Encountering God’s Holiness (Isaiah 6; Exodus 3:1-12)
Big Idea: God graciously uses crises to give his people a bigger view of his holiness, a clearer view of their sin, and a deeper understanding of forgiveness that compels them to serve.
Everything feels like it's falling apart. Geopolitical shifts, multiple wars, cyber warfare, economic uncertainty, AI disruption, deepening polarization: it all seems out of control. When global experts were asked about the next decade, 57% predicted turbulence or chaos. Only 1% anticipated calm.
But here's what I want you to see: we're not the first generation to face upheaval, and God has never wasted a crisis. In fact, some of his greatest works happen when our world is shaking. So what if this disruption isn't just something to survive, but something God wants to use?
God has often used periods of disruption to accomplish something remarkable. I pray he does so now. Through two case studies, I want to show you what God has done in turbulent times, and what he may be doing in ours today.
Two Case Studies
Consider these two case studies. The parallels are striking.
Case study one: the beginning of Exodus
The Israelites were enslaved in Egypt under brutal oppression, but their population kept growing. When slavery didn't curb their population growth, Pharaoh resorted to genocide by ordering every Hebrew boy to be thrown into the Nile. Mothers gave birth knowing their sons faced execution. The people groaned under bondage and cried out (Exodus 2:23). This wasn't just physical oppression; it was designed to crush their identity and hope.
Case study two: the beginning of Isaiah's ministry
King Uzziah died after a 52-year reign that brought unprecedented prosperity and stability to Judah. His death created a national crisis. With Assyria rising to the north and Judah's political landscape shifting, the nation faced an uncertain future. Who would protect them now? Who would lead? The times were dangerous, and people naturally looked to human solutions and political alliances rather than to God.
Both scenarios share a crucial pattern: human security collapses, creating a crisis that only God can resolve. Both moments represent the end of human solutions. Both left God's people vulnerable, afraid, and looking for answers in the wrong places.
God often uses human helplessness to reveal his sufficiency. God wasn’t caught off-guard by these crises. This is the darkness against which God's deliverance shines. When our support fails, we realize that our true help comes from the Lord, not from rulers or political ties.
The crises weren't accidents. They were divine setups for deliverance and revelation.
Encountering God’s Holiness
Here’s what God does in these times. Three things:
God gives a bigger view of his holiness.
When the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God… (Exodus 3:4-6)
God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ” (Exodus 3:14)
In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called 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 shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. (Isaiah 6:1-4)
What happens in both cases? Their vision lifts beyond their crises to the very presence of God.
Both encounter the holiness of God. Holiness isn't merely an attribute of God; it is the very essence of God who dwells in unapproachable light. God's holiness refers to his absolute moral purity and the infinite moral distance between God and his human creatures.
Not only is God holy, but in Isaiah 6 the seraphim call him, “Holy, holy, holy.” R.C Sproul notes:
Only once in sacred Scripture is an attribute of God elevated to the third degree. Only once is a characteristic of God mentioned three times in succession. The Bible says that God is holy, holy, holy. Not that He is merely holy, or even holy, holy. He is holy, holy, holy. The Bible never says that God is love, love, love; or mercy, mercy, mercy; or wrath, wrath, wrath; or justice, justice, justice. It does say that He is holy, holy, holy, that the whole earth is full of His glory.
God is infinitely holy and self-existent. When he reveals himself to Moses, he declares his name: I AM. He alone possesses life within himself—uncreated, eternally unchanging. He depends on nothing and no one, remaining constant across all time.
Imagine standing on the sun's surface, where temperatures reach 10,000 degrees, rather than viewing it from 93 million miles away. You wouldn't just be uncomfortable; you'd be instantly consumed. That's a picture of God's holiness. He doesn't just possess moral purity; he radiates it like heat. He's not distant or cold; he's so pure and good that sinful humans can't endure his presence without his grace.
That’s the holiness of God. What they needed most in this moment of crisis is a fresh vision of God, and so do we. What is the need of the hour? A life-changing encounter with the holiness of God.
When asked what is the greatest singular need for the church today, R.C. Sproul responded, “to know who God is.” When asked what is the greatest singular need for culture today, he responded, “to know who God is.”
