The Son's Glory - Session 2 - Paul Washer

father I come before you in the name of his son Jesus Christ and I pray dear Lord that you will bless our time that you would see fit through the weakest of instruments Lord to exalt your son father I pray for our devotion to him that we would truly be devoted to the son live our lives for him in Jesus name Amen okay we have before us in Isaiah chapter 6 an amazing text let's read it Isaiah 6 verse 1 in the year of king uzziah's death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne lofty and exalted with the Train of his robe filling the temple Seraphin stood above him each having six wings with two he covered his face and with two he covered his feet and with two he flew and one called out to another and said holy holy holy is the Lord of hosts the whole earth is full of his glory and the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out while the temple was filling with smoke then I said woe is me for I am ruined because I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips for mine eyes have seen the king the Lord of hosts then one of the Seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand which he had taken from the altar with tongs he touched my mouth with it and said Behold this has touched your lips and your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven now I've written down here in this text we have one of scriptures most graphic and majestic portrayals of God in his glory and think about this in all of Scripture this is probably the most graphic portrayal of God in his glory yet with further investigation we just cover that Isaiah's vision of God was a vision of the Sun did you know that now look what it's saying here in verse verse one in the year of king uzziah's death I saw the Lord and yet this graphic majestic portrayal of God the closest thing we get basically to any sort of a description of God in the Old Testament is actually a vision of the Sun now according to Isaiah 6:1 whom did the prophets see he says I saw the Lord now the tidal Lord is translated from the Hebrew word Adonai but in verse 3 it is translated from the word Yahweh or as it's commonly pronounced Jehovah the one Isaiah sees is God this statement does not contradict the many scriptures which declare that no man has seen or can see God Isiah does not record that he saw the divine essence of God in all his glory but his barn writes a manifestation or vision of Jehovah a striking symbolic representation of him a symbol of his presence now when Isaiah says that he saw the Lord he is not saying I saw God in all the fullness of God but he's seeing a striking symbolic presentation or vision of God Steven Charnock agrees that the prophets of old saw not the essence of God but some image and figures of him proportioned to their sense or imagination the essence of God no man ever saw nor can see John Calvin writes we ought to be aware that when God exhibited himself to the view of the fathers he never appeared such as he actually is but such as the capacity of men could receive though men may be said to creep on the ground or at least far below the heavens there is no absurdity in supposing that God comes down to them in such a manner as to cause some kind of mirror to reflect the Rays of his glory there was therefore exhibited to Isaiah such a form as enabled him according to his capacity to perceive the inconceivable majesty of God and thus he attributes to God a throne a robe and a bodily appearance now I want to read one more from Barnes it is remarkable that Isaiah attempts no representation of Jehovah himself he mentions his robes the throne the Seraphim but mentions no form or appearance of God himself in this there is great sublimity there is enough mentioned to fill the mind with awe there is enough concealed to impress us deeply with the sense of the divine majesty now here's what I want you to see this is God he saw God in verse 1 Adonai Lord is translated from Adonai which would cause Jehovah Witnesses and other cults to say this wasn't the real God but in verse 3 it's Jehovah it's Yahweh he saw God but he did not see God in all the fullness of the essence of God but a mirror reflection of God now I want you to think about this for a moment this slightest glimpse of the glory of God is enough to break Isaiah into a million pieces this is absolutely amazing it proves that in order to dwell with God in heaven we must be super naturally strengthened we must be changed this is not God in the fullness of God and yet neither the angels or men can bear it not even the Seraphin can parent and yet it is not the fullness of God the fullness of the Sun you hear people speak so trite trite ly about the Son of God so nonchalant about God and yet a glimpse of his glory would break a million worlds into pieces apart from him sustaining you you cannot grow in the knowledge of him you cannot catch greater glimpses of him apart from his sustaining power I even believe that in the conversion of a man he is strengthened in his innermost being that Christ might dwell there and if it were not for that supernatural strengthening the indwelling of Christ would kill him this is not some religion of principle this of just rules are turning over a new leaf this is Christ dwelling within us do you imagine can you just even imagine what I'm saying when you look at it that way it's a whole different world it's a whole different thing this Christianity that's why it is so terrible when they turn it into nothing more than church attendance and being moral this is a human being having to be recreated and supernaturally strengthened so that God might dwell in them that's why when you look at a believer and this is often a warning to me because I break this principle you look at another believer no matter how small no matter how friendly you are with them be very very careful they are the Temple of the Living God we will be so careful not to harm certain buildings in the name of not committing sacrilege yet we will harm the real buildings the real temple which is