God’s Complaint

Isaiah 5:8-17
P. G. Mathew | Sunday, September 23, 2001
Copyright © 2001, P. G. Mathew

Woe to you who add house to house and join field to field till no space is left and you live alone in the land. The LORD Almighty has declared in my hearing: “Surely the great houses will become desolate, the fine mansions left without occupants. A ten-acre vineyard will produce only a bath of wine, a homer of seed only an ephah of grain.” Woe to those who rise early in the morning to run after their drinks, who stay up late at night till they are inflamed with wine. They have harps and lyres at their banquets, tambourines and flutes and wine, but they have no regard for the deeds of the LORD, no respect for the work of his hands. Therefore my people will go into exile for lack of understanding; their men of rank will die of hunger and their masses will be parched with thirst. Therefore the grave enlarges its appetite and opens its mouth without limit; into it will descend their nobles and masses with all their brawlers and revelers. So man will be brought low and mankind humbled, the eyes of the arrogant humbled. But the LORD Almighty will be exalted by his justice, and the holy God will show himself holy by his righteousness. Then sheep will graze as in their own pasture; lambs will feed among the ruins of the rich.

Isaiah 5:8-17

We are living in trying times-times of evil and great change. Suddenly we find ourselves less secure. The stock market is tumbling, layoffs are on the increase, and the travel industry is on the decline. Several thousand people are dead from the attacks of September 11, 2001, and we do not know where or how the next terrorist carnage will take place. We are surrounded by uncertainty and insecurity.

In the midst of all these changes, one thing is certain: Our God is the Lord of history, and through these events he is waking our nation up from its complacency and calling us, Christians and unbelievers alike, to repent and turn to God. I believe in the statement in the Westminster Confession of Faith, chapter 3, section 1, which says in reference to the sovereignty of God that “God, from all eternity, did, by the most wise and holy counsel of his own will, freely, and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass: yet so, as thereby neither is God the author of sin, nor is violence offered to the will of the creatures; nor is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established.”

We see this wonderful truth of the sovereignty of God in the most heinous act ever performed in history-the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ. This wicked act was done by people acting as secondary agents freely; yet it was entirely ordained by God. The Scriptures declare that the handing over of Jesus Christ to be crucified was according to the determinate counsel of God to bring about our salvation.

That act was wicked, and those who perpetrated it were judged. So also what happened on September 11 was a wicked act performed by wicked terrorists, and they will be judged for their wickedness by the sovereign God whom we worship. However, we also know that all things work together for good. If we wisely interpret history, especially events like those of September 11, then we would repent, forsake our wickedness, walk in obedience to God, and proclaim the gospel to those who are around us. That is the purpose for which God saved us.

What happened on September 11 was a wake-up call, particularly to evangelical Christians, to repent and turn to God. We are to seek first the kingdom of God. We cannot serve both God and Mammon. James, the brother of our Lord Jesus Christ, tells us a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. We must serve God only.

As Christians we refuse to believe in the equal ultimacy of good and evil. Ultimacy belongs to our triune God alone-God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit-and everything that happens in this world is ordained by God as the Lord of history. I pray, therefore, that God would help us to interpret all events in the light of this truth. God speaks to us, not only through the Holy Scriptures, but also through historical events around us. We must respond to his words and deeds by repenting of our sins and calling upon the name of the Lord. Then we will bring forth the fruits of righteousness and live to please God.

In this study we want to focus our attention on Isaiah 5 and 6, which deal with God’s complaint against his people, God’s condemnation of his people, and God’s compassion for his people.

The Divine Complaint

In Isaiah 5 and 6 we find Isaiah’s prophecy against the terrible condition of the nation of Israel. Although this prophecy was given in the eighth century B.C., similar conditions exist in our country today; thus, we must pay careful attention to the complaints God leveled against his own people, and the condemnation they brought upon themselves. We must also pay attention to the great compassion and mercy God shows to his people, as recorded in these chapters.

First, then, let us consider the divine complaint. In Isaiah 5:1-4 we read,

I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard: My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside. He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with the choicest vines. He built a watchtower in it and cut out a winepress as well. Then he looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only bad fruit. “Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. What more could have been done for my vineyard than I have done for it? When I looked for good grapes, why did it yield only bad?

