Alright, again a very good morning to everyone gathered in your different locations. Let me perhaps begin by greeting some of you. You know that the Apostle Paul when he writes his letters to the churches, he sends greetings to them. Now I was pleasantly surprised to receive a number of text messages in the past week and received a text from Peggy from Johor Bahru saying that she and her sisters are tuning in to this worship live streaming. And so I’m glad that they are tuning in to join us. And also heard from Kah Lee that his family too from Johor Bahru are tuning in. And so welcome, we are in this morning to this live stream worship with GRC. I also understand that even from Kedah, Irene and family, they are also tuning in to this program. And again we want to extend our warm welcome. 

So we can see that from Johor Bahru all the way to Kedah. In fact, we might say it is from Singapore all the way to Kedah that we have people joining us, and I hope you’re here this morning with us. And not least, like also to extend greetings to all the members and the worshippers of GRC in the Klang Valley. As we have mentioned time and again that we live in a strange time perhaps, and we are worshipping but in different places. Some of you are actually very near us here, Elder Kian Ming and family are just in a sense a stone’s throw away. Perhaps if I call them loud enough they might hear, but you know that it is the case of “so near, yet so far”. 

Now we all by now aware that the lockdown in Malaysia or the MCO has been extended, and that also means that our coronavirus series has also been extended. But remember that the coronavirus series is not about virus alright, it is about coming before the great and Almighty God and to study His Word. And so that is what we are going to do again this morning. So this morning I want to draw your attention to again the book of Isaiah. And this morning we shall look at Isaiah chapter 6. Isaiah chapter 6. So as usual let me read the text in Isaiah chapter 6. 

Alright, this is the Word of God. “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 door 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 the 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 is purged.” Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: “Whom shall I send, And who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.” And He said, “Go, and tell this people: ‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; Keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’ “Make the heart of this people dull, And their ears heavy, And shut their eyes; Lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and return and be healed.” 

Then I said, “Lord, how long?” And He answered: “Until the cities are laid waste and without habitant, the houses are without a man, the land is utterly desolate, and the LORD has removed men far away, and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land. But yet a tenth will be in it, and will return and be for consuming, As a terebinth tree or as an oak, whose stump remains when it is cut down. So the holy seed shall be at its stump.”” Now perhaps let us have a word of prayer before we look at this text. And let us pray.

“Our Father in heaven, we want to thank You again for Your mercy and Your goodness and Your grace, for indeed You are not only a great and almighty God, but You are a merciful, compassionate, and loving God. And this is the God that we are coming to this morning, and we pray and plead that even in the manner that we are gathering as Your people, we pray for Your blessing. Bless us O Lord and bless the Word to us. Help us, open up our eyes to see this wondrous truth, and draw us to Yourself. Help us to see our true spiritual state. Help us to see our bankruptcy, our sin.

Indeed all our righteousness is as filthy rags to You. There’s nothing we can do to gain acceptance by You except by looking to the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we pray that indeed our faith and our trust will always be on Him who died for us and on what He has accomplished for us by His life and by His death. And so Lord we pray that You’ll be with us this morning as we come and study Your Word, for this we pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.” 

Alright, we are looking at Isaiah chapter 6 and in this chapter, now Isaiah is eager to tell us of an experience that shook him to the core. Now he tells us the exact date of that experience in verse 1. He says here it was “In the year that King Uzziah died”. He also tells us of the exact place where these occurred. It says in verse 1 also that he says that he “saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple”. And so the date was the year King Uzziah died, and the place was in the temple of God. But he also tells us of the exact occasion where he had this experience. What was the occasion where Isaiah had this experience? Well, we can see that in verse 6. Now it says here in verse 6: “Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live”, or a burning, “coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar.”. What does verse 6 tells us as to the occasion? When was that? What occasion was that when Isaiah had this experience? 

