God is...GREAT (part 2)
Notes
Transcript
Preliminary:
Preliminary:
We have looked this week at the foundational verse Genesis 1:1 “1 In the beginning God ...”
We have seen that
God is…Real
God is…Always
God is…Great
Today I want to continue that thought of the greatness of God looking at two attributes or characteristics of God that don’t always seem to correspond in some people’s mind.
That of God is…Holy and God is....Beautiful
PRAY!!!
Lets look at the first one for a bit.
I mentioned the other day that I believe the core essence of who God is - is self-giving love
The Love of God does not originate in the New Testament
I won’t go back and rehash all of that - but I also want you to know that God’s Holiness and God’s Love never negate one another
Holiness doesn’t take away God’s love and God’s love doesn’t take away God’s holiness.
James Bryan Smith a Pastor, Professor of Theology at Friends University in Wichita, KS, Author of the Good and Beautiful series, and a prodigy of Dallas Willard wrote about an incident that illustrates the confusion sometimes on this matter.
In his book The Good And Beautiful God - he tells how at one church he was preaching in someone was so moved by his sermon on the Love of GOd and it drew them so much closer to God and helped them see that God could be both Holy and Beautiful and Loving at the same time.
Just as he finished talking with this gentleman a woman strode up to him and they had this interaction..
The Good and Beautiful God: Falling in Love with the God Jesus Knows Chapter Six: God Is Holy
how life-changing this message is about a God who loves us without condition.
Then I noticed a young woman who was waiting to speak with me, so I stepped to where she was standing and introduced myself. She then said, with a huge smile on her face, “Thank you so much for that sermon. It was very freeing!”
The glow returned for a moment, until she went on.
“You see,” she said, “I’ve been living with my boyfriend for the past six months, and I was raised in a church that said this was a sin, and I felt really guilty. But this morning you said that God loves us without condition, and that Jesus has forgiven all of our sins, and then I realized that my guilt was unnecessary. Jesus paid it all! So I just wanted to say thank you for such a liberating message.” She shook my hand and started to walk away with a bounce in her step, like a woman who has just been told by her doctor that she is cancer-free.
My heart sank.
I realized then that simply proclaiming the good news that God loves us no matter what we do is not the whole story. What she failed to understand, and what I later was able to explain to her, is that our loving God is also “a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:29). That may sound daunting, but it is actually very good news. There was much I needed to explain to that young woman about the holiness and purity of God. Fortunately, that brief interaction was not our last discussion.
God loves us too much to leave us in our brokenness PRAISE THE LORD
God is…Great because God is Holy
God is…Great because God is Holy
What does “God is holy” mean?
John Wesley defined God’s holiness like this:
“When God is termed holy, it denotes that excellence which is altogether peculiar to himself; and the glory flowing from all his attributes conjoined, … whereby he is, and eternally remains, in an incomprehensible manner, separate and at a distance, not only from all that is impure, but likewise from all that is created.”
Well there are really two things involved in God’s Holiness
God’s holiness is primarily defined as: “His transcendent separateness from all things due to the unique excellence of His being and character.” Divine holiness: God’s incomparable separateness due to the unique excellence of His character and being.
God’s holiness, secondarily, and only as a consequence of the primary sense, is his separateness unto all that is good and thus his separation from all that is evil.
I take some issue with Rudolph Otto’s full definition - but I do like the words “wholly other” God is transcendent in nature - by that I mean he is beyond and above us - completely other
The very first explicit statement of the holiness of GOd in the Bible is found in Exodus 15:11
11 Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like thee, glorious in holiness, Fearful in praises, doing wonders?
Isaiah talks about God’s transcendent nature like this
Isaiah 57:15 (KJV 1900)
15 For thus saith the high and lofty One That inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, With him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, To revive the spirit of the humble, And to revive the heart of the contrite ones.