God made a vineyard on a fertile hillside. Isaiah tells us he dug it up, cleared away stones, and planted the best vines he could find. Then he built a watchtower and cut out a winepress in anticipation of a great harvest. Having done all this work, he then looked for grapes, but the vineyard yielded only bad fruit.

In verse 4 God asked, “What more could I have done for my vineyard than I have done for it? When I looked for good grapes, why did it yield only bad?” In other words, God was saying, “It is not my fault the vineyard yielded only bad fruit; I have done everything. The bad fruit is my people’s fault.”

A vineyard with only bad fruit is worthless to its owner. We must consider carefully, then, then the meaning of this parable given in verse 7: “The vineyard of the Lord Almighty is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are the garden of his delight. And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard cries of distress.”

God is speaking about the church, his own people-those he redeemed from Egypt, those he brought by his mighty power through the wilderness and through the Jordan into the land of Canaan, those among whom he himself dwelt so that he could bless them, protect them, and guide them.

God looked for justice, but saw only bloodshed; he looked for righteousness, but heard cries of distress. The fruit God expected of his people was the fruit of obedience to God’s law and living in right relationship with one another. What he got was the bad fruit of unrighteousness.

Context

The context of this prophecy is similar to the conditions in which we find ourselves today. During the eighth century B.C., God blessed Judah and Israel with great material prosperity. Uzziah was king of Judah from 791 to 740 B.C. and Jeroboam II was king of Israel from 793 to 753 B.C. Neither Egypt to the south nor Assyria to the north threatened Israel at this time. Egypt was already past its glory days and weak from internal strife. Assyria had problems with its own northern border, so did not venture westward to oppress Judah or Israel. There was also trouble in Assyria in reference to succession after the death of Shalmaneser IV, who died without children in 773.

Thus, Judah and Israel enjoyed peace for about fifty years. As a result of their geographic location, these countries engaged in trade and commerce and prospered. Because of their wealth, Judah and Israel became self-sufficient and independent. Busy enjoying their prosperity, these people squeezed God out of their lives.

This is a description of the times in which we find ourselves. After the Soviet Union crumbled, people began to speak about the peace dividend. In this country we have enjoyed a great economic boom and have arrived at surplus, which we want to carve out this way and that way. We are living at a time like that of eighth-century Israel and Judah-a time of great prosperity, which, in turn, has produced arrogance, self-sufficiency, and independence.

The Bad Fruits of Prosperity

Isaiah spoke of seven bad fruits brought forth by the people of God.

1. The greed of materialism. In verse 8 we read, “Woe to you who add house to house and join field to field till no space is left and you live alone in the land.” Woe to those people who are materialists, in other words. Oh, we don’t want a small house; we want a bigger house. We don’t want one bathroom; we want several. We don’t want just one house; we want many, so that when we get them, we can spend all our time boasting about our real estate holdings. Of course, the Bible is not against wealth nor against prosperity, but the idea here is that of unjust and greedy acquiring of properties and possessions and trusting in material things rather than in God.

   During Isaiah’s time, rich merchants began to buy up houses and lands unjustly from the poor. They reasoned that they did not need God; they needed only wealth. They were like Ahab, the king of Israel who wanted to buy up the land of Naboth. The only problem with Ahab’s plan was that the land of Israel belonged to God in perpetuity, and the people were just tenants in the land. People were not supposed to sell their land because it was their inheritance, given to them by God himself. But Ahab wanted Naboth’s vineyard and acquired it, with no regard to God and at the cost of Naboth’s life.

   During the time Isaiah was prophesying the poor people were oppressed by the rich. As the rich grew richer, the poor became poorer. But the rich were obtaining their wealth in violation of biblical law. Seeking happiness in money and things, they kept busy buying and selling, planting and harvesting, marrying and giving in marriage, going and coming, giving parties and going to parties. For them, God was out but money was in. They were like the church of Laodicea who had no consideration for the state of their souls but told God, “We are rich; we need nothing.” It is of the same Laodiceans that Jesus Christ said, “You are poor, you are wretched, you are blind, you are miserable.” It is of such people Jesus said in another place, “What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26).

   Woe unto materialists! Isaiah was saying. Woe unto those who do not consider God, even though he can, at any time, demand their souls and put an end to their revelry!

2. The pleasure of debauchery. The second bad fruit is found in Isaiah 5:11-12, where we read, “Woe to those who rise early in the morning to run after their drinks, who stay up late at night till they are inflamed with wine. They have harps and lyres at their banquets, tambourines and flutes and wine. But they have no regard for the deeds of the Lord, no respect for the work of his hands.”

