The Transforming Power of a True Vision of God
Setting the Scene…
What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.
So said American pastor A.W. Tozer. He went on to say:
For this reason the gravest question before the Church is always God Himself, and the most solemn fact about any man is not what he at a given time may say or do, but what he in his deep heart conceives God to be like. We tend by a secret law of the soul to move toward our mental image of God.
We live in a world with very confused, and often downright wrong, thoughts about God. And the situation isn’t always much better in the Church.
One danger is to think of God simply as a bigger or better version of ourselves. We assume God is like us, but with more power or greater moral stability. We think of ourselves first and then make God in our likeness. That’s the wrong way round. We only discover the truth about ourselves as we truly see God.
To help us truly see God, and to prepare us for Easter Sunday, we have provide a series of ‘Easter Meditations’ which provide us with a true vision of God as He is revealed in His Word. We encourage you to use this resource throughout the week and to join us on Thursday evening as we gather for Midweek Worship. As we approach Easter Sunday let us all know the transforming power of a true vision of God…
Colossians 1 verses 15 to 23… A Supreme God
I love amazing, random facts about anything and everything. When thinking about this passage I searched google for amazing facts about creation. Here are some of the things that stood out:
The human eye can distinguish about 10 million different colours.
If uncoiled, the DNA in all the cells in your body would stretch 10 billion miles, from here to Pluto and back.
Human beings are amazing creations displaying the work of an amazing creator. And then think about the world around us. Look up at the sky and see the stars are on display showing us our amazing, indescribable God!
Scientists say there are billions of other galaxies with billions of stars within themselves! If we counted one star in our galaxy per second, it would take us 2,500 years to count the stars in the Milky Galaxy alone! Our Jesus is so amazing He can call each of these stars by name, after all He is the one who made them. There are at least 10 Billion Trillion stars in the Universe. Jesus made them with a breath, placed them in the sky and He knows them all by name.
You may not be a scientist and these numbers may have washed over you but they are worth considering when we read:
15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible… 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
When we look at creation it should turn us to worship. Paul declares that Jesus made ALL things and Jesus is in control of all beings, planets, places, things, situations. Creation is all about Jesus; and Abraham Kuyper declared:
‘There is not a square inch in all of God’s creation that Jesus does not cry out, “mine!”’
Creation exists because He willed it and the earth keeps spinning because He decides to keep it spinning. He is the ruler of it all. Creation depends on Him and is all about Him. Christ is the central adhesive of all creation- physically AND spiritually. Everything physical is held together by Jesus and everything spiritual depends on Jesus. So when we are separated from Jesus in any degree it leads to breakdown and fragmentation in our lives and in our world.
Paul write the letter to the Church in Colossae because they were going through some difficult times. So Paul wrote these words to the Colossians, and to us, so all Believers would realise that in Christ, who is the very image of God, God is Supreme over Creation as Creator and Sustainer. God made us and God sustains us. We were made by Him and for Him.
This is how BIG God is. God knows us better than we know ourselves so our response must be surrender, trust, worship. If He can sustain the whole of creation then what about us? If HE can fill the entire universe, then He is BIG enough for us.
So let this true vision of God transform you this day: this is our Father’s world and our Saviour’s creation. Therefore, whatever powers there may be, visible or invisible, they are under His ultimate control. The Believer, in Christ, has nothing to fear. There are no rogue molecules in the universe, and we are no accident. God is in control of everything past, present and future.
Colossians 1 verses 15 to 23… A Sufficient God
In verses 19-22 Paul moves us from how God is supreme over creation to how God is sufficient in redemption. In other words, this is the story of how the hands that placed those billions of stars and galaxies in the universe surrendered those same hands to nails on a cross. It is the story of how Jesus left the adoration of angels and the perfect fellowship of heaven to live a sinless life, die a gruesome death and then rise victorious. The purpose of this was God’s glory and our good- a rescue plan for people undeserving.
