Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Responding to Holiness (Part 2): Atonement and a Hearing of God

During my last blog, I attempted to touch on the uniqueness of Isaiah and Ezekiel's experience as they saw a holy God. I noted that there first emotion was conviction (Isaiah) and awe or wonder (Ezekiel). And these two are ultimately tied to one another though I don't have time to tie them together here.
So what after conviction for Isaiah? Does his expereince of God stop here? Should ours stop here? Are we meant to sense conviction and then be left hanging as to where to proceed from there? The answer is no. Notices what follows Isaiah's intense sense of conviction. He states:

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; youf guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.'"

Immeditate following intense conviction, Isaiah is not left to wallow in his guilt. His sins are atoned for. As the angel touches his lips with a hot coal, his sins are atoned for. And notice what goes with this atonement for sin. Not only is the sin removed but the guilt is gone with it. Interesting here that guilt is not a sense of emotion in which one feels that maybe it is gone and maybe it isn't. The angel states in a declarative manner that his guilt is gone. It is absolved. With atonement comes the departing of guilt. If you have truly experienced the atonement on a heart level, your sin should depart with it. You see, the sense of conviction that we feel when we encounter God's holiness is not meant to be the only feeling we experience. As we see the holiness of God and the tremendous amount of our own wickedness, we simultaneously see the beauty of Christ as he comes to us and takes away our sin. As believers we know that though our sin is ever present, our savior is ever greater. He brings comfort and relief to us as we standed, reduced to rubble before a holy God. And when we experience the atonement in an existential manner, the guilt ought to fly with it. Guilt leaves because Christ has paid the price. We are not meant to feel a sense of the finality of the cross strictly in our head and theologies but in our hearts and in out emotions. The feelings of guilt should flee as we experience more and more of the cross on a day by day basis.

What else comes with seeing God in all his glory and wonder? I think there is something very important to note about Ezekiel's reponse. Look at what happens in verse 28b. Ezekiel says:

Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard the voice of one speaking (italics mine)

I think it would simply be a mistake to gloss over the last part of this verse without noting something very very important. It has to be understood that it is very difficult to "hear the voice of [God] speaking" if you are not prostrate before his glory in absolute wonder. If you are not reduced before God on a daily basis it will be very hard to get a true word or true direction from him. You may seek it... but so long as you are proud and refuse to prostrate yourself before in the wonder of his beauty, it will be incredibly difficult to hear him. You see, their is a direct correlation between hearing the voice of God or perhaps more appropriately, the leading of the Spirit, if you are not constantly struck by wonder over the God that you serve. It is the soul that sees the glory of God and cherishes it that will be led by the Spirit of God. When the glory of God is that which you cherish your values get reoriented, your priorities change and that which you aim to achieve in life will be altered. It is those who are struck by his wonder who will be communing with God and hear his word speaking into the darkness of our world on a consistent basis.
Perhaps that is why our churches feel that God speaks so inconsequently to our modern society. He is still too light. We lack the element of wonder in our worship. This is one reason why Christianity feels so out of place (even for those who believe) and it feels as if God has so little to say. But trust me, when you encounter the glory of the God and the beauty of his majesty, there is little question as to if his word is still speaking today. There is little question that he is in fact of great consequence for this modern world. For to see God in his glory is to see him in a way that no society can change. Let us seek his glory and may his beauty and wonder be what our souls feast upon. Soli deo Gloria!

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