Considerations

    Have you truly seen God?

    And they were calling to one another:
    “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty;
        the whole earth is full of his glory.”
     “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.”
    Isaiah 6: 3,5 (NIV)

    Have I truly seen God like that?

    This was one of the questions I was left with after watching an interview featuring Jackie Hill Perry as she discussed her book, Holier Than Thou. The above verses she referenced from Isaiah 6 left me asking myself the following questions.

    Have I truly seen God and how holy He is and in turn grasped how holy I’m not?

    When Isaiah saw the holiness of God, he didn’t just stand there and marvel at the awesomeness of it all. He didn’t seek to get out a sketch book to capture the moment. He didn’t run and tell others to come and see. He stood there in shock at what he saw and what it revealed about himself. 

    Have I ever seen God and myself in that light? Have you ever seen God and yourself like that? That is to see the truth of His Holiness so clearly that it causes our own unworthiness and filthy state to also be clearly illuminated at the same time.

    Is Isaiah’s woe my woe after seeing God? Do I mourn over who I truly am?

    The marvelous holiness and perfection of God made Isaiah aware of the shocking reality of his depravity and caused him to cry out in verse 5, “Woe to me!… I am ruined!” The New Living Translation (NLT) of this same verse says, “It’s all over! I am doomed, for I am a sinful man” while the English Standard Version (ESV) states, “Woe is me! For I am lost…” All convey the hopelessness and sorrow Isaiah was feeling about his poor state as he encountered the Holy God. Have I ever expressed such sorrow and hopelessness when I look at the reality of who I truly am? Have you ever shown such great grief over the truth of who you are?

    Not sure exactly what you need to be hopeless and sorrowful for? The Ten Commandments, God’s gold standard for us, is the best place to start to gain an understanding of how we fall short. Isaiah would have perhaps known these standards as an Israelite and knowing them benefits us. For they are a measuring tool that makes it glaringly clear of how we individually and collectively as a human race, cannot attain the heights of God’s holiness. Read for yourself Exodus 20:1-17 and take a tally of how many of those commandments you have broken. 

    Do I comprehend how much I need Jesus to truly see and know our Holy God?

    If you read further on in Isaiah 6, you will find a shift from Isaiah just seeing God in the first five verses to Isaiah hearing God and communicating with God from verse 8 and onward. We know this fellowship with God was not because he was viewed as a good person in the eyes of God as he had already acknowledged his poor sinful state. So what brought about this new found relationship between God and Isaiah? The answer is found in Isaiah 6:6-7 (NLT):

    Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal he had taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. He touched my lips with it and said, “See, this coal has touched your lips. Now your guilt is removed, and your sins are forgiven.”

    Once Isaiah saw the glorious holy God, he instantly recognized that there was no way he could approach God as is. It was not until the cleansing touch of the coal on his lips made him clean of his sinful state and acceptable to Holy God. For us today it’s not a burning piece of coal but Jesus Christ who takes away our sin:

    He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—
    and not only our sins but the sins of all the world. 
    1 John 2:2 (NLT)

    His work of removing our sin opened up that door to a new relationship with God. Just as Isaiah was unable to commune with God prior to his cleansing, so are we prohibited before we receive the cleansing that comes through acknowledging Jesus as our Savior. Jesus is THE Cleansing Agent, THE Bridge, THE Door, THE Way to truly see and know God. 

    Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” 
    John 14:6-7 (NIV)

    So back to that question, ‘Have you truly seen God?’