“Jesus in Prophecy”
By Dayle K. Barrett
Sunday, June 1, 2025
Reading: Isaiah 6
Earlier this week, there was quite an important speech. Did anyone catch it? Hands up, who watched the throne speech? Yeah, few among us. Good. I watched it. I think it was a very good speech. I've never seen a throne speech before, so I wasn't quite sure what to expect. But I was slightly surprised by one thing as I was watching it. And that's that the King of Canada, I know the English like him too, but he didn't look very regal.
What I mean by that is he was dressed nicely, he was wearing a nice suit, but if I didn't see him sitting on a throne, I wouldn't exactly know that he was a king, apart from the fact I know who he is. Like, if I passed him on the street and I didn't know that was King Charles, I'd say that man has a good tailor. I wouldn't necessarily say that man is the king of one of the greatest powers in the world.
Yet a few weeks before the throne speech, King Charles was looking very regal indeed. There was an event in the UK called the Order of the Bath. It's one of the greatest military honours we have in the United Kingdom. So, the king and his son, Prince William, came to be part of this majestic event. Cars pulled up and there was all the music happening and Prince William stepped out of the vehicle, and he looked very regal indeed. Lots of gold medals, a flowing red robe. Then behind him comes King Charles. He's got even more gold stuff on his chest and even more medals and his robe even better than Williams. it's flowing out behind him. And I thought, that's really impressive.
Behind him was a young boy, about 10 years old, and he's holding the hem of King Charles's robe as they walk into the building. And I thought, no one's holding William's robe. And if you didn't know who those two people were, if you'd never seen them before, you could look and you could go, “Well, that guy might be a prince of some kind, but that must be the king because he's so special, he needs someone to help him carry his robe!” It's totally impractical, but it shows that you're a very important fellow. The most important person in the room gets a robe so ridiculous, it needs somebody to carry it for them.
Has anyone been at one of those weddings where the bride has this outrageous train going on behind her. You know. where she needs four of her friends to carry part of it as they go down the aisle? Yeah, I don't have any friends with that much money. (That's like a whole month's rent behind that woman there!) But I've seen them on TV. They look beautiful. But think about how impractical it is that you need a team of people to help you get your clothes into a building… It signals something, doesn't it? Because no one else at that wedding is going to have help carrying what they're wearing into the building. Only the most important person in the room - the bride.
When I read this scripture, I can't help but wonder who's making the fashion decisions in heaven? God has got a robe so big and so outrageous, so extra, that it fills the entire temple, a whole temple full of just the hem of God's robe.
I almost wrote a whole sermon about that and then I realized that's not really what we're here to talk about, is it? We're not here to talk about divine fashion choices. We're here to find where Jesus is in the prophecy. If you're looking for Jesus in prophecy, the best place to look is the book of Isaiah. Isaiah was the most potent messianic prophet that we see in the scriptures. He speaks to the birth of Jesus Christ. He speaks to Emmanuel. He speaks to the suffering servant. In Isaiah 53, we hear that Jesus was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities. Isaiah is so important to the Jews' understanding of who their Messiah would be that his writings are quoted over 65 times in the New Testament. If you count all of the allusions, you get closer to 85 times.
There are many places in the book of Isaiah that we would look for Jesus. But this one is one I found very interesting indeed because in the year that King Uzziah died, 739 years before Christ would even be born, Isaiah sees the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up and his train filled the temple. Because we're in the Old Testament, you might read this and think, “Well, that can't possibly be Jesus. Must be God the Father, right? Must be… Jesus isn't born yet!” Except the problem with that is, God tells Moses in Exodus 33 that no one can see God and live. So, it's not God the Father.
Maybe it's God the Holy Spirit. Except the problem with that is, it's kind of in the name, isn't it? Holy Spirit's a spirit, not corporeal, not something that we would perceive with our eyes. So, here we're seeing an image of God and God revealing himself to us in a human-like form and the only word I have for that human representation of God is the word, Jesus. For is this not the same image we see in the book of Revelation? Jesus high and exalted on the throne with living creatures all around him proclaiming, holy, holy, holy is the Lord. Is Jesus not the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords? Existing before the foundation of the world, before all creation? Is Jesus so bound by time and space that no one could see him before he was born?
What Isaiah sees is the exalted Christ on the throne and the train of his robe filling the entire temple. Seraphim are around, these angelic creatures covering their eyes because they can't bear to stare at the brilliance of God's glory, covering their feet in reverence of the awesome power that they are in the presence of. They sing the same hymn of heaven that has inspired the church for 2000 years. “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory.”
We sang a version of that at the beginning of this service. Every time we have communion, the choir sings that song for us because we are joining in the hymn of heaven. We are singing the same song to God that the angels are singing to him right now. What do they sing? They sing that Christ is holy. They pick that word. Why not another word for God? Why do we focus on God's holiness whenever we approach him? Well, I think it's because holy is really the only word that we can't properly apply to anything else. The word holy means set apart, consecrated, totally other.
