“In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple.” Isaiah 6:1
Isaiah was a good man, a spiritual leader to his people, called by God to be a prophet. He records one of the precious few descriptions of being in the throne room of the Almighty God. Isaiah writes that he saw angels with six wings flying and calling out, “Holy, holy is the LORD of hosts!” He saw the majesty of the king seated on a throne, high and lifted up and the train of his robe filled the temple. Isaiah’s first words during this encounter are ones of distress: “Woe is me, for I am undone!”
As Isaiah looked at the Lord of hosts he saw the holiness of God, and saw himself in contrast. Isaiah knew that he was a man of unclean lips, living in the midst of a people of unclean lips, and that he was not fit to stand before this God. This prophet and servant of God built up a list of good works none of us could match and even he could not stand before a God who is holy.
Every one of us will stand before this same God and give an account of our lives (Rev 20:12). Every one of us will stand alone, face to face, before the throne of God who is holy. We will hear the voice of this holy God speak to us, a voice that caused the foundations of the throne room of heaven to shake. If the prophet Isaiah had no right to stand before the Lord, how could we?
Yet God has provided hope, a hope that every one of us can have the righteousness of God (Rom. 3:21–22). We receive that righteousness as a gift, not as a result of our works. Every one of us can stand before God holy and blameless clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ (Eph. 1:4). There is hope, but not hope through cleaning up our lives or doing good works. Our hope is in Jesus Christ. Through faith in him we receive the righteousness of a perfect sinless life he lived. We receive the Holy Spirit which changes our hearts to work out of his will (Phil. 2:13) empowering us to do the good works he planned for us before the foundations of the world.
One day I will stand before the throne of God and give an account for my life. On that day I don’t deserve to hear anything good from the Lord. But I trust his promises. I trust that, because he has quickened my dead heart to beat with a love for his Son, I will stand holy and blameless before him—not because of my own works, but because of the work of Jesus Christ. Every Christian who trusts in Jesus will stand holy and blameless before the throne of God to the praise of the glory of his grace.
