An Awesome Encounter

A story is told, quite a few years ago, a priest in England by the name of Father Dennis was out visiting his local neighborhood. He stopped at what he called - 'a particularly grand house'. He was invited in, and in the course of a friendly chat he noticed the man had a guitar sitting out. In an effort to invite the man to services, he asked him if he would consider playing at his church. The man agreed and Father Dennis told him, 'Good! I'll give you a couple of months to practice.'

The priest was rather embarrassed when the man who turned up at the tiny church to play hymns such as 'Amazing Grace' to a thrilled congregation - was none other than guitar legend Eric Clapton. I couldn't document if this story of their first meeting was accurate, but I could verify that Eric Clapton has in fact attended Father Dennis' Church in Surrey, England - so I'm going with true story.

I've never had the pleasure of running into someone that famous, but wouldn't complain if it happened. But what if, rather than running into a celebrity - you found yourself face to face with God? This morning, I'd like us to look at a story from the prophet Isaiah where he found himself in...

I. The presence of God

Now of course, God is present everywhere, but how might you respond to an actual physical encounter with your Creator? So let's start in the book of Isaiah 6:1-8 (NIV)...

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. (2) Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. (3) And they were calling to one another: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory." (4) At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. (5) "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." (6) Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. (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." (8) 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!"

Even our wildest imaginations couldn't do justice to what Isaiah was surprised by that day. Words alone simply can't capture the experience. But one day, we will all come into God's personal presence, and it will be the most awe inspiring experience of our lives! Until that day, we can hopefully learn something from Isaiah's experience.

In his encounter, Isaiah made several life changing realizations - realizations that we need to make too if we're ever going to be prepared to be in God's presence. After seeing the reality of God in person - Isaiah's first realization was…

A. The true greatness of God

It's one thing to read about God's greatness - it's another to experience it firsthand. Let's look at the picture that Isaiah describes again. And notice, Isaiah didn't specifically say he saw the Lord 'in' the Temple, but rather seated on a throne "high and exalted". The Temple was filled with the train of His robe. Look at those first verses again…

Isaiah 6:1-4 (NIV)

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. (2) Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. (3) And they were calling to one another: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory." (4) At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.

From that passage we can see, verbally illustrated, that God is over and above everything! The Hebrew word that's translated 'Lord' in this text is Adonai - it means "Almighty Ruler". God's authority is not limited to just Israel and its people - or those who believe today - but rather, as Creator, His authority extends to all the earth and beyond!

And this text mentions the phase, "In the year that King Uzziah died". It's interesting to note the how and why of King Uzziah's death. If you read the story in II Chronicles ch. 26 you find that King Uzziah was an extremely successful military leader and God had blessed him greatly in his battles. But then we find in vs. 16 of that chapter…

II Chronicles 26:16 (NIV)

But after Uzziah became powerful, his pride led to his downfall. He was unfaithful to the LORD his God, and entered the temple of the LORD to burn incense on the altar of incense.

God had commanded that only the appointed High priest, who had been properly anointed, could enter the temple and burn incense on the altar. Uzziah apparently decided that he could do whatever he wanted because he was, after all, the king. But as he attempted to light the altar – the Bible says that God struck him with leprosy. He was escorted out of the temple and had to leave the palace and lived alone until the day he died. So Isaiah would have been very familiar with Uzziah's display of hubris and arrogance in God's presence.

It would have been very fresh in Isaiah's mind - when it came to authority and power…

B. We are NOT equal with God

We do not get to make the rules. We are not the final authority on any issue. God is a whole lot smarter than we are and we can't ever attempt to place ourselves anywhere near the same level as Him. He is in charge, we don't get to ignore His rules without consequence. King Uzziah didn't acknowledge the majesty, the holiness, the power of God and placed himself on an equal footing with God - and he paid the price.

And many problems in our modern world can be traced to this same 'hubris' - this idea that God doesn't have the right to tell us how to live... We see this in people's attitudes towards ending a human life in the womb - with no acknowledgement of the fact - that life belongs to God! We see it in people's lack of respect for marriage and God's design for sex. 'But preacher, why do you have to pick a fight with people…?' I'm not trying to fight or judge, but I can't ignore the fact that many people live in ways that demonstrate that they believe they are equal with God…

We see it in people's refusal to accept their God given gender - or their rejection of 'male and female' for 'non-binary' sexuality with invented pronouns. People may say it's just 'personal choice' - but it's actually a challenge to God's authority. And it's not mean to point out the truth – because we all need to learn to submit to the authority of our Creator.

But we would never do anything like that, right? We would never be so bold as to ignore God's rules because we thought we knew better. Well, we might not be as brazen as Uzziah to charge into the temple and burn incense against God's instructions – but sometimes we are guilty of the same conceit, or pride. Sometimes we tend to pick and choose what rules we like, and which we don't - and we almost treat God with contempt if He gets in the way of our preferences or choices.

And sometimes, we don't even fully recognize the unique privilege we have of even entering into corporate worship of God. We can see it as something we 'go to', something we watch rather than 'participate in'. We kind of handle holy things such as God's Word, prayer, communion and praise with 'unwashed hands' as it were - treating them as commonplace. We may neglect giving those privileges the place in our lives that they deserve. Perhaps we're not always fully recognizing, or acknowledging, the majesty of God - the Lord of all…

In our text from Isaiah, the Seraphs called out "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty". In the scene before us, the whole temple was shaken by God's presence in their worship. Do my prayers, my personal worship - does it ever come close to that?