   The second bad fruit is the pleasure of debauchery-pleasure mania. Why do we work so hard to gather money? So that we can buy pleasure with it. First there is the gathering of money, then there is the spending of it on pleasure. This is what the prodigal son did. Having gathered all his inheritance, he went to a far place and wasted it on pleasure.

   Isaiah said these people were getting out of bed to drink wine and staying out of bed until late at night so that they could get drunk and throw up everywhere. “Wine, women, music” was their theme. They spent their money and time in dissipation. The only thing these activities did was to set them on fire to commit all sorts of sin of passion.

   These people were not thinking about the Lord of the covenant and his curses. They forgot all about these things. They spent all their money on parties-party after party, drinking and getting drunk. Yet they were not satisfied. In the same way, this country is given over, not to the pursuit of God, but to the restless, relentless pursuit of happiness and pleasure.

   The only problem with this type of lifestyle is that the end of the party is coming. In Daniel 5 we read about Belshazzar giving a great party, during which he blasphemed the God of Israel. But then Belshazzar saw some handwriting on the wall. He became so afraid that his knees knocked together and gave way. He fell down and later that night he was killed. In this passage God says the party is over for those who love pleasure rather than God.

3. The arrogance of atheism. In verse 18 we read, “Woe to those who draw sin along with cords of deceit, and wickedness as with cart ropes, to those who say, ‘Let God hurry, let him hasten his work so we may see it.'” As Isaiah warned that God was going to be angry and pour out his judgment upon his people, what were the people saying? “Go ahead, God. We want to see it. Pour out your judgment! Let us see it!”

   This was not accidental sin. These people had deliberately given their wills, their minds, their passions, and their money over to sin. They began to sin deliberately, especially by saying there is no God.Sin is hard work. Here Isaiah likens it to the pulling of a cart with a big, strong rope. We may think it is exciting, but here the sinner’s work is pictured as hard labor, the misery of which we reap later on.

   Isaiah says, “Woe to those who draw sin along with cords of deceit.” That word could also be translated nothingness or emptiness. In other words, sinning is believing in the big lie, that we are like God. But when we persist in sin, we soon discover it is like pulling a heavy weight with a cart rope. Sin is the enslavement of our mind, our will, our might, our body, our money. Sin is restless activity and weariness, yet we do it again and again. Sin is slavery, not freedom (John 8:31-34). Sin is hard work. What is the result of all this labor? In Romans 6:23 we read, “The wages of sin is death” -both physical and spiritual death. In Proverbs 15:13 we read, “The way of transgressors is hard” (KJV).

   Isaiah was declaring that God’s people had sinned against God’s law. God himself had given them an objective standard that said they should not do many things, but these people said, “No, we will do exactly what you prohibit.” They sinned against their own consciences until they became seared and hardened. Then they dared God to come and judge them because in their hearts they believed there is no God. This was the bad fruit of practical atheism.

4. The twistedness of perversion. In Isaiah 5:20 we read, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.”The fourth bad fruit was that of perversion. These people said to evil, “Thou art good,” and they said to good, “Thou art evil.” They said to light, “Thou art darkness,” and they said to darkness, “Thou art light.” They said to sweet, “Thou art bitter,” and to bitter they said, “Thou art sweet.” This is perversion.

   By eliminating all moral distinctions, these people first became relativists and then perverts. They said, “Get rid of all chastity, purity, honesty, marital fidelity. Get rid of the natural use of men and the natural use of women.” They said of homosexuality, “It is good,” and of heterosexual marriage, “It is bad.” To them shame was good and not to be a pervert was an abnormal condition. They put the pervert on a pedestal.

   Our country has done these things as well. Much of the world finds our American society shameful, and we must agree when we think about what our country puts forth on television, in movies, and in any cultural enterprise. While most of the world has decried such shameful manifestations of “modernity,” our nation has gloried in them. As a nation we have become amoral and immoral. Going against all standards, we have called for tolerance for anyone and everything except the Scriptures and the God of the Scriptures. We have spoken about diversity while hating the Bible and orthodox Christianity. Then we have gloried in pushing the envelope further. Now people are saying, “We must be like animals.” What is the final conclusion of our modern scientific people? We must all become like animals. We have arrived! But I don’t see animals taking drugs and destroying their brains and engaging in self-destructive behavior. Only human beings do such things. This is the bad fruit of perversion.

