Beth Moore - Marvelously Helped - Part 4
Notice the hem. I just love this. Notice that it says, "I saw the Lord seated in a high and lofty throne, and the hem of his robe filled the temple". Okay, so why a hem? Why a hem? Well, several of the scholars said something that I am convinced is absolutely true, because, let me take this down here with me, because when you are flat on your face like this, and you've seen something up here that has put you way down here, what you're mainly looking at is a hem. Anybody understand what I'm saying? I'll read to you out of Exodus chapter 24 verse 9. "Then Moses went up with Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and the seventy of Israel's elders, and they saw the God of Israel. Beneath his feet was something like a pavement made of lapis lazuli, as clear as the sky itself".
That's it, that's it, they said God did not harm them, he didn't kill them. That's it, all they describe is the pavement under God's feet. Why do you figure that was true? Because when they saw a little bit of the glory, they went, boom. When John, the one who had laid his head against the chest of Jesus, John the beloved disciple, y'all do know that the only reason we know he was called the beloved disciple was because he told us himself. He also told us that he outran Peter to the tomb, but let's not be picky about it, and then when he sees him revealed in his immortal glory in Revelation chapter 1, he just falls out like a dead man.
So, Isaiah is just like, he very likely has gone, boom, flat down on the floor, and so he's staring at that hem. There's his hem, there's his hem. Because at that point, that's probably all he can see until he is able to lift his eyes up and hear the sounds of the seraphim. This is a reach. This is the kind of thing that would get me in big trouble. But I love that the hem of his robe filled the temple. I love it. I love that he's got a really, like, big hem, and I'm gonna tell you why. Do you remember when that woman reached through the crowd and she grabbed hold of that hem and she was healed? And I always think to myself, there's hem enough for all of us. There's hem enough for all of us. It fills the temple. It fills the temple. You reach up today.
Sometimes when I'm just dying inside, sometimes when I think I'm not going to make it, I'm just not going to make it, I will raise my hands in worship and sometimes I'll just do my fist, and the reason I'm doing my fist is because I'm grabbing onto the hem of that garment because I need healing, Jesus. I need healing from you, Jesus. And so, if I go too far with my imagination, God will clear that up when I get home, but I have a feeling that when we see Jesus, we are going to be able to say, you know what? We did not have nearly enough imagination, not nearly enough. He is faithful. He is kind and gracious. Isaiah chapter 6, then of course we after we see the hem, we see the seraphs. So, it says, "Then there were seraphim," verse 2, "Standing above him, each had six wings". This is the only time in all of Scripture that Scripture speaks of these seraphim and these six-winged creatures.
Now, there are creatures in almost every throne room scene. You would find creatures in Ezekiel chapter 1, which is fascinating. Y'all, we don't have time to look at it, but what's so cool in that vision is that the throne itself has wheels within wheels, and so I just love the thought because it's showing that the throne of God is on the move. The throne of God is on the move. But it's also telling us he never leaves his throne. Like, if he's going someplace, his whole throne goes with him, because he never gets up off the throne, he's always on the throne. Does anybody like that? Because I do, I just love that. So, it was just like all those wheels rolling, rolling, all these creatures, all these creatures, but these exact creatures are only shown here.
Now seraphim, the word "seraphim" means the burning ones. The burning ones, so they are lit up, lit up. Now, fire is constantly associated, very, very often associated, with the holiness of God. So, when they saw the glory of God come down and descend on the mountain, on Mount Sinai, there was thunder and there was lightning, there was fire. They were led by a cloudy pillar by day and a fire by night. So, often fire is associated, we know our God is a consuming fire, that holiness, that fire that goes with it. That's a little bit of what these seraphim are bringing into it, and I just love it. I love the thought that, you know, somehow we think all the creativity is here on earth and we don't really think about what we can't see being far more creative than what we can.