the believer and especially the collective group of believers now in in in question number three we asked according to Isaiah 6:1 whom did the prophet Isaiah see and of course he saw the Lord he saw God now but let's go to John 12 41 for a moment in verse 41 John 12 these things I say us said Isaiah said because he saw his glory whose glory the sun's glory and he spoke of him so who is this that Isaiah is seeing seated upon the throne it is the son of God now Barnes writes John affirms that it was the glory of the Messiah that Isaiah saw and yet Isaiah affirms that it was Jehovah and from this the inference is irresistible that John regarded Jesus as the Jehovah whom Isaiah saw the name Jehovah is never in the scriptures applied to a man or an angel or to any creature it is the peculiar in communicable name of God this passage is therefore conclusive proof that Christ is equal with the father James Montgomery Boyce writes what Isaiah saw was the closest thing in all of Jewish writings or tradition to an actual portrait of the living and holy God yet that vision with all its breathtaking splendor John applies to Jesus without questioning it would seem John takes the most exalted vision of God in the Old Testament and says it was a portrait of a carpenter from Nazareth who was about to be crucified so great is John's opinion of him now think about this it's just astounding such is John's opinion of Jesus then no he walked with him he talked with him this lowly carpenter there was no it's not like the the Jesus movies from what I see in Scripture he wasn't necessarily physically attractive he wasn't taller than everyone else like King Saul there was nothing that would draw us to him physically he was chased out of the temple had to hide himself he was beaten and mauled ridiculed and mocked and yet John such as John's opinion of him that this one hanging on a tree is the one Isaiah saw that Seraphin could not gaze upon what's your opinion of him I don't care about this or that I just want to know what is your opinion of him when I meet men I may disagree with them on certain things of theology but I want to know what is their opinion of the Son of God and in that opinion I can have fellowship they might not stand toe-to-toe with me on everything I want to know what is their opinion and oftentimes I meet men who do not agree with me on some aspects of theology and yet their opinion of Jesus Christ is much greater than my own and that is a rebuke if if I wanted to know something about the relationship I was going to have with you I would probably ask you what is your opinion of my little boy in our my little boy heaven and that would definitely influence my relationship with you be careful those of us who concern ourselves with theology the young men who think theology is extremely important and they are right would be very very careful with all your learning what is your opinion of Jesus and is that opinion lived out it lived out you know when I see a young man who follows Jesus cautiously it scares me who's so conservative in the use of his energy when when I see young men who are like Bulls in a china shop who tear up more than they fix her running while preaching to everything that moves staying up all night witnessing and getting three hours of sleep a night that doesn't bother me I'm not going to tell him he needs to back off I'm not going to tell him that he needs to realize that the Christian life is a marathon and not a race I'm going to tell him to go while you have energy go because they'll come a day when you won't have that great amount of energy while you've got it live for Christ burnout for Christ while you've got it now I know that goes against what most people teach but I would rather have you lavish yourself upon Christ while you can then they grow old old and dull without ever have major without have without ever have making years without having made yourself a drink offering poured out to Christ live for him live for him now look back on the on living for Christ as a younger man I cannot duplicate that now I don't have the strength I do not regret 18-hour days as a single man witnessing on the streets but I would have regretted it if I hadn't done it while you have strength live for him live for him now while you have strength now it says here in Isaiah we go back to Isaiah and he says I saw the Lord sitting on a throne these words communicate have written the settled undisturbed sovereignty of him who does according to his will in the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth now look at that settled undisturbed sovereignty my wife always gets mad at me because sometimes I still shake my leg when I'm when I'm sitting down there's no shaking of the leg on that throne there's no nervous twitch there's no questioning in his mind of how things are going to go perfect peace because he has absolute control of everything he works all things after the counsel of his will he's also it says lofty and exalted the Sun is seen above all authority and power in heaven and on earth matthew henry writes this throne is high and lifted up above all competition and contradiction you see competition is laughed at in this throne room contradiction is just literally mocked there's no place for it none at all now that's not the case with even the greatest of men they can be contradicted they can be questioned here it's a sin absolute perfect knowledge perfect righteousness perfect power no room for contradiction it says with the Train of his robe filling the temple the robe which filled the temple seems to portray the expanse of the sun's Majesty in the extent of his sovereignty they reached everywhere and filled everything now realize this his robe his royalty his authority his power his splendor his preeminence filled every place there wasn't a place where it was not I realized this you could not stand in that throne room without being touched by his sovereignty by his power by his majesty there was no place where he did not have jurisdiction now Dale its rights he saw the Lord and