Holiness # 2
The Throne and the Altar
That is what is here. It is holiness that governs. The throne comes in as the throne of holiness. But note: in relation to this unholiness in which the prophet is involved, from which he has to be separated in order to be God's instrument, the throne does not, even in its holiness, directly operate. It operates through the altar. There is the throne; there is the altar. The throne does not directly deal with him; the throne comes to him through the altar. The throne always works through the Cross. That infinite holiness can only be made good in us through the Cross, the blood of His Cross. There is no gift of holiness, there is no cleansing, there is no deliverance, there is no separation, there is no commission, only on the ground of the making active and experimental in our own hearts of the work of His Cross. The throne, in all its wonderful power, moves by way of the altar. The throne brings in a terrible consciousness of conviction of unholiness, and brings from the heart a cry, but the throne cannot in that direct way deliver us. It can only condemn us and make us aware that there is a holiness before which we cannot stand. How shall we live before such a throne? How can we be delivered from death in the presence of that infinite holiness, and the impact of that holiness upon our sinful state? By being led to the altar, by being brought to the precious blood, and when the cry is wrung from the heart concerning an unholy state, which carries with it a cry to be delivered therefrom, "Then flew one of the seraphim unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar. And he touched my mouth with it, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged" (Isaiah 6:6-7). Then everything else follows and the way is open for all else in the way of commission and authority.
The point is, when all has been said, that everything hangs upon the holiness which is produced by a living application of the Cross to our hearts in the power of that throne; the power of that holiness operating through the Cross of the Lord Jesus in our hearts. Whatever may be the state, whether it be general or particular in the case of Isaiah, it seems that he focused the whole question upon what is implied by "unclean lips". He did not mean that he and his people were guilty of language which was not right. What is meant in the Scriptures by "unclean lips" is that things were said with the lips which were not true in the heart; a false profession of allegiance or faithfulness to God. Yet they said: "Wherein have we robbed Thee?" (Mal. 3:8). All the time professing to be the Lord's, professing and declaring themselves, and yet contradicting in their hearts. So that the lips were unclean by reason of a life which contradicted the thing. It was a lie. What they were saying was not the truth in their own hearts.
That was Israel's state. It was not that they were outwardly, voluntarily, manifestly blaspheming the Lord and declaring that they would have nothing to with Him, but they were keeping up the old system and professing to be what they were not. That is, they were uttering a lie, and their lips were defiled.
Ministry and Holiness
It may be specific in our case. Lips may in that general sense be defiled, unclean. They may be in a more specific sense unclean. We can never fulfill a ministry of holiness, never bring home to others their sin, never be a voice of judgment against wrong if in either general or specific ways our lips are unclean. Lips may be unclean by empty talk, gossip, criticism; not intentionally - for who would intentionally injure the Lord's interests - but just letting ourselves talk. And in the end there is mischief, there is a seed sown unintentionally that bears a crop.
It may be lips, it may be other things, but with the Lord it is all a question of holiness. It is not our thought to deal with specific sins, but it is our leading just to point out this matter of holiness, which is basic to everything. Holiness has to work out in every part. We can be unclean by what we allow ourselves to listen to. Sometimes it would be the maintaining of holiness before the Lord for us to say, "I do not want to hear that, that is not good, that is not glorifying to the Lord, we are not going to get anywhere by that, it is only death and injury along that line."
It may be eyes. Sometimes the question of holiness is bound up with our refusing to take account of some things. There are many things that in responsibility we have to take account of, but there are times when we could afford to shut our minds to some things because they are only going to lead to an unholy state. It is all a question of holiness, because holiness is life. Leviticus 16 says with that object: "...that he die not" (Lev. 16:2, 13). This all relates to Aaron going into the most holy place and not dying before the presence of infinite holiness, having on the garments of holiness, and taking the precious blood. All the garments are for every part of the man, that his whole flesh be covered up, "that he die not", when he comes into the presence of the Lord. The Lord says, in a full and inclusive way, that there must be life in everything, in all work, in all service, in all relationships, and it is a question of holiness. If there is talk that is not holy, then there is death. If there is listening that is not holy, then there is death. If there is taking account in an unholy way, then there is death. If there is taking account in an unholy way,then there is death. Holiness is LIFE; unholiness is always spiritual death. The altar works by reason of the throne and the throne works through the altar.
Christ Triumphant
One other word. It is a very blessed thing to realize what these two things do say, the throne and the altar. You have two pictures. That altar is the Lord Jesus, that blood is His blood, that sacrifice is His sacrifice, that live coal is the Holy Spirit working in relation to the work of the Lord Jesus in His Cross. And yet at the same time, that throne is just as much the Lord Jesus as that Cross, that altar and that sacrifice. These are both the Lord Jesus, the two things in Leviticus 16 making one thing. The ram for Azazel - the wilderness, the unknown land, bearing sin, and the ram offered to God and accepted, are really one sacrifice in two halves. One bearing sin and carrying sin away out of God's sight, out of God's remembrance, into an unknown land. At the same time the other side of the offering coming up into God's presence, being accepted, and going right through. They represent the two aspects of Christ. One the altar, the Cross: "My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" - forsaking sin. The other side: accepted and in the throne. But the fact that He is in the throne, the fact that you see Christ there, is the great declaration of the fact that that Cross was absolutely successful and triumphant, that all that the Cross represented was perfect, complete in its result, and that He occupies the throne by reason of the once and for all perfection of the work of the Cross, and He never sets that aside. In His throne He say, I witness to that all the time, to the perfection of that. Fellowship with the throne means that we stand absolutely in the completed, perfected work of His Cross. Israel was losing fellowship with the throne because all that that altar represented had not become real in their experience. You see what the altar does. It declares to us that the thing has been done fully, finally, perfectly, and that there can be fellowship with the throne. It works both ways. Not only does the throne work through the altar to us, but we have perfect fellowship with the throne because of the altar. We are today able to stand in the presence of infinite holiness, because we by faith have recognized the perfection of the work of Christ's Cross, where there is no fear, and yet we must recognize that that Cross and that precious blood demand that at every point unholiness is put away.
~T. Austin-Sparks~
(The End)
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