House Of Wisdom Sermons 3: The Consuming Holiness Of God By Apostle Olumide Jayeola (AACC)
Holiness is the characteristic of God’s nature which centers on the mystery of His infinite existence. Man realizes how poor in the spirit he is as he encounters God, because the holiness of God reveals the true nature of man (Isa. 64:6). This was the experience of Isaiah when he was obliged the view of God as presented in Isaiah 6:1-4.
The day of Isaiah was one of a rebellion to God. But in the midst of the sinfulness of that nation a man was called of God to the sacred vocation of being a prophet. Some would call him the greatest prophet in Old Testament history, a man who was not only a religious person but also a statesman in his own right as he spoke to several kings in the course of his ministry, he was a man whose holiness towered above men of his time. This prophet was best known for his prophecies and visions regarding the future of Israel and the coming of the Messiah. He is also recognized for prophesying that, someday in the future, a virgin would conceive and bring forth a child named Immanuel. One who would bear the sins of His people and usher in redemption. The record of Isaiah’s call to the role of the prophet is founded on his uprightness with God. Nevertheless, no man can boast of holiness until his holiness is made to pass through the fire of God’s Holiness.
Vision of God leaves an individual with a deep sense of awe at the greatness of His majesty. It is not thinkable that any man will remain indifferent when confronted by the holiness of God. The practical life of the Christian flows from this vision of the God of holiness. May you encounter God through His Son Jesus, Amen!
The vision of Isaiah
I think it is significant in the providence of God that four years after Uzziah died the city of Rome was founded and a cultural change took place that would shape the whole future destiny of history.
“In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were the seraphim, 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; the whole earth is full of his glory.” At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke” (Isa. 6:1–4)
Refulgent Glory of God’s Holiness
I want you to notice in this brief passage that we’ve read here that Isaiah locates this experience that he has in the year that King Uzziah died. And as John, centuries later on the isle of Patmos would get a glimpse of the interior of heaven, Isaiah the prophet saw the Lord enthroned in heaven itself.
The Train of His Robe Filled the Temple
When he saw this vision of the heavenly King, he saw a King whose splendorous garments billowed out over the sides of the throne, furled back along the sides of the temple around the back entranceway, spilled out and completely filled the entire building. And as John, centuries later on the isle of Patmos would get a glimpse of the interior of heaven, Isaiah the prophet saw the Lord enthroned in heaven itself. What he is seeing here is a visual experience of majesty that is focused in the magnificence of the garments – The train of His robe filled the temple! (Isa. 6:1)
They covered their faces…
So refulgent and piercing is His holiness that even the angelic beings (Seraphims) who minister daily in the unveiled presence of the Almighty God have to shield themselves from looking directly at His face. “Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew” – Isaiah 6:2
Remember the story in the book of Exodus when Moses, representing the people of God, was summoned by God to Mount Sinai to receive the law of God? Moses went up there into the clouds and was sort of swallowed up in the holiness of Yahweh on that mountain. The people waited for days, and they became apprehensive and stricken with anxiety as they wondered what had happened to their leader. Has he been consumed by the wrath of God on that mountain like Korah and his people were in the rebellion? Would he ever return alive? What would the message of God be if at all he comes back? These were their thoughts as they waited in fear and trembling for Moses’ return.
While on the mountain, Moses spoke with God. Can you recall his conversation with Yahweh in Exodus 33? If I can improvise a little bit, it went something like this: “God I have seen some magnificent things in my lifetime. You’ve shown me the burning bush. I’ve seen the plagues by which you devastated the Egyptians. I saw you part the sea and bring a whole nation of people through on dry land. I’ve seen you provide supernatural, miraculous provisions from heaven for us hungry people, but now let me have the big one. Please let me see your face, Lord.”
God said, “Moses, you know better than that. You know it’s my word that no man shall see me and live. You can’t see my face, Moses. But here’s what I’ll do: I’ll carve out a little niche in the rock over here, and I’ll put you in the cleft of the rock. And then I will cover you, and I will pass by, and I will let you see my backward parts”—the Hebrew reads the “hindquarters” of Yahweh—“but my face shall not be seen.”