what more he saw was the all filling robe of the indescribable one as far as the eye of the seer could look at first the ground was covered by this splendid robe there was consequently no room for anyone to stand Matthew Poole writes his glorious robes reached down to the bottom of the temple and were spread abroad in the temple which was an evidence of more than an ordinary Majesty this was a unique majesty what Isaiah is seeing here is not something common among sovereigns and that is why he is called the sovereign of sovereigns the Lord of lords and the king of kings it's uncommon now let's talk for a moment about holy we're going to talk about it to a great degree I want you to learn to use these words or synonyms common profane and vulgar now in modern use they don't seem to go together but they actually do when someone says that's a vulgar tongue it means it's common language like for many years I'd only know what I would call them the religious organization called the Roman Catholic Church had their mass in Latin they said anything else was a vulgar tongue or a profane tongue it was common it wasn't special and that's a great illustration there is nothing common about God there is nothing common he is unique his power is unique His Majesty is unique it pertains only to him that's why he says this was not a common or ordinary Majesty there's God here and everyone else is somewhere else now the Seraphim this is the only passage of Scripture whereas it where a reference to the Seraphim is found now Seraphin means literally the burning or fiery ones that's what it means Stanley Horton writes their purity was indicated as they reflected the dazzling brilliance of the glory of God to such a high degree that they seemed to be on fire now again this is not their own fire they are not burning ones because of some innate fire inherent fire in them they burn because of him they are a reflection of him the fire flows out from him if anyone is any thing the origin of it is God if the Seraphin show themselves to be wise it is a borrowed wisdom if the Seraphin show themselves to be holy it is a borrowed holiness it's the same with us if you have any good gift and any perfect gift that is from above now due to their proximity to the throne of God it may be deduced that they are the grandest and holiest of all created beings now does it say that in scripture but their proximity to the throne they are closer to the throne than any other created being Charles Spurgeon writes you asked me to tell you something about these Seraphin how can i they have covered their faces and covered their feet since nothing is to be seen what can I tell you neither would it be right for us to speak concerning them for manifestly it is desire to be hidden now these are beings that the world cannot bear if they were to come to this planet and manifest themselves I would dare say the world couldn't bear it and yet they cannot bear even a glimpse of the Son of God who will violate their wish to be concealed isn't this neat only Spurgeon can think of this tell me something about them I can't they've got their face hidden they want to be hidden the chief ministers of God the chief ministers of God in all the scriptures the chief attendants and servants of God in all the scriptures when someone finally sees them they cover themselves up they don't want to be seen they want Christ to be seen learn from them learn from that we need to take all our flaunting and all our eloquence and everything else and throw it right in the trash eat the true ministers they hide themselves now they cover their faces they covered their feet and wherein they did as good as say look not on us but look on him who sits upon the throne whose attendance we are now it says here that they stood above him now this presents something of a problem to many a possible translation is not that they stood above him but they stood above it the robe Dale its rights the Seraphin should not indeed tower above the head of him who sat upon the throne but they hovered above the robe belonging to him with which the hall was filled now I can say two things about that maybe Dale it's just right they were not hovering above him but above the throne but above the robe but here's something I want you to consider when someone knows who they are they do not care about physical position you know Napoleon it was said was so bothered about his shortness that he didn't you know he didn't want certain people standing by him and things such as that because he had inadequacies he wasn't tall okay God doesn't have any inadequacies if someone is happens to be in a vision flying above God's head doesn't bother God a bit he knows who he is you understand I mean guys don't fear the nation's pity them pity them and if one day they stand you before them and they say we have authority to kill you we have authority to send you to prison look at them and say you have no authority but what my God gives you and if he gives you authority to send me to prison or to take my life it is only for my good don't let them get away with some silly answer or some silly statement like that they have no authority no one has authority over you you are absolutely immortal until God decides it's time for you to go home not all the armies in the world their combined strength can take out the life of one believer until God decreases it is time when they walk away from you on that day after giving that answer if you have given that answer in the power of the Holy Spirit when they turn their back on you they will be trembling not you having six wings Wallace and writes the the general idea of the six wings was probably rapid flight the carrying out of God's requests was speed swiftly but in the divine presence the wings were applied to a different use one pair veiled the seraphs head from the Intolerable a few gence of divine glory another concealed the feet soiled with their various administrations and unmet for the all pure presence the third pair alone sustained the Seraph in midair as he hovered in readiness to