Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord Almighty

Isaiah 6:1-13, Key Verse: 6:3

"And they were calling to one another: 'Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.'"

Happy New Year 2010! How do you evaluate your 2009? We feel like the time went so fast, that almost it’s scary. A year after year, we feel that we are getting older and taller. We feel like we are growing from a little girl to a lady and from a little boy to a gentleman. However, we need to ask ourselves this question, “are we really growing? Growing in faith? Growing spiritually? Growing in the relationship with God?” I recently again realized that no spiritual growth is a miserable thing. Think about yourself one year ago. And look at yourself today. Have you grown much? A little? Or have you degenerated? If you became more mature in God, let us thank God who helped us to grow. If you feel that you haven’t grown much, let us still give thanks to God for helping us to know that we need to grow. It has been already 10 days since the beginning of 2010. The time will pass and this New Year will soon be replaced by next year. So, how will you live? I pray that in 2010, all our JBF members can start building an honest and intimate relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

When I first read and studied today’s passage, it was difficult for me to digest. The word of God was so deep that it took a while for me to dig in, and accept it. After meditating on the word for a while, I realized that the passage shows how we could build a beautiful and intimate relationship with God. So, it is a perfect passage for us to think about today. What will be the first thing that we must do to build a relationship with our God Almighty? We first must know him. It is not to know him as a human knowledge. But it is to know him by humbly studying his words, praying earnestly, and feeling his holy presence in our lives. When we get to know him as the Lord Almighty, then He shows us who we are. Then He renews us in our hearts, in our attitudes, in our thoughts, and in our actions. And finally God shows us his mission vision in us, and he calls us to be his faithful servants. And we the remnants will joyfully obey his commands, and decide to live lives that glorify God’s name. That is the summary of today’s passage. As we begin 2010, let us pray to know God, know ourselves, and be renewed for greater things in our lives.

I. Know who God is (1-4)

Verse 1 begins, "In the year that King Uzziah died...." As we studied in 2 Kings, Uzziah  was one of the relatively good kings in Judah's history. He reigned for 52 years, doing what was right in the eyes of the Lord (2 Ki 15:3). So the Lord gave Uzziah success. Uzziah defeated many enemy nations, and Judah enjoyed peace and prosperity. However, when Uzziah became powerful, he became proud. He presumed to act as a priest, and he was struck by the Lord with leprosy. Uzziah lived as a leper for the rest of his reign, a period of perhaps ten years.

When it was the time of God’s blessing they abused God’s sovereign mercy and grace. They worshiped idols of many kinds (Isa 2:6-8). The elders and leaders were not shepherds; instead they used their suffering people for the material gain. The women of Judah became haughty. They did not fear God or pray for their men. They used their physical beauty and charm to seduce men, and stole their hearts from God, and used them to satisfy their thirst (Isa 3:14-16). Young men, who should have had vision and hope for the future, were full of despair. They spent their time in drinking parties (Isa 5:11-12). To Isaiah's eyes, Judah was becoming like Sodom and Gomorrah (Isa 1:9,10), which God destroyed by fire for their godless immorality. Judah was rapidly degenerating in their spirit and faith. And this reminds us of who? Ourselves. We are blessed people. God managed for us to study in the best environment. God helped us to meet beautiful people around us who can talk to you and pray for you. We face no persecution when in reality, so many have to risk their lives just to read the Bible. We are blessed so much by God. And we must not take his blessing for granted, and we must not live with selfishness and pride. Instead, we must praise God’s name with all our hearts, with all our souls, and with all our strengths. Amen. Then God’s blessing for us will continue. Or else, we will see God’s judgment with our own eyes.

 Look at verse 1b. "...I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple." Of course, the Lord here is God. Isaiah saw a vision of God sitting on a throne as the King of the whole universe. The Lord was accompanied by seraphs. They were God’s angels, holy and spiritual (Rev 4). Isaiah tells us that they had six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, for they were not worthy to look at the Lord face to face. With two wings they covered their feet, because they were unworthy to serve the Lord. And with two wings they were flying. Though they were unworthy, they did their best to serve the Lord with speed and power.

