Sunday, June 22, 2025 PM

Isaiah’s Vision of the Holy King

Chapter 6, we'll be reading through the first few verses, the first 7 verses of Isaiah. Chapter 6 tonight, and let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father, we thank you for this night, we thank you for gathering us together to fellowship together, to sing songs to you, to rejoice in your truth, and I pray that you would give us clarity of mind, soundness of thought, warmth of heart as we read this passage that your will will be done in us.

We consider the worthiness of your son Jesus Christ. We pray these things in his name, amen. Isaiah 6, beginning in verse 1, in the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of his robe filled the temple.

Above it stood seraphim, each one had six wings. With two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one cried to another and said, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory.

And the posts of the doors were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke. So I said, woe is me, for I am undone, because 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.

Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth with it and said, behold, this has touched your lips, your iniquity is taken away, and your sin purged.".

Isaiah, Judah, and the Need for a True Redeemer

So it's been a little bit since we've been studying Isaiah. So as a reminder, we are in the first section of Isaiah, where we have sermons for a difficult present. Judah as a nation under the looming threat of Assyria.

Sermons preached by Isaiah to a largely unrepentant Judah regarding their idolatry, immorality, and injustice. Very often rebuking them for their misplaced trust either in idols or in foreign nations, in their scheming or in their pride.

These sermons culminate into an actual invasion of Assyria that we hear about in Isaiah chapters 36 and 37. And then a new shadow on the horizon, that of Babylon, chapters 38 and 39. And then in chapters 40 through 66 of Isaiah, we have sermons concerning a challenging future.

Sermons preached to Judah in light of what is to come in the Babylonian invasion and all that's to come in the new covenant. Here we're in chapter 6, and in the needs of Judah, they need to know the Lord is their true Redeemer.

Chapters 13 and following are going to rebuke a lot of foreign nations and destabilize the trust of Judah in those nations. But before Isaiah gets to critiquing other nations and Judah's misplaced trust, he first puts forward the Lord Himself as the true Savior of Israel.

Even though it is the Lord Himself whom they have rejected, and the Lord Himself who brings judgment upon them, nevertheless, they must look to Him for salvation, for there is salvation in none other.

And so, in the first six chapters of Isaiah, the situation of Judah is fully put on display. It's rather grim. These are children of woe. They are so far into the rebellion, they don't even remember God as their Father.

That's how bad the rebellion is. So we've come to a very critical chapter, chapter 6. And after considering what hope there might be in the first five chapters, and there are promises of hope, now we come to a question, what word is there?

And the word is given in chapter 6, as God gives a vision to Isaiah. And this vision is of the Lord, high and lifted up in His throne room, and it is a vision that is intense and startling. The throne room catches our attention because the throne room of the Lord is being described in concert with the death of the king of Judah, in the year that King Uzziah died.

There is still a king. There is still a king who reigns. There is still a king who is high and lifted up in holiness, not like the sacrilegious leper king who just died. This king is holy and he is in charge still.

And it is important for Judah to remember who their king is, since they are so much in rebellion. And so he is being described in the first four verses, his ascendancy, his attire, his attendance being the seraphim, his anthem of holy, holy, holy, and the great awe in which all are who see him.

Confession Before the Holy God

But this holiness of God actually turns out to be a threat to Isaiah, because Isaiah is a sinner and he belongs to a sinful people in covenant with God under his judgment. And so to be presented with a holy God as a sinner puts you into grave danger.

We've been considering that theme in verses 5 through 7. We've thought about the terror of sinners in verse 5 as a whole. And now we're beginning to think about what Isaiah actually says here in verse 5.

How does he begin? What does he say in the first three full phrases of chapter 6 verse 5? And we notice that Isaiah engages in confession. Verse 5, so I said, woe is me, for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips.

I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. So Isaiah just starts confessing. And the idea of confessing is saying the same thing that God says. You know you're in agreement with someone when you say what they're thinking aloud.

When you say, I agree with you. Here's what you're thinking, and I can say it out loud, and I know you agree with me. And that's how you know that you're in agreement with them. In confession, it's agreeing with God about yourself, about your sin.

Taking God's side against yourself is the way that some of the Puritans used to say it. I'm on God's side about me. This is how bad off I am. I agree with God about my sin and about the danger that I'm in.

There's not much else to do, is there, when thrust before the omnipotent, omniscient Lord of hosts. All that we can say is the truth, to agree with God about the state of all the matters. And if we would think to say anything else, we might as well just put our hand over our mouth like Job.