Here we see three aspects of God’s holiness
God’s intrinsic holiness - “whose name is holy” the nature or basic personal essence of God who is the origin and pattern for holiness
God’s Transcendent Holiness - “the high and lofty One” - no one, not even the angels in heaven can fully comprehend the full measure of God’s holiness. - IN fact the seraphim wrap themselves and declare HOLY, HOLY, HOLY - no other attribute is repeated like that. - God is never said to be LOVE, LOVE, LOVE or JUST, JUST, JUST but he is said to be HOLY, HOLY, HOLY
We also see God’s Immanent Holiness 0 “with hims also that is of a contrite and humble spirit”
Jeremiah puts it like this
Jeremiah 25:30 (KJV 1900)
30 Therefore prophesy thou against them all these words, and say unto them, The Lord shall roar from on high, And utter his voice from his holy habitation; He shall mightily roar upon his habitation; He shall give a shout, as they that tread the grapes, Against all the inhabitants of the earth.
Purkiser says of this “Holiness is “the sum of the attributes,” the essence of Deity, the “goodness of God.”
A. W. Tozer said,
We have learned to live with unholiness and have come to look upon it as the natural and expected thing.
Isaiah must have had a similar issue in his day - but he had a glimpse of the holiness of GOd that changed everything for him. Turn with me if you will to Isaiah 6 and lets look at this illustration of God’s Holiness
The Book of Isaiah seems to be more in Theological order than Chronological order. When we get to Isaiah chapter 6 he seems to be saying the remedy for all of the problems found in chapters 1-5 is his experience in this chapter.
Setting The Stage - After the death of King Solomon, the kingdom split in two,
the southern kingdom ( Comprised of Judah and Simeon) became Judah with Jerusalem as it's capital. In this chapter Uzziah was the King of Judah
The northern kingdom comprised of the rest of the tribes took the name Israel with Samaria as it's capital, and was always the more prosperous and powerful of the two.
While Uzziah was the King of Judah, Jereboam II was king in the Northern Kingdom.
Judah looked like a weak sister makes it ironic that the Northern Kingdom fell first.
These divided kingdoms existed together from around 930 -722 BC when Israel was finally destroyed by the Assyrians.
King Uzziah who ruled in Judah from 791-739 BC one of Judah's longest rules (he was however confined to the palace after he got leprosy somewhere around 750 bc.
While Jotham his son acted as co-regent, Uzziah was still in charge.
By beginning with the phrase, "In the year that King Uzziah died…" Isiah is dating and validating the rest of his vision and what has previously been written.
Some writers feel that this should be the first chapter, I think that Isaiah knew what he was doing. Isaiah sees the LORD
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.
Isaiah says, "I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne"
It brings up a question who sits on a throne? A king.
So what Isaiah is saying, "in the year the king died I saw THE KING! High and Lifted Up -
The thought here is that God was lifted up - God was exalted.
King Uzziah had been exalted in human eyes, but he died - Here is God almighty from everlasting to everlasting High and Lifted up - Exalted.
What Isaiah sees next is fascinating to me
And his train filled the temple - I find it amazing that no features of God are mentioned. Nothing stands out about his looks really the only description of him is just that he is high and lifted up on a throne and His train filled the temple.
Now please understand this is a vision of sorts and so I am not sure how literal we can take everything - but Isaiah says the Train of God filled the temple.
The temple stood about 75 feet tall - the train or the Hem of God filled the temple how big must God be?
Isaiah is not the only one who gets caught up in not seeing features like we would think
Exodus 24:9-11 (KJV) 9 Then went up Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel: 10 And they saw the God of Israel: and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness. 11 And upon the nobles of the children of Israel he laid not his hand: also they saw God, and did eat and drink.
An interesting scripture. When they came down from the mountain they were probably asked, "What happened up there? Oh we saw God and ate a meal with Him. Really what did he look like, well I can't explain it but you should have seen the blue under his feet.
They couldn't describe God, they could just see under his feet.
Isaiah is asked what did the Lord look like? Well I don't know, but you should have seen his hem." It's really the only description of God given in this passage.
I want to talk about this train - hem for a moment this morning.
The hem or train was something that was important to the children of Israel. It came from a command of God in Numbers you can find it in chapter 15 verse 38
Numbers 15:38 “38 Speak unto the children of Israel, and bid them that they make them fringes in the borders of their garments throughout their generations, and that they put upon the fringe of the borders a ribband of blue:”
you can find their usage all through the Bible.
It is referred to as a hem, border, fringe, bottom edge of skirt or train, tassels. In ancient times to cut off the hem was to strip them of their personality and authority.
Husbands could divorce their wife by cutting off the hem of her robe.
