How many of you like horror movies? (You masochists!) I am not a fan. You cannot pay me to watch a scary movie. And just so you know, I consider movies like The Sixth Sense and Quiet scary (basically anything by M. Night Shyamalan). The bar is really low. (I did like Get Out. But I watched that like this – palm to my face.)

There’s something about people that like horror movies that I find interesting: they find these movies both frightening and fascinating. At times they are so scared that they don’t want to look, but they can’t help but keep watching. There’s something about what they are watching that creates a desire within them to flee (leave or turn off the TV), but then there’s also something about it that draws them in.

Now, when you read the Bible you get a picture of God that generates a similar reaction from people. There’s a lot of distorted images of God that people hold onto. For some he’s like a Santa Claus: he’s nice, friendly, and we come to him whenever we need something. And then there’s others who have a picture of an angry, vengeful God that never smiles. But let me tell you, unless your image of God is both frightening and fascinating, both beautiful and haunting, then you might not be seeing God for who he truly is.

When I told my wife this illustration; she’s like, "You can’t compare God to a scary movie!" But, in case you agree with her, hear me out. There’s a scholar who wrote a book called The Idea of the Holy. In that book he talks about how he looked at all the different religions in order to find commonalities. And one thing that he says is that all people, when they approach God, are torn by ambivalent forces – mixed feelings – of both fascination and fright.

Tim Keller gives the example of how humans can even cause us to feel this way. He talks about how the most gorgeous person in a room, or the person that is four or five times smarter than everyone else, how we are both attracted to them AND intimidated by them. Isn’t that true? And if a human who is exceptional in one area can cause us to feel that way, how much should God who is so far beyond us?!

In the Bible, God at times is depicted as a compassionate father, like in the parable of the prodigal son; and other times he is severe and deals harshly with sin. Many of us struggle with that. We think that God can only be a God of mercy or he can be a God of justice; but he can’t be both. Who says? Just look at the cross. There you see the mercy and justice of God coming together. The just punishment and penalty for our sins was paid in a vicious way; but not by us, but mercifully by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Deuteronomy 4:24(a) says, For the Lord your God is a consuming fire… Throughout the Bible, fire is the symbol of God. And what do we know about fire? Fire is destructive, yet cleansing; what it consumes it leaves dark, but in the process makes light; it is frightening, yet fascinating.

Is there a side (an aspect) to God that is missing in your view of him? If so, that will impact your relationship with him and how you understand his purpose for your life. For some of us, we are too casual with God. He is too common for us – too basic; which makes us indifferent towards him. We have not understood what it means to fear the Lord. And for others of us, he is too scary and unapproachable. We have not grasped that the Lord is near – near to the brokenhearted, and the humble, and the poor in spirit.

And so I want us to look at a passage of Scripture that shows us both sides to God; and how as a result we can be transformed and sent out to do God’s work.

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. 2 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. 3 And they were calling to one another:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty;

   the whole earth is full of his glory.”

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

5 “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.”

6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”

8 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!”

In this short passage, Isaiah gets 1) a vision of God, 2) a vision of himself and 3) a vision of ministry. Let’s first talk about this Vision of God that Isaiah receives. What is it that Isaiah sees when he sees God? Let’s just say that he’s no wimpy, small God. Isaiah is like, The God I saw is first of all transcendent. He says, (v.1) I saw the Lord, high and exalted… At times God is depicted as immanent (near), but he is also transcendent; he is set apart; he is above the norm.

He also says, I saw him …seated on a throne… God is majestic. He is not pacing. He is seated on his throne reigning and ruling.

And then he goes on to say, …and the train of his robe filled the temple. My goodness! He is so BIG! He is grand. Think of this, how big must God be that the train of his robe (some translations say the hem) the bottom piece of his robe fills the temple – a temple that was much bigger than this building?

I got a robe for Christmas. Not like a throne, ruling type of robe – but a bathrobe. My favorite gift ever. But my robe’s got nothing on God’s robe.

And if that vision of God wasn’t enough, this is what Isaiah sees surrounding God, which also magnifies what we have already said about him. (vv.2-4) 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. Again, this speaks to God’s greatness and majesty and worthiness. These angelic beings have six wings. With two of them they are covering their faces – they can’t look at him (remember that horror movie example I gave?). With two of them they are covering their feet – they feel exposed and unworthy.

So they are covering themselves; but they are also saying something. It says, And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” They are praising God to one another and saying, He is so holy! In the Hebrew language there are no superlatives. You know, like how we have good, better, best? They don’t have that in Hebrew. That idea is emphasized with repetition. God is not just holy; and he’s not just holy, holy; he is holy, holy, holy… To be holy is to be set apart. The word literally means cut. He is separate. He is different.

One other thing that they say is that the whole earth is full of his glory. That includes this space. That includes your home and workplace. That includes the TL. We might not be aware, but the whole earth is full of his glory. Let’s not miss it. (God, make us more aware of your presence and glory.)

And hear this about their worship: At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. (This is the original fog machine.) Let me say this about this point: Let’s not be judgmental of expressive prayer and worship. There is worship taking place right now in heaven that is shaking foundations. We should celebrate and join in on passionate worship. In fact, passionless worship is not biblical. You will be hard pressed to find a place where emotionless and non-expressive worship is mentioned in the Scriptures. (Church, I’m not saying we all need to be there – with the crying out and lifting of hands; but let’s just not judge and let’s be curious – we don’t want to quench what the Spirit is wanting to do.)

