Humbled before God’s Holiness.
To be humbled in the face of God’s holiness, one must truly behold His holiness. In Isaiah 6, we find that the prophet beheld just such a vision. He “saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple.” The Temple was a holy place, the place of God’s dwelling. Now in one sense, we cannot truly grasp the magnitude of Isaiah’s vision. What must it have meant to see the Lord? What must that have been like? And what of the seraphim? They were beings beyond imagining, powerful, holy, and not of this world. The Temple was a place where men would die. To see the Lord was to pierce through the thunder and lightning of Sinai, and – even then – Moses himself needed a refuge in the cleft of the rock, lest he be consumed. For the rest of Israel, even the approach at the foot of the mountain was perilous and guaranteed certain death.
We catch small fragments of this humbling for ourselves when we perceive glimpses of God’s majesty and glory in the natural world. Looking on as the waves thunder against a rocky shoreline, the noise reverberating in our body. The sight of countless silent stars on a clear night, a sky full of unthinkable, imperceivable mystery and wonders beyond our comprehension. The flashing of lightning and storm overhead, the feeling of a boat losing control on a stormy sea, the sight of a mighty mountain towering above us. As the revelation of God unfolds before our minds in these things, we slowly begin to perceive the truth as the Spirit awakens us: He is other. He is beyond us, He transcends us.
God’s holiness is the sum expression of his consummate perfection and transcendent glory. The more we see of this perfection and glory, the more we apprehend of God in His holiness, and the more we will humbled. In a sense, humility really is as simple as this: perceiving God in His holiness. But why? How does this work? We are humbled because, as we begin to perceive who He is, we begin also to have a true perception of who we are – and our innate sinful pride and the lies upon which it is built crumble to the ground as did the walls of Jericho.
As Isaiah beheld the glory of the Lord, and heard the seraphic declaration: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” As the foundations of the thresholds shook, and the house was filled with smoke, Isaiah was pierced to the heart, and saw himself as he truly was: “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!” Such was the response of Isaiah. Have you ever seen what happens to a piece of tissue paper when it is tossed into a bonfire? It glows brightly for a moment, and then it is as if it simply disappears. It is consumed, taken by the heat and the flame, and utterly destroyed. When we begin to see the holiness of God, we begin also to see our own uncleanness. We begin to perceive that we are like a piece of tissue paper on the approach to a bonfire. We begin to see that we ourselves are not holy.
The great question that comes before us, then, is simply this: do I know something of the response of Isaiah for myself? Can I call this experience, even if in just a small measure, my own? His words are powerful, aren’t they? “Woe is me, for I am lost”. “Lost” is actually far too tame a translation, “ruined”, as the NASB has it, is much better. To behold God’s holiness is to be ruined and to see one’s ruin. It is to see where you truly stand before Him. It is to know that even if you offered up the very best fruit of your life, it is nothing but a filthy and soiled garment fit only for the fire. It is to see that, on our own merits, all we have to expect before us is a lost eternity. We are nothing, and worse than nothing. Our lips are, as Isaiah’s were, unclean.
Consider your life, then, consider what you have done and achieved to this point. Could it earn God’s favour? Could it possibly deserve His perfect approval? Is it even a fair reflection of His excellency? No, and a thousand times no. To gaze upon His holiness, His consummate perfection and total glory, is both to see and to realise in increasing measure that we are as a ruin before Him. We have fallen far, far short of the glory of God. We are undone. But to see this ruinous estate into which we have come, we must first perceive something of the perfection of God.
So, let me ask you: do you have this sense? Do you have an awareness of your own unworthiness? We may put up a seemingly fair presentation to the people around us, dressed up nicely for church, but our rags are shown up for what they are when we stand at the portal of the heavenly throne room. Do you see it? Do you see that you are lost and undone before the face of the Almighty? Do you have a sense of your glaring corruptions? This awareness is the heartbeat of Christian humility, and will be strong in the life of a healthy believer.
Perhaps you begin to perceive that your awareness of your own ruin is but small. Perhaps you are little moved, perhaps Isaiah’s ruin seems foreign in your own experience. If that is the case, then the antidote is to gaze upon Christ. To meditate on His word day and night (Ps 1). In so doing, we will find that light begins to dawn upon our souls, His holiness becomes more apparent, and the inner sinful corruptions of our hearts become visible in the sun’s rays. If you, like me, feel downcast at your lack of humility, then devote yourself to this: to know God. To see Him, revealed in scripture in all His consummate perfection and glory. Make this your chief end and goal in life – to know God.
Having said that, we must always remember: this is not a humility that leads unto despair. It is a humility that will ever and always bring us, in God’s economy, to the foot of the cross, from which the life of Christ’s blood flows down upon us. As Isaiah beheld the glory of the Lord, he was stricken and undone in the presence of God. However, though ruined he was not destroyed. “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” (Is 6:6-7). And so in this we find that the sister of humility comes to meet us, and her name is thankfulness.
As we stand before God, ruined and undone, as we find ourselves standing in the heavenly throne room, clothed in dirty, brown garments soiled with all manner of filth, the Lord’s response to us is not to cast us out into outer darkness, although that would be fitting. His response is to take away that garment, and to cleanse and wash us in the water of the Word of God. He purifies us, renews us, takes away our guilt and atones for our sin with the blood of Christ. He dresses us in pure garments of white – but not of our own making. This garment is knit together at a heavenly loom, and made of white wool.
In our disgrace and filth the Lord meets us, and He makes provision for us. It is not destruction that we receive, but mercy. And so it is that a thankful song of praise bursts forth from our lips: “What shall I render to the LORD for all his benefits to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD” (Ps 116:12-13). And so, dear believer, lift up the cup of salvation. Drink deeply of the wine of free pardon.
When I survey the wond’rous Cross, on which the Prince of Glory died,My richest gain I count but loss, and pour contempt on all my pride.Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast, save in the death of Christ my God:All the vain things that charm me most, I sacrifice them to his blood.See from his head, his hands, his feet, sorrow and love flow mingled down!Did e’er such love and sorrow meet? Or thorns compose so rich a crown?Were the whole realm of nature mine, that were an offering far too small;Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.
Soli Deo Gloria!
Here is a catechetical summary of what we’ve learned:
Q: How is it that we can be humbled and thankful in the face of God’s holiness?
A: We are humbled in the face of God’s holiness because, in beholding Him, His infinite perfection reveals to us our sinful corruptions, our ruined condition, and the undeserved favour which He gives to us through Christ. These things, when truly perceived, render within us a humble awareness of our own unworthiness, and a thankful devotion for mercies received.