So Isaiah, notice, he confesses his condemnation personally. Woe is me. I am undone. And then he supports his proclamation of self-doom by two reasons. He gives two reasons why he is under woe. He gives two reasons why he is undone.

His own sinful condition, that's the first reason. And then the second reason, the sad state of those with whom he is in covenant, his people. So, first of all, consider this statement of woe and of doom.

It's a confession of, here's the big problem facing me. Here's my danger. So he speaks of irreversible sin in the first full phrase of verse 5. So I said, woe is me, for I am undone. Now, if you've been reading through Isaiah at a steady clip, and you work your way through the back half of Isaiah chapter 5, you find a seven-fold woe being used to describe the state of Israel, the state of Judah.

So, when you've heard woe seven times over about Judah, combined together with the great disaster that awaits them, and then you come to chapter 6 and hear Isaiah say of himself, that is very striking.

The translation really is oy vey. We have that in cartoons, we have it in common parlance. Oy vey, that's Hebrew for woe is me. That's what Isaiah says. Now, Isaiah, as a prophet and from a priestly family, he is, and he's even connected to the royal family, he's a very important person in the life of Judah.

He is a mediating servant in the old covenant. He finds himself in a place of representing the people of God, and that's why he's here in this vision, standing before the holiness of God on the throne.

Now, he can only represent his people up to a certain point. Remember that Uzziah, the king, had that role of mediating and representing the people before God. However, he did not obey the limitations of that, and as king, tried to go into the temple to offer incense as a sacrifice, but that was not for kings to do, and so he was judged.

Isaiah, nonetheless, is moved to confess his sins and the sins of his people as he stands in a place where Judah actually also stands, although Judah doesn't realize that they're there. God had declared that he would dwell amongst his people, and that he would dwell amongst his people where he had put his name, and he had put his name at the tabernacle, later built as the temple, and so God says, I will dwell amongst this people, I will put my name there, I make my covenant with this people, and so Judah lived every day in view of the throne of God in the temple on the highest point of their capital city of Jerusalem, and they had forgotten how holy God was.

They were casual with God, they were forgetful of God, they lived in their sin without a concern before God, and yet Isaiah, in this vision, is reminded of the holiness of God, and he stands in the very place where Judah truly stands, but they don't even realize it.

But Isaiah is made to realize it, and he quakes with an awareness that Judah truly needs at this time, at this moment. But they are blind and deaf. Judah doesn't realize how undone they are. They are not saying as they should, woe is us.

They need to say it, but they don't realize it. They are blind to the glory of God, and they are deaf to the strength and power of his word, and they are blind and deaf by design of God's judgment itself, as we will discover in the second half of chapter 6 of Isaiah.

They have so long rebelled against God that God has, in the words of C .S. Lewis, in judgment granted them what they desired. You want to ignore me? You will be ignorant of me. You don't want my words?

You won't see me nor hear my words. Here's the judgment that you so ardently desire. What a terrible judgment it is to be blind and deaf towards God. But Isaiah confesses the hard truth of his own woe.

He says, I am undone. Now, you think about the word undone. What does this really mean? The very exact same word is used in Isaiah chapter 15 and verse 1. Remember that Isaiah chapters 13 and following start taking shots at various nations.

In chapter 13, it's Babylon's turn. In chapter 15, it's Moab's turn. So, in Isaiah 15 verse 1, we read, the burden against Moab. King James probably has Oracle. The burden against Moab because in the night R of Moab is laid waste and destroyed.

Because in the night, Kier of Moab is laid waste and destroyed. See that word destroyed? That is the very same word that Isaiah uses of himself when he says, I am undone. So, this is what the prophet is saying about himself.

He's confessing his own condemnation. He's saying, woe is me and he prophesies his own doom. He says, I am destroyed. Isaiah is undone and there's nothing to be done. He's so done for, he's finished. And this is the state of all men before holy God.

And we know it. As soon as Adam and Eve sinned, they hid from God in the trees. They hid beneath fig leaves. They hid behind excuses. They hid among complaints. Just read Genesis 3. Look at all the kind of obfuscation and trying to hide from God that took place.

In their sin, they did not want to stand before the holy God. And then God placed his sword-wielding cherubim at the entrance of the garden to make it clear that mankind was not welcome again to his presence on mankind's own terms.

And that is when we begin to hear that the earliest worshippers of God, they called upon his name. They weren't in the garden, walking with the Lord in the cool of the day. They were on the outside and they were calling upon the name of the Lord.

And in the Hebrew, it can cut both ways. Not only were they calling on the name of the Lord, they were called by the name of the Lord. Thus, these were the sons of God that we read about later on. The seed of those who believed.