Now if you would cross-reference with me for a moment to the book of Leviticus chapter 16, Leviticus chapter 16. Now, remember that Leviticus chapter 16 is where we have the account of the Day of Atonement. So here in chapter 16 of Leviticus, the Day of Atonement is described. And then we read in verse 12 of Leviticus chapter 16. Verse 12 says: “Then he shall take a censer full of burning”, or live, “coals of fire from the altar before the Lord, with his hands full of sweet incense beaten fine, and bring it inside the veil.”. And so on the day of the atonement that the high priests would do this: he would take this live coals from the altar, and he will bring it inside the veil, that is inside the Holy of Holies. So the occasion was the Day of Atonement, where Isaiah was in the temple, and that there is this scene of the angel taking a live coal from the altar in the Holy of Holies. 

And so here is what Isaiah chapter 6 is about. It’s about an experience that Isaiah had which shook him like I said to the core, and it happened on that date, in a particular place, and during a particular occasion, and that is the Day of Atonement. That is I think most important day in the life of the nation. And then we ask: What is that experience that Isaiah is writing about? What is it that he wants to tell us? What experience is that that happened on that day, in that place, during that occasion? Well, it is this, he tells us at the very beginning of this chapter alright in verse 1. He says on that day during the occasion in that place, I saw the Lord. You see there in verse 1 he says: “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up”. So in other words, the experience that Isaiah was anxious, was eager to tell us is that of his vision of God. He had seen God. 

Now let’s pause and think a little bit about that. What does it mean? What does it mean to see God? Now that is what he is telling us. And how did that experience affect him? How did that experience affect him? Well, it devastated him. He was never the same again after that experience. After seeing God, he was changed forever. Now I want to point out to you from the Bible that it is always the case. Whenever someone sees God, he will never be the same again. Now for example, if you will flip with me to Ezekiel, to the book of Ezekiel after Jeremiah and Lamentation, you have Ezekiel. And in Ezekiel chapter 1, Ezekiel 1:26 to the end. 

In verse 26, Ezekiel chapter 1: “And above the firmament over their heads was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like a sapphire stone; on the likeness of the throne was a likeness with the appearance of a man high above it. Also from the appearance of His waist and upward I saw, as it were, the colour of amber with the appearance of fire all around within it; and from the appearance of His waist and downward I saw, as it were, the appearance of fire with brightness all around.”. Here is Ezekiel having the same experience: a vision of God. How did that affect him? Verse 28: “Like the appearance of a rainbow in a cloud on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the brightness all around it. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD.”. When I saw it, Ezekiel says, I fell on my face. 

Now he was shook as it were to the core with that vision. We are told that the way it affected Ezekiel was he couldn’t even stand straight. He fell down on his face. Now if you flip over to the New Testament or to the last book, the book of Revelation, also chapter 1. The book of Revelation and chapter 1. Again listen to this verse here in verse 17. Now here is John, the Apostle John. Now he narrates the same experience that Isaiah and Ezekiel had, and that is he had a vision of the Lord. How did that experience affect him? Well, verse 17 says: “When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead.”. I fell at His feet as dead. Like I said, it is always the case whenever someone sees God, that person will never be the same again. It will shake him.

You can think of many other examples in the Bible. When Jacob had a vision of God, or when Paul had that vision of Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus, he was never the same again. Now, how different are the stories that we hear of today? We know that we hear of time and again people telling us that they had a vision of God. They will tell us that they had seen Jesus Christ. Now I remember I think it must be Pastor John MacArthur who told this story of a man who claimed to had a vision of Jesus. And this man narrates that he was in the bathroom shaving, and suddenly he looked into the mirror and he saw the Lord Jesus Christ behind him. And what did he do? Well, he just said, Hi Jesus. But that is the kind of account that we hear of so very often today. But I say, when you hear of the account of people having a vision of God, it is so very different. They were shaken, they were changed, and they were never the same again.