Several years back there was a Clergy Conference held at the Georgia Dome. There were about 40,000 vocational ministers there from all denominations. They were instructed not to tell anyone their denominational affiliation; they were only to be known as 'Christians'. At one point in the worship service, the group was divided with about 20,000 on each side of the arena. One side was instructed to shout in unison, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty" - and then the other side was to respond, "The whole earth is full of His glory!" This was repeated over and over. It was an overwhelming experience in worship to many. Thousands of grown men were weeping as it continued.

- If they were that moved by mere human beings in praise, just imagine how Isaiah must have felt as those angels praised God...

The first realization that Isaiah made after encountering the reality of God was the greatness of God. And in light of the greatness of God, Isaiah then realized something about himself - He more fully realized...

II. Who he was

Isaiah learned who he was in relation to a holy God! Isaiah - the prophet - had already been a bold spokesman for God against his own people, but when he physically came into the presence of God, he cried…

Isaiah 6:5 (NIV)

"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."

In God's presence, a fact that he knew before became amazingly real to him! In God's perfect presence he completely, absolutely realized he was 'unholy', he was a sinner. When Isaiah looked only at all the work he had done for God - he looked pretty good, to himself. But when he looked upon God, he saw just how imperfect he truly was...

I want to go back and look at the book of Job in the Old Testament. While Job was undergoing severe trials, he boldly defended himself before his friends by saying this, in Job 27:6 (NIV)...

I will maintain my righteousness and never let go of it; my conscience will not reproach me as long as I live.

But then later, in ch. 42, Job actually sees God for himself - and then he cries out...

Job 42:5-6 (NIV)

My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.

He'd heard with his ears but now saw for himself with his own eyes. It was quite a change of attitude when he actually saw God. In the presence of God's righteousness, our righteousness, in comparison - it's just filthy rags! The Bible says, "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." I'm included in that 'all'... You're included in that 'all'.

But back to our first story - once Isaiah really encountered God, he clearly realized that without God...

A. He was lost

In the presence of God, Isaiah saw himself clearly - as a man who was lost. Then an angel took one of the coals and touched it on his lips. The same fire that burned away the sacrifice on the altar also somehow burned away Isaiah's sins.

Isaiah 6:6-7 (NIV)

Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. (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."

It is always God, and only God, who can make us clean. In Isaiah's experience, we have a prophetic message about Jesus and the fact that His sacrifice cleanses us from our sin. This was God again foreshadowing the coming of Jesus – almost as if He simply couldn't wait to tell us about the coming Good News!? Upon contact with the sacrifice of God, Isaiah was able to stand blameless in the presence of God. It's the same way with all of us who contact the blood of Jesus and share with Him in His sacrifice, His death, His burial and His resurrection!

Without the atoning work of God through Jesus, we would remain unacceptable, imperfect, rejected, broken, lost, and hopeless - separated from God. But because of Jesus - anyone can have a saving relationship with Jesus and be accepted by our Father! Anyone!

In Isaiah's encounter with the reality of God, not only did he realize the greatness of God and who he was in relation to God, he also realized that...

B. He was a servant

After he realized his unworthiness; and after he had been made clean – he then understood his incredible privilege as a servant of the Most High God!

Isaiah 6:8 (NIV)

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!"

You can't truly enter into the presence of God and come away thinking only of yourself.

After service one Sunday, a man approached the minister and said, "I really didn't like the worship today". The preacher responded, "It's okay, we weren't worshipping you."

If you ever find yourself leaving a worship service with negative feelings towards those around you, then perhaps you've not really worshipped – perhaps you've not completely submitted yourself to God. Being in God's presence should strengthen your resolve to worship and 'GO' serve Him and each other with a greater level of personal commitment.

It should cause you, like Isaiah, to examine your own life and submit yourself to God's authority and to His service. It should cause you to say, "Here am I Lord - send me". - Servants serve. Now that sounds like a no 'brainer', but we need to be reminded - when we wear the name 'Christian' – it's not a title of authority or pride, but the title of one who serves. If we are to say we are 'Christ-like' – we will learn to serve.

God has given each of us gifts and abilities to use to build up His Church. If you don't use your gifts – someone will be missing out on the blessing that God intended for them through you. You may think you only have something small to offer. You may think - 'How could God use someone like me? - Someone who's anything but perfect? - Someone who may even feel broken?' But it's been my experience that God uses the small things; God uses the broken things to do His best work. You'll be amazed how He can change people's lives simply through your willingness to serve others because of Him.

So What?

What's your response to worship this morning? And I'm not just talking about the music - but worshipping God together - in prayer and in hearing His Word. Do you feel like you've been in the presence of God? Do you fully recognize the reality of God? Do you feel any closer to God now than when you first arrived this morning? Has it left you in awe of God? Has it affected your life?

You can't be in God's presence and remain the same. Right now, realize just how BIG God is; allow that to sink in. The Creator of the universe has chosen you. He loves you and asks you to serve Him. How do you respond?