Isaiah 6: 1-8

“1In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a high and exalted throne, and his ...
skirts filled the temple.2Above him were seraphim; each had six wings; with two they covered
Their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew.3And one called to another, saying: Holy,
4
Holy, holy, Lord of hosts; all the earth is full of His glory. And the doorposts of the...
The doors shook with the voice of the one who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke.5So I said: Oh
of me! that I am dead; because being a man of unclean lips, and dwelling in the midst of a people
that has unclean lips, my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.6And one of them flew towards me
7
the seraphim, having in their hand a burning coal, taken from the altar with tongs; and
Touching it to my mouth, he said: Behold, this has touched your lips, and your guilt is taken away, and you are clean.
8
your sin. Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?
Then I responded: Here I am, send me.”
title

ISAIAH 6 AND A GLIMPSE OF CURRENT WORSHIP

INTRODUCTION:
On one occasion, an English Lutheran pastor asked a Catholic priest: 'Can you tell me...'
Can you please explain what you believe about the real presence of Christ in the
Eucharist?

The Catholic priest replied to him, "so-and-so, you are a theologian, you know what
we believe about it.” To this the pastor replied, “but I would like you to repeat it to me, because
He might be suddenly confused.
they become the body of Christ.

The pastor then said: "You hide it very well. I don't understand you. Being in
During a mass, while the Eucharist was taking place, I saw many chewing gum.
messing around on their phones, reading the newspaper, arriving late, talking to others, and that
way interrupting the ceremony." Then it concludes, "if I believed what you believe,
I would go on my knees to receive communion, and after receiving communion, I wouldn't speak for at least half an hour.

hour

Now, listening to this, it may lead you to feel unknowingly like the tax collector of
Luke 18, and feeling proud of not being Catholic. However, this requires a
self-examination and accepting the sad reality of how many evangelical Christians, not just in

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churches, but also in their personal lives, have lost their reverent worship to
Mister.

For this reason, the question that arises at this point is: What is happening with our
Worship?

And with this question, I present the general emphasis for this sermon, which is: The quality
of our worship highlights the quality of our doctrinal knowledge and
personal regarding God.

This should lead us to think or reflect on the fact that: the way we worship, puts
In evidence, what is the type of theology that we really believe in our hearts.

Therefore, we will study and consider our text read from Isaiah 6: 1-8, because
there we are given an illustration of that true worship that God expects and demands from
His people, especially when this people is worshiping him.

TRANSITIONAL SENTENCE:
To do this, we will observe three matters in the passage:

I. A Description of the Vision.

II. The Effects that Vision Caused.
III. The Answer to the Vision.

DEVELOPMENT OF THE MESSAGE:

I. A DESCRIPTION OF THE VISION.

“1In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne high and lifted up, and His
skirts filled the temple.2Above him were seraphim; each one had six wings; with two they covered
Their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew.3And they called out to each other, saying: Holy,
4
Holy, holy, Lord of hosts; all the earth is full of his glory. And the thresholds of the
The doors trembled at the voice of the one who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke.. (Vs.1-4)

The circumstances surrounding the environment:

In the year of King Uzziah's death. It is quite common that when a leader of a
The nation passes away, it is a moment of great reverence, serious, and very strong for the nation.
And this is precisely what happened to the nation of Israel in the 8th century B.C.

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 King Uzziah, after the division of the kingdom, was the tenth king over Judah, and although not
it was the most important, we can place it among them. Despite its final exaltation,
We can assert that King Uzziah, during his reign, managed to bring about a spiritual reform.
significant about the nation of Judah. Obviously, before Hezekiah and Josiah.

The biblical story tells us that King Uzziah died with leprosy, which was quite something.
dishonorable. And this illness came to him because he violated his spiritual and ethical principles.
during the last year of his life (2 Chronicles 26: 16-21). After that day, life
the spiritual of the Jewish nation entered a great spiritual decline. A decline that only disappeared
during the later reigns of Hezekiah and then Josiah.

And it is in the midst of all that gloomy panorama, that God called a man to the sacred
office of prophet. That prophet, who by divine inspiration would prophesy that one day a virgin
she would give birth to a child who would be called Emanuel; the same prophet who said that God would bear.

in Him, the sin of all of us. That prophet whose name is Isaiah.

The Description of the Vision of the Prophet Isaiah:

The vision of Isaiah described in this text took place in the year that King Uzziah died.
And what happened was that God opened the curtain or the veil of heaven itself, just like what
the apostle John experienced when he was taken from Patmos in the Spirit to see the heaven
to him who was seated on the throne and to the Lamb at His right.

Now, what did Isaiah see?

First of all, Isaiah saw nothing less than the Lord on high:I see you at
The Lord seated on a high and sublime throne, and his robes filled the temple..and Verse 3
specifies that this Lord whom Isaiah sees is 'Jehovah of hosts'.

