‘In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the Temple.’
- Isaiah 6:1 -
The Bible is full of close encounters with God. In fact, God drawing near is the theme of Scripture! So much does God desire us to know Him that He hid eternity in our hearts (Eccles. 3:11). Some tap into this natural urge. Many don’t. God wants us aware of His presence, so we must shut off worldly distractions, giving Him our undivided attention. As James says: ‘Draw near to God and He will draw near to you’ (4:8). Sadly, due to sin and selfishness, our desire for God is warped. We don’t seek His presence as we should, which is why God draws near to us. And in the Old Testament, no man had more encounters with God than Moses, all beginning with the burning bush...
Moses knew of God but he didn’t know God. He had killed an Egyptian and fled to the desert, where for 40 years he watched his father-in-law’s flocks. What had begun as a promising life was reduced to an old man herding sheep. Then, one day, God showed up. Moses saw a burning bush that somehow wasn’t consumed. God was getting his attention. He often goes to great lengths to draw us, so when something odd happens to you, consider that God may be getting your attention. Moses’ curiosity got the better of him. He said: “I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn” (Ex. 3:3). The miracle had worked.
‘When the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am”’ (Ex. 3:4). God got personal with Moses, calling him by name. He was going to use Moses to deliver the Hebrews from Egypt, so He needed Moses to truly know Him. He wants Moses to have an intimate encounter, so deep and meaningful that he’d never be the same again. When Moses was drawn in, he asked God an intimate question: what was His name? God blessed him by replying: “I AM WHO I AM” (3:14). The relationship was launched.
God is good, but He isn’t tame. He is holy, holy, holy, so after calling Moses, He warned: “Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place you stand is holy ground” (Ex. 3:5). Our true self is exposed in the presence of holy God, which is why Peter told Jesus: “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man” (Luke 5:8). We know we’re near to God when our hearts convict us of sin. ‘Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God’ (Ex. 3:6). Moses should have been consumed by God’s glory, yet he wasn’t. God was merciful. He is ‘longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance’ (2 Pet. 3:4). The same holy God who said “take your sandals off your feet” had His own sandals stolen at the cross. This mix of holy humility is what transforms us when we encounter God in Christ.
Elijah encountered God at his lowest point, quivering in a cave after Jezebel vowed to kill him (1 Kings 19:2). He was overcome with self-pity and wanted to die. Amazingly, this low point in Elijah’s life came after one of the greatest miracles in the Bible. He’d just defeated the prophets of Baal in a showdown to see whose deity was real. Each had built an altar and offered a bull. The god who answered by fire would prevail (1 Kings 18:24). To prove his point, Elijah even poured water on his sacrifice. Nothing happened on Baal’s altar, but the fire of the true God consumed Elijah’s offering, even licking up all the water in the trench (18:38).
Jezebel heard of this and vowed to kill Elijah. So he ‘arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food 40 days and 40 nights to Horeb, the mountain of God’ (1 Kings 19:8). A miracle had happened, but now there were people seeking his life. This shift was more than he could handle. Elijah had an idea of how things were supposed to be, yet the exact opposite had happened. He said: “It is enough! Now, Lord, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!” (19:4). But believe it or not, Elijah wasn’t the only one in the Bible who wanted their life to end when their expectations weren’t met.
Moses hoped to die (Num. 11:15), as did Job (Job 3:11) and Jeremiah (Jer. 20:17). Jonah also said: “It is better for me to die than to live” (4:8). Yes, life got tough for the prophets, but never forget that God has a divine plan. Joseph went from slavery, to prison, to Prime Minister in just a few years. He didn’t give up and neither should we. God will meet you in your cave of despair. Elijah was there when the Lord came and said: “What are you doing here, Elijah?” (1 Kings 19:9). He asked this because Elijah had to get some things off his chest. Elijah needed to tell God that his peril wasn’t fair! Things felt things should’ve been different. God was patient to hear Elijah’s heart, but next He told Elijah to go stand on the mountain before Him.
‘And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice’ (1 Kings 19:11-12). Now here is the lesson to us. If we want to hear God in times of joy or need dire, don’t look for the spectacular, but listen for His whisper.