When we think about the way that that's expressed, the earliest worshippers of God were those who called upon his name. There is an intimacy there in which they believe and they love their creator and yet there's still a distance because they're calling.

Right?

You don't yell and call after those that you're right next to.

Right?

And so there's a sense in which there's a distance. We have the same type of expression and concern. Even the likes of Hagar and Jacob, the schemer. Gideon, who isn't as much a pure hero of faith as you think he is.

And Manoah. Do you know who Manoah is? Father of Samson. When Hagar, Jacob, Gideon, and Manoah, they all knew they were in immediate danger when God showed up personally. They all knew something was, they were in big trouble in the way that they respond, the way that they react when God shows up.

It doesn't matter that it was Adam and Eve's first offense.

Right?

It doesn't matter that Hagar was an oppressed class of person. It doesn't matter that Jacob was the victim of an assault. Remember that God snuck up on him in the dark and attacked him? It doesn't matter that Gideon was under a lot of stress.

It doesn't matter that Manoah's cornbread wasn't done all the way in the middle. The holy presence of God was a genuine threat to them all. And they all knew it. They were all frightened for their lives.

That these folks did not die, that they did not die immediately, is evidence of God's grace and kindness. There is certainly nothing that Isaiah or any of the rest of these examples could have done to make their situation any better.

What can they do? All they can do is confess. All they can do is prostrate themselves before God, seeking His mercy. They can't make their sin any better. We can't make our sin any better. We can't atone for it.

There's no solutions available to us. All we can say is, Woe is me, I am undone. We humble ourselves before God and seek His salvation. The posture of Isaiah here in this text exemplifies the only hope of his fellow Jews.

They too need to humble themselves. They too should humble themselves and sackcloth in ashes and say, Woe is us, we are undone. Now, Isaiah gets very personal. He says, Woe is me, I am undone. First reason he gives is this, I am a man of unclean lips.

Here's reason number one. I personally am a sinner. Now he is going to engage in confessing all the sins of those with whom he is in connection by covenant. But he begins with himself. Woe is me, I am undone because I am a man of unclean lips.

Notice he's not concerned about unclean feet that have traversed in unholy places. He does not here have the thought of Moses of removing his sandals being on holy ground. He does not talk about unclean hands that have touched what is defiled or have been used to transgress God's law.

Unclean lips are his concern. Defiled lips, polluted lips. These are what damn Isaiah before the holiness of God. Now given Isaiah's role as a prophet, confessing that his lips are unclean, it's pretty serious.

If he finds himself in a priestly position, how are you going to pray if your lips are unclean? How are you going to spread the truth of God if your lips are unclean? And how are you going to stand to say anything on your own behalf before the holy God if your lips are unclean?

You get a sense of the trouble that Isaiah is in. Now the term unclean is... Okay, we'll ask you. What book in the Bible do you think talks about the word unclean more than any other book?

Leviticus!

Shows up a whopping 84 times in the book of Leviticus. Boy, they're concerned about what's unclean. Unclean this, unclean that, unclean you, unclean me. Very concerned about what is considered unclean.

In fact, it was the job of the priests, according to Leviticus chapter 10 verse 10, it was their job to distinguish between holy and unholy, between unclean and clean. That was their job description. To see the difference between those and teach the whole people.

And there's a great deal of emphasis in Leviticus on not touching, not becoming defiled by what you touch. And an equal emphasis on food that is not to be eaten.

So think of this.

If your hands touch what is unclean, you defile yourself even further by touching the otherwise clean food that you eat. Touch something unclean, your hands become unclean, touch clean food, you make that unclean.

Unclean, unclean, then you're unclean. You can have perfectly clean hands and then end up eating unclean food. Now all of a sudden you're unclean again. Unclean hands can defile the lips, unclean food can defile the lips, unclean words can defile the lips as well.

Bearing God's name in vain, bearing false witness against a neighbor. Now there was a moment. Now all of these things being talked about in Leviticus in a sense are an explosion out of a single moment reflecting upon what is unholy, reflecting upon sin.

Because there was a moment when what the hands touched and what food was ingested and what was spoken, all of it conspired into the uncleanness of sin and the doom of death. Read Genesis 3. Where did uncleanness begin?

Where was the uncleanness originally found? This concern in Leviticus. Where did this concern about uncleanness come from? It came from what happened in the original sin. The wrong food was touched and eaten.

Wrong things were said. Wrong things were thought and felt. For Isaiah, unclean lips is a stand-in for the whole problem. For the whole problem. The lips, you see, are the intersection of defilement from within and without.