So, in the midst of a national tragedy and lament, where King Uzziah had
dead, Isaiah saw the true King of Judah. And it is majestic the way in which our
text describes the Exalted Lord:

1- The King is described sitting on His throne.I saw the Lord sitting on a throne...”

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 Let us remember that the throne is a symbol of royalty and sovereignty, which indicates that He

he is sitting there like a king and judge at the same time. However, he is not just any king
and judge, but of That King, whose throne is high and sublime.

His reign is so powerful that His Lordship is without comparison, for the more
Authority that has a king, a president, or a monarch in this world, none compares.
with the authority of the King of kings and Lord of lords.

In Daniel 4:34-35, the words of the mighty king Nebuchadnezzar are recorded.
referring to the King Jehovah of hosts34But at the end of time I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my
eyes to the sky, and my reason was returned to me; and I blessed the Most High, and praised and glorified the one who lives forever

always, whose dominion is everlasting, and his kingdom for all ages. All35the inhabitants of the
earth are considered as nothing; and he does according to his will in the army of heaven, and in the
inhabitants of the earth, and there is no one who can stop his hand, and say to him: What are you doing?”.

In the text, we also see that:

2- The Exalted King is described as dressed in splendid garments....and their skirts

they filled the temple.”

In ancient times, a monarch's clothing indicated the level they occupied.

the text tells us that the Lord's garments filled the temple. Let's imagine the King of kings,
sitting on His throne, while His skirts flowed down the stairs and reached the
doors. The Doctor of Theology R. C. Sproul makes the following comment; “What Isaiah
lived was a visual experience of the majesty that focuses on the magnificence of the
garments. So, the transcendence of this King can be seen not only in the height of
His throne, not only in the breadth of His dominion, for while the limited authority of
a king or monarch in this world extends to the borders of his nation, all the land is
filled with the glory of this exalted King.

But Isaiah not only saw the Lord exalted on His throne and with majestic royal garments,
but also saw:

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 3- The Lord is described as being worshiped:

“Above Him were seraphim; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, with
with two they covered their feet and with two they flew. And they called to one another, saying: Holy, Holy, Holy, is

The Lord of Hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory. And the foundations shook.
thresholds to the voice of the one who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke”.

There is more to this glorious vision, for the one whose skirts filled the temple was not
alone, for above the throne there were seraphim. This is the only place in the entire Bible where
it refers to these angelic creatures. And since the Bible says very little about
We know very little about them.

And how are they described?

They are described as fiery or blazing beings. The word "seraph" literally
means 'burning flame'. It can even suggest some serpentine shape (although with
alas, human hands and voices). It is said that when Moses had the experience of seeing God
in the bush, his face shone. It wouldn't be entirely crazy to think like these beings, at
because of their closeness to the throne of God, they are always radiant and flaming like the
fire.

How else is it described?

They are described as winged beings: "each had six wings: with two they covered their...
faces, with two they covered their feet and with two they flew.

There is a lot of symbolism here. The wings covering their faces and their feet represent the
humility. Let us remember that when Moses was before the burning bush, what did he do? In
recognition that he was in the presence of the holy and transcendent God, covered his face
and he took off his shoes. So too these seraphim in the vision. Yes, they are beings
exceptional, but they are creatures, and they know it, that's why they cover their faces and their feet,
recognizing who is the Most High and Sublime.

And finally, how else is it described?

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 They are described as beings who continuously worship God: 'Holy, Holy,
Holy, the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory.

It is said that in the Hebrew language there is no comparative or superlative form.

appropriate, and for this reason, repetition is used to emphasize something.

And what do we observe that emphasizes this angelic praise? The holiness and glory of God.

Imagine an angelic choir singing the hymn 'Holy, Holy, Holy'. If it is heard
beautiful in the congregation, much more in voices of beings completely pure before God.

They celebrate the holiness of God. In fact, this is the only attribute in the Bible that
It is repeated three times: HOLY, HOLY, HOLY. And this is because of the holiness of God.
it is a reference to His very essence, to His transcendence or infinite superiority over all
the created.

Keep in mind that what makes God infinitely superior to all created things is
the sum of its perfect characteristics, which is what we know or study as its
attributes. That is, everything that He is. Edward Young suggests that the holiness of God is the
totality of divine perfection.

And before such essential transcendence and His purity, even the foundations and the thresholds of

The temple was shaken. Now, what does this have to do with us and our worship?
If the seraphim cover their faces and feet, and even the foundations of the temple are shaken and
They tremble before His transcendent majesty, how is it possible that we remain apathetic before
a reality that we say we believe?

What the prophet experienced was a theophany, that is, a vision of the living God and
true. And if we want to worship God as He wants us to, we must also
see God as He is.

