Isaiah's Vision

Isaiah 6:1–7 KJV 1900

1 In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. 2 Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. 3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: The whole earth is full of his glory. 4 And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. 5 Then said I, 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: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. 6 Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: 7 And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.

Introduction

Uzziah was dead, to begin with...

Isaiah’s cousin had died.

He had been a good and godly king for the majority of his reign.

He had extended the borders of Judah to their most expansive.

In the background, however, there was rot and decay festering under the surface in Judah.

Even Uzziah ended on a bad note when became lifted up with pride and God struck him with leprosy.

This led to his eventual death.

Uzziah’s death marked the end of an era in Judah that would never return.

Judah’s gains under Uzziah would slowly slip away.

It’s hard to imagine that Isaiah was not dealing with a great deal of disappointment.

The king that had shown so much promise had ended in failure.

Though there is no accusation against Isaiah, in this account.

It is in the context of human frailty and failure that God reveals Himself to the prophet.

When other humans disappoint us, we need to be reminded of our God who cannot fail.

Isaiah’s vision.

What is the setting for this vision?

In verse 1, we see that this all takes place in a temple.

A temple is a dwelling place.

Many have assumed that this was a vision that the prophet had at the temple in Jerusalem.

Like some sort of spiritual virtual reality experience, Isaiah saw God superimposed on the actual temple.

This is not necessary.

It may have been, and I think it was, a vision of the heavenly temple where God sits enthroned.

The Lord on His throne is the focal point of the vision.

God seated as king and judge over all things.

It is appropriate and necessary for us to describe God with kingship terminology.

This picture summarizes accurately the relationship that God has to mankind.

He is the sovereign ruler of the universe.

Despite the many challenges to His authority, no one can unseat Him from the throne that Isaiah saw.

Nations turn against Him; but His will prevails.

Kings compete with Him; but they all fall in shame.

People turn to their idols, only to watch them crumble.

The failures of men, even kings like Uzziah, do nothing to lessen God’s reign.

We see the greatness of the Lord’s sovereign majesty in the presence that He has in His throne room.

He towers over the space.

His train fills the temple.

The long, loose flowing robes filled the palace so that there was no room left for anyone to stand.

The majesty of God enthroned drives out the possibility of anyone standing against Him.

God’s sovereignty is not the only attribute on display in this scene.

Sovereignty is the power of God.

Holiness is the character of God.

Isaiah is shaken, as all Israel need to be shaken, by the holiness of God.

Holiness goes beyond the matter of sin and perfection.

Holiness is what separates God from anything and everything else in the universe.

Holiness is who God is, but it is also what He does.

God’s holiness is praised by heaven’s population.

One cannot live in the presence of God without praising Him.

In this vision, Isaiah sees a heavenly creature called seraphim participating in this thrilling activity.

A couple of things about the seraphim.

Their name means burning ones.

They felt humility before God (they covered their feet).

They, like us, cannot look at God (they covered their faces).

They spoke in human language (Isaiah understood them).

They could recognize moral attributes.

These seraphim have singular focus in their shouts of praise.

Skipping ahead a little bit, look at what happens when the seraphim cry.

The door posts of the temple shake.

Smoke fills the room.

I’ve witnessed moving times of praise that gave me a glimpse of heaven.

Nothing can really prepare us for the powerful praise of heaven that we will get to partake in.

One cries to the other about the holiness of God.

No other attribute of God is so praised.

The seraphim do not shout love, love, love.

They do no cry justice, justice, justice.

First and foremost, Isaiah witnesses the praise of God’s holy character.

Why is holy repeated 3x?

Some have said it’s for the trinity.

Most likely it’s because, in Hebrew, the repetition of a word is used to communicate a superlative idea.

Declaring that God is holy, holy, holy tells the reader that God is completely, totally, absolutely the holiest of the holy!

What about the phrase “the whole earth is full of his glory?”

What is God’s glory, or what brings God glory?

The revelation of God’s attributes brings glory to God.

The seraphim declare that the whole earth (all of creation) is filled with that which brings glory to God.

