“Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.””(Isaiah 6:5)
Isaiah proclaimed these words of terror when he beheld the vision of the Lord God Almighty in all His glorious splendor. He recognized his own sinfulness and so feared to stand in the presence of a Holy God. Sinners could not stand in the presence of the holy and righteous One.
I have felt that terror myself. Before I first came to Jesus, I felt that way for several months. During that time I became totally overwhelmed by my sinfulness. I knew I was a sinner filled with all sorts of evil and disgusting habits and desires. I knew that I could not go before God the way I was because He was so Holy and I was not. There was a huge unbridgeable gap between me and Him. I despaired because I could not understand how to bridge that gap. I saw it as an abyss, a bottomless pit, the entry to hell. I felt like I was about to fall in and be lost for eternity. Even though I knew the truth, I could not figure out how to earn His grace and mercy. By definition those things are given not earned. In fact, they can’t be earned!
Did you ever feel that kind of terror? Did you ever feel that sense of your own sinfulness? Without a sense of our own sinfulness we will never know how serious sin is and how hopeless our condition without a proper atoning sacrifice is. We will never see how much we need God. We will never see that gap between us. We will then not see that there is a bridge over it. That bridge is Jesus. This is good news!