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Love

Teaching Text: ‭Isaiah 6:1-8

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory.”

At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.

“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”

Then one of the seraphim 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 atoned for.”

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!”

Themes

Consider these themes and ask your group what else they see in the passage:

Cry of the Prophet
Isaiah - An Undone Prophet Seeing in the Dark

Formation

Thoughts and notes you can use for discussion:

Isaiah begins - In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord
Judah has had the same King for 52 years and much of Uzziah’s rule has been prosperous and peaceful, but the rumblings of corruption, and mighty foreign powers, and the tension of the transfer of power makes for a troubling national moment.
- This is the time that Isaiah has a vision of God.
  - A vision that changes the world
  - This is a vision that can change your life
  - It shows us...
    - Why the actual God is better than the one we make up
    - Heads up, God might show up when you are sure you already know what to expect

The Vision

Isaiah sees the Lord.
- I saw the Lord high and exalted.
There is a reality of the full revelation of God that seems impossible to fully take in.
The angels sing holy, holy, holy and I will give you Alec Motyer on this but this is a sentiment you will hear often repeated about this song...
- “Hebrew uses repetition to express superlatives or indicate totality. Only here is the threefold repetition found. Holiness is supremely the truth about God, and His holiness is in itself so far beyond human thought that a 'super-superlative' has to be invented to express it...
  ... the question arises what it is that makes Him unapproachable or what it is that constitutes His distinctiveness. The answer is that it is his total and unique moral majesty.”
  – Alec Motyer
To really see God is to come into contact with Holiness and it somehow both ruins us and saves us.
Everything else we know about God, His love, His justice, His anger, His compassion is holy.
It is set apart. Unlike any other. Unique to God and pure and brilliant and strong to the point we cannot stand it.
And this is a problem.
- Isaiah doesn’t join in the angels song. He gets a sense of what God is really like and he realizes everything is shaking.
- And what happens when we encounter God is shaking and unraveling
- At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.
  “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”
  – Isaiah 6:3-5
When we really get a sense of God’s nearness, it gives a shake to everything we hold dear and have been counting on as our security, significance, meaning.
Isaiah doesn’t start singing. He starts confessing.
If you really look at this, it may be hard to imagine this as good thing.
We live in a world where we have many practices to boost our self-esteem, where our egos feel fragile and need regular refilling, where we only want positive self-talk.
And here is a vision of God that brings an unraveling.
Why is this good?
- Because a God who is really there is better than a god you make up.

He says I have unclean lips.
When we really see God for who He is we don’t just confess our sins, we confess our strengths. We confess the ways we try to distinguish ourselves and make a life out of our own resources.
Isaiah was a man with the right family connections, the right education, the right set of skills, the obvious gifts and ability.
And he gets a vision of God that unravels him.
Isaiah gets no comforting words in his vision.
- In fact, in contrast to God’s majesty he can’t confess fast enough
- And it’s the best thing that ever happens to him
Isaiah is about to step into joy and courage and creativity and endurance and the life he was meant to live with transcendent impact across the world that we still marvel at
- But it starts with this unraveling.
- For some, God’s love falls lightly on our hearts because we don’t really grasp the scope of it
  - Is this you?
- For some of us, we are bored with God’s love, like its just the hallmark sappiness we know they sing about in church, because you haven’t had a vision of God’s holiness.
  - Is this you?
  - If you do, it will shake the foundations of your life and it will be the best thing that could happen to you.
But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him.
– Philippians 3: 7-9
And in becoming unraveled, of confessing sin but also anything that rooted his life and identity other than God
We cannot rightly envision God without holiness but we cannot stand holiness, so we have to have mercy.
- And mercy comes from the altar.
Then one of the seraphim 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 atoned for.”
– Isaiah 6:6
When we part ways with God, death is what enters. And death and separation has ripped through the human story and human heart.
And God taught Israel something of the cost in the temple system, but all along as a place holder.
- If you have a god who loves you but isn’t Holy - his mercy will always be light. His love will become boring to you.
- If you have a god who is holy without love - you can’t stand before him. You are only undone.
But here is a God who is majestically holy and is Himself undone so we can be changed, so we can be made holy.
He goes from unraveled to unstoppable.
He is ready for whatever God would ask of him. If you read on and get his job description, it is not one you would agree to lightly.
- But Isaiah says “Here I am. Send me.”
  - Let me be a representative of this God who has changed and healed me. Let me show what God is really like even if it costs me.
God gives this vision to Isaiah as an act of mercy even though it begins with unraveling and as we close I want to say that if you want get a true vision of God it must include God’s holiness.
- If you want that you can ask for it.
- And you can put yourself in places revelation.
  - Look into His Word
  - Come into the company of worship at the house of the Lord
  - Go into prayer
  - Look at the natural world with wonder and gratitude
  - See your neighbor
  - Live a life of compassion