The design of all the work of God is that His holiness should become universally manifested.

God’s plan is to get glory; He gets glory when His holiness is exercised and seen.

Isaiah witnessed God’s holiness on display and it had a profound impact upon him.

How did Isaiah’s vision affect the prophet?

Remember, earlier, I said it is impossible to live in God’s presence and not to praise Him?

Here is Isaiah, standing before the throne of God.

He sees and knows that He must praise his most worthy and powerful God.

He recognizes that God deserves from Isaiah what He receives from the seraphim.

All of a sudden, though, Isaiah is overcome with his inability and unworthiness to speak praises in the presence of God.

He exclaims, “woe is me, for I am undone!!!”

Remember woe is not necessarily a condemnation, it is more of an expression.

What does Isaiah mean, that he was undone?

The word undone means cut off, or doomed to die.

Isaiah was afraid of his unworthiness to praise God in His presence.

He was afraid that he would be killed for coming unworthily into God’s presence and being unable to offer up praise.

Why was Isaiah unworthy?

Isn’t he a prophet?

I mean, among men, isn’t he pretty high on the spirituality scale?

When we stop comparing ourselves to the holiness of others and compare ourselves only to the supreme holiness of God, we will feel deep anguish over the fact of our own sin.

Isaiah senses, not the failings of Uzziah, but his own failing before God.

A man of unclean lips.

Lips are representative because of their use.

Lips communicate motives of the heart.

Lips communicate decisions of the will.

Isaiah further accepts responsibility, not only for the condition of his own sin, but also the sins of his countrymen.

It would have been easy to blame the failings of Judah on the deceased king.

Uzziah had publicly embarrassed himself and had sullied his own reputation.

Past kings could also be blamed for the spiritual and moral decline of the nation.

Isaiah, in this moment accepts responsibility for the sins of Judah, as a leader and representative of the people.

Isaiah has seen the King.

He hadn’t seen God because he was more spiritual than others.

He saw God, because God had revealed Himself to him.

And yet, when given the opportunity, Isaiah could not praise because he was overcome with his own sin and the role he played in the sins of his countrymen.

Praise is a privilege, and Isaiah felt unworthy.

Now, he feared for his life, for withholding from praise.

Imagine how scared he must have been as one of the seraphim left their post and began to fly in his direction.

Did Isaiah see the red hot coal in his hand as the heavenly being approached him?

What did he feel when that coal was placed on his lips?

I’m not sure, but I know the relief that flooded his soul when that seraphim told him, “thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.”

Jesus told me the same thing when I placed my faith in Him and His sacrifice for me.

Notice where that coal came from…the altar.

There was nothing magical or mystic about the coal.

The coal represented the sacrifice that was offered on the altar.

There had to have been a death in order for sins to be purged.

Every person whose sin has ever been taken away or purged has had only one person to thank.

Jesus.

Isaiah’s sins were purged and next week, we will see that he immediately enters into conversation with the King on His throne.

What we need to see tonight, is the holiness of God and its affect upon us.

God is the most holy being in the universe.

He is not like the kings and leaders that see among humanity.

He is a holy sovereign.

He is not a sinful person with a little bit of power.

He is at work in this world to bring about events that will reveal His character and bring Him glory.

He wants to do that in your life.

He wants to use your life in His plan to magnify Himself to the world.

We need to have a healthy fear and respect for God.

We should be fascinated by God, but we should also be fearful of God.

“Is he—quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.”

“That you will, dearie, and no mistake,” said Mrs Beaver. “If there’s anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they’re either braver than most or else just silly.”

“Then he isn’t safe?” said Lucy.

“Safe?” said Mr Beaver; “don’t you hear what Mrs Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”

If you don’t like the idea of being afraid of God, then you have a problem with the Bible.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

The fear of the Lord puts our sin in perspective.

It puts the sin of our people into perspective.

All of us need to be purged of sin, if we are going to come boldly before His throne.

Isaiah was shaken by His vision.

We should also desire to see God high and lifted up.