Estimated reading time: 5 minute(s)
Do you ever notice how scary God is, especially in the old testament? Any revealing of himself was at least scary, or sometimes even deadly for the recipient. This causes people to do funny things. Being in the presence of something so fearsome makes you feel small and worthless and fear your existence will simply be snuffed out by the sheer volume of His greatness.
Isaiah had one of those experiences. In the 6th chapter of Isaiah, it says:
In the year King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord. He was sitting on a lofty throne, and the train of his robe filled the Temple. Hovering around him were mighty seraphim, each with six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with the remaining two they flew. In a great chorus they sang, “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty! The whole earth is filled with his glory!” The glorious singing shook the Temple to its foundations, and the entire sanctuary was filled with smoke.
Then I said, “My destruction is sealed, for I am a sinful man and a member of a sinful race. Yet I have seen the King, the LORD Almighty!”
Then one of the seraphim flew over to the altar, and he picked up a burning coal 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.”
Then I heard the Lord asking, “Whom should I send as a messenger to my people? Who will go for us?”
And I said, “Lord, I’ll go! Send me.”
That description of God is awe inspiring, and scary, is it not? He’s surrounded by other-worldly creatures whose singing shakes the Temple. The whole place is filled with smoke and his “glory” fills the whole earth. That’s big glory! Isaiah’s reaction is certainly understandable, is it not?
“My destruction is sealed, for I am a sinful man and a member of a sinful race. Yet I have seen the King, the LORD Almighty!”
God’s bigness reveals Isaiah’s smallness. He is a sinful member of a sinful race. God is pure. Not sinful. Judge of the sinful. High and lifted up. Indeed.
But what happened? Did God smite Isaiah with his rod of lightning? Did he pulverize his puny frame with his little toe? NO! One of the creatures takes a coal from the altar and touches it to Isaiah’s lips. What must that scene have looked like. Already in terrible fear, this 6 armed creature flies toward you with a hot rock and brings it up toward your mouth! There must have been some peace though in Isaiah, as he allows that to happen. Either peace, or he was simply resigned to his impending death at the hands of this horrific creature. 🙂
However it happened, there was definitely some sort of change after that. God asks the question, “Who will go for us?” and Isaiah jumps up and down waving his hand shouting, “Me! Me! Pick me! Pick me!!!” What could have made him decide to volunteer so quickly in the presence of such an awful creature?
Probably more here than I am willing to delve into at the moment, but I think I see two things. One, God is not as awful as we first think, and two, he invites us to come to him.
Did you notice there was no pain in the application of the coal from the altar? Wouldn’t that have been recorded? I would think so. But there wasn’t. I don’t think that the whole searing of his lips thing was for the holiness of God. I think that that moment was for Isaiah. For the fearful child of God… a sign that he was accepted in the presence of such an awe-inspiring being. I think it worked.
But most of all, I think we have this natural, understandable fear of God and of his angels. Every first encounter of God in his full glory or even an angel is cause for fear and trembling. When Jesus was transfigured, Peter wants to build him a house. 🙂
God is scary. No doubt about it. But I don’t think he wants to be. Why else would he be born as a baby? Put on skin and hang out with the low-lifes. The people everyone else despised. Why would he allow himself to be surrounded by, even touched by sin? The righteous people of that day did not touch sick people, like lepers, not only for fear of contagion, but also because they thought the sickness had come on them due to some sin or unholiness in their lives, or even their parents’ lives.
Why do we do that? Why do we create boundaries that God did not? When he was a man, he walked right in the middle of the mud puddle. He was covered with all of the dirtiness of life – not of his own dirt, other people’s dirt – but he was still holy. He was still God. Wearing the skin of Jesus of Nazareth, being fully man… he was able to have full friendship with his creations. Not as the fearsome and wondrous God of the universe… though at moments that nature showed through (calming the storm, feeding the masses).
God is beyond our comprehension, and in all his glory is a sight too awesome for our eyes. But Isaiah learned that he could trust this terrible being. He had a conversation with him, following his self-loathing words of condemnation.
Once we understand God’s love for us, his compassion toward us, how he feels about us… how can we not approach him as our father? The Holy One invites us to be his friends… his children even. He is not to be feared by those whom he loves.
Perhaps it’s more of a grade-school confidence in the love of your dad? Supreme confidence in your safe position, cause you know your dad loves you and can handle anything anyone would throw your way. Cause you know…
“My Dad can beat up your Dad!”
True. Not completely applicable… but… true. 🙂
Ok… it’s a weird thing to balance. Jesus, who is a member of the Triune God-ness, calls us friends. Yet, God is also reality-creating and reality-shaking. hmm. I think the truth of Scripture on such an issue is that the truth of God is in the tension of these ideas. here, he says it better:
” It comforts me to think that if we are created beings, the thing that created us would have to be greater than us, so much greater, in fact, that we would not be able to understand it. I would have to be great than the facts of our reality, and so it would seem to us, looking our from within our reality, that it would contradict reason. But reason itself woul dsuggest it would have to be greater than reality, or it would not be reasonable.
When we worship God, we worship a Being our life experience does not give us the tools with which to understand. If we could, God would not inspire awe. Eternity, for example, is not something the human mind can understand. … I only say this to illustrate that we, as Christians, believe things we can’t explain. …
You cannot be a christian without being a mystic.
– Donald Miller, “Blue Like Jazz” pg. 201-202
God is big, and scary, and inspiring of awe, and many died on site when laying their eyes upon Him. And yet God is also a friend, a traveling companion, a confidant, a forgiver of spelling errors, and a good story-teller. Go figure.