The Prophetic Word - Day 14: The holiness of God exposes that which is unholy.

“It was in the year King Uzziah died that I saw the Lord. He was sitting on a lofty throne, and the train of his robe filled the Temple. They were calling out to each other, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies! The whole earth is filled with his glory!” Then I said, “It’s all over! I am doomed, for I am a sinful man. I have filthy lips, and I live among a people with filthy lips. Yet I have seen the King, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.””

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭6‬:‭1‬, ‭3‬, ‭5‬ ‭NLT‬‬

On old-school detergent commercials they would often have a comparison between a white sock washed in some other detergent and a white sock washed in their detergent. Looking at them together, you immediately saw that the one that may have looked white on its own, in comparison to the one that was “truly” white (having been washed in the detergent being advertised), now looked dingy. It was that comparison that told the story.

Even on our best days, our own righteousness, our good deeds, those things in which we may pride ourselves, in comparison to the Lord suddenly seem hopelessly futile, immeasurably worthless.

You are probably familiar with the story of Job. His life fell into shambles as the devil set out to prove that—if persecuted—he would not remain faithful to God. As Job suffered, he accused God of not being just, of persecuting him without cause. In essence, he made his righteousness and holiness equal with that of the Lord. But, after the Lord gave him a nice little “Sunday school lesson,” he realized the error of his ways and repented for his ignorance.

“I had only heard about you before, but now I have seen you with my own eyes. I take back everything I said, and I sit in dust and ashes to show my repentance.””

‭‭Job‬ ‭42‬:‭5‬-‭6‬ ‭NLT‬‬

The apostle Paul once prided himself in his own righteousness. As they say, “he was high on his own supply.” But, coming face-to-face with Jesus and His righteousness, His holiness, His glory, Paul recognized that his only hope was to be righteous through Jesus Christ; everything else, everything he could offer, was nothing but garbage.

“I was so zealous that I harshly persecuted the church. And as for righteousness, I obeyed the law without fault. I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him.”

‭‭Philippians‬ ‭3‬:‭6‬-‭9a‬ ‭NLT‬‬

In our opening scripture we see that Isaiah, when exposed to the holiness of God, felt doomed, wrecked, yes, hopeless!

Yesterday we discussed the aspect of holy despair that is experienced with correction from the Lord.

Today we consider the aspect of holy despair having to do with the sudden awareness of our personal sin when exposed to the holiness of God.

You see, the Lord’s holiness reveals everything about us that is unholy, unclean. But what this aspect of holy despair is meant to produce is complete surrender into His holiness, complete surrender into His righteousness, complete surrender into His glory.

Indeed, if we allow the holy despair of seeing who we are as compared to Who He is, drive us to Him, rather than away from Him, He will make us white as snow. He will make us clean. He will make us holy.

Peace to you.

Jesus is coming! Get ready for Him!

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