5. The pride of intellectualism. In Proverbs 3:7 we are warned, “Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil,” and in Proverbs 3:5 we are told, “Lean not on your own understanding.” But God’s people became “wise” in their brain power and squeezed out God. This is the bad fruit of intellectualism.We see the same thing happening today. As people have trusted in scientific naturalism, they have became “enlightened” people -brilliant perverts, in other words.

   God speaks about the problems of this type of intellectualism several times in the Bible. In 1 Corinthians 1:19-20 we read,

   For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.” Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?

   In 1 Corinthians 3:19-20 we read,

   For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness”; and again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.

6. The perversion of justice. The sixth bad fruit that God complained about was injustice. In Isaiah 5:22-23 we read, “Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine and champions at mixing drinks, who acquit the guilty for a bribe, but deny justice to the innocent.”

   The leaders of God’s people were entrusted with the responsibility of just administration of government. Here the mighty are defined, not by their integrity, but by their capacity to handle liquor and expertise in mixing drinks, giving parties, and receiving parties. For such activities people need money, don’t they? So the judges, shepherds, and leaders of God’s people took bribes, causing them to acquit the guilty and condemn the innocent.

7. The uncleanness of Isaiah. The seventh bad fruit is surprising. In Isaiah 6:5 we find a woe pronounced by Isaiah: “‘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.'”

   Here we are surprised to learn that even the great prophet Isaiah was a sinner under the wrath of God. This is true of all of us. God revealed himself to Isaiah in the temple as the thrice-holy God. In the light of this revelation, Isaiah looked upon himself and declared, “I am finished! Woe to me! I am through! I am silenced. How can I join the seraphic choir and sing, ‘Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty’? Because of my uncleanness, I cannot.”

   Does this apply to us? Oh, yes. How often do we justify how great we are, especially compared with others? But when the pastor or elder or brother or sister says something about us that we don’t want to believe, what do we say? “No, I don’t believe it. It is just not true.”

   Why do we say such things? We don’t see God. The moment we are brought before the holy God as Isaiah was, we will fall down and join Isaiah in saying, “Woe is me! I am unclean! I am undone! I am finished! My heart is wicked; therefore, my lips are unclean. How can I sing God’s praise?”

   This is true conviction of sin. When Isaiah saw God, he stopped looking at everyone else and saw himself as he was. He said he was unclean. All his self-justifications evaporated into nothingness.

Divine Complaint Brings Divine Condemnation

This, then, is the divine complaint, not only about the people of Isaiah’s time, but about our nation, about the church, and about us. God did everything: He planted on a fertile hill, dug the soil, removed the stones, planted the best vine possible, built a fence around it, built a tower in the middle of it, made a press, and waited for fruit. But the result was only bad fruit.

God is angry at this country, angry at the church, and angry at you and me. Because of our sin, he has a right to be angry and, therefore, there is going to be divine condemnation.

In Isaiah 5:5-6 we read,

Now I will tell you what I am going to do to my vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it will be destroyed; I will break down its wall, and it will be trampled. I will make it a wasteland, neither pruned nor cultivated, and briers and thorns will grow there. I will command the clouds not to rain on it.

In the final analysis, it is God himself who deals with our sin. He uses secondary agents who act freely and voluntarily, but it is God who ordains all things that come to pass in his world. Notice, then, in verse 5 God says, “Now I will tell you what I am going to do to my vineyard.”

An angry God will deal with his people because of their sin. In modern times we have made God to be a nice, hugging God, not a God of wrath. We want a national day of prayer, but we don’t want to limit our prayers to the only true and living God, the Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We don’t want a national day of repentance and humiliation before the true and living God. We don’t want to go to the Scriptures to find out his will and to discover what he is saying to us through events like those of September 11, 2001.

Because God was angry at the sin of his people, he said, “I will tell you what I am going to do to my vineyard.” God knows what he is doing when he disciplines his people.

In Isaiah 5:5-6 God speaks of the measures he will take to deal with his vineyard: “I will take away its hedge, and it will be destroyed; I will break down its wall, and it will be trampled. I will make it a wasteland, neither pruned nor cultivated, and briers and thorns will grow there. I will command the clouds not to rain on it.” As the Sovereign of the universe, God knows what to do, when to do, and how to do it in order to deal with his people’s sin.