When we describe God as holy, we're saying God is completely different than anything that exists in creation. And that's important because all the other words we have for God are also words we use for other things too. We call God, Father and that's right because that's what the scriptures teach us to call him. But there are good fathers and there are bad fathers, aren't there? We call God great, but we also think our favourite football team's pretty great, don't we? We call God awesome but that album that you couldn't stop playing when you were a teenager - that was a pretty awesome album too, wasn't it? All the words we use for God are also things we use for something else. The only way we can avoid bringing God down to the level of something in creation is by calling God what he truly is, which is completely other: Totally holy. Totally set apart from anything that exists in the heavens or in the earth or under the earth. Not just holy, but thrice holy. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. And the whole earth is full of His glory.
Isaiah six doesn't just teach us something about God and God's brilliance but it also teaches us something about how we approach God - how we enter the presence of God. It has influenced the way we have written liturgy since the early days of Christianity. Not only is this hymn of heaven a regular part of Christian hymn singing, but it's also part of a process by which we engage God every time we engage him. For even when we were taught to pray, the first thing Jesus told us to say was, “Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.” That means holy is your name, God. When we approach God, the first thing we realize about him is that he is totally other, totally different than anything else that exists, incomparable to anything that is on the earth.
“We come with adoration.” The psalmist said, “enter his gates with thanksgiving and come into his courts with praise. Be thankful unto him and bless his holy name.” When we come into God's presence, we come singing, don't we? That's how we start our service. We come walking in, giving God the adoration that is due him, and then basking in the awesome presence of God. Then, we realize something: If God is holy and righteous and awesome and perfect, that also means that we are not.
The first thing we realize when we get in the presence of perfection is that we are far from perfect, isn't it? When we approach the brilliant light that is God, He has a way of showing up all the imperfections that exist in us.
That's what light does, isn't it? Light shows you what's wrong so that it can be cleaned up. That's why night clubs and dive bars are always really dim. If you saw who you were talking to, you might not continue that relationship for very long. (Not that I've ever been to one of those places… I wouldn't know what I'm talking about!) Light has a way of showing you what's really there. And God, who is all light and all truth, feels unapproachable because he exposes what is wrong about us. So, the second thing we do when we enter God's presence, after we've given him the adoration that is due him, after we have hailed him as holy, is to say, “Woe is me, for I am undone. Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips.” How do I know that? “Because my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.”
When you have an encounter with God, my friends, you will become incredibly aware of your own ineptitude, your own sin, your own unrighteousness, your own distance from the holiness of God. The temptation at that time is to turn your tail and run from the light. To say, I cannot get anywhere near that God. I need to run from anything that reminds me that I am broken and fallen and in need of a saviour.
But when God hears that vulnerability, when God hears that admission that you are not like Him, when God hears your heart crying out, “woe is me,” God's reaction is never to banish you from His presence. God's reaction is never to send you away and say, yeah, you're right, you should come nowhere near me. But God sends a messenger with a coal to place upon your very lips, so that your iniquity might be taken away and your sin might be purged.
You want to know what the two biggest lies are that the devil likes to tell us? One of them is that sin doesn't matter. One of them is that God isn't that far away from you and that you're actually fine and your sin isn't a big deal. Because if he can convince you that sin doesn't matter, you'll just continue in it to your own detriment and you'll never continue in the presence of God.
The other lie that the devil likes to tell us is that sin matters so much that God will never forgive it. And that is just as potent a lie. See, here's the thing. We are so fallen that we don't deserve to be anywhere near the presence of God. And yet God is so just and merciful that all of us have the opportunity to be right there, because there's nothing that His grace can't reach past. After we've recognized the greatness of God, what's the next thing we do in our service? We say a prayer of confession. We follow what Isaiah did. We say, “Woe is me. I am undone. God, I'm in need of your mercy and your grace. The way that I am is not okay, and I need to be more like you.”
God takes the coal. You know where the coal comes from? It comes from the altar of incense. It's the place where the prayers of the saints rise up to God. He takes those prayers, those desires of the heart, and places them on your lips, and he says, “Your iniquity is taken away and your sin is purged.”
My friends, I don't know what it is in your life that makes you feel useless to God. I don't know what your weakness is, what your detriment is, what your life has been like, what it is that makes you feel like God can't use you or God has nothing for you. But in this story, something absolutely amazing happens to Isaiah because Isaiah cries out to God, “God, there's something wrong with my lips.” Then God touches his lips and uses those very same lips to bring life to all the people around him.
Somebody in here needs to know that that very same thing in your life that you think makes you untouchable by God, that very same thing in your life that makes you feel like you can't be used by God, might be the very thing that God wants to use to bless every single person around you. Because once God has touched it with the prayers of the saints, once God has redeemed that which is broken, God can use that to heal and to save and to redeem. That dark part of your life you don't want anyone to know about might just be the story that changes somebody else's. That bad habit you've got that you don't think you can break. God wants to break it for you and give you the keys to set other people free. The very lips that Isaiah thought were too unclean were the very lips that made him a prophet of the Lord.
