Have You Seen the King?

The plan for this Sunday’s sermon is to talk about sin, at least for the first half.

Psalm 51 is the most famous (infamous?) of all penitent psalms. It was written in the wake of David’s atrocious sin, after Nathan rebuked him and he finally faced what he had done: “I have sinned against Yahweh” (2 Samuel 12:13).

The story is found in 2 Samuel 11–12, but I don’t intend to spend too much time recounting this context on Sunday, because the relevance for us is not David’s sin per se, but what he learns about his sinfulness. That’s what we find in Psalm 51, and I’m eager, with God’s help, to preach these truths.

But the whole thing about sin, if we’re honest, only really makes sense if we understand something about the holiness of God. Sin runs most rampant where its least understood, which is where God’s holiness is least recognized. That goes for people and for places.

This occurred to me earlier today while reading J. I. Packer’s Concise Theology. The boys and I have been working through this book over the summer. It contains small chapters — a page and a half — of various theological topics, explained in epic Packer prose. Today, Chapter 17, was on “Holiness.”

Packer writes, 

The core of the concept [of holiness] is God’s purity, which cannot tolerate any form of sin (Hab. 1:13) and thus calls sinners to constant self-abasement in his presence (Isa. 6:5). (62)

Self-abasement is another way to say humbling. Packer cites Isaiah 6:5 as the quintessential example in the Bible. This is the moment when Isaiah, after encountering Yahweh in his holiness, says of himself: 

Woe is me! 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, Yahweh of hosts!

This scene is a helpful diagnostic on what we think about God’s holiness, and therefore, what we think about sin. 

When read about Isaiah’s response, do we think he was overdoing it? 

That’s the question. 

Do you think Isaiah is ‘off’ in his self-assessment? Like, perhaps he should lighten up? Do you want to say to him “No, Isaiah, you’re awesome; you’re valuable; you’re crushin’ it”? 

Now, to be sure, self-cruelty is real, and it’s a twisted sin in and of itself, but that’s not what is happening with Isaiah. He, more than at any point ever before, sees who he truly is. He is a sinner. He is doomed. He is desperate.

That is the first step toward mercy.

But first, our eyes must see the King. 

Holy, holy, holy is Yahweh of hosts;
The whole earth is full of his glory!