Now, I just gave you a lot. I hope you were able to get an idea of what Isaiah saw and experienced. Now let me ask: Should we expect to experience something similar to what Isaiah experienced? No. Of course not. I like how one commentator puts it: God is infinitely creative and hates doing the same thing twice. [We should not expect him to do something similar] but we can expect that God wishes each of us to confront the truths about him as Isaiah did.

What truths did Isaiah need to confront? Why did Isaiah need this vision of God? Let me remind you that this chapter begins with the line: In the year that King Uzziah died… (v.1a) Uzziah was a powerful king that reigned for 52 years in Israel. Isaiah and the people found a lot of safety and security (stability) with him in that role. But with him dead, hopelessness began to settle in. This was a massive loss for them.

But again, what does Isaiah see? The true king on his throne – still reigning and ruling. He says it this way, …my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty. (v.5b)

Tim Keller writes, Many of you are living in the year King Uzziah died. Many of you are living in situations where something you always counted on has been ripped out from underneath you and you’re scared about your future. (Tim Keller) That was Isaiah. Is that you today? Where are you placing your hope? What has you scared for your future because it is being ripped from underneath or is no longer present? Sometimes those things need to leave our lives for us to realize that only God can occupy that space – only he can be at the center.

When Isaiah got a vision of God, a glimpse of who God truly is, he then got A Vision of Himself – relative to God. Isaiah’s initial reaction is, Oh snap! I’m done – bury me now! Seriously. Look at what he says: “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.” As he sees this holy God, he sees how unholy he and the people are – his sins and the sins of the people become apparent; they come to the forefront. And what he feels in that moment is dread – that fright that I was talking about earlier. And he literally thinks that he’s going to die.

Now, why does Isaiah focus on the lips? (I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips…) Well, what the Bible teaches is that there is a connection between our words (and even our actions) and our heart. Jesus once said: But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart… (Matthew 15:18a) He said on another occasion: A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. (Luke 6:45). The lips just reveal what is in the heart. And that is important because in the Bible, the heart is the center of human life and spiritual activity.

So let me ask you, What do your words (or actions) reveal about your heart?

Our words are powerful. They are a source of life and death. Isaiah was convicted of that. When we speak to or about each other we ought to use words carefully and choose them wisely. It is said that our words should have three gatekeepers: Is it true? Is it kind? Is it necessary?

Now you might find yourself, like I did a few weeks ago, concerned about your lips – concerned about the things you have spoken. But all of that can change. It changed for Isaiah. Look what happens. 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.” (vv.6-7) Isaiah’s sins are covered (he is cleansed) and his guilt is taken away by a coal taken from the altar – a coal likely from the altar where the sacrifices were offered. This is the beautiful, loving, sacrificial, part of God that we can’t miss. I can picture that coal having been blood dripped by a lamb that was recently sacrificed. It’s all a picture of what Jesus would one day come and do. What he’s done for you and me.

Now there’s a concept that is present here that most of us haven’t fully understood. And it’s this: how the clean purifies the unclean. Many of us see Christianity as only teaching that the clean must stay away from the unclean to avoid contamination. Which granted, there are a lot of rules, especially in the Old Testament, around separating the ceremonially unclean from the clean. But Jesus operated in a whole different paradigm. This is why he wasn’t afraid to touch lepers, and why he welcomed sinners and tax collectors. He wasn’t afraid of catching what they had. No. He is the doctor who came to heal the sick.

Church, health can cure ill-health. Good can overcome evil. Love can overpower hate. Good, healthy leadership can turn a toxic environment around. Church, what if we became a people that received the forgiveness and cleansing of God and went out in the power of his Spirit and health to a sick and hurting world? What would that mean for our families, for our workplace, for this city?

Church, when you are cleansed you are not just cleansed for your own sake, you are cleansed for a mission. Which leads us to our last point: Isaiah receives A Vision of Ministry. 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!” (v.8)

This is the only prophetic calling in the Bible that does not have a direct call. God is speaking amongst himself; and Isaiah is just overhearing. In your life, don’t dismiss the conversations and invitations you are privileged to; you might just be overhearing a divine council.

So today you may not hear directly from God, I’m sending you. But he is asking the questions, Who will go for me? Who is willing to pay the price on their knees to pray for this city; to pray for their neighbors; to pray for the next generation? Who is ready to get their hands dirty? Who is ready to go?

Are you afraid? It’s okay; me too. I tremble every time I even think about having to get up here to teach. But like Isaiah, when I’m able to give the throne of my heart to the true King, and I remember that he has lovingly and mercifully cleansed me, how dare I just keep that for myself and not share it with others.

The Lord is asking, Whom shall we send? Isaiah didn’t even know what he was signing up for. And he said, Here am I! Send me! If you feel that call today and the need (desire, willingness) to respond like Isaiah, come up.

If there’s a view (an aspect) of God that has been missing in your faith, come up. Jesus is both holy (set apart) and welcoming (near). Jesus was so approachable that even children would come to him. And on the other side, he was also terrifying. (transfiguration; calming the storm) Be in awe of him; and come close to him.