Our current weekly study from Scripture concerns the subject of holiness. This week’s essay continues to examine the holiness of God from Isaiah 6:1-7.
“Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.” (Isaiah 6:6-7).
Have you ever sensed the touch of God in your life? I refer to this touch as an overwhelming sense of the presence of God and His gracious forgiveness. Touch can also refer to a sense of God’s divine call to serve Him, perhaps in full-time ministry. I have encountered both of these events in my life, along with numerous moments of rededication, repentance of sin, and forgiveness from God as His child (I John 1:8-10).
To truly know God is to know that He is, according to Isaiah 6:1-3, holy, holy, holy. I Peter 1:15-16 says, “But as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy” (Lev.11:44). Isaiah 6 contains one of the most striking accounts of not only the holiness of God but also the un-holiness of man.
“When we truly encounter God’s holiness, we are changed. Consider Isaiah 6. Isaiah is overwhelmed by the display of God’s holiness. He is completely undone, crying, “Woe is me!” (Isa. 6:5). Encountering God’s holiness humbles us, exposes our sinfulness, and reshapes our minds and hearts, compelling us to align our desires and will with His desires and will. Recognizing our need for Him, we are set apart for His purposes and transformed into His likeness,” explains one commentator.
To truly know God is to recognize and understand that He is holy, and we are not. He is set apart from sin, while we belong and revel in our sin. How then can sinful creatures ever hope to eternally be in the presence of this God who is holy? How can we ever hope to serve Him? Our only confidence is in the gracious justification, redemption, reconciliation, and sanctification from the LORD. This is illustrated in today’s featured biblical text,
“Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar.” God alone, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, is the one who takes the initiative in cleansing sinners from their sin. This is illustrated by one of the seraphim angels who, with one set of his wings, flew to Isaiah. The angel had in his possession a burning coal. This was a very hot live ember taken from the altar, presumably the Altar of Incense.
“Realizing his impurity, Isaiah was cleansed by God, through the intermediary work of one of the seraphs. It is fitting that a seraph (perhaps meaning a “burning one”) touched Isaiah’s lips with a hot coal … from the altar, either the altar of burnt offering, on which a fire was always burning (Lev. 6:12), or the altar of incense where incense was burned each morning and evening (Ex. 30:1, 7–8),” explains Dr. John A. Martin from the Bible Knowledge Commentary.
And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.” The angel touched the prophet’s mouth with the burning coal. With that touch from God by His angelic emissary, the angel stated that Isaiah’s sinful guilt was removed and his sin atoned for and forgiven. This scene is a symbolic reminder that repentance is painful, but cleansing and purifying
Dr. R. C. Sproul adds, “The purification is specifically applied to the point of his sin—his lips—making the prophet acceptable as a minister of God’s words (Jeremiah 1:9).”
“The action of the seraph in touching the coal to the lips of Isaiah symbolized the fact of the necessary propitiatory sacrifice having been made, his sins were forgiven. Acting in accord with God’s behest, the seraph caused the stone to touch the lips of the prophet,” states commentator E.J. Young.
“This stone, taken from the altar, was merely a symbol of forgiveness; the fire in itself could naturally not cleanse from sin. The cleansing and purifying work is not that of the fire, but of God alone. God alone is the author of forgiveness, and the seraph is but His messenger, flying to do His bidding.”
God forgave Isaiah and the prophet became useful for God. This was not on the basis of anything the prophet could have done, but solely based on the gracious mercy of God. When God touched Isaiah, the prophet became holy. Isaiah was now immediately set apart from the penalty of sin, purified from the power of sin and received the God-given eternal promise of freedom from the presence of sin.
Dr. D.A. Carson states, “People do not drift toward holiness. Apart from grace-driven effort, people do not gravitate toward godliness, prayer, obedience to Scripture, faith, and delight in the Lord. We drift toward compromise; . . . we drift toward disobedience; . . . we drift toward superstition.”
Have the Lord touched you with a sense of His holy presence? If so, when and where? How do believers in Christ practically pursue God’s call to be holy as He is holy? This question will be considered when next we meet.
May the Lord’s truth and grace be found here. Have a God honoring and holy day in the Lord.
Soli deo Gloria!
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