One ancient tablet from 14 BC tells us that when you took someone to court you pulled them into the courtroom by their tassels. Your authority over their authority.
In 1 Sam. 24 we find the story of David on the run from King Saul and David is able to get close enough to King Saul to cut off his tassels. This was King Saul’s kingly authority and it is no wonder that David later repented of this act.
Elijah threw his mantle onto Elisha calling him to follow him and then later passed his mantle with his four tassels on to Elisha
On Palm Sunday that commemorates the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem and they were throwing their garments (tassels) on the donkey and in front of the donkey - it was a literal submitting their authority to Jesus.that Jewish garments include a hem with tassels.
One has pictured it like a big poncho, a rectangular cloth that hung down the front and back with a hole for the head. It was stitched up the sides like a pillow case. Where each side was joined at the bottom there were two tassels.
People did business with their tassels or hem – they might be pressed into clay like a kind of signature as everyone would have a little different pattern for them. No two were alike.
at crucifixion Jesus is stripped of his tassels – stripped of his authority.Romans decide to keep four tassels intact because it would have been worth much; and it also was a symbol of his forever priesthood (although the Romans did not know this.
In Acts chapter 7, where Stephens stoners throw their garments with tassels at Saul’s feet it meant he was taking authority of the event.
I love the story of Ruth and Boaz Ruth 3:8-9 (KJV) 8 And it came to pass at midnight, that the man was afraid, and turned himself: and, behold, a woman lay at his feet. 9 And he said, Who art thou? And she answered, I am Ruth thine handmaid: spread therefore thy skirt over thine handmaid; for thou art a near kinsman.
This no doubt referred to a custom where a man symbolically took a wife by throwing the corner of his garment over her. It symbolized both the mans authority over her (There's a message there but we won't get into it now) and his protection of her.
I love in the book of Ruth that Boaz prays for Ruth who has found refuge under the Wings of God. In essence that is what happened Boaz's covering of Ruth with his Garment cover also implements God's protective covering of her with his wing.
And then there is my favorite the woman with hemorrhage reaching out to touch the hem of Jesus's Garment. She knew what she was doing, she was touching Jesus' Authority.
This train - this authority this HOLINESS OF GOD is what captures Isaiah -
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.
Isaiah saw Seraphim 6:2-4 (Notice how The Lord was the first thing Isaiah sees)
Seraphim means burning ones. They cover their face and feet - to acknowledge His Holiness -
They fly - hovering above the LORD - guarding His holiness (not that it needs guarding - probably more declaring)
Dr. E.V. Hill's reason why they cried Holy Holy Holy.
Notice they are proclaiming God's Holiness no other attribute of God receives so much attention in the word of God as His Holiness.
6:3 The Seraphim also cry out "The whole earth is full of His glory"
Isaiah sees himself
Isaiah has seen the Lord, on His throne high and lifted up, with this train filling the temple,
he has seen the seraphim as they covered themselves and cried so loud that the door and building shook, "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory."
Now he sees himself, and what he sees scares him to death - After looking at the Holiness of God - we see our own unholiness.
I find it so fascinating that John the Beloved the one who leans on Jesus’ breast at the last supper - they must have been really close friends and had a tremendous relationship
But when John sees him later in Revelation and he sees a glimpse of the Holiness of God - he falls like a dead man - he falls to his face - he can’t stand.
If anyone should have been spiritual enough to stand up under the holiness of God is should have been John the Revelator - but he couldn’t do it
If we could get a glimpse of Him in his HOliness it would forever change our flippant attitutdes about Him and our careless living - God help us to see the Thrice Holy God as HE IS
I love that line in C.S. Lewis allegory The Lion THe WItch and THe Wardrobe where it is stated that...
“Aslan is a lion- the Lion, the great Lion." "Ooh" said Susan. "I'd thought he was a man. Is he-quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion"..."Safe?" said Mr Beaver ..."Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Drew Dyck one time said God is like plutonium the writer of Hebrews says OUR GOD IS A CONSUMING FIRE -
When Isaiah sees God and His Holiness that is When He realizes he is undone and has unclean lips.