You know, I don't know, we somehow see it in a haze. We see it in black and white if we see it at all. We think, oh, well, you know, I wanna go to heaven because it beats hell, but I mean, if we're just, all we're going to do is just play a harp, I don't know. But that is where I want to go between the two places, no doubt about this, because we just have no imagination. We don't understand that this earth, all that beauty outside in Montana, oh, it's just a shadow of the true. It's not even the substance. The substance lies on the other side of what our human eyes can see. And so, there's all this diversity there, there are cherubim, there are seraphim, there's just what they call angels, there are archangels, there are powers and principalities. It's not monolithic.
And so, here we are. I love that one scholar pointed out, he said, notice that it's seraphim and not cherubim. And I don't know if he's right or not, and he wasn't claiming to be right, he just said if you look up cherubim, cherubim are constantly guarding something, guarding you from getting in, they guard. The cherubim reach across the mercy seat and guard the mercy seat. When Adam and Eve were sent out of the garden, a cherubim was there with a waving sword. No, no, he said, these are not cherubim, because this way was not meant to be guarded. This is God going I want to meet with you, and I'm going to try to prove that a little bit further or suggest it a little bit further as we go on here.
Now, let me tell you one thing, okay, are any of you all familiar with that really, really wild verse in 1 Corinthians 11 that talks about women needing something on their head because of the angels? And you're just going like, what does that have to do with angels? Well, as I was studying Isaiah chapter 6, one of the scholars said that he believes that what Paul is trying to say, that Paul is assuming everybody understands what he's saying because it's about worship, being in worship. And he's going like, there are angels that while we're, like, while we're texting during worship, there are angels flying around the throne going, "Holy, holy, holy," and we're like, you know what I'm saying? We're chewing our gum. I don't have anything against chewing gum. I don't have anything against texting.
Sometimes we gotta text, but he's saying, like, you know what? Have some reverence in worship because of the angels. I don't know if that's it or not, but it's the best anybody's been able to do with my understanding of it. Anybody know what I'm talking about? It never made any sense. It makes a little bit of sense. Holy, holy, holy, this threefold ascription of holiness. It's also in Revelation chapter 4 verse 8. We're told that they call out to one another, so it's probably antiphonal. In other words, one is going, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty who was and is," and then the other one, "The whole earth is filled with his glory".
Then the other one, then the other one, so it's coming from every conceivable direction. The text does not say how many there are, so we're just left to our imagination, but it's just going back and forth. And it is of such power, such power, that it's just shaking, this worship and this confession of the Lord, this King seated high and lifted, it's just shaking the doorposts and filling the place with smoke. So, what in the world does holy mean? Since the time of the early fathers that the threefold description, holy, holy, holy, has been suggested that it could be to the Trinity, and that could be, but that need not be. And I want you to understand something.
In ancient Hebrew, a repetition of words was for intensity and emphasis. "Abraham, Abraham, do not raise your hand against your son," over, "Mary, Mary," but the times he would say... any time that there's a repetition of words, it is the Hebrew language way of building up the intensity and the emphasis. Well, to them, there was nothing more than that threefold description. By the time it went to three, because you see two, two, two, two, over, and over, and over again, suddenly three, holy, holy, holy. So, maybe to the Trinity, but also it could just be this intensity of holy. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, not just holy, holy. No, not just holy, holy, but holy, holy, holy. Anybody getting that with me? Like, there's none so holy.
Well, in our current scholarship, and in most of our commentaries, and from our pastors, what's very commonly taught today, you would have heard it no matter how many times if you've been in church and in conferences, that holiness means the otherness of God. The otherness, that he is holy, meaning W-H-O-L-L-Y, now, wholly other than us, and certainly that is true, certainly that is true, but that may not be all that's going on here. He certainly is other, but it's more than other. That even though he is completely other, there is another meaning that even sets in front of it, if you're looking at the word, the meaning, and the first appearances of holiness in the Scriptures, and that is the word "devoted" or "consecrated".
For now, just take it down because it's not going to make any sense for a couple of minutes, but just take it down, that if we were really looking for first, I mean the first emphasis of what holy would be, because when God says, "You be holy because I am holy," okay, then that makes us wonder if it's all about otherness, because we can't be as completely other. Yes, we're other than the world, we're consecrated from the world, but still, we couldn't begin to be his otherness. But if it means you are consecrated to me, you are devoted to me, who is completely consecrated and holy.
