sorry, what can I do to help? Would you like to talk to me about it?” There was a complete paradigm shift, and it made all the difference in the world.
Keep these two things in mind – it’s very hard to explain one world to another and we often misjudge the true reality behind what you can see on front of you. This is the challenge before us as we open ourselves to meditate on God’s Holy Word this morning in Isaiah 6. How can Isaiah communicate accurately the incredible vision of God’s true reality to mere mortals?
Prayer.
The 6th chapter of Isaiah starts with Isaiah’s immediate, earthly reality- “In the year king Uzziah died” (Isaiah 6:1) The king is dead. Uzziah was one of the best kings that Judah ever had. He started at 16 years old and reigned for 52 years, and everything he did was wildly successful. He subdued all of Judah’s enemies, and exacted tribute from them. Economy was booming! He reformed the bureaucracy and organized the army. He even designed the soldier’s gear. He was a military engineer and created great catapults that threw arrows and large rocks in the case of a siege, which was a form of warfare that the rising empire of the Assyrians were very good at. In addition, he had many flocks and herds and oversaw fields and vineyards, he dug wells in the desert. The Bible specifically tells us “he loved the soil.” But most important of all, “He did what was right in the sight of the Lord.” ( 2 Chron 26:4).
Then success got to his head, literally, in the form of leprosy. You remember that story when he tried to burn incense in the temple, a role relegated only to priests? When they confronted him, he lashed out in anger and suddenly was struck with leprosy starting at his forehead. From then on, he was a leper in isolation for the last 16 years of his life. The Bible tells us that Isaiah had written a biography of him, “Now the rest of the acts of Uzziah, first to last, the prophet Isaiah, the son of Amoz, has written.” (2Ch 26:22NAS) Now biographers spend hours interviewing their subjects, then more hours researching everything they did. So you get the impression that these two knew each other well, perhaps were friends because Isaiah had royal blood. So, it may be that it’s not only the king but a close friend has died. Mourning and worried, Isaiah wanders with a heavy heart into the temple courts, the throne is empty, what will the future hold?
All of a sudden, EGW tells us in Prophets and Kings, Isaiah has a vision of the doors of the temple flinging open and the curtain that covers the Most Holy Place being drawn aside. Isaiah, the prophet, has never seen behind that curtain, no one has. Only the High Priest sees behind that curtain and only once a year at that. So, he’s straining to see the golden ark of the covenant, but to his surprise, he sees only sumptuous rich fabric filling up the Most Holy Place and as he follows the train, he looks, up and up and up and what does he see? “I saw the Lord, high and lifted up, sitting on the throne and the train of his robe filled the temple.” (v 1) Isaiah had come to the temple to find God, but what does he find in the temple? A God--that no temple can hold. For Isaiah, the message of the vision clearly is- the earthly king of Israel may be dead, but the real King of Israel is more than alive, your picture of reality is too small, have a taste of absolute, true reality on an everlasting throne! Don’t look down, look up! Open your eyes to God’s Extreme Reality!
And that’s not all, there are beings of fire around Him. “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. (Isa 6:2 NAS) Burning spirits veil their faces before THE Burning One. Whirling about and calling out to each other, “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of Hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory!” No wonder “ the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke.” (Isa 6:3,4 NAS)
Now, I might get in trouble for saying this but this style of heavenly worship - is not a typical Jewish service, it’s certainly not a typical Adventist worship service. Honestly? It’s closer to a Christian rock concert- I mean really! Here, you got people on fire, loud shouting back and forth, the whole place filling up with smoke and the foundations are shaking at the thundering sounds. Is this how worship in heaven goes? I’m just reading what my Bible tells me. All I can say is, perhaps our box of what worship is- is too small for God! Instead of thinking that heaven is full of sounds like Enya on pure white clouds- this is a real glimpse of how Angels rock worship! But what is the effect on the participants? It’s not chaos, disheveled emotions, revved up hormones, but the overwhelming transcendence, power and purpose of God.
Transcendence and Glory. Now, most of the songs and sermons you hear in high school focus on the immanence of God, his closeness and intimacy. Do you know why? Because you are going through Erickson’s developmental stages 5. Five, which characterizes adolescence, is where you are faced with the challenge of establishing your sense of Identity or lapse into Role confusion. Who am I really? or do I just play a role others have given me and wear a mask? You explore social identity through friendships and interacting with your parents, you try on different roles vicariously to see if they resonate with you.