What do we need? To paraphrase Kevin DeYoung, we need a God who is holy, independent, and unlike us—a God who is good, just, full of wrath, and full of mercy. We need a God who is sovereign, powerful, tender, and true. We need a God with edges. We need an undiluted God who makes us feel cherished and safe, and small and uncomfortable too. We need a God who works all things after the counsel of his will and for the glory of his name. We need a God whose love is lavish and free. We need a God worthy of wonder and fear, a God big enough for all our faith, hope, and love. In a time of crisis, we need a bigger view of the holiness of God.
But that leads to the next thing that God does:
God gives a clearer view of our sin and a deeper understanding of forgiveness.
You can’t see the holiness of God without also seeing the depth of your sin and your need for forgiveness.
Exodus 3:6 says, “And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.”
One commentator says:
Holiness endangers the sinner because the holiness of the Lord is not a passive attribute but an active force… The trepidation humans feel before the Lord is not, therefore, the trembling of the lowly before the Almighty or the created before the Creator, but the fear of sinners endangered by holiness. (Alec Motyer)
R.C. Sproul calls this “the trauma of holiness.” The holiness of God is terrifying because we are not holy. Isaiah faced the same fear:
And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!” (Isaiah 6:5)
Isaiah believed he was ruined, lost. Why? Two reasons. One is his unclean lips and his presence with others who have unclean lips. The other is the surpassing holiness of God.
It is a good but scary thing when the depth of our sin is revealed to us. “When we have seen God, we then begin to feel and know what we are” (John Calvin). As my wife reminded me recently, we have more in common with the worst sinner than a holy God.
Have you encountered the holiness of God? One way to know that you have is that you see your own sin. You have no chance of standing before a holy God.
But seeing our sin is only the first part. We need a solution to sin, which is what we find in verses 6 to 7:
Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”
We need God's remedy for our sin. In Isaiah 6, a seraph takes a live coal from the altar, which is used for daily offerings, peace offerings, Yom Kippur sacrifices, and Passover lambs. This coal, drawn from where countless sin offerings ascended to God, touches Isaiah's lips. His iniquity is removed. His sin is purged. God has made provision for what Isaiah could never fix himself. The cleansing comes not through personal effort but through divine grace alone. The coal from the altar in Isaiah's time foreshadowed the cross, where Jesus became our ultimate sacrifice. Let the weight of your sin drive you toward the cross, not away from it. That's where guilt is removed and sin is atoned for—not by your effort, but by his costly grace.
Tim Keller once said something that’s always stuck with me. We usually pick leaders who are confident, competent and successful. But what we really need in a leader is someone who has been broken by the knowledge of his or her sin, and even greater knowledge of Jesus’ costly grace. That’s what happens with Isaiah. The more we see God’s holiness. Ministry begins with recognizing and confessing our need for forgiveness and our dependence on God. The more we see our sin. The more we see our sin, the more precious the gospel becomes to us.
What does God do in turbulent times? He gives us a bigger view of his holiness. He gives a clearer view of our sin and a deeper understanding of forgiveness. There’s one more thing he does.
God calls someone to his service.
Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt. (Exodus 3:10)
And he said, “Go, and say to this people: “ ‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’ Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.” (Isaiah 6:9-10)
Both Moses and Isaiah were given hard tasks. In fact, Moses argued with God about the assignment that he was given. Isaiah would accomplish something through his ministry. For centuries, Isaiah’s words have shaped the church. But in Isaiah’s day, he would meet with little success. But that’s okay. He was summoned by a holy God with an important mission. He was part of God’s solution for a turbulent time. He had seen God’s holiness and his own sin. He had been cleansed and pardoned and had a deeper grasper of God’s grace. And then he was sent.
God graciously uses crises to give his people a bigger view of his holiness, a clearer view of their sin, and a deeper understanding of forgiveness that compels them to serve.
What about you? In turbulent times like ours, God doesn't call us to find better strategies or stronger leaders. He calls us to encounter his holiness. When we do, everything changes. We see him as infinitely greater than our crises. We see ourselves as far more broken than we realized, yet far more forgiven than we dared hope. And we discover we've been summoned into his service for such a time as this.
Make it your mission to cultivate a bigger view of God. Spend time in his presence through Scripture and worship until his holiness overwhelms you. Don't run from the conviction of your sin; let it drive you to the cross where Jesus has already paid for your guilt. Then ask God, "What would you have me do?" He's not wasting this disruption. He's calling ordinary people like us, aware of their weakness and his grace, to be part of his work in these days. Will you answer?
