9.18.24
We are continuing our series in the attributes of God. And this week we are looking at his holiness from Isaiah 6. And so far we’ve seen that his holiness overwhelms us - and as a result, is able to overwhelm our problems. Yesterday we saw that his holiness strips us of any deception of self-righteousness, as it lays bare our “best” things for the worthless pile of rags they really are.
Today we see how his holiness heals us with his grace. We often define the gospel as being far more sinful than you ever imagined and yet far more loved than you ever dared hope. It’s the holiness of God that reveals how much worse we really are than we imagine. And as a result, opens the door to a level of grace we never dreamed possible.
God’s grace is always theoretical - nice to have - warm and comforting…until you desperately need it! Then it becomes life itself. When confronted with the holiness of God, Isaiah was completely undone before his presence. When his best thing (his lips as a prophet) were exposed for the self-confidence and identity he had made them into, it completely undid him. And for the first time, God’s grace became something he personally needed.
God sends a seraph from the altar with a hot coal that touches and cleanses his lips. The altar was the place where sins were atoned for, and this symbolic move reminded Isaiah of the forgiveness and complete acceptance that was his before this terrifying holy God. Ans as the coal hits his lips, it burns away the guilt. And God’s forgiveness becomes real to him - it brings him life.
The greater you are aware of your debt, the greater your joy will be in its payment. And when Isaiah saw his debt as being far deeper than he imagined, his joy in grace became much more life-giving. Unless you are wounded by the holiness of God, you will never be healed by the grace of God. The God most grew up with in Appalachia is pleased by our simply trying harder - being more sincere. And that turns his forgiveness into merely another chance to get it right. But when you see the real God - and his demanding holiness, it obliterates any hope of being able to improve ourselves. And it forces us to run to his grace.
Are there areas of your life today where God is showing up in painful ways? If you think that God is punishing you to make you feel bad for your sins - or to motivate you to try harder next time, that’s a god of your imagination. The real God intentionally brings you to the end of yourself so you can finally run to his love and bask in his grace for you.