Sermon Tone Analysis

Isaiah 6:1-9a

When I Saw the King

 

/In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple.

Above him were seraphs, 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.”

/

/Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar.

With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”

/

/Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send?

And who will go for us?” /

/And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” /

/He said, “Go…”/

 

Chronologically, the sixth chapter of Isaiah belongs at the first of the book, recounting, as it does, the commissioning of Isaiah to the prophetic office.

Isaiah, it is reasonably speculated, was related to Uzziah.

Jewish tradition states that Amoz, father of Isaiah, and Uzziah were brothers.

If this is accurate, then it would account for Isaiah's access into the presence of kings throughout his ministry.

Moreover, should this be true, it would account in part for the intense grief Isaiah demonstrated at the death of Uzziah, for he would be experiencing more than simply the death of a noted national figure, but as well he would be sensing the deep loss of a family member.

I find that we become extremely sensitive to spiritual reality in times of intense sorrow.

Our senses become acutely attuned to that which we otherwise ignore or even to that to which we are insensible.

It is an accurate and verifiable observation that an overwhelming majority of professing Christians point to some crisis in their life as a turning point which either brought them to faith or resolved some issue of life changing importance.

A surprising number of full‑time Christian workers point to some time of intense sorrow or pressure as the means by which God captured their attention, turning them toward His service.

This was the case with Isaiah by his own telling.

The picture which is painted in startling imagery here would inspire awe in the heart of the most jaded individual.

The scene is drawn from the oriental court.

The entrance of Bathsheba into the presence of Solomon was calculated to awe.

The entrance of Esther into the presence of Xerxes seems to inspire poets and painters.

The regal bearing of the British royal family, with the attendant pomp and pageantry creates an atmosphere of pomp and pageantry in every heart until even the most ardent republican dare not gaze upon the scene lest he be caused to rejoice at the royal mien.

The picture which Isaiah paints is greater still.

Gaze upon it and marvel, for a mortal soul will soon enter into the presence of the King of Glory, the God of Heaven and Earth.

Isaiah Had a Vision of the Lord*.*

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the LORD*.*

A great evil has befallen us in this day—even a tragedy of world-wide magnitude.

Though God is not dead, His people have lost their vision of Him.

The people of the Living God live as if they did not know Him.

When were you last aware of His presence?

When last did you know that you were in the presence of the Creator, God of Heaven and earth?

When did you last awaken from sleep with an overpowering sense of His presence, so real that you felt you could reach out and touch Him?

When did you last enter into corporate prayer and the sense of His majestic presence was so real that you had to open your eyes in the midst of prayer to see if He were really present?

When we have lost our vision of the Lord, our service becomes dry, mechanical; we have acquired peg‑leg religion.

There is no life in it and we have to strap it on every morning.

Uzziah was a great king of Judah.

He was as great as Pericles was in the history of Athens, or as Caesar Augustus was to Rome.

Uzziah was a great builder, and he built Judah to new heights of power and stature.

Now he was proven to be mortal—he died.

The death of this great leader was a national tragedy, bringing sorrow to the hearts of all the people.

Grieving and sorrowing, Isaiah went to the Temple—he turned to the consolation which God alone can give.

While in the Temple, he learned a great lesson.

Great and noble leaders are marvellous.

We adulate them and acclaim their accomplishments.

Open your eyes and look behind the throne of man and you will see another throne occupied by the Lord—Master of all.

No man could rule, no mere mortal could achieve anything, except for the presence of that unseen throne.

During his grief stricken period of prayer, Isaiah was startled when he was permitted a vision of that other throne.

How very like God!  In the midst of the distress of death and the misery of melancholic mourning, God draws back the curtain and gives us a glimpse of Himself.

It is not often that as we are rejoicing God gives us a vision of Himself.

Job, rejected by friend and family, having lost all earthly goods, injured and sitting on an ash heap, saw the Lord.

Paul, stoned and left for dead, was lifted into the third heaven where he saw things which are unlawful for any man to relate to another.

John, exiled to the barren rock which we speak of as the Isle of Patmos, saw the coming King and His royal court.

I'm going to be part of that court!

You, too, shall be part of that court if you trust Him.

Oh, how often God seems to use grief to give us a vision of Himself!

In our distress, God pulls back the veil which obscures our vision and permits us to look upon Him who is behind every earthly ruler.

We despair in the face of evil which threatens to inundate us momentarily.

Would that the people of the Living God might seize this truth—*God is on the throne*.

We need a vision of the Lord!

The poet has said:

 

*Truth forever on the scaffold,*

*Wrong forever on the throne;*

*Yet that scaffold rules the future,*

*And behind the dark unknown,*

*Standeth God within the shadow*

*Keeping watch above his own*.

Beautiful thought!

Moses persevered because he saw Him who is invisible [*Hebrews 11:27*].

That is the secret!

We need a fresh vision of the Invisible One who rules over all.

What a vision is presented here!

May I teach you something?

Isaiah relates that he saw the Lord.

When he says that, he employs the Hebrew word yn:doa}, properly translated *Master*.

Later, he identifies that *Master* as *Yahweh*—the great *I am*.

When the prophet says he saw the Lord, he is emphasising His mastery over all things.

We need to see that truth—God is master over all things, nothing excepted.

He was seated on a throne.

Your throne, O God, will last forever and ever;

a sceptre of justice will be the sceptre of your kingdom.

[*Psalm 45:6*]

 

Paul’s last picture of the Christ sees Him seated on that throne [*1 Timothy 6:15, 16*].

Attending the Lord of Glory are the Seraphs—the *shining ones*, the *burning ones*.

With two wings they covered their faces, as though to acknowledge their unworthiness to look on the One whom they serve.

They demonstrate deep humility in the presence of God.

With two wings, they covered their feet, as though to admit they are unworthy to stand in the presence of God.

Moses removed his shoes in the presence of God, for he was standing on holy ground.

No creature, man included, is worthy to stand in the presence of God.

With two wings, they were flying, ready to serve the Creator of Heaven and earth.

At His Word, they instantly obey.