In Isaiah 5:13 God tells us another consequence of his people’s bad fruit: “Therefore my people will go into exile for lack of understanding. . . .” In other words, God was saying he would throw the people out of the land where he had planted them. And in Isaiah 5:24 he says, “Therefore, as tongues of fire lick up straw and as dry grass sinks down in the flames, so their roots will decay and their flowers blow away like dust.”

In Isaiah 5:25 we read, “Therefore the Lord’s anger burns against his people; his hand is raised and he strikes them down. The mountains shake, and the dead bodies are like refuse in the streets.” As we said, we have portrayed God as being always nice, always understanding, as a God with two long arms always hugging everyone, no matter what anyone does.

But God is described more times in the Bible as a God of wrath than as a God of love. So in verse 25 we read, “Therefore the Lord’s anger burns against his people; his hand is raised and he strikes them down.” The same hand by which God redeemed his people from Egypt is raised in judgment against his people. Isaiah continues, “The mountains shake, and the dead bodies are like refuse in the streets.” This prophecy was fulfilled in 587 B.C.

Isaiah continues in verse 26, “Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away, his hand is still upraised. He lifts up a banner for the distant nations. . . .” Here we see God using foreign countries to deal with his people. In other words, he lifts the banner as the rallying point. Because they are summoned by the Sovereign God of the universe, nations come.

Then we read, “He whistles for those at the ends of the earth. Here they come, swiftly and speedily!” Again we see the sovereignty of God at work. There is no other God. All other gods are false. All other religions are false. All other philosophies are false. The sovereign God lifts the banner, whistles, and all nations come at his bidding to do his work of judgment.

In verse 27 we read, “Not one of them grows tired or stumbles, not one slumbers or sleeps; not a belt is loosened at the waist, not a sandal thong is broken.” The armies of Babylon were ferocious, unified, well-trained, and terrifying. In verse 28 we read, “Their arrows are sharp, all their bows are strung.” As we continue to read, we learn of the defeat of God’s people by the powerful army summoned by God himself.

Reasons for Divine Condemnation

This type of destruction happened more than once in the history of God’s people. For example, in 587 B.C. we hear of the Babylonians destroying Jerusalem and taking the people into captivity. Jesus predicted similar destruction, and his words were fulfilled in 70 A.D. when God used Titus to deal with God’s people again.

What were the reasons for God’s judgment? In Isaiah 5:12 we read, “They have harps and lyres at their banquets, tambourines and flutes and wine. . . .” Oh, these people were busy having a good time, drinking and getting drunk, enjoying pleasure and making money. PGM But, notice, Isaiah continues, “they have no regard for the deeds of the Lord, no respect for the works of his hands.” These people had no respect for God as Creator, as Redeemer, as Lord of history, as the Author of his word, as King, as the Lord of the covenant, as the God who dwelt in the midst of them, and as the one who protected and clothed them with deliverance.

In the latter part of Isaiah 5:24 we read, “For they have rejected the law of the Lord Almighty and spurned the word of the Holy One of Israel.” That is the reason God was destroying his people. There is divine complaint and divine condemnation.

I hope we will realize that God is not interested in hugging us all the time. The transcendent, thrice-holy God has a complaint against his people. Can we challenge him by saying his complaint is wrong? Of course not! God is always right in his complaint and right in his condemnation. But God also shows compassion to those who are sinners, to those who agree that his complaint is right and his condemnation is right, to those who like Isaiah say, “You are right, O God. Have mercy on me, a sinner!” God will show mercy to such a person.

I pray that we will agree that God’s complaint against us is just and his condemnation of us is deserved. May we confess our sins of forsaking him and treating him with contempt; our sins of intellectualism, perversion, debauchery, and materialism; and our sins of squeezing God out by saying we are busy-buying and selling, eating and drinking, planting and harvesting, marrying and giving in marriage-so that we did not think about the Son of Man. May we run to him and fall before him, asking him to show mercy to us. May God save our nation, our church, and our families by showing his compassion to us and forgiving our sins and blotting out all our transgressions.

Divine Consolation

So there was a divine charge against and divine condemnation of God’s rebellious people. Who were these people? As we read in Isaiah 5:7, they were the people of God-“my people,” God said again and again. Yet God’s people brought forth only bad fruit.