Now the question we want to ask this morning is, as we look at Isaiah’s account of his vision of God in Isaiah chapter 6 is this: What did Isaiah sees about God? He tells us that he saw God, had a vision of God. What did he see about God? Now that is what he is anxious to tell us. Wouldn’t you be if you had a vision of God, that you want to tell people about God, and you want to tell people what you saw? Now let us now come to find out from Isaiah. Isaiah, what do you see about God? What kind of a God is He? Now three things again here we can see here in this passage as to what Isaiah saw about God. And number one is this: Isaiah said I saw God seated on the throne. “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up.”

That is the picture of God in the Bible. That is the picture that Isaiah wants us to see. A God who is “sitting on the throne”, a God who is “high and lifted up”. That is the God that he saw. Now, look with me for a while that that is again the God that is revealed in the Bible. I do not know what is the God that you know of, what is the God that is being told to you, what is your perception and your ideas of God? Is it consistent with what Isaiah saw? Is it consistent with what is revealed in the Holy Scripture? As I say, if you look through the Scripture, you see a consistent picture of God: “high and lifted up”. 

Now turn with me to Psalm chapter 2. Psalm chapter 2. Here is another description of God. Another description of God in Psalm chapter 2, beginning in verse 1. The psalmist writes: “Why do the nations rage, and the people plot a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, And the rulers take counsel, against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying, “Let us break Their bonds in pieces and cast away Their cords from us.”. The first three verses of this psalm is a picture of human rebellion against God. It is people, the kings, and the rulers and everyone in this earth, they refuse to bow themselves to the authority of God. That’s why they say in verse 3: “Let us break Their bonds in pieces and cast away Their cords from us.”. We do not want to submit to God. And we are witnessing today a world in rebellion against God. They will not listen to God. They will not submit to His authority. And so what can God do?

That depends on what kind of God you have. What can God do? Is God at His wits end when He sees the world in chaos, when He sees a world in rebellion that He doesn’t know what to do? Listen to verse 4. The psalmist tells us: “He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; The Lord shall hold them in derision.”. In other words, the picture the psalmist gives us about the God of the Bible, the God that we believers believe in is such a God. A God who sits on the throne. A God who sits in the heavens and nothing can frustrate Him. No one can frustrate His plans. Look also to Psalm 115. Psalm 1 1 5. Psalm 115:2-3. Verses 2 and 3: “Why should the Gentiles say, “So where is their God?” But our God”, the psalmist says, “is in heaven; He does whatever He pleases.”.

You see, we have great confidence in this God. We know that our God is in absolute control of all things. We know that our God is powerful because that is the God revealed in the Bible. A God who sits in the heavens. A God who is in, who is sitting on a throne. What that means is that we are worshipping today even this morning, do you not realize that the God that Isaiah saw is the God that you have believed in? Don’t you realize that that is the God that you are worshipping? Now, what does that mean? Now it means everything in a sense. In fact, it should have a bearing even in our prayer life. Now remember when the Lord Jesus Christ taught the disciples to pray in Matthew chapter 6, how did the Lord teach them to pray? Now, this is how the Lord taught them to pray. He says when you pray, now this is how you begin: “Our Father who is in heaven”.

Now again the Lord Jesus Christ is saying the same thing. The reason we Christians, we children of God have the great confidence to draw near to God in prayer, He says the first thing if you were to develop your prayer life, the first thing if you were to have a robust prayer life, why are people not praying? Because they are serving a small God. Because they do not believe that their God is sitting on the throne, that their God is in the heavens, that their God shall laugh at people who oppose Him, that nothing can frustrate Him, that He does whatever He pleases. He is able and nothing is impossible with God. And that is how Jesus wants us to approach God when we approach Him in prayer, to come to Him and remind ourselves: our Father, You are in heaven. You are sovereign. You are the One who has absolute authority over everything. You are in other words a powerful, sovereign God, high and lifted up.

Now I want to say to you that if you have not seen God on a throne, then you have not seen the God of the Bible. I do not know what God you’re worshipping or what God you’re believing, but that is surely not the God of the Bible. The God of the Bible is a sovereign God, powerful God, a God who is in control of all things. Now, what is the implication of that? In other words, what does that mean for Isaiah and for us if that is the truth about God? I’ll like to point out here that there are at least two practical implications, and number one is this: when Isaiah saw that God was on the throne, high and lifted up, he realized that. First thing, the first implication is that you do not trifle with Him. Or in other words, you do not mess with God. You get that? If God is such a God as Isaiah saw in Isaiah chapter 6, if this is God, then you do not mess with Him.