However, Paul wants us to realise that this rescue plan, this salvation, this reconciliation was about more than just us. As my friend tells me, ‘The Gospel declares that I am important, but I am not the point!’; Jesus life, death and resurrection had cosmic consequences for every atom in the universe. Paul tells us that all things had to be reconciled because all things had become contaminated by sin. The effect of sin was to decay and corrupt everything in the entire universe.
We must grasp how big the problem of sin is if we are to truly understand how good the news of the Gospel is. There have been times when the boys have got their clothes so completely dirty that it just isn’t worth cleaning them and so we through those clothes out. However, God didn’t throw our world out- He held it all together because He had a plan. God doesn’t through us out because He has a plan.
Any time we turn the news on it can be easy to lose hope but Paul says that if we are Gospel people then that isn’t an option. We belong to a Jesus who holds everything together and who has reconciled all things to himself. Through the Cross Jesus has won the victory over Satan and over all evil in the entire world. All things, all places, all times and all people are under God’s control and He will achieve His perfect purposes.
The stench of sin still remains until that day when Jesus finally eradicates sin forever but we have a hope and a confidence that the war is won and we will see all things reconciled. Be amazed by the totality of the reconciliation: Everything in our world and our life will be redeemed and is redeemable. No situation, circumstance or person is beyond redemption.
In verses 21 to 22 Paul again narrows the focus to how the Cross is good news for us as individual children of God. Paul reminds us that while we were once enemies and evil to the core we are now holy, free from accusation and without fault. Do we really think the Gospel is Good News? Are we really aware of our sin and what it means to be forgiven? Redeemed? Loved by the God of the universe?
So let this true vision of God transform you this day: in Christ we experience true and lasting peace, joy and hope for this life and the next because we are made holy and blameless in God’s sight. Christ’s sacrifice far exceeds and outweighs the weight of our sin. Here we see how completely supreme and sufficient our Jesus is: He is the creator and sustainer, the reconciler and the perfector. And so, in response we must keep our focus completely upon Him minute by minute, day by day. We must look to Him, gaze upon Him, seek to be like Him and trust in Him with all that we have and are. He is the only One big enough to satisfy our deepest longings and meet our truest need. Let us stay grounded in Him now and forever.
Isaiah 6… A God Who is Beyond Us
The death of Judah’s king provides us with the context for today’s passage. Our passage begins with these words: ‘In the year that King Uzziah died…’. To say in the year King Uzziah died is to say a lot. It is to say, ‘In the year a great and wise king who had a tragic end died.’. It is to say that Isaiah’s vision occurred at a time of upheaval and uncertainty. God’s People needed a fresh vision of who God is and what He was doing in the life of their nation.
And so, in verses 1 to 4 God’s People are confronted with a clear vision of God as the true King, One of limitless power and authority, and the completely Holy God, incomparable in purity and perfection. Such a vision shakes the temple to its core and should bring God’s People to their knees as we behold the absolute ‘potency’ and perfect ‘purity’ of our God.
Potency
In verse 1 we read:
…I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple…
Here is a verse that is filled with images that point to God’s ultimate power and authority over all; He truly is the all-powerful King of unmatched authority. Remember: …in Him all things were created… all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
Consider what Isaiah saw and be filled with awe! God sits in the place of allauthority and power in the universe and is sovereign over all. As God’s People, in whatever we face as individuals or as the Church, we must always remember God remains on His throne. As God’s People we belong to the God of matchless power and authority who is in control of all times and peoples and places. And because He is the completely Holy God we can trust that His Way is perfect. So, in times of trouble or uncertainty let us be transformed by the power of this true vision of God.
Our God, Isiah’s God, is a God of incomparable majesty and power. He also a God of perfect…
Purity.
In verses 2 to 4 we read that so glorious is the brilliant beauty and holiness of God in Isaiah’s vision that the seraphim cannot even look upon the Lord as they sing God’s praises.
Holiness is the very essence of God. It is the very God-ness of God. It is who He is, what makes Him God. The Holiness of God destroys all our small and tepid thoughts about who He is and what He like. God is incomparable in the beauty of His purity. He is above and beyond us in ways we cannot comprehend. Our Creator-King is the holiest of all beings, so set apart from creation that nothing else can compare to Him in majesty and purity and none of us can truly comprehend just how awesome He is. And yet, in Christ, He draws us to Himself.