This is true of all of us. In Genesis 1 and 2 we read that God created man in his image and likeness-certainly a choice vine!-and planted them in the best possible place, the garden of Eden, where everything was good. God could not have done anything more for his people, yet in Genesis 3 we see Adam and Eve bringing forth the bad fruit of stubborn rebellion, independence, and rejection of God. This pattern has been repeated many times in history.

So God asked, “What more could have been done for my vineyard than I have done for it?” The obvious answer is, “Nothing.” In other words, the blame for this bad fruit rested upon the people themselves. So God sent his agents, the Babylonians, to execute divine condemnation and judgment upon his own people, and that judgment was executed in 587 B.C.

Isaiah’s Vision

However, God does not leave his people in their sin and misery. In Isaiah 6 we find the divine consolation and compassion God shows to his sinful people. In Isaiah 6:1 we read, “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord. . . .” The year Isaiah received this vision of comfort and consolation was 740 B.C.

King Uzziah ruled fifty-two years, although toward the end of his reign his son Jotham acted as a co-regent. God helped Uzziah and blessed him greatly, but as Uzziah grew in power, he displayed great arrogance by trying to consolidate both secular and religious power in himself. Uzziah wanted to be not only king but also the priest; thus, although he was counseled not to do so, Uzziah dared to enter the sanctuary and began to offer sacrifices upon the altar. God judged this arrogant act of Uzziah’s by striking him with leprosy, and he became unclean in the midst of the temple. He was quickly ushered out and lived as a leper for the rest of his life. The uncleanness of Uzziah represents the uncleanness of his people.

Isaiah received this prophecy the year King Uzziah died. The era of his long reign was coming to an end and the people did not know what to do. Uzziah had been an able administrator and military leader, and the people had looked to him to deal with all sorts of issues. But now this strong leader was dead and the people were left in their uncleanness.

“Don’t worry, Isaiah,” God is saying in this passage, “The King is not dead.” So Isaiah begins, “I saw the Lord seated on the throne.” God is seated on the throne as the King as well as the Judge. When Moses died, God lived, and he had a Joshua to lead his people. When Joshua died, God was still living, and brought others to lead again. That is the way it is. God, the Lord of history, the King of the universe, never dies.

So Isaiah says, “I saw the Lord seated on the throne, high and exalted.” The Lord alone is always high, exalted, and lifted up because he alone is transcendent and immanent. He will make sure everyone else is humbled, as we read in Isaiah 5:15, “So man will be brought low and mankind humbled, the eyes of the arrogant humbled. But the Lord Almighty will be exalted by his justice, and the holy God will show himself holy by his righteousness.”

Isaiah continues, “and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs. . . .” This is the only place we find the word “seraphs,” which are different from cherubs. Seraphs are “fiery ones,” angelic beings who perform a certain labor given to them. Isaiah described these beings: “. . . 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.” Perhaps this was an antiphonal song, but whatever it was, there was great worship.

Notice the repetition: “Holy, holy, holy.” That is a Hebrew way of giving us the superlative, the intensive. We are told in the book of James that “Elijah prayed earnestly,” but the expression is, “praying, he prayed.” The repetition indicates the earnestness with which Elijah prayed. “Holy, holy, holy” puts emphasis on one attribute of God-his holiness. In other words, holiness is the essential attribute of God. God alone in his essence is separate, independent, transcendent, free, and morally pure. That is why the apostle John wrote in 1 John 1:5 that “God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.”

This was the seraphs’ song of worship and praise to God: God is most holy! Then they said, “The whole earth is full of his glory.” Not only was God’s glory filling the whole land of Israel, but it fills the whole earth. There are people who would say that this is a revelation of the second Person of the Trinity, a revelation of Christ himself.

As we said, Uzziah was unclean when he died, as was his whole nation. But here Isaiah tells us there was One who is transcendent, holy, and morally pure, whose eyes cannot behold sin, whose glory fills the whole earth.

I hope we will have this understanding of the Christian God. I recently saw an “interfaith prayer meeting” on television. There were Muslims, Christians, Hindus, Jews, and others coming together, all praying to “God.” But what God are such people praying to? Are they referring to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ?

Isaiah saw the seraphs singing and worshiping the true and living God. At the sound of their singing, the whole temple building shook. It wouldn’t fall down, because God himself was seated on the throne. But all of a sudden, who began to shake deep within himself? Isaiah. All of a sudden he realized that he himself was unclean.