depart on any errand on which Jehovah might send him now once you think about something they cover themselves exactly why we we do not want know if you ever get a chance to watch I guess they're on CD now tower DVD RC Sproles teaching on the holiness of God I want you to get it because he he touches on this in such a beautiful way but they're covering themselves especially their feet because feet and a sense in Scripture seemed to represent the creature or clay that they're covering themselves up because they're going do not look upon us a creature in the presence of God he talks about the holiness of God in so many ways there for example when they're bringing when David is bringing back the Ark of the Covenant and the ark falls over and who'sa stretches out his hand to touch the Ark to steady it so that it doesn't fall and God kills ooza RC sproule points out this loses great error was this he supposed that his hand was cleaner than the ground he said God's never had a problem with the ground he sends rain and the ground turns to mud he sends the Sun and the ground hardens back up again to clay he's never had a problem with dirt but with man that's quite another thing it'll really really help you to come to understand some things about the whole of God if you'll get there with two he covered his face to cover one's face was a common symbol of both reverence and humility matthew pool rights covered his face out of profound reverence as being so sensible of the infinite distance between God and him that he Durst not presume to look directly upon him and judge himself neither able nor worthy to behold the brightness of his glory so you and Jesus still got your own thing going here I hate statements like that hate him never forget who this carpenter is John Gill writes that they were unable to look upon the dazzling glory and infinite perfections of his being and so they did as Elijah who wrapped his face in a mantle when he heard the still small voice of the Lord and as Moses did be as and as Moses before him did being afraid to look upon God yet you'll rush in Val your knee and just start talking without ever thinking about the person to whom you're speaking john calvin writes even angels cannot endure god's brightness and that they are dazed by it in the same manner as when we attempt to gaze upon the radiance of the Sun the other day my little boy and said daddy can I look at God I said can you look at the Sun he said no I cannot look at the Sun hurts my eyes it's it's son then you cannot look upon the one who made the Sun matthew henry writes though angels face is doubtless our much fairer than those of the children of men yet in the presence of God they cover them because they cannot bear the dazzling lustre of the divine glory and because being conscious of an infinite distance from the divine perfection they are to show their faces before the holy God oh my dear friend just take these this book home this manual read through these things pray and then think this is the one who died upon Calvary this is the one who died upon Calvary think about this often who he was what he became and for your sakes he did this and it'll become the controlling factor in your life some say that they did not look upon God because of his brilliance his magnificence his power and that's true others say they did not look upon God because even though the Seraphin contains such beauty their beauty was nothing in comparison to that of the Son of God seated upon the throne the one who gave his beard to be plucked his face to be struck his hands to be nailed to be pawned around between Herod and Pilate as though he were some kind of circus animal and to tolerate all your rebellion through all those many years before he caused you to know him and then to think about the dullness of our own hearts even now that you can think about everything from furniture to sports to this to that the other things and allow those types of thoughts to consume your mind and take you away from the only thing that's really important now and two he covered his feet another gesture of reverence towards God it is believed by some that in covering the feet the Seraphin were recognizing they were creatures and not gods thomas boston writes even the confirmed angels cover their feet with their wings as if they would tell us that perfect created holiness is but a dark and smoky light before uncreated holiness now this is so important look at the terminologies using created holiness uncreated holiness another thing we could say would be inherent holiness and derived holiness now what does that mean if an angel is alive is he alive by his own power or does his life come from another his life is not inherent it does not spring forth from him he is not the cause or sustainer of his existence his life is derived it comes from God you see that now if the angel is holy is it something that springs forth out of him or is it a derived holiness a created holiness God is holy in and of himself it is inherent it is not derived it is what or who he is but if an angel or men are holy it is something that comes forth from God that is one of the reasons why I think that the Scriptures are talking about not even the heavens are pure in his sight that does not mean that the heavens are contaminated are filthy or dirty or anything but holy but what it means is they are not holy in themselves heaven is not holy in itself it is a derived or created holiness God alone is holy and that's another reason why look what Thomas Boston says even the confirmed angels have you ever heard that terminology before the confirmed angels as opposed to unconfirmed angels which is the same to say elect angels as opposed to non-elect angels you see the angels that didn't fall didn't fall only because the Son of God didn't allow them to fall do you see that it wasn't that they made the right choice they did the right thing they were the good guys the other guys were bad guys that's not how it happened they remained loyal because he kept them loyal he confirmed them he elected them