So God put Moses His servant in the cleft of the rock, and He allowed His glory to pass by, and for a split second, Moses got a backward glance of the refracted glory of God. And what happened? When he came down from the mountain, and the people saw his figure approaching in the distance, they became all excited for the return of their leader. They rushed forward to greet Moses, but they suddenly fell back in horror, fell on their faces, and began to plead with Moses, saying, “Moses, Moses cover your face!” They couldn’t bear to look at him. Why? Because Moses’ face was shining with such radiance and intensity that it was blindfolding the people. However, what the people were seeing, was merely a reflection on a human’s face from a backward, instantaneous glance of the glorious holiness of the Holy God.
The angels themselves must cover their eyes in His presence. If angels can scarcely behold His face, man must of necessity be consumed in the radiance of His holiness.
God’s Realm of Holiness – “Holy, Holy, Holy”
As fascinated as I may be with the anatomy of the seraphim, these are really minor considerations with the text here. The angels’ message is much more important than their glorious appearance. Listen to what the Bible tells us. “And they were calling to one another, saying, ‘Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of His glory’” (Isa. 6:3).
Up till now, I get cold chills whenever the classical hymn, “Holy, Holy, Holy” is sung. It is magnificent. I think about the angels and everyone casting down their golden crowns beside the glassy sea – we would gladly lay down our most treasured possessions at the feet of the Holy One when consumed in His holiness. This hymn so triumphantly celebrates the majesty of God! If it is so melodious on the lips of men, imagine how it would sound when sung by a choir of angels. This was what Isaiah saw: the heavenly host above the throne of God singing to each other in antiphonal response a single word, repeated over and over and over again: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of His glory.”
Now friends, there’s something here in this text that as English language students, we could read a thousand times and miss every time. There’s something very Jewish about this text. In the English language, we call attention to something that is particularly important, to give it emphasis, by underlining the words, italicize them, putting them in boldface type, adding quotation marks, brackets or exclamation marks to them. The Jews did the same thing. They did all of that—underline, boldface, italicize—but they had another technique of calling attention to something of particular importance. It was the simple technique of verbal repetition.
Holiness as God’s topnotch virtue
Brethren, there is only one attribute of God that is ever raised to the third degree of repetition in Scripture. There is only one characteristic of Almighty God that is communicated in the superlative degree from the mouths of angels, where the Bible doesn’t simply say that God is holy, or even that He’s holy, holy, but that He is holy, holy, holy.
The Bible doesn’t say that God is mercy, mercy, mercy or love, love, love or justice, justice, justice or wrath, wrath, wrath, but that He is holy, holy, holy. This is a dimension of God that consumes His very essence, and when it is manifest to Isaiah, we read that “at the sound of the voices of the seraphim the doorposts, the thresholds of the temple itself shook and began to tremble” (Isa. 6:4). Do you hear that? Inanimate, lifeless, unintelligible parts of creation in the presence of the manifestation of the holiness of God had the good sense to be moved. How can we, made in His image, be indifferent or apathetic to His majesty?
God alone is holy, and what I’m pointing out in this series is trying to describe what happens when mortal holiness comes in contact with the Immortal Holiness of God. The reaction and response of the most holy Isaiah of his nation was “woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of uncleanness, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, The LORD of hosts.” Whenever the “Holy, Holy, Holy (God)” appears, our holiness become a filthy rag (Isaiah 64:6). No wonder the Scripture avers, “For our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:29).
God’s holiness is a “perfect” one. He is not asking us to use any Saint as a standard of holiness. It is the invitation of God that we should upgrade to His dimension of holiness. That is the realm of holiness we are being called to (1 Peter 1:15-16, John 4:24).
Apostle Olumide Jayeola
Apostle Olumide Jayeola, a seasoned teacher of the Word, a Philanthropist and a revivalist is the senior pastor of Acts of the Apostles Christian Center (AACC), House of Wisdom Ministry, situated at 142 Oke-Aro Road, Opposite Rainoil Filling Station, Giwa, Oke-Aro, Iju-Ishaga, Lagos. The ministry is fully committed to saving souls with the sound doctrine of the Apostles, bringing hope to the hopeless and connecting men to God.
If you have been blessed by this message (House Of Wisdom Sermons 3: The Consuming Holiness of God) and would like to support the ministry, kindly make your giving to: 2034662832 | First Bank | Acts of the Apostles Christian Center.
For enquiry and feedbacks, please contact us: 0816-457-4545 | 0703-703-7642
You can also follow us on our social media platforms:
House of Wisdom Ministry (Facebook) | Apostle Olumide Jayeola (Facebook).
House Of Wisdom Sermons 3 is a sponsored post.