Okay, here's what I'm about to do. I have been completely mesmerized by the work of a scholar by the name of Peter J. Gentry. Melissa put me onto him this last week, and I mean, I poured over an article of his. He's given a message on this. What we're about to go into, this is part of something that he loves and he has studied with great depth. He talks about, he's talking about what does holiness mean, and so I'm about to tell you what he brings to the mix and what he thinks is being suggested here. And so, I'm going to be doing some straight quotes and then I'm going to stop and explain in my own words for the next couple of minutes, but I'm taking it from an article, a scholarly article he wrote that is called, "The Meaning of Holy in the Old Testament".
Now, the reason why I mention that title to you is not only to tell you where I'm getting it, which is due diligence for me to tell you, but also because I love how scholars don't fool around with cute titles. They wouldn't have done "Chasing Vines". No, that wouldn't have appealed to them in the least. No, so Gentry was going to write about the meaning of holy in the Old Testament, so the article is named "The Meaning of Holy in the Old Testament". I mean, you know, why be flowery about it when this is what it is? And so, he says, listen, this all relates back to Exodus chapter 3, because that's when we first get a clue about the holiness of God. He says the only time prior to Exodus 3 that we have seen God say anything about holy was when he blessed the seventh day and called it holy.
So, he said our clue is in Exodus 3. Would you turn with me there? So, leave something in Isaiah 6 and turn with me to Exodus 3:1 through 5. "Meanwhile, Moses was shepherding the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. He led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. Then the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire within a bush". So, we got our fire there again. And then it says, "As Moses looked, he saw that the bush was on fire, but it was not consumed". So, Moses said in verse 3, he thought, well, I gotta go over and look at this remarkable sight. So, why isn't the bush burning up? Well, "When the Lord saw that he had gone to look over, God called out to him from the bush, 'Moses, Moses.'" Are you seeing emphasis?
"'Moses, Moses.' 'Here I am,' he answered. 'Do not come closer,' he said. 'Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.' And then he continued, 'I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.' And Moses hid his face because he was afraid to look at God". "The place where you are standing is holy ground". Alright, this is going to be directly from Dr. Gentry. I'm quoting now, "The ground is not the place of distance or radical separation but of meeting and of presence, the meeting of God and man. In standing on the ground that belongs to God, Moses is not called holy, but to be allowed to walk there, he must submit to the practice of rite or ritual. He must remove his sandals".
Okay, I'm going to do this for you so that we can talk this through. I wore them on purpose so that I could take them off. He says, "Moses, do not come closer, because you are standing on holy ground. You take off your sandals". What in the world is up with the sandals? And we just think, okay, well, shoes might have been dirty. Well, there's nothing dirtier than feet, so what in the world was that about? Okay, so Peter Gentry, who studied this at length, he suggests, oh no, something else is going on here. He has called him into an ancient right. Now, you're going to have to stay with me here and you're going to have to be ready to use your teeth.
Early on... as early as... God help me, God help me, Genesis chapter 13, let me see if I'm... yes, yes, in Genesis chapter 13 verse 17, does anybody recall, you know, God promises Abram the land, and then they come to where he separates from Lot, and Lot takes the really great piece, and so God says, listen, I'll put this all aside for you, and he says something to Abram. He says, "Arise, walk the land, its length and width, for I will give it to you". Walk the land. He says something like it again in Deuteronomy through Moses and he says it again in the Book of Joshua. Where you set your feet, I will give you. So, this wasn't just go walk and look around. This was not a tourist. Let's go see how big the trees are. No, this was you go stand on it as possessor of it. Anybody getting what I'm talking about?
Okay, so there was this ancient ritual, I'm going to tell you where you can find it, but we don't have time to look it up right now. It's absolutely fascinating. It's in Deuteronomy 25:9, and then the best place to see it is in Ruth chapter 4. So, write down Ruth 4 verses 1 through 9. It's about the kinsman redeemer, the kinsman redeemer. Okay, so If land had to be sold, it was a bit shaming, because it would mean someone had gotten into enough of a distress that they were having to sell their land, and this was going to be... this happened to have been Naomi that was going, she was so poor she was gonna have to sell the land that she had in Jerusalem and around Jerusalem. But so it wanted to stay, the honorable thing was for the property to stay in the family, and so they would offer when it went up for sale, they would start going through the family so that it could retain the family name.
