The Holy One Came Near

“He touched my mouth with it and said: Now that this has touched your lips, your iniquity is removed and your sin is atoned for.” - Isaiah 6:7 CSB

There are two lies we tend to believe about our sin.

Some of us believe: "What I have done is too bad for God to forgive." Others believe: "What I have done is not really that serious."

Those sound like opposite problems. But both misunderstand the gospel.

Isaiah 6 will not let us minimize our uncleanness. Isaiah sees the holiness of God and immediately realizes that something is deeply wrong. "Woe is me." "I am ruined." "I am unclean." There is no casual shrug. No comparison. No attempt to explain himself. He has seen the King. And when you see the holiness of God clearly, sin stops looking small.
But Isaiah 6 also will not let us believe that our uncleanness is greater than God's grace. Because the story does not end with Isaiah saying, "Woe is me." God moves toward him. A coal comes from the altar. His guilt is removed. His sin is atoned for.

Isaiah cannot provide that for himself. He cannot climb toward God. He cannot undo what he has done. He cannot scrub himself clean. God provides the cleansing Isaiah needs.
And that altar is pointing us toward something much bigger. Because the Bible's story of sacrifice and atonement does not end in Isaiah's temple. It eventually brings us to Jesus.
The Holy One enters our broken world. The One without guilt. Without stain. Without rebellion. Without uncleanness. Jesus lives the life we have failed to live.

Then at the cross, something astonishing happens. The Holy One stands in the place of the unholy. Our guilt is laid on Him. Our judgment falls on Him. Our condemnation is borne by Him.

Jesus dies. He is buried. He rises. And everyone who turns from self-rule and places their faith in Christ receives what they could never produce for themselves. Forgiveness. Cleansing. Righteousness. Atonement. Access to God.

That is the gospel.

And if we are honest, we constantly try to replace it with self-improvement. We mess up, so we promise to do better. We feel distant from God, so we try to become more religious. We carry guilt, so we attempt to balance the scales by being nicer, serving more, giving more, praying longer, or cleaning up some behaviors.

None of those things can erase guilt. You cannot behave your way into holiness. You cannot serve your way into holiness. You cannot worship your way into holiness. You cannot promise God enough to undo what has already happened.

That is why the gospel is such good news. God does not look at unclean people and say: "Clean yourself up, and then come near." He provides the cleansing necessary to bring us near.

That changes the entire way we relate to God.

Because some of you are still hiding. You know what you have done. You remember conversations nobody else remembers. You know what you looked at. What you said. What you wanted. What you covered up. What you keep returning to.

And somewhere in your heart, you have decided that God might forgive other people, but you have crossed some invisible line. So you keep your distance. You attend church. You sing. You listen. You may even serve. But deep down, you remain convinced that if God really looked at you, He would want nothing to do with you.

Isaiah 6 says otherwise.

God already sees Isaiah completely. He knows the uncleanness before Isaiah ever confesses it. And God is the One who provides atonement.

The cross says something even louder. God saw the full depth of our guilt and still sent Christ. You are not going to surprise Him with your confession. You are not bringing new information to the God who knows everything. You are finally bringing into the light what He already sees.

And then there is the other person. You are not hiding because you feel too dirty. You have gotten comfortable. You have started treating sin like a small problem. Maybe you assume grace means God is not particularly concerned about holiness anymore.

Look at the cross. The cross will not allow that.

If our rebellion could have been brushed aside, Christ would not have needed to die. Our sin is serious. Deeply serious. It alienates us from the Holy One. It deserves judgment.
And then the cross tells us something else at the same time. God's grace is deeper than our guilt. Christ willingly bears what we could never bear.

This is why the cross destroys both lies. Your sin is serious enough that Christ had to die. And the grace of God is sufficient enough that Christ willingly did.

Stay there for a moment. Do not rush past that sentence because you have heard something like it before.

The cross tells the truth about your sin. And the cross tells the truth about God's mercy. You do not need to make your sin smaller to feel loved by God. You do not need to make grace smaller because you feel ashamed.

At the cross, we see both clearly. God is holy. Our guilt is real. Christ is sufficient. Grace is available.

So what do you do with that today?

Stop hiding. Stop bargaining. Stop trying to clean yourself before you come to Christ.
Bring your actual guilt. Bring the thing you named earlier this week. Bring the shame. Bring the failure. Bring the part of your story you wish you could rewrite.

Then trust what Christ has done. Not what you might do tomorrow. Not how spiritual you feel today. Not whether you think you deserve another opportunity.

Christ. His death. His resurrection. His righteousness. His grace.

Isaiah heard: "Your iniquity is removed and your sin is atoned for." Through Christ, that picture becomes even clearer. The Holy God has provided the cleansing necessary for sinners to come near.

So come near. Not pretending you are clean. Come because Christ is sufficient.

Reflection Question
Which lie are you more likely to believe: that your sin is not very serious, or that your sin is too serious for God to forgive? How does the cross confront that lie?

Your sin is serious enough that Christ had to die, and God's grace is sufficient enough that Christ willingly did.

Prayer
Father, thank You for telling me the truth about my sin and the truth about Your grace.
I confess that I sometimes minimize what You call unclean, and other times I allow shame to convince me that I am beyond Your mercy. Bring me back to the cross. Thank You for Jesus. Thank You that He carried the guilt I could never remove. Thank You that He bore judgment in the place of sinners and rose again. Help me stop trusting my effort, my promises, or my ability to clean myself. I put my trust in Christ. Teach me to receive the forgiveness, cleansing, and righteousness You provide through Him. Let the cross make Your holiness weighty and Your grace precious to me again. In Jesus' name, amen.