A three part series on God’s holiness, justice, and love. A 3-minute read.
Justice is a big topic right now. (Or perhaps the lack thereof?) Judicial justice. Social justice. Racial justice. Systemic justice.
Justice for a Jesus-follower is best understood as what is needed because God is holy. Isaiah stood in the presence of holy God. Seraphim were flying and crying, “Holy, holy, holy!” High octane, three-exclamation-point-emphasis.
Click here for a short video of Steve reflecting on life, holiness, justice, and mercy
We can picture ourselves right there with Isaiah, trembling in awe–except that Isaiah’s awareness of God’s holiness is so much more acute than ours. Would that my response to God’s holiness be as desperate at the prophet’s! “Woe to me! . . . I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty” (Isaiah 6:5).
Holy and unclean don’t mix. Oil and water. Holy is transcendent and pure. Unclean is sinful and broken. One is about the Almighty, perfection, purity, and eternality. The other is about Isaiah, about me, and you, imperfect, impure. Sinful. Separated. And dead.
Isaiah recognized his condition of uncleanness was personal and systemic. Isaiah was personally sinful–and the whole society was sinful and rebellious against God. Sin is personal and it is systemic. And there is only one cure. “I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty” (italics added).
God took action to clean the uncleanness. One of his serving angels swooped to the altar, took a live coal off the altar with tongs, placed it in its hand, touched Isaiah’s unclean lips with the coal, and declared, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for” (Isaiah 6:6-7).
The cure for sin is that it be atoned for. Atonement. A price has to be paid. The price for sin is death. The cleansing for sin, the price paid for sin, is through blood sacrifice. (Romans 6:23, Leviticus 4:25, 1 Peter 1:17-19, 1 John 1:7)
Click here for “Scripture for Life Application: God’s Justice and Mercy“
When we have stood in the presence of our holy God, when we see God’s character and experience the corresponding transformation which he brings to our lives, we begin to have a firmer grasp of the nature and impact of God’s justice and mercy. Our sin demands justice. Sin is personal and systemic. All injustice in the world, whether it be judicial, social, or racial, is rooted in our personal and systemic sin.
Click here for the Pursuing YouTube playlist, “Pursuing Holiness Justice and Mercy”
Community Conversation
In what ways has systemic sin touched your life?
When presented with one’s own uncleanness in the presence of a holy God, what heart responses would be pleasing to God? What action responses would be pleasing to God?
When presented with systemic uncleanness in the presence of a holy God, what heart responses would be pleasing to God? In the light of current social tension, what action responses would be pleasing to God?
Learning from Isaiah’s experience in the presence of a holy God, what do you experience? In what ways could this have positive societal impact?