And finally, Look at verse 3. "And they were calling to one another: 'Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.'" Here in this verse, we get to know who our God is. The God we worship, the God we call out when we pray, and the God who sent his one and only son for He so loved the world. Like I mentioned, we need to know our God to build a relationship with God. Life is all about relationship. And Christianity is about knowledge of the Bible. It’s not about religion. It’s about the our relationship with God. It’s all about God’s relationship with us. What do you think a good relationship means? How do you build up a relationship? Think about your parents and your best friends? How have you come to have a good relationship with them? It’s when we got to know them. Getting to know them little by little, we came to share our thoughts and hearts. And a relationship is mutual. Not one-sided. If you love and know so much about this person, but this person does not even know you exist, then that is not relationship. It’s more like a creepy situation. God knows everything about us, literally everything. He made us. Like all the manufactured products have label, such as Made in USA or Made in China. We also have a label that says “Made in God” “Made By God” It is our turn to know who God is. Don’t you want to know this God Almighty of Universe? Don’t you want to know this God who loves you so much? Let us pray that we can come to know him, feel him, and accept him as our God and my God. Amen.

What is the first thing we notice? “Holy, holy, holy” It is indeed significant that they repeated the word "holy" three times. In the Bible, if something is repeated twice, it is really, really important. If it is repeated three times, we must give our full attention to it. The repetition of "holy" emphasizes that the essential quality of the Lord is holiness. The Lord has many attributes. The Bible says that God is one (Dt 6:4), God is mighty (Job 36:5), God is a righteous judge (Ps 7:11), God is merciful and forgiving (Dan 9:9), God is spirit (Jn 4:24), God is faithful (1 Cor 10:13), God is just (2 Thes 1:6), God is light (1 Jn 1:5), God is love (1 Jn 4:8). Yet the essential characteristic revealed here is his holiness.

What does it mean that the Lord is holy? In Old English, the word "holy" is closely related to the word "whole." This means that everything that should be there is there, and that what is there is the totality of a thing; nothing is missing; it is perfect. So to say that God is holy is to say that God is whole, or perfect. It means that God's love is perfect love, his justice is perfect justice, his goodness is perfect goodness, and his vision upon our lives is perfect vision.

Consequently, it follows, that another meaning of "holy" is "set apart." This does not mean separated by space. It means separated by the quality of his being. The Lord is so superior to anything in his creation that he is beyond compare. He is perfect, and in him there is no mistake, no miscalculation, and no sin.

My year key verse for 2010 is John 17:17, “Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.” I picked this key verse with a prayer to be sanctified, and to be holy before God each day. But picking a verve doesn’t solve everything. It is just a warm-up. The real struggle begins when we pray and try to practice the word of God. I decided to recite verse every morning, not only for myself, but for others around me, especially JBF members. “Lord, Sanctify them by the truth; your word of truth.” I pray for you to struggle with the word of God to be closer to him, becoming more like him in his image of holiness.

Another attribute of God is that he is the Lord Almighty. He has the power to do anything. He is the Creator God who made the heavens and the earth by the word of his mouth. He is also the Redeemer God who delivered the helpless people like us from slavery of sin and death. He never abuses his power. He never gets sick or grows tired or weary; he never gets old. His reign is always perfect and it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace. Ultimately, his reign brings about the kingdom where there are no tears, sorrows, pains or death. His reign brings about the everlasting kingdom that is full of peace, joy and love.