What happened when you dare mess with God? Now the people of this world do not ask that question, and it is because they do not know God. They do not know God. They do not know whom they are dealing with. Do not mess with God. And what happens if you mess with God? Now just two references in the Bible to drive home this point if you dare mess with a God who is on the throne. 

Turn with me first of all to again the book of Leviticus. Leviticus in the Old Testament and chapter 10. Leviticus chapter 10. Now, look at the first three verses. The first three verses of Leviticus chapter 10, it says here: “Then Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it, and put incense on it, and offered profane fire before the LORD, which He had not commanded them. So fire went out from the LORD and devoured them, and they died before the LORD. And Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the LORD spoke, saying”. Now this is what God has been saying all these while. Do not mess with Me. 

And here are the sons of Aaron. They disregard the Word of God, the commandment of God. They did something that God had not commanded. And so they were killed, they were destroyed by the Lord. And so Moses says in verse 3: “This is what the LORD spoke, saying: ‘By those who come near Me I must be regarded as holy; And before all the people I must be glorified.’”. I must get the glory. I must be honoured because I am God. I am God. I am high and lifted up. I am sitting on the throne, and you do my bidding. And so we are told, “Aaron held his peace” when he comes to realize that. Now that is the implication of messing with God.

We are the creatures of God. God made us for His own glory, and we are to live our lives to glorify God, that there are no two ways about it. And God who created us expect us to live a certain kind of life, and He has revealed to us His moral laws, His moral will so that we might live our lives in perfect obedience to His will. God demands that because He is God. He is the sovereign One. But people on earth like the sons of Aaron, they disregard all these things, and they refuse to submit to God. They did what they liked and they suffer the consequence. If God is sovereign, if God is on the throne, then we can expect that consequence of defying one who is on the throne. 

Now we look at another example to make the point, and the other example is in the New Testament. So we have both in the Old and the New Testament to underscore the point that God is sovereign, and that we must never, never mess with Him. Now the New Testament passage is in the book of Acts. Acts. Now please now turn with me to Acts chapter 5. Acts chapter 5. And I’d like to read beginning in verse 1. Beginning in verse 1, it says here that “a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession. And he kept back part of the proceeds, his wife also being aware of it, and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles’ feet”.

Now, look at verse 3. “But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself?” In other words, Ananias and his wife were pretending to be pious. They were pretending to be generous before the Holy Spirit, and they think that they could deceive God. What do you get for messing with God? We are told in verse 4, Peter told him: “While it remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not in your own control? Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.”. You have not lied to men but to God.

Verse 5: “Then Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and breathed his last. So great fear came upon all those who heard these things.”. Now that is the point that the death of Ananias was to impress. It is to tell the people: do not mess with God. And that’s why there was great fear that came upon those who heard these things. Then we read in verse 9: “Then Peter said to her (the wife), “How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out. And then immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. And the young men came in and found her dead, and carrying her out, and buried her by her husband.”.

So what is the effect of this incident? Verse 11: “So great fear came upon all the church and upon all who heard these things.”. That is the point that God is trying to impress upon the people by striking Ananias and Sapphira dead. And the point is this: do not mess with God. Do not mess with God. And that is the first implication here about the vision that Isaiah saw in Isaiah chapter 6. 

Now we live in a day where there is so much flippancy in worship. There is so much superficiality, so much man-centredness, and entertainment, and silliness in the worship, in the church of God. What accounts for that? Why is there so much of this hypocrisy and pretends? Well, I believe the reason is the same when we, when people, and I mean here when people in the church do not have that vision of God that Isaiah had. When they cannot see and they do not see that God is high and lifted up.

