“Have You Had Your Encounter with God?” (Isaiah 6:1-5)

“Have You Had Your Encounter with God?” (Isaiah 6:1-5)

This passage documents one of the most famous conversions (saving) and commissions (sending out) in Christian history. The prophet Isaiah stands first in the long line of prophets that God sent to Israel. He preached longer than any other prophet, his ministry spanned over four decades and through the reigns of four different Kings.

His prophecies touch every age or dispensation of Christian history: he prophesies of the first coming of Christ (Isaiah 7:14, 9:6, and 53:5); the second coming of Christ (Isaiah 11:4, 63:1-4, and 66:15-16); the Great Tribulation (Isaiah 13:9-11, 24:19-21, and 34:2-4), the Millennial Kingdom (Isaiah 2:2-4, 11:6-9, and 65:20-25) and even of Heaven itself (Isaiah 25:8-9, 65:17, and 66:22-23).

Yet his ministry began with an encounter with God. This encounter shaped the remainder of his life and his words live on, shaping the lives of every Christian since his time. It all began with a visit to the temple, or what we would call the church in our day. Consider the following four points.

1. You can be in church and around church without having an encounter with God.

a. Isaiah had an encounter with God in the year that King Uzziah died (Isaiah 6:1).

b. According to the Jewish Historian, Josephus, King Uzziah died in 740 BC, the same year that Isaiah says God saved and commissioned him (Isaiah 6:1).

2. An encounter with God begins with seeing God how He really is.

a. During Uzziah’s reign, the people of God were pretentious. God would later tell Isaiah in Isaiah 29:13 in the NLT: “These people say they are mine. They honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. And their worship of me is nothing but man-made rules learned by rote.”

b. Isaiah was overwhelmed by God’s holiness. Isaiah described God as “high and lifted up.” Though Isaiah was familiar with kingly apparel, this King had robes that “filled the temple” (Isaiah 6:1).

c. This vision of God included the seraphim or “the burning ones” who guard His presence. These beings cried “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of Hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory” (Isaiah 6:3).

i. God has no dealings with sin or darkness (Habakkuk 1:13).

ii. God is so holy that He dwells in unapproachable light (1st Timothy 6:16).

3. An encounter with God causes us to see ourselves for how we really are.

a. Isaiah confessed his sinfulness. Isaiah’s confession as recorded in Isaiah 6:5 in the NLT:

“It’s all over! I am doomed, for I am a sinful man. I have filthy lips, and I live among a people with filthy lips. Yet I have seen the King, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.”

b. The Lord said this to Isaiah in Isaiah 56:10-11 regarding the clergymen of his day:

“The Lord’s watchmen, his shepherds—are blind and ignorant. They are like silent watchdogs that give no warning when danger comes. They love to lie around, sleeping and dreaming. Like greedy dogs, they are never satisfied. They are ignorant shepherds, all following their own path and intent on personal gain.”

c. Regarding the people, God said to Isaiah in Isaiah 6:9-10 in the NLT:

“Listen carefully, but do not understand. Watch closely but learn nothing. Harden the hearts of these people. Plug their ears and shut their eyes. That way, they will not see with their eyes, nor hear with their ears, nor understand with their hearts and turn to me for healing.”

4. An encounter with God is not complete until we have been cleansed from sin.

a. The angel spoke the words of Isaiah 6:7: “Your iniquity is taken away and your sins atoned for.” That is what an encounter with God will do for you. It provides a remedy for sin, so that we may approach God.

b. The Apostle John put it this way in 1st John 1:6: “If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth.”

“Christ First, Christ Only, Christ Always”