Correct worship begins with a vision of the living and true God. To worship is
fundamentally a matter of theology. And by theology I do not mean a discipline
merely academic. Theology is the conversation of the people of God seeking to understand
to the Lord whom we worship and to know how He wants us to worship Him.

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 How can we worship Him in the church and in our lives if we are not clear on
Who is He? Our pattern of worship must declare the character of God.

I wonder if the vision of God that many worshippers have resembles the
what the seraphim are telling us here.

We worship with the understanding that God is Holy and that 'the whole earth is full
"of His glory"? Sometimes, unfortunately, it seems not.

What we have today in many churches and among Christians is a microwave version of God.
superficial, insubstantial and insignificant. We do not see in the lives of many Christians nor of
many churches this experience of awe at the greatness of God. We have passed
From 'Holy, Holy, Holy' to 'God, my cool buddy or my lovely little one'.

And all this superficiality is an indicator of what we truly believe about God.
Someone said, 'worship defines God better than theology.' In other words, if you
If you want to know what other people really believe about God, don't waste time reading the
Theologians. Observe them worship. Listen to how they sing, how they pray, and how they live. Then you will know.

What do you think of this God that they worship.

About this A.W. Tozer says: "We have simplified Christianity to the extreme:"
God is love; Jesus died for you; believe, accept, rejoice, enjoy, and tell it to
the others. And that's all; this is the Christianity of our days. I wouldn't give even five
cents for that type of Christianity. Once in a while, God has a poor wounded sheep.
what manages to survive in the midst of all this, and I wonder how it achieves that.

Beloved brother, how are you worshiping? Whom are you loyal to? To whom are you...
Serving? That reveals the way you see God in your heart.

II. THE EFFECTS CAUSED BY VISION

“5Then I said: Woe to me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and
dwelling in the midst of a people of unclean lips, my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts.
armies.6And one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal, taken
from the altar with some tongs;7and touching it to my lips, he said: Behold, this touched your lips, and
your guilt is removed, and your sin is cleansed.8Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: Who shall I send, and
Who will go for us? Then I responded: Here I am, send me.(Vs. 5-8)

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 We then observe that the passage not only describes God's vision for the prophet.
Isaiah and the subsequent worship of the seraphim, but also what this produced in the
the prophet Isaiah, which was a true worship, of which we see two effects:

Confession of sins:

True worship does not only begin with a true vision of the living God,
but it also leads us to the confession of sins, both individual and collective. And
this is obvious, why would it be impossible to see this God and remain the same, as if nothing.
It would have happened. That is clear in verse 5:

“5Then I said: Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and
dwelling in the midst of a people of unclean lips, my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of the
armies.”

In the verse, we observe that Isaiah, upon seeing God, found himself lost. Once
he came to know the majestic and moral nature of this God, and saw the divine justice and holiness,
as a result, he saw the magnitude of his own sin.

He could only see himself as a lost sinner, discarded and humbled. This
the same is something that should happen in us once we see the God of the Bible. Because
if we do not confront our sin head-on as individuals and as a church,
Then we have not seen God and we have not worshipped Him either. For when we know God
In worship, we see ourselves as God sees us. And obviously, we see ourselves as sinners.

An example of this can be found in Psalm 51: 1-4.Have mercy on me, O God, according to
to your mercy; According to the multitude of your mercies, blot out my transgressions. 2Wash me more and more
from my wickedness, And cleanse me from my sin. 3For I acknowledge my transgressions, And my sin is
always before me. 4Against you, you only have I sinned, and have done what is evil in your sight;
So that you may be recognized just in your word, and held pure in your judgment.”

The second effect of this worship of Isaiah is:

Proclamation of His greatness:

“6And one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal, taken
from the altar with some tongs;7and touching it to my mouth, he said: Behold, this touched your lips, and
your guilt is taken away, and your sin is cleansed.(v.v. 6-7).

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 Authentic worship will also lead us to a manifestation of redemption, it is
to proclaim the gospel. This scene is a clear anticipation of the work of Christ. It is
a description of atonement. Isaiah gave absolutely nothing to God. He simply
he encountered the holiness of God and the magnitude of his sin, and then he realized
that redemption is by absolute grace, and it is costly. After all, the coal
lighting came from the altar of sacrifice, not from a campfire. And in this passage we can
to visualize a commission similar to the great commission of Matthew 28:18-20, when Christ
sent his disciples to go and make disciples.

Worship requires a constant response that can be seen in the proclamation.

of the gospel, in person-to-person evangelism and in missions. If our worship
If it is weak, our missionary witness will be weak as well.

When we come to God in confession, we experience the visualization and proclamation of the
redemption. True worship always proclaims the gospel, the good news of what
what God has done in Jesus Christ. Proclaim the work of Christ and focus on the cross.