Look at verse 3b. "...the whole earth is full of his glory." Let’s say that together, “The Whole earth is full of his glory!” Even in a fallen world, we must be aware of the reality that God is living and working in all of his creation for his good purpose. The whole earth is full of his glory. With human eyes, we see injustices, tragedies and sorrows of all kinds. But when we see through the lens of the Lord's sovereign rule, we find the glory of the Lord. Have you seen the glory of God revealed in your life? Personally, I have seen glory of God through our humble five loaves and two fish orchestra. Although it might be small, unprofessional, and one of the many music groups in the world in people’s eyes, when we depended God fully, and prayed to see his glory through our first concert, we could see the glory of God revealed through the concert. We can experience the glory of God in our very own lives. When we live day by day in the presence of God, struggle to know God, and grow in the relationship with him, he will reveal himself to us. We always say and pray that we may glorify God through our lives, but don’t really know what that means, or how we could do so. Let’s read verse 3b once again. “the whole earth is full of his glory.” The glory of God is seen everywhere, in Christians’ lives. When we decide to be selfless before God, and devote our time and life to our Lord, it is possible for us to see God’s glory with our very own eyes. I pray with all my might that we may see the earth, filled with the glory of God in 2010.

II. Know who we are (5-7)

Isaiah finally learned who the Lord really was. When he realized who the Lord was, he was overwhelmed, and he started to see himself at last. Let us read verse 5 together. He said, "Woe to me! I am ruined." Most translations read, "I am undone." He felt that he was falling apart. He realized that he was so sinful and dirty before God. Before the holy living God, he was dust and ashes. He confessed his sins to God, “I am a man of unclean lips." We might feel that the habit of saying cursing words is not a big deal. But once he saw Holy God, he realized how sinful he was. Before the holy God, he could not but repent of his sins specifically. We are all standing before God, we cannot escape from his presence. We cannot hide. We cannot jump off the bridge and expect that God doesn’t see us. But we can come out to God with a heart of repentance. Then, what does God do? Judge us? Condemn us? Drive us away from the presence of God? No, he cleanses us, completely.

Look at verses 6 and 7. Let’s read. “Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin stoned for.” When Isaiah came to God with his repentant heart, the angel of the Lord touched his lips with a live coal, (chiee…) and Isaiah’s guilt was taken away and his sin was atoned for. What are we waiting for? Looking at ourselves through the mirror of God, we know that we are unclean. We have unclean lips that curse, and praise idols. We have unclean eyes that sees with our sinful desires. We have unclean hands and feet that leads us to sin. We have unclean ears that hear everything but the word of God. Let us confess before God with our hearts, “Lord, we are unclean. Please touch my heart with the burning coal, and cleanse me from deep within.” “Lord, purify our heart and mind by the holy spirit.” Amen.

III. God shares his vision with us (8)

Let us read verse 8. (last verse for today’s message.) “Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” When Isaiah's sins were cleansed and his soul was healed, he began to hear the Lord speaking. The Lord was saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us." The Lord wanted to send someone to his people to share his message with them. The Lord had a broken heart for his people. He wanted to forgive, restore, and bless them (Isa 1:18-19). He was not only the holy and almighty God, but he was also a God of love and compassion and redemption. We must remember that though God is holy, his heart is broken for the lost world. Isaiah had just experienced the marvelous grace of God. His heart was moved by God's love for him and his people. Love for God began to sprout in his heart. Love compelled him to offer his life to God for the salvation of his people. When God shared his vision with Isaiah, he accepted by faith. So he volunteered, "Here am I. Send me!" I pray that we may hear God’s calling and feel God’s broken heart for the souls around us. Let us pray that God may slowly build us up into his faithful servants who, compelled by love, volunteer with their hands up, saying, “Here am I. Send me!”

Sometimes we may feel that preaching the gospel to people who are not responding well is a waste of time. But in the long run God blesses his word to bear abundant fruit, fruit that endures into eternity. The most fruitful way to use our time is to share the gospel message with others. We may experience many rejections. But when even one person believes even one word of God through our message there will be a harvest of spiritual fruit that lasts to eternity. Let's make a decision to share the gospel with others in this new year. We cannot do this by our own strength. But we can do this when we have the vision of the Lord, in holiness and majesty, reigning in our hearts. May this vision fill our hearts in the year 2010.