God asks us all today, in the presence of His holiness, as we stand in our uncleanness before God, can I send you? Are you willing to go for me? Are you willing to admit that it's not right so that I can make it right? Are you willing to take your own vulnerabilities and your own proclivities and your own imperfections, and use them for my glory? Jesus stands at our door knocking, waiting to see if your story might be used to change somebody else's story. When you share your story with others, the fact is that just as God said to Isaiah, there will be people who won't listen because the truth is a blinding light, and some people just don't like what they see.
You know what nobody ever said to Jesus after he finished speaking? Those were very nice words. People had two reactions when they heard the truth that Jesus had to say. One reaction was, “Wow, I need to follow that man.” And they would turn away from the way they were living before, and they would follow after Jesus. And the others said, “We need to kill him.” There was no in-between, because that's what truth does. It draws a clear line between what is right and what is wrong, what is of light and what is of darkness, and it gives everybody a choice. Choose ye this day who you shall serve.
We read this story, and we see that Jesus is revealing himself as that holy one, as that one who forgives sin, as that one who uses the useless people of this world. But now that I know I'm looking at Jesus, I finally understand why he's wearing the outrageous robe. It finally makes sense. Because you see, this might be the first place in the scriptures where we hear the Bible talking about the hem of a garment, but it's definitely not the last. Hear this story from the book of Luke, chapter 8:
As he went, the multitudes thronged him. Now a woman having a flow of blood for twelve years who had spent her livelihood on physicians and could not be healed by any, came from behind and touched the border of his garment. And immediately her flow of blood stopped.
And Jesus said, “Who touched me?”
When all denied it, Peter and those with him said, “Master, the multitudes throng and press you, and you say, “Who touched me?”
But Jesus said, “Somebody touched me, for I perceived power going out from me. Now when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling and falling down before him, she declared to him in the presence of all the people the reason she had touched him and how she was healed immediately.
And he said to her, “Daughter, be of good cheer. Your faith has made you well. Go in peace.”
Now it makes sense. You see, the reason why Jesus' gigantic robe has to fill the whole temple is because the hem of Jesus' garment is the very touch point of salvation. As we push through the crowds, as we push through everything in life that tries to get in the way between us and our saviour, we're all called to reach out and touch the hem of His garment because if we can just make contact with God, if we can just make contact with Christ, we can be changed and set free and made whole.
You see, Jesus’ robe is a robe of righteousness - a robe of healing and salvation. But just before he went to the cross, Matthew 27 says that they stripped him of his robe and placed upon him a robe of crimson. They took away his robe of righteousness and placed on him our sin.
Christ offers us an opportunity. Because most of us won't get visions like Isaiah did, but one day all of us will stand before that throne. We will see Jesus exalted in glory. We will face the one who made the heavens and the earth. And on that day, there's a question: Are you gonna be wearing your robe or are you gonna be wearing Christ's? Because you have a choice, but you can't wear both.
Are you going to stand in your righteousness, hoping that you got it all right and that you did all the right things and that you made all the right choices and that you're standing in perfection when you stand before a holy and righteous and perfect God? Or are you gonna let Christ take your crimson robe so that he can cover you with his robe of righteousness? This is what Isaiah says in Isaiah 61 and verse 10. He says:
I will greatly rejoice in the Lord,
My soul shall be joyful in my God;
For he has clothed me with garments of salvation,
He has covered me with the robe of righteousness,
As a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments,
And as a bride adorns herself with jewels.
You want to know why Christ's robe fills the whole temple? It's so there's enough hem for me, for you, and for every single person in his temple: no matter who they are, no matter what they've done, no matter how wretched and horrible their robe is. I don't know about you, but my righteousness is as filthy rags. My robe is not in good shape. It stinks of marijuana. It has cigarette burns all over it. There are blood stains on it from the times I've been hurt and the times I've hurt other people. There are salt stains on it from the times I've cried and the times I've made others cry. There are tears in it from relationships and promises that have been broken and torn apart. My robe is in tatters, and I wouldn't dare to stand before a holy king wearing it.
I don’t have to wear my robe anymore, because Christ's hem fills this whole temple. He has covered me in a robe of righteousness, and because of that I can stand before God - not wearing my holiness, not wearing my righteousness, not wearing my goodness. I haven't got any. I stand in the goodness and the righteousness and the holiness and the grace of Christ my saviour. And there's enough robe for everybody.
So, come one, come all, take off your crimson garments and wrap yourself in the ever-flowing hem of God's righteousness. Because, once you are clothed in Christ, you will hear him ask you, “Who shall I send?” And if you know what you’re wearing, maybe you’ll have the boldness to answer, “Here I am Lord. Send me.” Thanks be to God. Amen.