Let’s now look at Isaiah’s response to this vision:

III. THE ANSWER TO THE VISION

“8Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying: Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then
I responded: Here I am, send me.(v. 8)

Note what the vision produced in the prophet. An immediate desire to serve Him.

What is needed for authentic worship then?

a. A correct view of God is needed in the heart, which,

will produce radical effects.

A mind is required that does not conform, but transforms through the power of the
word and of the Spirit. We need then every day to search the Scriptures more in
dependence on the Spirit, who enlightens to see God in His true dimension. We need
we should also continue exposing ourselves to the preaching of the word, for through this we obtain
a true vision of the living God, we recognize our own sins, we listen to the

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proclamation of redemption and we are called to a response of faith, repentance and
service. That is why the central part of corporate worship is preaching. The
music is one of the most precious gifts of God to His people, and it is the language with which
we can worship God in spirit and in truth, but music does not constitute the act.
central to worship, but when God Himself speaks to us of His character and His
will.

Observe what the writer of Nehemiah 8:8 saysthey read in the book of the law of God
clearly, and they made sense so that they would understand the reading”.

And finally:

A correct vision of God in the heart should lead us to serve Him.

externally.

Therefore, a response of loyalty is also needed, as we see in Isaiah in

And I heard the voice of the Lord saying: Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?
So I answered: Here I am; send me.

This leads us to remember and biblically strengthen the general emphasis that I presented to you:
The quality of our worship reveals the quality of our knowledge.
doctrinal and personal regarding God.

Let me go to a crucial passage for this, let's read Matthew 4:8-11.8Once again, it took him the
9 said to him:
the devil took him to a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory, and
10 Then Jesus said to him: Go away, Satan, for it is written.
I will give you all this, if you fall down and worship me.
11 serve. Then the devil left him; and behold, angels came.
You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you

angels and served him”.

In this passage, we observe The Essence of Worship, because in response to the question
What is worship? The passage offers us two answers after observing that worship
It contains two essential elements, one internal and the other external.

The internonos element says that worship is the recognition of the

superiority of the adored Being: "if you worship me while prostrate”.

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 Satan showed Jesus, not so much creation, but how the vast majority of nations
and towns, kings and powerful ones, are under the government of the wicked, after all, the same
The Bible calls him 'the god of this age or the prince of this world' (2 Corinthians 4: 4-6). This
it is because he exercises his deceptive influence over the children of disobedience (Ephesians 2:
1-3). So, Satan offered Jesus the loyalty of his followers if Jesus was loyal to him,
loyalty that would be manifested in bowing down before him.

And the external element that results from the internal tells us that worship is service.
to that someone who has been recognized for superiority. Jesus said, “The Lord your God
you will adore, and only Him you will serve”.

This takes us to the very heart of worship. We worship God when

we recognize in our hearts the infinite superiority of His essence and authority, and in
as a consequence, we submit ourselves and serve him.

All of this implies that worship is not simply an action that we carry out
end when we are gathered as a church, but also when in our lives
personally, in our homes and at our jobs we do what He says, simple and
simply because we recognize that He is The King and, therefore, we bow down and serve Him.

Well, then it is worth asking: What is happening with our worship...in the
church... at home... and at work?

As we saw in the passage of Matthew 4,uthe correct vision of God in the heart
it should lead us to serve Him externally. But our lack of loyalty and service is simple and
simply a manifestation of our vision of God or our theology is
defective, at least the one we truly believe in our hearts.

Do not forget: the way we worship reveals what type of

theology that we truly believe in our heart.

As the Apostle Paul states in Romans 12, we are required to present ourselves to
ourselves as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to Him, which is our spiritual worship
logical worship, not only in the church, but also at home, at school, and at work;

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in the way we sing, pray, listen, dress, speak, relate, etc.
Brothers, we need more of God. How is our worship?

I now turn to those beloved friends who do not know God: the term
Worship may sound distant to you because for you it is simply going to a church.
Sunday, to sing, to pray, and to read the Bible.

And I tell him that all of that is a very important part. But he must remember that hearing the word

and worship is nothing more than an expression of loyalty. You should know this because in the end, you
he is loyal to something or someone, so you are as much a worshiper as I am; it doesn't matter how
that you do, always ends up honoring and serving something or someone, many times it is to
yourself. Therefore, I wholeheartedly beg you to reflect on who or what is
adoring and serving.

This is God's answer: 'You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve.' But
One must also know that the only way to come close to this true God is through His
Beloved son, Jesus Christ; He is "the way, and the truth, and the life." And as He Himself said:
nobody comes to the Father except through Him. So, if you want to worship God sincerely and
according to the truth, draw near to His Son, embrace His salvation and His lordship in your life.

AMEN

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