Indeed Isaiah chapter 6 is not the picture of much of worship in churches today. If only, if only we see God as Isaiah saw. If only we see God as He truly is, it will revolutionise our worship. In fact, it will revolutionise our life. It would change our life. We will never be the same again, just as the people in the Bible. If your life remains the same, is it not perhaps that you have not seen God as He truly is, that the God that you know, the God that you worship is not the God on the throne, high and lifted up?

But there is a second practical implication of this. A second practical implication of this vision. If God is high and lifted up, then we can trust Him. The first is we don’t trifle, we don’t mess with God. But second is we can trust Him. It will be a great motivation. It will give us great confidence in our Christian life.

Now I want to draw your attention to the book of Daniel here in Daniel 11:32. Daniel 11:32, and here is about people in the time of Daniel. Daniel 11:32 says: “Those who do wickedly against the covenant he shall corrupt with flattery; but the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits.”. The people who know God, the people who know the God that Isaiah saw, the people who know the God of the Bible, their life will be different. There will be courageous people. There’s this great confidence because they know that the God who is with them, the God that they worship, is a God that no one can mess with. It’s a God who is in absolute authority, and control, and sovereign over everything.

That is the reason for the behaviour of those men that we read of in the book of Daniel. What explains for example Daniel 3:16? Daniel 3:16, and we read here in Daniel 3:16 of these three friends of Daniel: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego. And they “answered and said to the king”, the powerful king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar. And they said: “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If that is the case”, if you want to throw us into the fiery furnace, if that is what you want to do, “our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king.”. It doesn’t matter who you are, Nebuchadnezzar. It doesn’t matter that you are the most powerful man on earth, but you are not more powerful than our God.

It doesn’t matter whatever your situation is. It doesn’t matter whatever the problem is. It doesn’t matter because we have a more powerful God. Now it should give us that confidence once we know the God of Isaiah, the God that is revealed here in Isaiah chapter 6. That accounts for the behaviour, and the courage, and the bonus of these men of God in a very difficult time in the history of the nation. And then when we read in Daniel chapter 6. Daniel chapter 6 and again verse 16. Verse 16, just the first part. And here we read in Daniel 6:16- “So the king gave the command, and they brought Daniel”. Here is another powerful king, and he commanded that Daniel be brought and be cast into the lion’s den. And Daniel was courageous to face this challenge. He was unafraid, just like his three friends under such a threat.

Now, what accounts for such a courage here in the case of Daniel? I say it is the same. It is the same as Daniel 11:32, that those who know God shall be courageous and do exploits. It’s the same as in Daniel chapter 3. It’s the same here. Now look at verse 23: “Now the king”. “The king was exceedingly glad for him, and commanded that they should take Daniel up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no injury whatever was found on him, because he believed in his God.” That is the explanation for Daniel’s courage because he knows his God. He knows that his God is one who is high and lifted up. And so that is what Isaiah saw. He saw God on a throne. He saw the God revealed in the Bible. He’s the sovereign God.

Now let us look at the second thing that Isaiah wants to tell us about the God that he saw. So what is another thing that Isaiah saw about God? And it is this: that not only He is high and lifted up, but He is holy. He is holy. Look at verse 3: “And one cried to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts”. You have not seen God. If you have not seen something of His holiness, that God that is revealed here, the God Isaiah saw is a Thrice Holy God. He is a perfectly, absolutely holy God. Look with me now to Exodus chapter 3, and we see that point again being impressed upon us. Exodus chapter 3. As I said, you have not seen God if you have not seen something of His holiness.

So look at here in Exodus 3:4-5. Verses 4 and 5, he says: “So when the Lord saw that he (Moses) turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” And God said, “Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.””. Here is Moses having a similar encounter with God. And again the thing that is impressed upon Moses here, that the God that you are seeing here is a holy God. Is a holy God. There is no way that we can come anywhere near to Him.

