Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Fear of the LORD is the Root of Worship


Please read Isaiah 6:1-5

This passage describes a tremendous scene that depicts worship of the Most High God in its most primal stage.  The seraphim of verse 2 exist for no reason but to give glory to the LORD and do this without the veil of sin but remain fearful of the awesome power of the Almighty! We see this in their demonstration of the unnecessary veil, as well as in the words they use to describe the King of Kings who sits on the throne!

Each of these beings covers their face, and feet with a set of wings.  Though they are without sin, they are overcome by a fear of the LORD that requires that they cover themselves in order to keep from offending their King.

They cover their feet, I believe, because even without sin, their existence is an affront to the Holiness of the LORD of Hosts.  The difference between the Creator and His creation is infinite.  There is no way to quantify the difference between God and everything else, except to say that there is God…and everything else.  

This statement helps to expose the reason why these seraphim also cover their face.  Not that their face makes a mockery of God, but that the act of viewing God proposes the idea of equality.  Even without sin, these seraphim, who exist to worship the Father, are yet unworthy to look upon His face.  

After seeing this glorious display of worship, we are able to view Isaiah’s actions in a far more informed light.

Isaiah’s immediate reaction to the scene is to admit the truth about what should happen to him.  He indicates that the proper actions concerning him being able to see the throne room is fear.  He fears the Holiness of God, the Power of God, and the Sovereignty of God.  Isaiah knows that because of his sin, he should be destroyed because he entered the presence of the Lord of Hosts.  Isaiah does the only thing that his fear will allow him to do; he bows, and waits on the word of the Lord.

Fear of the LORD culminates into the physical and spiritual posture of worship…

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