Vision of God

In Isaiah 6:5 we find Isaiah’s reaction to this heavenly vision: “‘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.'” We want to make several points about this passage.

First, there is the vision of God transcendent and thrice-holy, high and lifted up. Of course, no one can see God and live, because God is spirit. Therefore, this was a divinely ordained manifestation of an aspect of God’s glory. In the history of redemption God permitted some people to see him, in the sense of seeing some aspect of his glory, and they all lived.

Second, there is the confession of sin. Only when we have a vision of this God will we have a vision of the wretchedness of our own heart. Only then will we throw away all self-esteem and pronounce condemnation upon ourselves as Isaiah did. Notice, Isaiah was not telling God how great and wonderful he was. “Woe to me!” he cried. In the Hebrew it is, “I am silenced!” In other words, Isaiah knew he could not open his mouth and join with the seraphim’s song because a person has to be holy to worship God.

“Woe to me! Calamity is coming! I am ruined! I am silenced!” Isaiah was saying. Why was he speaking this way? Here is the reason: “I am a man of unclean lips.” In other words, Isaiah was saying, “I know that to worship God and sing his praise I must have holy lips. To do that I must have a holy heart because out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. But my heart is evil. I cannot sing and worship because I am unclean.” Then Isaiah adds, “Not only that, I live among a people who are unclean. We are all unclean-we who are the people of God! We were the choicest vine God could plant, but we became rebellious and stubborn and only brought forth bad fruit.”

What, then, was the third point Isaiah made? “My eyes have seen the King.” Oh, Isaiah was not referring to Uzziah here. Uzziah had become leprous and unclean and had died. Uzziah was gone, but God is never gone. So Isaiah was declaring, “My eyes have seen the King-the glorious King whose glory fills the earth; the King, who is also the Judge; the King who alone is transcendent; the thrice-holy King; the King who is the Lord Almighty-seated on the throne. That is why I am silenced and shaking. That is why I now see myself as I am and condemn myself.” Notice, in this passage neither God nor anyone else was condemning Isaiah. Having seen the vision of God, he received a profound revelation of his true state. “I am unclean. I am a sinner. I am finished,” Isaiah declared.

Cleansing of Sin

What could be done for Isaiah after he acknowledged his uncleanness before God? In verse 6 we read, “Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar.” The seraph did not do this on his own accord. We must assume that the One seated on the throne directed him to do it because that is what angels do. Unlike sinful human beings, angels are ever-ready to serve the King of kings and Lord of lords. Thus, in the light of Isaiah’s confession and own self-condemnation, the compassionate and gracious God commanded the angel to deal with this issue. The angel “flew to [Isaiah] with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar.”

What is significant about taking a coal from the altar? The altar represented the sacrificial system of Israel. It encompassed the whole idea of substitutionary atonement. When a person sinned, he or she would bring the prescribed animal and kill it, shedding its blood. Then the animal would be burned up on the altar. This procedure for substitutionary atonement is all included in the idea of a live coal being taken from the altar. It speaks about redemption and the fruit of redemption. When the seraph came and touched Isaiah’s lips, it symbolized the application of redemption.

Our problem is that we are sinners-unclean, undone, under the wrath of God. In Romans 1:18 we read, “The wrath of God is revealed against all the godlessness and wickedness of men.” But in Romans 3:21 we read that “a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known to which the Law and the prophets testify.” It is that righteousness, given to us through the Lord Jesus Christ, that is symbolized by the coal applied to Isaiah’s lips.

What does fire stand for? First, it is a symbol of judgment. The Scriptures tell us that our God is a consuming fire. But in this situation fire is used as a cleansing agent and there is no problem with touching it. In the Hebrew it says, “. . . which he had taken from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, ‘See, this has touched your lips and your guilt is taken away.'” In the Hebrew these are two coordinate perfects. The idea is that as soon as the coal touched Isaiah’s lips, his guilt was gone.

This is an amazing understanding of God’s forgiveness of our sins. “What must I do to be saved?” the Philippian jailer asked Paul in Acts 16. What was the answer? “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ; you shall be saved.” The moment we put our trust in Jesus Christ, we are saved. That is God’s way of salvation.