And so, they go to the closest kin, and so at this point, Boaz has already fallen in love with Ruth and he wants to be the kinsman redeemer, because the woman, Ruth, is going to come with that land, and he wants to marry her, and that would be their land. He's gotta redeem the land in order to be able to marry her, but there is one relative who is closer to the family than him. So he goes to him, he says, listen, it's your right to buy the land, and he says, well, I'll buy it. And he said, well, you need to know that Ruth, there's a woman, this Moabitess, that's going to come along with it. And he goes, oh, you know, I can't do that because I have to watch after my own family. In other words, if I have another wife, I've got another family line, I'm doing all of this for this family line.
And so, it says that he then took off his sandal and gave it to Boaz as a way of saying I am depossessing this. I am giving over ownership of this. I give over my right of ownership of this land. I give you my sandal. This makes absolutely no sense to us, but it was the way they did the ritual. It was the way of saying it is no longer under my feet. I depossess it so that you may have it. And so, Gentry is going this is what is going on here. And so, now I'm going to pick back up with Gentry. He says, and I'm quoting him, "The go'el," and that is this kinsman redeemer, this hero in the story, "The nearest relative removes his sandal to show that he is relinquishing his rights of purchase. Thus Moses must acknowledge that this ground belongs to God and enters into an attitude of consecration. Rather than being marking as set apart, 'holy' ground is ground consecrated, devoted, or prepared for meeting of God and man. In speaking from the middle of the bush, God manifests his desire to be present in the midst of man".
So, he is saying Moses, take off your sandals because this is my ground. I own this ground. So, when Isaiah sees this King high and lifted up, the whole earth is filled with his glory. I mean, this is God going, you may as well know it's all my ground. You might as well take your sandals off because I own it. I own it. And to walk as holy people with our holy God, he said I will make my dwelling among them and I will be their God, they shall be my people and I will walk with them. When you and I walk with God, it is with sandals off. It is with us going I depossess, I relinquish all rights to ownership over property over my life, and I walk with you, sandals off, consecrated and fully devoted to you, because your ground is holy. Back to Isaiah chapter 6. So okay, the foundations and the doorways shake, and we see that the temple was filled with smoke, and then it says and this smoke is for all the reasons there is smoke in a theophany, but also almost certainly because of the incense burning in the temple.
Now listen, this is so cool, because what did I suggest to you earlier? Isaiah 6 has everything to do with 2 Chronicles chapter 26. Remember what Uzziah did? He was going to go offer incense on the altar. You don't get to do that. That's a priestly duty, and here the king is in the temple, the king-priest, and so Isaiah, what's his response going to be? Well, it will be for any of us, "'Woe is me for I am ruined because I am a man of unclean lips and live among a people of unclean lips, because my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Armies.' Then one of the seraphim flew to me, and in his hand was a glowing coal that he had taken from the altar with tongs. And he touched my mouth, and with it said, 'Now that this has touched your lips, your iniquity is removed and your sin is atoned for.'"
Now listen carefully, there is a rule, an unbreakable rule in the Word of God that without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins. There is never a time when it departs from that truth. Always, always, always, anytime there is spokeness about atonement, it will be whether it is seen in that passage or not, it has got something to do with the shedding of blood, because that is the forever eternal rule of God. That without it there is no atonement. And so, all of those sacrifices were of course foreshadowing the one and the last sacrifice that would be offered, the spotless Lamb of God, Jesus Christ himself. So, which altar was it coming from? Was it coming from the altar of incense or the brazen altar? So, there are lots of different notions about that. It could be either one, but it very well could have been the one off the altar of incense. I'm gonna tell you why. We think, no, it had to have blood on it. Yes, but all those coals in the altar of incense were coming from the brazen altar.