In the Bible, God helped Adam discover his own identity in Genesis 1. He set him up. He brought all the animals to Adam to see what he would name them, and when Adam was done, what did he conclude? That he was WEIRD and not like them, and felt kinda lonely. Loneliness is part of realizing that no one else is exactly like you, you are unique, it’s an important insight- so embrace it! No human being will fully understand everything you are going through, no one will, except God. Grasp God then. God was guiding Adam through self-awareness. Now, Adam was ready for transitioning into Erickson’s stage 6- intimate relationship vs isolation- and God provided that special someone who was very much like him, to love. So you can see why the immanence of God- the closeness of God is popular and necessary when going through Identity Crisis and Relational Yearning. God can fulfill your interpersonal needs more deeply than any human can. But these two things- Authentic Identity and Intimate Relationship is not enough to give you lifelong happiness.
Erickson observes that when you grow past young adulthood, another stage arises. The next challenge is to choose between Generativity or Stagnation, Stage 7 in mature adulthood. We old folks in our 30’s, 40’s, 50’s want to make a difference in this world, a difference that lasts beyond our short lifetime and our immediate goals. Something bigger to life for. What is the meaning of life? And so, the transcendence of the Great Controversy that encompasses more than this little earth alone, the majesty, greatness, character of our everlasting God that is bigger than the limits of our imagination, becomes important.
You see, God cannot be confined to any convenient box, no matter how comforting it is. "Am I only a God nearby," declares the LORD, "and not a God far away? Can anyone hide in secret places so that I cannot see him?" declares the LORD. "Do not I fill heaven and earth?" declares the LORD. (Jer 23:23-24 NIV). Yes, God is close to you and identifies with you but God is also infinitely transcendent and totally unlike us in other aspects. That’s what holy means, and this is the hymn the seraphim are echoing back and forth- “Holy, Holy, Holy.” Holy means “sacred” in the “set apart” sense. God is the majestic “other” with a capital “O”. Bring your ordinary reality of this week into worship and let it be baptized into God’s ultimate, eternal reality. God’s Extreme reality puts our ordinary reality in its proper place.
And that place may be very disturbing. In the presence of God, I realized I’m messed up. (repeat slowly) So Isaiah, the prophet who has made a living by speaking the word of the Lord, suddenly realizes in the absolute holiness of God’s presence that all his words were merely trash talking. "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." (Isa 6:5 NAS) Jesus himself said to the Kosher Jews of his day obsessed with their perfect little diets, “It is not what goes into the mouth that makes a person unclean. It is what comes out of the mouth that makes a person unclean." Matthew 15:11. Are you clean or unclean? Am I? Have we said things that have hurt people, shamed the angels, let God down? I know I have, We all have, we are all a people with unclean lips. We need God’s Extravagant Grace.
John reminds us, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our faults, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from unrighteousness.”(I Jn 1:8-9) And that’s what Isaiah does. He confesses his sin. He doesn’t even ask for forgiveness or cleansing, he can only exclaim his complete unworthiness.
Immediately, Grace swoops down toward him in the form of a burning angel, for it is God’s Will to forgive him. God takes the initiative toward the abject sinner. It is God’s Work to cleanse him. The burning Seraphim gingerly picks up a coal from the sacrificial altar with tongs and heads straight for his lips, (Here, take up the tongs with a charcoal brisket and point it toward the audience) what does that altar represent? The sacrifice of Jesus Christ our Lord. But if you were Isaiah and saw this burning, fiery being, picking up the hot coal with tongs, not even with his own burning fingers and then coming right at you to touch your tender lips with that coal- would you flinch? Run away?
This is the hardest thing, after asking God to help us, allowing him to do what needs to be done. Just standing there and letting Him do with you what He must, no matter how frightening, how painful, how disorienting it may feel. Trusting that God knows what he is doing to us. Letting God purge you from the inside out is the scariest thing you will ever face. Isaiah allows him to touch the most tender, most sensitive part that needed to be transformed.
Then, even before Isaiah may have felt different, it is God’s Word that seals his justification. “Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity has been taken away and your sin forgiven.” Isaiah 6:7 Isaiah was pronounced clean and he believed it in faith.
