Message: Glory and Purity
Time: Throughout church history, Christians have consistently attributed this gospel to Jesus' disciple John, the brother of James, the son of Zebedee. John was one of the inner circle of Jesus' most trusted companions. It's most likely that John wrote his gospel while he was in Ephesus, and that he wrote it for an audience that lived outside Palestine, perhaps in Asia Minor. John appears to have had in mind members of a Jewish community who had come to believe that Jesus was the Messiah, but who had continued to worship in the synagogue. John most likely wrote between A.D. 85 and 90. John's purpose in writing he was to confirm the belief that Jesus was both the Christ and the Son of God.
What the Lord is Saying: I continue my study of God's glory, how all of life is for His glory. It is a bright, shining light, it is divine, and there is an eternal weight or value to it. There is nothing more important than it. And there are also attributes that we share as humans while also attributes that are set apart.
In today's verse, Isaiah saw His glory, Jesus' glory. Isaiah, who lived 700 years before Christ. Isaiah 6:1, "In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord (Yahweh) sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple." Isaiah saw the pre-incarnate Christ. How do we know this? Well, let's follow the process as this is a rather bold statement in John (a book that has many bold statements linking more directly Jesus as God). This is the only time in Scripture in which someone sees Yahweh and Jewish tradition is that Isaiah was put to death in support of Exodus 33:20, "But He said, “You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!”" John connects Isaiah's seeing of God with Isaiah seeing Jesus. In John 12:38, John quotes from Isaiah 53:1, "Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?" leading him to make the statement in verse 41 referencing Isaiah 6:1. In Isaiah 6:3, Isaiah proclaims the Lord Yahweh whom He saw as Holy -- “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!"
As such our lesson today is this, that God's glory is Holy. God's glory is Holy and separate. Holiness is separating from what is common. Isaiah 42:8, "I am the Lord, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another." In this context of His salvation, His glory is not to be shared. Glory is connected with God's holiness and in His holiness there is also purity. I John 1:5 mentions, "This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all." Our God is perfectly pure. There is no darkness, no sin in Him at all. God cannot be tempted by evil -- James 1:13 -- Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone."
This is why Jesus came into the World. John 3:19, "This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil." Jesus, the Light, the pure light, came into the world, to expose people's Sin. Darkness cannot live with Light. Men loved darkness. Men love their evil and their evil ways. Jesus is separate. He is holy.
And we circle back to Isaiah 6 again and what happens to Isaiah. His sin is atoned for. Isaiah 6:6-7, "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.” The only way we see the Lord is through sanctification - Hebrews 12:14, "Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord."
It is all connected. Scripture connects Jesus with the Lord Yahweh, His holiness, being separate, being pure, with no darkness at all. Only light. Jesus is the Light of the World, exposing the darkness in every person, in order to bring that person before the presence of God. We cannot be with the Lord unless we are sanctified. Bold statements.
This is the Gospel message. God redeems man in his sinful state, and restores Him to be with God for all eternity.
Summary: In God's glory is holiness and purity or light. God is light. Jesus is light. Light exposes darkness. Jesus is holy and pure.
Promise: From Tabletalk, "We will not love what is holy if God does not make us holy, and in Christ the Lord not only declares us righteous in our justification but He purifies us in our sanctification."
Prayer: Lord God, your scripture is rich. It is powerful and Lord in it you speak life to us and give us understanding of who You are. We have so much to discover in it. It is bold. Help me to be bold in my life to people. Jesus, You are the Light of the World, exposing in us the sin that we love. You are Holy and separate and pure.
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