What goes in and what comes out. What is the intersection of both of those things?

It is the lips.

So for Isaiah, he's talking about the whole issue when he says unclean lips. Jesus said in Matthew 12, 34 to the religious leaders,. Brood of vipers. How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.

Remember what James says in James 3, verse 6. The tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body. As it's on fire the course of nature and it is set on fire by hell.

So, when we're thinking about the context and the importance of our lips and words, we should meditate a little bit further from Isaiah's context on John chapter 12. So, in John chapter 12, and beginning in verse 37, we read about Christ's ministry.

Verse 37 says,. But although he had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in him, that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled which he spoke,. Lord who has believed, I report, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed.

That's from Isaiah 53.

But further,.

Therefore they could not believe, because Isaiah said again, and this is from our chapter, from Isaiah chapter 6. Look at verse 40 of John 12. He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, lest they should see with their eyes, lest they should understand with their hearts, and turn so that I should heal them.

These things Isaiah said when he saw his glory and spoke of him. Isaiah saw God in his throne room, and Christ declaring the glory of God, declaring the message, and the people aren't believing him, and this just goes to show what God said through Isaiah in Isaiah chapter 6.

Now notice verse 42,. Nevertheless, even among the rulers, many believed in him, but because of the Pharisees, they did not confess him, think about what they're saying or not saying with their lips, lest they should be put out of the synagogue, for they love the praise of men rather than the praise of God.

Then Jesus cried out and said, He who believes in me, believes not in me, but in him who sent me, and he who sees me, sees him who sent me, I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in me should not abide in darkness.

And if anyone hears my word and does not believe, I do not judge him. For I do not come to judge the world, but to save the world. He who rejects me and does not receive my words, has that which judges him.

The word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day. For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me gave me a command, what I should say and what I should speak. And I know that his command is everlasting life, therefore whatever I speak, just as the Father told me, so I speak.

Do you know that there is a mediating servant who has clean lips and he stands with full confidence before the full holiness and the brightness of God and with full acceptance before the Father? Jesus Christ has clean lips.

He speaks exactly.

As the Father told him to speak. He brings forth the word to the people. He has revealed to us who God is that we may hear that message and believe. Now concerning our own words and lips, how should we humble ourselves?

Are we casual with what comes out of our mouths? Isaiah could not be casual.

About that.

In the face of a holy God. Do we only invest our words with significance to the degree that they seem to accomplish tasks for us? Or perhaps we overemphasize the power of our words. We invest our own language with authority we do not have.

We can create our own identities, definitions, realities, and so on.

Do we assume.

That we have the right to speak however we wish? To put this consideration from another angle, what happens when our words are used to hold us accountable? How comfortable are we when our words are used and said back to us?

When our words are taken far further than ever desired or imagined that they would go, we are concerned and should have concern about our words. And given the fact that we have unclean lips and those lips can only be cleansed by that live coal from the altar we're going to see about next time.

To recognize the limitations on our own words and our own language, isn't it humbling to pray? Isn't it humbling to pray? This is, I think, one of the greatest hindrances. It's not an issue of time. Time is not really what keeps us from praying.

It's usually what the excuse is, well, I just don't take the time, I don't have the time, I feel like I'm too busy. The main reason we don't pray is because it is humbling. It is humbling to pray, to come before a Heavenly Father with the relative eloquence of a toddler.

Every subtext screamingly obvious to the Heavenly Father.

Of what we really mean.

We can't hide it, we barely know how to say it. To come before Him, to know how inadequate we are, to feel even frustrated about the inability to say what we really feel, to know how polluted our vocabulary is, how polluted our motivations are, it is hard to pray because it is a humbling experience.

But it's a good thing to pray. It's a good thing to cultivate humility in our prayers.

And,.

The more we talk aloud.

With others,.

The more time we spend talking aloud, the more we ought to be in prayer, to season our speech with prayer. Humility, after all, is the only safe path to walk. If you're wanting to know what to pray for, I recommend for self-study, Colossians chapter 4, verses 2 through 6.

You know, on Wednesday nights we have prayer requests. Paul sent some prayer requests into the church at Colossae. I don't know if they had prayer meetings on Wednesday night, but if they did, and if they had a whiteboard, they would have put Colossians 4, verses 2 through 6, and they would have listed Paul's prayer requests for them to pray for.

So if you were interested on what an apostle asks prayer for, you can look it up yourself. Colossians 4, 2 through 6. We'll leave it there, and let's close by singing the doxology together.

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him, all creatures here below. Praise Him, above ye heavenly. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

And we are dismissed.