The Bible tells us that out of the heart proceeds cursing and evil,
I've often wondered why Isaiah first felt the need of his unclean lips, I agree with Dr. Oswalt - You can go on and on about how clean you think your heart is but the expression of your life is the reality where the rubber meets the road." It is possible that Isaiah even wanted to cry along with the Seraphim, wishes he could say something like that but his heart wouldn't let him.
Isaiah's Purging -
Isaiah 5:6-8 - I'm glad that where the Holy Spirit convicts - he has a remedy.
6 And I will lay it waste: It shall not be pruned, nor digged; But there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.
7 For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, And the men of Judah his pleasant plant: And he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; For righteousness, but behold a cry.
8 Woe unto them that join house to house, That lay field to field, till there be no place, That they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth!
When Isaiah confessed his situation of uncleanness - God said I've got something that will work
One of the Serephim took tongs from off the altar and placed a live hot coal on Isaiah's lips.
Now this is a glorious experience - but also must have been a painful
Let put this in perspective -
How hot was the coal that was placed on Isaiah's lips?
It was hot enough that a Seraphim (A BURNING ONE) had to use tongs.
One could ask what altar did the coal come from? I agree with Dr. Oswalt when he says, My head tells me it was a coal off the Altar of Incense But my heart tells me it was a coal of seared burning lambs flesh from off the High Altar. It symbolized a cleansing, a purging away of uncleaning. I would say he was sanctified - purified.
Isaiah 6:7 (KJV)
7 And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquityis taken away, and thy sinpurged. Two words two distinct works.
Set apart for a mission. Immediately he is asked who will go
I love his answer "HERE AM I SEND ME." God is looking for people with that kind of attitude. He can empower and use for HIS GLORY.
Oh I have appreciated Bro. Brewer’s clarity on teaching entire sanctification -
I am so thankful that by GOd’s grace we can be made partakers of HIS DIVINE NATURE he imparts holiness to us - no not a divine and absoulte holiness like God - but a holy heart
Praise the LORD
Isaiah's Preaching Preparation 9-13 - Isaiah was purged to preach. He was given a call and a message.
He was to go and preach look at his message
Go preach hear but don't understand, see but don't understand. Preach until the heart of the people are fat - that means till they are dull and insensitive. (Can I just say it seems the more abundant truth is - the less people are prone to obey it.)
Laurence Chaderton was a noted preacher, Master of Emmanuel College in Cambridge England, and one of the translators of the KJV. After preaching for two hours one day he paused for a just a moment and the entire congregation stood up and shouted, "For God's sake go on!"
So, he preached for another hour.
From <https://www.facebook.com/jonearls?fref=ts>
I'm not going to pause because you might ask me to stop and sit down - but...
Isaiah had been purged and was submitted to God - he didn't cry "Oh no not me" or even question why
he simply asks how long. How long do I preach
The Lord answers Until the cities are destroyed without inhabitants, the houses without man, the land is completly desolate
Yet he promises in verse 13 that a 10th portion will be there, it too will be burned. He likens it to a stump that is burned "Preach Isaiah" the Lord says, "Preach until there's nothing left but a burned down old stump." Israel has reach a place of no return what he preaches Is going to have a hardening effect, God's people are going to be chopped down like a tree and burned and if this was the last chapter of Isaiah we would leave here sad and disheartened. But it doesn't end here. God says that chopped down, smoldering stump left in the field is a seed a Holy Seed and out of that burned out old stump will grow a branch A foreshadowing of chapter 11
Isaiah 11:1-2 (KJV)
1 And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:
2 And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD;
What is a Holy God’s expectation from those who “come near” to Him? Give the reference.
• Lev. 10:3 I will be sanctified by those who come near me.
Oh yes God is…Great because God is Holy but I also want you to know that this holiness isn’t just harshness fire and smoke - it is a beauty like no other
God is…Great because God is Beautiful
God is…Great because God is Beautiful
Dr. Avery who was still president of God’s Bible school when I was taking some classes held a revival for us at Wichita, KS and startled me in one of his sermons when he made a statement
“There are some people who ‘LOVE’ God but they don’t ‘LIKE’ Him very much”
I believe the problem with this is that they have only encountered the vision of God’s holiness - they have never stayed around long enough for it to change them
Psalm 27:4 (KJV 1900)
4 One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple.
David want one thing from the Lord and he is going to seek after that one thing - that is to dwell in the house of the LORD all they days of his life
Why …He wants to behold the beauty of the Lord
the word beauty is from the Hebrew term “no-om” it means kindness, pleasantness, or favor.