Now the same thing we see in Exodus chapter 19. Chapter 19. Now I draw your attention to a number of these passages in the Scripture is again to impress upon all of us here that that truly is the God revealed in the Bible. And we know that the gods created by human beings in many religions, many of these gods are not holy gods. But our God is holy. Look at chapter 19 of Exodus, and look at verse 17. Verses 17 and 18, and here Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God. Now here is where they will have an encounter with God. “And they stood at the foot of the mountain. Now Mount Sinai was completely in smoke”. Why? “Because the LORD descended upon it in fire. Its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly.”

See, the whole scene here is when the people were to be brought near to God, they need to understand that they are now coming near to a God who is other, who is holy as it were, who is different than us. And so there is this distance to be kept. Look at verse 20: “Then the LORD came down upon Mount Sinai, on the top of the mountain. And the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.”. Verse 21: “And the LORD said to Moses, “Go down and warn the people, lest they break through to gaze at the LORD, and many of them perish.”. Now that is the holiness of God, that if we sinner come anywhere near even a gaze at the Thrice Holy God, would destroy us.

Now that is God, the God that Isaiah saw on that day in the temple. A God who is absolutely holy. Now look back to Isaiah 6:2. And verse 2, now that is the explanation for the behaviour of the angels described in Isaiah chapter 6. So look at verses 2. Look at verse 2: “Above stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.”. Now why this behaviour of the angels here when they are in the presence of God? Now the picture here is that of them covering their faces with two wings because they could not and dare not look directly at God. And their covering of feet with two other wings, it’s not just their feet but it’s as if covering their whole body, implying that they were not fit to be in the presence of God. They dared not look at God directly, and they felt that they were not fit to be in the presence of God. Now that is how they behave in the presence of the holy God.

What happens when you see the holiness of God? It will change our behaviour. It will change our behaviour the moment we see the perfect holiness of God. What happens when you see the holiness of God? Well, this is how you will react as we see the reactions in Luke chapter 5, in Luke 5:8. Luke 5:8, and listen to this verse. Now here’s Simon Peter when he was given a glimpse of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, this was his reaction. Verse 8: “When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ feet, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!””. The moment we see something of the holiness of God, we will see our filthiness. Why are people so self-righteous? Why are people have no sense of guilt? Reason, as far as the Bible is concerned, is simple. They have not seen the holiness of God. They do not understand what purity and holiness mean. 

Or in Luke again, in Luke chapter 18. Luke 18:13. Luke 18:13, now listen to this verse. Verse 13, and Jesus was saying here about a tax collector. “And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’” There, when Peter saw something of the glory of Jesus, he said: “Depart from me, for I am a sinner”. When this tax collector sees something of the holiness of God, he dare not like the angels even look up into the heavens, but cry out and say: “be merciful to me a sinner”. Now let us now come back to Isaiah 6:5. Isaiah 6:5, and here we have exactly, exactly the same reaction. It’s always the case. It’s always when people see something of the holiness of God, they would say as the prophet Isaiah here in verse 5.

So he 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”. Why? Because “my eyes have seen the King, The LORD of hosts.”. Now that is the action. If you have not come to that point in your life when you see your filthiness, when you see your sin, where you would cry out like all these other people “God, be merciful to me”, then I would say perhaps you have not seen God. You have not seen the God that is described here in Isaiah 6. And so this is what Isaiah was anxious to tell us. He says I have seen God. I have seen God, and this is what I saw. I saw God on the throne, high and lifted up, and I saw that this God was a Thrice Holy God. 

But there’s a third thing that Isaiah wants to tell us about this God, and that is that this God that I saw is a merciful God. A merciful God. Now, look with me back at Isaiah 6:6-7. “Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a” burning or a “live coal which he had taken with the 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.” Now let us ask for a moment: If you have seen God, you have seen something of His glory, something of His power and His might, and that He is the sovereign Lord sitting on the throne, and that this God is also a holy, a perfectly holy God.

Now let me ask you: If you have seen such a God, what would a God like this do to sinners? What would a God like this do to sinners? What do you think? Honestly, what do you think that God would do to a murderer? What would a righteous God do to a rapist? What would He do to a human trafficker? What would He do to you and to me? What would this glorious, mighty, holy God do to people like us?