In Hebrews 9:22 we read, “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” Praise God, blood has been shed-not the blood of goats and sheep, but the precious blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! All the sacrifices in the Old Testament pointed forward to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

That is the symbolism we see in Isaiah 6. The live coal was applied to Isaiah’s mouth, with which he would confess his complete sinfulness. Notice, God himself took the initiative to save Isaiah. God commanded the seraphs to go and take care of Isaiah’s uncleanness. They applied the coal to Isaiah’s mouth, and as soon as it touched it, his guilt was taken away and his sins forgiven. Isaiah was cleansed by God.

Isaiah’s cleansing speaks about the cross of Christ, as we discover in Isaiah 53. In verses 4-5 we read,

Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.

Let me assure you, if anyone comes to God saying, “I am great, I am wonderful, I am steeped in self-esteem,” God will not cleanse that person. God only saves sinners who come to him acknowledging, “I am a sinner. I am unworthy. I deserve condemnation. I deserve your judgment. I will not argue with your case or with your judgment. You are perfectly right. I am finished. Woe unto me! I am undone. I cannot sing, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. The whole earth is filled with your glory,’ with the heavenly choir. I cannot do it. I am unclean.” The moment we confess these things, a touch will come to us from the heavenly seraph. It is the application of the cross, and we will be cleansed. “By his wounds we are healed.”

Communion

After seeing the vision of God, confessing his sins and being cleansed by God, Isaiah could now enjoy communion with God. Until God dealt with Isaiah’s uncleanness, God would not speak to him nor did he speak to God. There is no communion between God and sinners. But now God began to speak to Isaiah and Isaiah could speak to God. Oh, what worship, what communion, what relationship! What made it possible? Isaiah’s sin problem had been taken care of by the altar, which stood for the cross, which, ultimately, stood for the blood of Jesus Christ.

Notice, then, in verse 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.'” The word for “atoned for” is kaphar, which means “paid for” or “covered.” It is the same word we find in the Hebrew name for the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur. Kaphar points to the propitiation Christ would bring about in due course by his death on the cross.

Our sin is paid for and covered, not by us but by someone else, the Lord Jesus Christ. As soon the coal touches our lips, we are taken care of. Not only is our particular sin done away with, but our guilt is also taken care of-the interior guilt and all that accompanies it is gone, based on the propitiatory atonement of Christ.

Therefore, there is now great communion with God. In verse 8 Isaiah says, “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!’ He said, ‘Go and tell this people. . . .'” This is communion. God was speaking to Isaiah, and Isaiah to God. When the coal touched his lips, his sin was gone and I am sure he joined the heavenly choir, singing, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty! The whole earth is full of his glory.” And after all the worship, Isaiah communicated with God himself.

Commission

The fifth point is the commission God gave to Isaiah. God had a job for Isaiah to do. In verse 9 God told Isaiah,

“Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.” Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.

God is a God of complaint. He makes certain charges, and who can argue with him? God also is a God who condemns us; who can argue with that? But God is also a God who consoles us through the cross. He is the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort. He cleanses us and enables us to have communion with him. What a mighty God we serve!

But there is more. There is a charge from God to all those he has cleansed. You see, God still loves his wicked people, so he tells us, “I want you to go and speak to them. Tell them that there is a way of compassion, a way of salvation, found in the Holy Bible. Then preach the gospel to them, that they may be saved.” That was God’s commission to Isaiah, and it is his commission to all of us who have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ.

Conclusion

I pray that we can see God in all his holiness as Isaiah did. God is defined in terms of this one attribute of holiness, which means that he is entirely different from us. God is separate, different, transcendent, free, independent, and ethically pure. That is the idea we must understand when we think about God.

I pray that we will also understand that when we sin, it is a contradiction of the very nature of God. Sin is so serious because it contradicts God himself by bringing forth bad fruit rather than good fruit for our loving, caring Master. I pray that as we see God in all his holiness and ourselves in the light of his moral purity as sinners we will make proper confession of sin when we are confronted with it. Instead of saying, “Well, maybe you think I have sinned, but I don’t think so. I feel pretty good about myself,” we will see our sin and repent of it, knowing that Jesus Christ comes to save sinners only. “If we confess our sins, [God] is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

Christ died for our sins! May we, therefore, confess our sins and be cleansed by the blood of the Lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ. Then we shall enjoy communion, then we can sing, then we can worship, and, finally, then we can proclaim the gospel, that others may be saved. Amen.