An encounter with the Holiness of God

It's a great privilege to interact with you once again. Today's exposition shall be taken from the first book of the prophets, Isaiah chapter 6 reading from verse 1 to 5. This verse captures the encounter between Isaiah and God. It's also the moment that Isiah was called into the ministry. The verse reads;

"1 In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. 2 Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. 3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, [is] the LORD of hosts: the whole earth [is] full of his glory. 4 And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. 5 Then said I, 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 mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts." (Isaiah 6:1-5, ESV)

I'm not going to make the exposé on every verse but I'll rather concentrate my attention on the confession of Isaiah when he came into contact with God. And going straight to the point, we see Isaiah in the throne room of God. He described the seraphims and their unceasing shout of praise to the One who sits on the throne.

The volume of their praise is so loud and powerful to an extent that 'the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried' and their praise was 'Holy, holy, holy, [is] the LORD of hosts: the whole earth [is] full of his glory'. From this praise of of the seraphims we see a repetition of the word 'Holy'.

This repetition is not necessarily referring to the Triune God as some teachers say. It's rather an exoression of the degree of His Holiness. In the Hebrew language, one of the ways (if not always) to express the degree of something is to repeat it. We see this not only in this verse but also in Matthew 7 when he said "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.' (Matthew 7:21,ESV).

So this repetition is not a matter of sharing the three Holy to the Father, Son and the Holy Ghost. It's showing us the height and breath of the holiness of God. A holiness that cannot be described by words. A perfect holiness that is the attribute of God alone.

We can also observe the reaction of Isaiah towards the vision. After he saw the glory and holiness of God, he came to a full knowledge of himself and cried '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'. In the old covenant, the calling of God was specific to some people who meet a certain standards. Isaiah was a man who met those standards. He was a righteous man. A man upon whom the Holy Ghost can dwell.

Despite his religious pedigree, we see the righteous man acknowledging his sinfulness before the Holy God. I have seen and heard many people, most of which are churchmen who claim to be righteous in their own doings and therefore do not need the righteousness of God. Although Some will not openly deny the righteousness of God, they try to add up to it as I've explained in my previous post.

The degree of our repentance depends on the degree of our knowledge of the holiness of God. The more we know about His attributes, the more we see our sinfulness and lean on the cross for sanctification. It's sad to notice that the teaching of the attributes of God is dwindling. The pulpit is silence of the knowledge of God and that's why we don't have repentance in the pew.

To explain further what I've just said, let's consider his words from verse 5 when he said
'for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts'. The cause of his repentance is based on the fact that he saw God. I've heard of several accounts that people give when they have an encounter with God. I must admit that most of them cannot be proven by scripture.

It's quite ridiculous to have an encounter with God and not be changed. It's like someone who came to church very late and when he was asked why he was late, he goes on to reply that he had a head-on collision with a timber track. What would be your response to this man?

How can you get into a head-on collision with a timber track and still stand on your feet? How much more an encounter with God! The only people who got into an encounter with God as recorded in the bible we never the same. Paul repented, Moses removed his sandals and worshipped, Mary became afraid of and encounter with even an angel and we see Isaiah, repenting upon seeing the glory and majesty of the Most High.

To my readers, are you living a life of repentance? If not go back to the scriptures and learn about God's holiness. The more you get into the light, the more your darkness will be revealed and the more you'll repent. If you have a firm grip of the holiness of God, let me hear from you in the comment section. Stay blessed.
image source

Nana Yeboah
@gadol