he not oh you see it all comes from him everything comes from him now with - he flew the greatest angels in glory were at the beck and call of the Son of God creatures that if they appeared we would want to worship them as America if an angel appeared on this planet in the fullness of an Angels glory all of humanity would probably fall down and worship and yet they are at the beck and call of the son of God I'm just amazed by that Calvin writes the two wings with which the Angels fly mean nothing else then they're ready and cheerful performance of the commandments of God now look they're not sitting there going well I'll do it if I have to they're like oh give me something give me something just look my way tell me tell me tell me I'll do it I'll do it now I want you to look at something that I think is very very important and that is this they have three sets of wings and that marks their readiness to obey and serve the Son of God two sets of wings are there three sets of wings at six wings and yet here we see them that two-thirds of those wings four of those wings four of the six are given to worship and two to service and once you think about that we're all about service we're all about doing we may even be all about intercessory prayer but what about worship I think I can properly say 2/3 of their strength was given to worship and 1/3 was given to service we don't worship as we ought to neither publicly or privately worship now let me share with you from George swim-up all creatures compared to the Sun he is so excellent that even angels veiled their faces in his presence the excellent cherubim and Seraphim who are spotless in their natures and faultless in their lives who are the highest and honorable estate agent Estelle the who as his special friends and favorites are allowed to wait on him continually to behold him face to face and to enjoy him fully and perfectly yet these angels veil their faces before him as it were ashamed of their starlight in the presence of the Sun and their drops in the presence of the ocean to cover their face is a sign or fruit of bashfulness as in Rebecca the face of an angel is void of all spots and wrinkles it is full of beauty and brightness a most excellent face yet this face as excellent as it is they cover as it were a of it before that God who alone is excellent and if we can just just catch a glimpse of this of what all this means these are the things that will drive you they will drive you they will keep you up at night the missionary must be driven by revelation from God the pastor must be driven by a revelation of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ nothing else is strong enough nothing else is stronger even if you were to promise them a heaven a perfect utopia but without the Son of God it would not be strong enough for them to carry on in the ministry only the Sun only Christ now this is one of the reasons why much of the seeker-friendly type of stuff is an abomination Christianity has one drawing card and it is Christ social events are promising some sort of fellowship or friendship or this or that or any other thing it's not Christianity the fellowship and the friendliness and everything else must come forth out of Christ it is Christ that brings you into that fellowship not the fellowship which brings you into Christ so much when you start your churches when you plant your churches when you preach your gospel put Christ before men and let them deal with him if they reject Christ allow them to reject your fellowship don't bring them in gradually put Christ before them completely and at first along with the demands do it lovingly do it patiently but do it thoroughly when I was a young Christian I I heard no if it's true that a many cults practice what's called the divine lie that they will tell you certain lies if necessary in order to gradually bring you in so that you will accept the greater truth so the end justifies the means in many ways that's what church growth does the end justifies the means well we finally got them there to Christ no remember this if you use carnal means to bring carnal men into your church you'll have a carnal church and you'll have to constantly use carnal means to keep them start off with Christ from the very beginning the radical claims of Christ and the radical demands of Christ just recently I was looking at a text and I realized something that the claims of Jesus Christ are so radical that they do not allow for anything but a radical opinion of him because of his radical claims you must believe that he is God or you must believe that he is a blasphemer you must believe that he is the fullness of deity or you must believe he is a devil you have to go to extremes they are extreme claims that call for an extreme opinion who is he as CS Lewis always said you can't say he's a good man yet you don't believe he's God because if he's not God he's not a good man we gentlemen just what you've heard today for my difficulty of speech is this not enough to draw sinners this is what we use this is what we tell men we tell them about Christ not so much what Christ can do for you but who Christ is and what he has done Christ I would rather my boys walk on a very dark side for a while hating Christ because his claims are so radical and his demands are so costly and for to have them finally succumbed to him and obey Him rather than have them hear a gospel a modern-day gospel that speaks nothing of the marvelous claims of Christ and demands nothing from them and they nonchalantly accepted as part of their life and that's what we're doing to people that's what we're doing to people and we must stop it we must we proclaim Jesus who enters into the room without any apology or asking of permission because he owns the room and everybody in it all right well let's go the Lord in prayer

Channel: I'll Be Honest

Views: 8,387

Rating: 4.8684211 out of 5

Keywords: paul, washer, son, glory, bible, study, heartcry

Id: iSwi_gAjV6w

Length: 46min 36sec (2796 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 23 2009