Rev. David Holwick ZK Book of Isaiah series
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
November 7, 1993
Isaiah 6:1-8
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I. Hugging the queen.
About two years ago a woman in our nation's capitol welcomed
Queen Elizabeth II into her home in a warm and beautiful way.
She gave her a hug.
This simple act made headlines around the world because British
protocol forbids commoners from touching a monarch.
The queen, accompanied by first lady Barbara Bush, visited
67-year-old retiree Alice Frazier's home in an area formerly
plagued by drugs and crime but now rehabilitated.
It was on this occasion that Frazier shocked British
sensibilities with her effusive hospitality.
Frazier was simply showing her happiness at being visited by
royalty.
No one had explained to her that you don't hug a queen.
How you act in the presence of a queen is one thing.
How you act in the presence of God is quite another.
Suppose God appeared to us right now in this place.
How would you react?
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A. My reaction in meeting a general.
1) Not that overwhelming (compared to a president) but I froze.
B. Yet many act almost nonchalantly about knowing God.
II. Seeing the King.
A. Isaiah's call to ministry begins with a vision.
1) He may have been in worship at temple, when he was overwhelmed.
2) Mystical experiences reveal a lot about what is happening
inside us.
B. God is different that us.
1) Hebrew word for "holy" carries idea of being separated.
a) God is elevated.
1> We must look up to him.
2> Cold and distant?
b) God is glorious.
1> Not just dazzling light, but colors.
2> We are drab in comparison.
c) God is pure.
1> Absolute moral perfection.
2> Sin cannot exist in his presence.
2) Seraphs show worshipful attitude. 6:2
a) They cover eyes and feet to show reverence.
III. People still have visions of God today.
A. Visions are increasingly popular.
1) Usually called "out of body" or "near-death" experiences.
2) Not really "after-death" - once you're dead, you're dead.
3) Several in Ledgewood have told me of their experiences.
B. Our culture may have more impact on visions than God.
Carol Zaleski has compared medieval near-death experiences
with modern ones.
She found that the medieval experiences reflected real life -
Life is difficult.
Life is full of failure and even tragedy.
Suffering is unavoidable but it can be redemptive.
Hope is real but hard-won.
Modern near-death experiences are very different.
They feature no ordeals, cater to easy hope & ignore suffering.
People are left with a sense of being "O.K."
God becomes a glorified psychologist who is eager to soothe
your worries.
There is little moral assessment or change.
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C. Genuine spiritual experience shakes us to our core.
1) Wow - I'm not TOAST!
2) Isaiah, a noble, felt immense unworthiness. 6:5
IV. Seeing ourselves.
A. Isaiah had a sense of utter sinfulness.
1) Everything - and everyone - in his life fell short of God.
2) Guilt has a positive side.
Dr Willard Gaylin is the professor of psychiatry at Columbia
University.
In a recent article he wrote: "When you have actually done
something morally wrong, it is always good to experience
guilt - always."
If you never experience guilt, you have no standards of
decency.
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B. Spirituality always begins with painful self-appraisal.
1) We are not nearly what we think we are.
2) Dietrich Bonhoeffer is a German hero of World War II.
He gave his life to oppose Hitler.
Shortly before his execution by the Nazis he wrote a poem.
"Who am I?" he begins.
Then he reflects on how others saw him:
"They tell me I bore the days of misfortune with steadiness,
with smiles, with pride..."
But his following verses describe the person he knows within:
"Restless and longing and sick," he describes himself,
"...faint, and ready to say farewell to it all."
"Am I one person today and tomorrow another?" Bonhoeffer
closes.
"Am I both at once? A hypocrite before others, and before
myself a contemptible wretched weakling?
"Who am I? They mock me, these lonely questions of mine."
We are faced with the same haunting question.
Who am I, really?
Some of us don't know.
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V. Burning atonement.
A. Isaiah could not clean himself up. God did it for him.
B. Coals were from sacrificial fires. 6:6
1) Atonement always bears a cost.
2) Jesus paid the ultimate price so that we can know the King.
C. When God atones for us, he owns us. 6:8
1) Isaiah answered the call to go.
2) Many have followed that same call.
Late one evening a professor sat at his desk working on the
next day's lectures.
He shuffled through the papers and mail placed there by his
housekeeper.
He began to throw them in the wastebasket when one magazine--
not even addressed to him but delivered to his office by
mistake---caught his attention.
It fell open to an article titled "The Needs of the Congo
Mission."
The professor began reading it idly, but then he was consumed
by these words:
"The need is great here.
We have no one to work in the northern province of Gabon in
the central Congo.
And it is my prayer as I write this article that God will
lay His hand on one---one on whom already, the Master's
eyes have been cast---
that he or she shall be called to this place to help us."
The professor closed the magazine and wrote in his diary:
"My search is over."
He gave himself to go to the Congo.
The professor's name was Albert Schweitzer.
Schweitzer caught the vision of God's work and dedicated his
life to service in a remote corner of the globe.
Seeing the King always costs you something.
But it returns even more.
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