This is salvation in a nutshell, this is God’s Extravagant Grace, right in the midst of this heavenly vision. Admit your sinfulness to God then allow God’s Will, God’s Work, God’s Word to save you with His Extravagant Grace.
Only after Isaiah has been purged, been cleansed, can his attention turn away from his uncleanliness and yearn after God. It is here, that his prophetic ear reaches a higher level than ever before. Before, the prophet heard the word of the Lord that reached down to him, in the vision Isaiah hears the words of heavenly beings calling to each other in holy antiphonies, but now- cleansed and purified, the prophet’s ears strain upward and hear God’s indirect voice- “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” Isaiah’s hearing is so good he can eavesdrop on God!”
This is the first time in this vision of majesty, power and adoring worship that the Almighty One speaks. And when He does, what is the focus of His attention? What is in his heart and on His mind? Israel’s picture of God is totally different from all other pictures of God from the other nations. Let me give you two pictures at the extreme ends of the spectrum.
In Isaiah’s time Assyria was on the rise to become a world power in the Middle East. The head of their pantheon of Gods was Ashur, probably a solar deity because his symbol was a winged circle or disc with a warrior bristling with bows and arrows that protrude out of that disc like rays of the sun. So for the Assyrians, what is on the mind of their head God? Power over others, domination, war and aggression.
At the beginning of the early Christian Church a Greek philosophy called Neo-Platonism dominated the scene. The “One” or ultimate reality of this scheme was the source of everything and what was on it’s mind? Itself. Pure Intellect emanated from the One and contemplated the perfection of Itself. Complete Self- absorption.
In complete contrast- Isaiah has a vision of Israel’s God, the God of the Bible and in the center of worship that revolves around Him, praising His supreme Holiness- we see that God doesn’t sit around contemplating his perfect navel, God doesn’t flex his muscles to intimidate others. Instead, the Omniscient One asks a question, that reveals the burden of his heart, “Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?” What is God thinking about when he is being worshipped? “Us!” And because we live in the 21st century, we know, looking back at the New Testament, the final answer to God’s question- it will be Jesus Christ- God will send Himself to reach and save us. But that is a prophecy to be fulfilled in the future, in the meanwhile, who can go to point the way? Isaiah has been personally transformed by His grace, his heart resonates with God toward others in the same pitiful state. His heart is filled with Exuberant Joy!
So, Isaiah says “Here I am, Send me” In Hebrew, it was - “Hinneni, Shalachni!” which literally means, “See Me? Send Me!” Now, there’s no way that Isaiah was whispering this in the middle of all that smoke, fire and shaking, besides the Lord is “high and lifted up” so I imagine if Isaiah is serious about being heard above the din he’s gotta shout it! You gotta be louder than those singing Seraphim, “Here I am, Send me!” “Here I am, Send me!”
Extreme Reality opened Isaiah’s eyes, Exuberant Grace purged Isaiah’s sins, Exuberant Response fills Isaiah’s soul!
Now, I don’t know if God will visit you this year like he did to grieving Isaiah, with a glorious uplifting vision of power and hope. He may sneak up on you like He did to oblivious Moses, wandering alone in the desert, by catching his attention with a small burning shrub. He came to suicidal, depressed Elijah crawled in to a cave, with a still small voice. He came to lonely, homesick Samuel in the middle of the night and had nightly heart to heart talks with him. He found the cheating, cowardly Jacob sleeping on a rock and blessed him with a dream of hope. He chased disobedient, rebellious Jonah with a mighty hurricane and scooped him up into smelly fishy solitary confinement for three days. He came to Paul, who had murderous intentions and was going to bring the whole Christian institution down, and had to physically knock him off his donkey and put him in time-out for three days. I don’t know how God will get through to you, but He will. Because YOU are on his mind and on his heart. You are the apple of his eye.
Come regularly to worship, today and every week, today and every day- enter the private sanctuary of your sacred devotional space with Him, for He wants to lift your up from your ordinary reality with His Extreme Reality, He wants to baptize you with the fire of his Extravagant Grace, and He yearns to fill you up with such joy so that you cannot help but cry out in Exuberant Response “Here I am! Send me!” This is true worship, This is your God, Let him invade your worldly reality and you will never be the same again!