This true vision of God must transform us. The power and purity of our God must lead us to Christ. In Christ our sins our forgiven and we can meet with our Holy God. This is what we remember and celebrate this Easter: Only in Christ, and His perfect sacrifice, can the awesome God of the universe become our God and loving Heavenly Father.
Isaiah 6… A God Who Calls Us
The holiness of God is a threat to sinful people, and in verses 1 to 5 Isaiah finds himself immersed in a full-on sensory experience of God’s holiness. But it need not be. In verses 6 to 7 we see that the Lord is gracious:
“Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, ‘See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.’”
Our problem is the utter incompatibility of God’s holiness and our guilt. Moreover, God cannot stop being holy, and we cannot stop being guilty. Even if we could, there’s a backlog of unaddressed sin that condemns us. But God can take away our guilt. For Isaiah that meant a coal from the altar.
The altar was the place of sacrifice. A person’s guilt was symbolically placed on an animal, and the animal died in their place. Fire in the Old Testament is a picture of God’s all-consuming wrath. The punishment for sin was paid by the animal instead of by the worshipper. It’s a symbol, a picture, a promise. It points us to Jesus, the perfect sacrifice, who takes away the sin of the world.
Isaiah then hears God saying, ‘Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?’ and Isaiah responds, ‘Here am I. Send me!’ (verse 8) He’s not saying, I’ll do you a favour or I’m the ideal man for the job. He’s just said, ‘I am a man of unclean lips’! But when you’ve seen the power and purity of God, and when you’ve experienced His grace, you cannot but serve God.
The job that Isaiah gets is not a great one: God is going to use Isaiah to harden the people’s hearts, confirm their blindness and prepare them for judgment (verses 9 to 10). God uses us in the same way. To some our words bring life. But other people reject our words, and, in doing so, bring about their own judgment.
But the people in Isaiah are not hardened for ever. Isaiah 6 ends with the words: The holy seed will be the stump in the land (verse 13). In other words, there is something left in the land that is alive— even if only just. It’s a theme that re-emerges in Isaiah 11, where a shoot will come from the stump of Jesse— the father of King David, Israel’s greatest king. So a chapter that began with the death of one king ends with the promise of another, the promised Rescuer-King will come.
So it is that later, in Isaiah’s song of the Suffering Servant (52 verse 13 to 53 verse 12). Isaiah will encounter people who hear but do not understand. But one day there will be people who have not heard but do understand. We find the same idea in Isaiah 65 verse 1, where God says, ‘I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me; I was found by those who did not seek me’
God is talking about us. We weren’t looking for God, but God found us. Through the work of His Spirit God Himself put a longing in our heart to know Him. We were deaf to God’s voice and blind to His glory. As we have seen in our studies in the Gospel According to Mark, even those who encountered the glory of God in the person of Christ were blind to that glory. But the Holy Spirit opens ears and eyes to recognise the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ- what grace!
How do we respond to the amazing Grace of the Gospel?
So, what are we to do in response to this vision of God’s holiness? How are we to respond to the amazing grace of the Gospel?
First, we say, ‘Woe to me! I am ruined! I am unclean.’. We stop pretending because we cannot pretend before God. We stop hiding because we cannot hide from God. It doesn’t matter whether you’ve been a Believer for decades or whether you’ve never come to God before. Open your eyes to the holiness of God and cry out to God and He will cleanse you. As we read in 1 John 1 verse 9:
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
In Christ we are forgiven and free to deal with our sin in His grace and power.
The second thing to note as we think about how we respond to this vision of God’s holiness is that there’s no room for compromise in His presence. When we encounter the holiness of God- His utter and complete perfection- then there is no room for half measures. We need to be ruthless with sin and not allow it to gain a foothold in our lives. We need to pursue holiness with grace-fuelled gratitude. We need to hear the call to service and respond as Isaiah did: ‘Here am I. Send me!’. We must make the King of Glory the King of our lives and submit completely to Him.
We would love you to join us on Easter Sunday – 9th April 2023