Let me tell you what He would do. Psalm chapter 7. Psalm chapter 7, beginning in verse 11, and this is what the psalmist tells us about God and about what He will do to sinners. Verse 11 of Psalms chapter 7 says: “God is just judge”. He is righteous. He is holy, and God is angry because He is the just judge. Because He is holy and righteous, He is “angry with the wicked every day”. Are you not wicked? Have you not broken the law of God? Have you not sinned against Him? Then listen, “God is angry with the wicked every day”. Verse 2 (Mistakenly mentioned “verse 2”. Supposedly “verse 12”): “If he does not turn back, He will sharpen His sword; He bends His bow and makes it ready.”. Verse 13: “He also prepares for Himself instruments of death; He makes His arrows into fiery shafts.”.

God is getting ready. The bowl of His wrath is filling up. The day will come when His patience is run out, and He will pour His wrath upon sinners, every one of them. Why? Because He is Holy, Holy, Holy. Because He is the just and righteous judge. What do you think God will do to sinners? Turn with me also to the New Testament in Second Thessalonians. Second Thessalonians chapter 1. Second Thessalonians chapter 1, and let me draw your attention to verse 7 through verse 9. And listen to what Paul writes here to the Thessalonians in Second Thessalonians chapter 1, beginning in verse 7: “and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels”. When Jesus comes again, what will happen? Verse 8: “in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.”.

Verse 9: “These shall be punished with everlasting punishment from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power”. Make no mistake, this is what will happen to people on earth who are in rebellion against the sovereign God and the holy God. Make no mistake, that is what will happen. But as I say, that is not the only thing that Isaiah saw about God. Yes, he saw a God who is holy and mighty and who will not leave the guilty unpunished. But, but he saw something else. He saw the mercy of God. Turn with me now to Exodus 34. Exodus 34, and here we see the revelation of God in the Bible. The God that is revealed in the Bible. Yes, when you read the Bible, you read about God. When you read the Bible, you will find that God, the true and living God, is revealed in the Bible. Yes, when you read the Bible, you will read of a God who is high and mighty, and who is holy.

But also read, when you read the Bible, we’ll also read these words in the verse 6 of Exodus 34. You will also read of a God in verse 6: “And the LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy”, verse 7, “for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.””. Here’s the twin truth about God. Because He’s holy, He will not leave the guilty unpunished. But He is also “merciful and gracious, and longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, and forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin”. That is also the God that Isaiah saw in Isaiah chapter 6. Merciful God. 

You say where in Isaiah 6 did Isaiah tell us about the mercy of God? Where? Look again in Isaiah chapter 6. I told you in Isaiah 6 about the angels, one of the angels “having in his hand a burning coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar”. Where was the altar? Where did the angels took that burning coal from? It was on the Day of Atonement when the altar was burning the sacrifices that the angel, the angel took that and touched the lips of Isaiah. Now note, this is a temple scene, and here is the temple sacrifice. And here we have the angel taking a burning coal from the Holy of Holies, where sacrifices have been made to the perfectly holy God, to satisfy His justice. That has been done, and the coal was taken and to be touched on the lips of Isaiah, signifying the forgiveness of sin from the altar of sacrifice. 

In other words, Isaiah is saying here on that day, in the temple, when he had a vision of God, he was also given a preview of the cross. He was given as it were a preview of the ultimate sacrifice in that action of the angels. Isaiah saw the mercy of God in the cross of Jesus Christ. So I want to ask you: Have you seen God? Have you seen God? Now I pray that if you have not seen God, that God might reveal Himself to you today. And He will not reveal to you in the way He revealed to the prophet Isaiah. You will not see a vision of Him. But today He has revealed Himself to us in His Holy Word. In His Holy Word. So I pray that you might see God today as you look into the Word of God, that you might see the God that Isaiah saw. A God who is high and lifted up, a God who is Holy, Holy, Holy, and a God who is merciful.

This transcript has been lightly edited for readability.