We listen most closely when spoken to quietly, and God whispers because He’s drawing near. This is why we need to be still and know that He is God (Ps. 46:10). Before Elijah heard God’s still, small voice, he first had to weather the storm outside his cave. The wind blew, the ground shook, and fire came. Calamities came because God was getting his attention. Only after enduring all this could he hear God whisper. Elijah had to drop the self-pity so that he could hear God’s gentle voice. And it worked! God strengthened Elijah, gave him a new mission to anoint kings in the region, and even blessed him by sending him to commission Elisha to take on his prophet’s mantle.
Apart from Elijah, Isaiah is the major Old Testament prophet. He lived 700 years before Christ and predicted Messiah’s arrival to save mankind. He was commissioned during a close encounter with God. We learn a lot from how God’s presence changed Isaiah’s life. It happened in the year King Uzziah died. Judah was in crisis. Uzziah had reigned for 42 years. He was a (mostly) good king, doing what was right in the sight of God. The people prospered and loved their king. But so successful was Judah that it began to drift from God. Uzziah grew proud and disobeyed God, entering the Temple to burn incense. Only priests could do this, so God cursed conceited Uzziah with leprosy (2 Chron. 26).
God resists the proud (James 4:6), so leprosy clung to Uzziah for the rest of his life. He was barred from the Temple and even his palace. His son, Jotham, ruled in his place, and the king’s leprosy meant he was eventually buried in a cemetery rather than the royal tomb. It was when Uzziah died that Isaiah met God. The prophet had to learn that there is a King far greater than any man. Isaiah’s prophecy starts with him begging the people to see the error of their ways, saying: ‘Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!’ (5:20). Woe! Woe! Woe! The nation was in crisis and the future looked bleak, but then God appeared to their prophet.
While seeking wisdom in the Temple, Isaiah says he ‘saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the Temple’ (6:1). What a sight it must have been! The Temple was 90 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 45 feet high, yet the train of the Lord’s robe filled it. Over the throne flew the angelic seraphim. Each had six wings. With two they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew.
Their faces were hidden from God’s holiness as they cried to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole world is full of His glory!” (Is. 6:3). Isaiah was in God’s presence and the place was engulfed by His glory. ‘The posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out and the house was filled with smoke. Then [Isaiah] said, “Woe is me, for I am undone! Because 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”’ (6:4-5). The true King had shown himself and Isaiah was terrified!
Isaiah had previously told the nation, “Woe to you!” but here he says, “Woe is me!” This happens when we encounter the holy God who is high and lifted up. In His presence, self-esteem is shattered and pride destroyed. Isaiah searched his inner-man and said, “Woe is me!” realizing he was a sinner and very much part of the problem. So don’t get high-minded if God uses you in some special way. Stay humble and give God the glory. Isaiah confessed that he dwelt among people with unclean lips. He knew evil company corrupts good habits and bad company ruins good manners (1 Cor. 15:33).
Something especially unusual happened next. Seraphim literally means burning ones, and we hear that ‘one of the seraphim flew to [Isaiah], having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth with it’ (Is. 6:6-7). The burning one brought a burning coal from the altar of God who is holy, holy, holy! God’s presence is beautiful but it’s also terrifying. Sin is burned up in His midst, however painful that may be. Isaiah learned that ‘we are all like unclean things, and all our righteous deeds are like filthy rags’ (64:6). Therefore, before we find comfort in God’s presence, we must realize that without Christ - our ultimate mediator - we are unclean and stained with sin that God cannot tolerate.
All believers in all ages have needed their sins forgiven in order to dwell with God. Isaiah experienced this when the seraphim met him with a hot coal, saying: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your iniquity is taken away, and your sin purged” (Is. 6:7). Isaiah was cleansed and his confidence returned. Then God asked: “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Without hesitation, Isaiah said: “Here am I! Send me” (6:8). God wants us to encounter Him so we can see His goodness and be cleansed of sin. Many more people met God in the Bible and each of them was radically changed.
Scripture promises that all who call on the Name of the Lord will encounter Him. They will ‘taste and see that the Lord is good’ (Ps. 34:8) at the moment that salvation envelops them. Christianity isn’t about religion but relationship. God desires to be the most real One in our life. Look at everything He’s already done to gain our full attention. He’s in front of us with open arms. He’s drawn near to us. Now He’s waiting for us to respond and draw near to Him. Remember, Jesus died for this to happen. So stop looking only at what is seen, but look to Him who is unseen. What are you waiting for? Draw near to Him today! Do it now and rejoice.
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