Sermon Tone Analysis

INTRODUCTION

Please take your copy of God’s Word and turn to Isaiah chapter 6

The last time I spoke we looked at the first 4 verses

Today we are looking at verses 5-7

So that we have a context of what Isaiah said in verses 5-7, I want to begin reading at verse 1

Read Isaiah 6.

There are people today who claim to have seen God

The only problem with this is they are living to tell about it

Why do I say that?

In the Bible, those who saw God said they were going to die or fell down like dead men

This was true of Manoah and his wife after the angel of the LORD appeared to them and after they offered a burnt offering to the Lord

They said in Judges 13:20-22, “20 For it came about when the flame went up from the altar toward heaven, that the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of the altar.

When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell on their faces to the ground.

21 Now the angel of the Lord did not appear to Manoah or his wife again.

Then Manoah knew that he was the angel of the Lord.

22 So Manoah said to his wife, “We will surely die, for we have seen God.””

The apostle John had the same response after seeing the resurrected Christ

He said in Revelation 1:17, “When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man.

And He placed His right hand on me, saying, “Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last,”

Why did they react like this?

Because the Bible says “no man has seen or can see” the Lord (1 Timothy 6:16) and live

What then is going on in Isaiah chapter 6?

Chapter one, verse one says it was a “vision”

2 Chronicles 32:32, “Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah and his deeds of devotion, behold, they are written in the vision of Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel.”

There had to be some kind of veiling for them to see the Lord because God dwells in “unapproachable light”

1 Timothy 6:15-16, “...He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, 16 who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see.

To Him be honor and eternal dominion!

Amen.”

God spoke to the prophets in visions and dreams

Numbers 12:6, “If there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord, shall make Myself known to him in a vision.

I shall speak with him in a dream.”

Some have defined a vision as “the sight of things normally hidden from human eyes” (Harper’s Bible Dictionary)

In Acts 10:10, Luke describes Peter’s vision as a “trance” (ekstasis) which one lexicon describes as “a displacement of the mind from it’s ordinary state of self-possession” (MCEDONTW)

In Acts 10:19, when referring to the “trance,” Luke now employs the word “vision” (horama)

The Greek word for “vision” is Horama and means “that which is seen” (EDNT), it’s “an appearance” (ANLEX).

It’s used in Matthew 17:9 to speak of Jesus’ transfiguration before Peter, James, and John

Even though Matthew 17:9 says this was a “vision,” they had the same response as Manoah, Isaiah and John

After hearing “a voice out of the cloud…This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to Him!

Verse 6 says, “When the disciples heard this, they fell face down to the ground and were terrified”

God used visions to communicate to His people in both the Old and New Testament (Carpenter)

We said last time that the LORD (YHWH) John saw on the throne was a preincarnate appearance of Jesus

John 12:41, “These things Isaiah said because he saw His glory, and he spoke of Him.”

So what is the message God was communicating to Isaiah?

It’s found in verse 3, “...Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory.”

This is a theme throughout the Bible

To learn about God you start here

Everything about God is defined by His holiness

Moses discovered this in Exodus 3:1-6 when he saw a “a blazing fire from the midst of a bush; and...the bush was not consumed.

3 So Moses said, “I must turn aside now and see this marvelous sight, why the bush is not burned up.” 4 When the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!”

And he said, “Here I am.” 5 Then He said, “Do not come near here; remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.”

6 He said also, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”

Then Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.”

Moses and the children of Israel, later sang in Exodus 15:11, “Who is like You among the gods, O Lord? Who is like You, majestic in holiness, Awesome in praises, working wonders?”

In Leviticus 19:2, God told Moses to “Speak to all the congregation of the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.”

The psalmist also declared God’s holiness:

Psalm 71:22, “I will also praise You with a harp, Even Your truth, O my God; To You I will sing praises with the lyre, O Holy One of Israel.”

Psalm 77:13, “Your way, O God, is holy; What god is great like our God?”

Psalm 93:5, “Your testimonies are fully confirmed; Holiness befits Your house, O Lord, forevermore.”

Psalm 99:1-5, “1 The Lord reigns, let the peoples tremble; He is enthroned above the cherubim, let the earth shake! 2 The Lord is great in Zion, And He is exalted above all the peoples.

3 Let them praise Your great and awesome name; Holy is He.

4The strength of the King loves justice; You have established equity; You have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob.

5 Exalt the Lord our God And worship at His footstool; Holy is He.”

We find the mention of God being holy in 27 OT books like Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, 1 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah

That’s just the Old Testament

In the New Testament it’s mentioned in 19 books like the 4 Gospels, Acts, Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Ephesians, Colossians, 1 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, Hebrews, 1 and 2 Peter, 1 John, Jude and Revelation

So 46 books in the Bible talk about God being holy

**Last week, when we began our look at Isaiah chapter 6, we focused on the vision in verses 1-4

We saw in 740 B.C. which was “the year of King Uzziah’s death”

2 Chronicles 26:16 tells us the cause of his death was pride which had caused him to be unfaithful to the Lord and act corruptly by entering the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense

After being opposed by Azariah the priest as well as eighty other priests of the Lord, Uzziah was enraged

While being angry at the priest, leprosy broke out on his forehead and the priests hurried him out of the temple

Verse 21 gives us his epithet

It says, “King Uzziah was a leper to the day of his death; and he lived in a separate house, being a leper, for he was cut off from the house of the LORD...”

In the midst of this tragedy, Isaiah comes into the temple and he sees God on His throne

Verses 1-4 begins with what he saw…

This was…

I.

The Vision (vv.1-4)

Isaiah saw…

The Lord sitting on a throne

The throne was “high and lifted up” (v.1), which means it was greatly elevated

The imagery here is taken from the practice of earthly kings

We saw Solomon’s throne in 1 Kings 10:18-20 which had a grandeur greater than any earthly throne

The “train of His robe” filled “the temple” (v.1)

The “train” was the “hem or fringe of [his] robe” (MacArthur)

The ground was covered by this splendid robe [and] there was…no room for anyone to stand (K&D)

It literally “filled the temple”

He also saw…

Seraphim “above Him” (v.2)

Seraphim are only mentioned here and in verse 6

They are angels created by God

The Hebrew word seraph literally means “burning ones”

This suggests a fiery appearance

Isaiah said…

They each had “six wings” (v.2)

Two wings “covered his face” (v.2) as a sign of reverence

Two wings “covered his feet” (v.2) as a sign of humility

Two wings were used for “flying” (v.2) as a sign of willing service

Then he heard one call out to another in antiphonal praise saying…

“Holy, Holy, Holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory” (v.3)