Naomi in the book of Ruth derives her name from this word
God extended his beauty to us in how he wanted the sacred space and worship conducted - if you read through and study about all the intricate expensive and expressive instructions on how they were to build the tabernacle it would have been a beautiful sight
But in David’s day there is a slight problem - the house of God or Tabernacle is somewhat of a split-up affair
Some of it was in Gibeon while the Ark of the Covenant was in a special tent - but David is thinking of the Exodus tabernacle and its furnishings
Now he would have never seen the Most Holy Place - but he would have known what was there -
There was beauty in how God came down in type through the tabernacle and its furnishings
How God came down in Shekinah glory
How God came down and spoke to David a beauty
In some ways the word “beauty” could imply God’s holiness
9 O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness: Fear before him, all the earth.
Again Psalm 90:17
17 And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us: And establish thou the work of our hands upon us; Yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.
God is not very beautiful to the eyes of the flesh - but to David nothing was so beautiful and attractive as the Lord
Moses had this longing too - only he uses the word GLORY
God & Soul Care: The Therapeutic Resources of the Christian Faith The Relation between Glory, Beauty, Love, and Well-Being
Edwards (1765/1960; 1998) believed that God’s glory and beauty were identical
Holiness is the beauty of the Lord God of hosts. Thou canst not separate the one from the other. To have it, thou must have Him. Nor will it be hard to obtain either, for He longs to enter into thy being. Thy longing is the faint response of thy heart to His call.
F.B. MEYER.
18 And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory.
19 And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy.
20 And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.
21 And the Lord said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock:
22 And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by:
23 And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen.
Have you ever been in a good old fashioned holiness service and when it concluded you just didn’t want to leave - you wanted to bask in the beauty and glory of what God had just done.
I have been pondering lately something I have come across - I’m still chewing on it - but from what I can understand there is no Old Testament equivalancy for what we call the “Presence of God” - now I don’t mean there are not times when God’s presence isn’t seen and written about - there just is not the Hebrew words or language like we talk about
Rather in the Hebrew language they talk about God’s face being upon you
The great Priestly Blessing Numbers 6:24-26
24 The Lord bless thee, and keep thee:
25 The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:
26 The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.
OH I have seen those times when God’s Face Shone on me or on a congregation when the Lord lifts up his countenance upon thee - my how beautiful how glorious how marvelous
We had a minister who used to make a statement about when we see Him in glory - when we see Him face to face - we will know why the Presence of the Lord felt so wonderful
Beautiful glorious
Isaiah 53:2 expresses the sad truth of how humanity in its lostness misses the beauty of God
2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, And as a root out of a dry ground: He hath no form nor comeliness; And when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
Sometimes we are like the little boy who was rescued as a baby from a fire by his mother - he came out untouched by the flames that were consuming their house and belongings - but poor mother - her face was burned so bad she had to have multiple surgeries and skin graphs and it was scared and marred and just didn’t look real appealing
One day in anger the mother didn’t give him his favorite kind of cereal or something - the boy spouted off to her “YOU ARE UGLY”
Now I know what my mamma would have done if I would have talked to her that way -
but this mamma wanted to teach her little boy a lesson
and she told in excruciating detail how she ran back into the burning house looking for her precious baby - how the smoke nearly choked her to death
how her clothes began to catch on fire and the melting ceiling tile was dripping on her face
it burned but she hardly felt it she was on a mission to find her baby
she scooped him up out of his crib that was already smoldering and the blankets were combusting beside him - but she grabbed him up and held him so close she nearly suffocated him - but she was going to rescue her little boy
As she finished telling the story she looked over at little Johnny setting spellbound in the chair at the table his big oh eyes had welled up with tears
He climbed off his chair and ran over to mommy and threw his arms around her and said with through the sobs and tears
“MOMMY YOU”RE SO BEAUTIFUL”
WHen we Get a Glimpse of WHO HE IS and WHAT HE HAS DONE
Like David we will WANT TO SEE HIS BEAUTY and be around that beauty
PRAY