I’d like to say that the following passage from A Heart for God[i] is “Sinclair Ferguson at his best!” However, the truth is, this excerpt is fairly typical of the whole of Ferguson’s work. This is why I don’t think it would be an exaggeration to say that there’s not a contemporary who writes more beautifully, lovingly, or powerfully on the Christian faith than Dr. Ferguson. Commenting on Isaiah 6, Ferguson makes the following connection with the Cross:
“The discovery of God’s holiness has [this] profound impact on our lives: We enter into a deeper awareness of the blessings of forgiveness. This impact was certainly true for Isaiah. He saw one of the seraphs flying towards him, as soon as he had confessed his terrible guilt and pollution. He carried a coal—in his hand—lifted with tongs from the alter of fire and sacrifice in the Temple. With the burning coal, he touched Isaiah’s mouth! Think of the sharpness of the pain. Think, too, of the appropriateness of the action for the man of unclean lips. ‘See,’ said the seraph, ‘this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for’ (Isaiah 6:7).
Isaiah experienced this purification in a vision. But in effect his vision was a preview of the Cross. There, too, the holiness of God became visible, in the darkness of judgment that surrounded our Lord on Calvary; there, too, it became audible, as on the Cross He bore the sins of His people—as though He said, ‘I stand in the place of the man with unclean lips and the people with unclean lips,’ as He cried out, ‘My God, my God, I am forsaken. Why?’ God there unveiled how holy He is, judging His own Son when His Son appeared before Him in the robes of Man’s sinfulness.
Yet from the alter of the Cross, another Seraph flies to us. This One is the Spirit of Burnings. He brings us fire from the altar of Calvary, by which our sins are forgiven and cleansed. In the rediscovery of our sinfulness we learn what it means: ‘those who are forgiven much, love much.’ And we discover that the foundation of our love for the Lord lies in the recognition of His holiness, our sinfulness, and His grace.”
