Monday, August 18th

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On the twenty-fourth day of the same month, the Israelites gathered together, fasting and wearing sackcloth and putting dust on their heads. Those of Israelite descent had separated themselves from all foreigners. They stood in their places and confessed their sins and the sins of their ancestors. They stood where they were and read from the Book of the Law of the Lord their God for a quarter of the day, and spent another quarter in confession and in worshiping the Lord their God… They cried out with loud voices to the Lord their God (Nehemiah 9:1-4)

Confession is born out of a revelation of who God is. It is not until the people had the Book of the Law opened and read to them that the realization of their sin lies before them. They had been living in sin. Their parents had been living in sin. Most likely, they were teaching their children to live in sin. After all, people can only do and teach what they know. Yet, after a few hours of reading from the Book of the law everything changes. Imagine that! Generations of Sinful behavior wiped clean, as lives are transformed in only a few hours. Talk about Power! As the law is read, the holiness of God is revealed, and the people realize just how short they have fallen from the holiness of God. Therefore, “They cried out with loud voices to the Lord their God.”

We see the same thing happen in Isaiah, as the Lord reveals himself to Isaiah, before Isaiah’s ministry as a prophet begins:

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.” (Isaiah 6:1-5)
 
It is only when we have caught this revelation of the holiness of our God that we are able to realize “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23). The Israelites caught this after spending a quarter of the day in God’s word.

It is only when we have caught this revelation of the holiness of our God that the weight of our sin is before us. A weight so great, that it causes us to fall down with our faces to the ground, before the one whose holiness is our standard. The Israelites caught this, and then began a fast, wearing sackcloth and placing dust on their heads to show their remorse and their repentance.  

And, once we have caught this revelation, our response should be nothing less than to cry out with a loud voice before the Lord our God.

It may just be that our greatest need today, personally, as a church, and as a nation, is to once again receive a revelation of the holiness of God. Make this your prayer this week, as we continue to unpack this passage.

Pastor Jonathan Goble