This is Sunday evening, April 7, 1974, in Richmond, Virginia. Ministry is being given through Brother Stephen Kaung.
Will you please turn to the book of Isaiah—Isaiah Chapter 6. We will read the whole chapter.
In the year that king Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and His train filled the temple.
Above Him stood the seraphim: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.
And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of His glory.
And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.
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.
Then flew one of the seraphim unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar:
And he touched my mouth with it, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin forgiven.
And I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us? Then I said, Here am I; send me.
And He said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.
Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn again, and be healed.
Then said I, Lord, how long? And He answered, Until cities be waste without inhabitant, and houses without man, and the land become utterly waste,
And the Lord have removed men far away, and the forsaken places be many in the midst of the land.
And if there be yet a tenth in it, it shall again be eaten up: as a terebinth, and as an oak, whose stock remaineth, when they are felled; so the holy seed is the stock thereof.
The very name of the prophet is a sign and a type which God gave to His people. Isaiah means the salvation of the Lord.
We do not know too much of the history of Isaiah. We only know that he was the son of Amoz. Now, who was this Amoz? We do not know.
According to Jewish tradition, Amoz and Amaziah, King Amaziah, were brothers. Because of that, Isaiah, when he began to prophesy in the reign of Uzziah, was a cousin of Uzziah. Now, how true that is, we do not know. We only know that he was very close to King Uzziah.
Of all the prophets God raised up in Israel and Judah, we have to acknowledge that Isaiah was a prophet not only with the largest scope in his prophecies, but he was the sublimest, the most beautiful, in his prophecy of all the prophets. So probably it had something to do with his royal background.
He prophesied, as we find in the first chapter, during the reigns of four kings of Judah: Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah.
This period was a very interesting period in the history of Judah. During the first two kings, Uzziah and Jotham, the nation of Judah enjoyed a period of great prosperity.
Then, in the reign of Ahaz, the nation began to go down to the verge of destruction. It was only gradually restored through the long reign of King Hezekiah. So Isaiah prophesied during a period of great changes.
Whether Isaiah was called to be a prophet in the year of the death of Uzziah, or whether he prophesied even before the death of King Uzziah, we do not know. But even if we count from the last year of King Uzziah to the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, you will find it was a long period—forty-seven years.
So God used him to prophesy for a very long period.
Some people thought that he died before King Hezekiah because, after the fourteenth year of Hezekiah is mentioned, there is no more mention of any further years. But other people thought that he continued to live on to a very old age.
He suffered martyrdom under King Manasseh. According to tradition, we are told that he was sawn asunder, and that is where, in Hebrews, it speaks of those who were sawn asunder. That was referring to Isaiah.
But anyway, he was a prophet raised up by God for a very significant period of time.
The book of Isaiah has sixty-six chapters. I wondered how we should fellowship on Isaiah this time.
As I looked to the Lord, I thought probably we could condense the book of Isaiah into three different visions:
Probably, God willing, we will go along these three lines. Now tonight we will begin with Isaiah’s vision of the Lord.
Uzziah was not a bad king. He was a good king. He did everything that was right in the eyes of God, and because of that, God prospered him, and the whole nation prospered under his reign.
But unfortunately, because he was so favored of God, pride entered into his heart. He thought that he was so favored that he was qualified to enter into the temple to burn incense.
You know, burning incense before the very presence of the Lord—because the golden altar of incense stood right before the ark, without the veil—it was the highest privilege of priestly service.
Yet it came into the mind of Uzziah to enter into the temple to offer incense. He was not trying to do something bad. As a matter of fact, he was trying to do something which was most excellent. He was trying to burn incense unto God.
He was so sure that he was such a favored person that he was qualified to do so. But thank God for Azariah the high priest and eighty valiant priests. They withstood him and said, “King Uzziah, this is not something that God has given to you. That was given to the sons of Levi.”
But he would not listen. He was so sure that he was the favored one. As he was resisting, leprosy appeared upon his brow. He repented. He lived in a separate house until his death. His son Jotham reigned for him until he died.
Isaiah must have had a very close relationship with King Uzziah, for the death of King Uzziah constituted a crisis in the life of Isaiah.
We do not know how this crisis was brought about, but we know one thing: it was a critical moment in the life of Isaiah. If Isaiah was a prophet before Chapter 6, some people think that Chapters 1 through 5 should come after Chapter 6, so far as chronological order is concerned. Some people believe that Chapters 1 through 5 were prophecies given by Isaiah before he had this new experience of seeing the Lord.
But whether he prophesied before, or whether this was the beginning of his prophecy, one thing was sure: it was a critical hour in his life.
Dear brothers and sisters, our life is composed of crises. We often come to a crisis, and a crisis is a time of turning. Whether you turn in the right direction or you turn in the wrong direction, you do not know. Therefore, it is a most dangerous time; yet it is a good opportunity too.
Our life is composed of crises. We live comfortably for a while. We are familiar with our environment, we begin to have a sense of security, we know where we are, we know where we stand, and we are all quite comfortable.
But you will find that suddenly our nest is not only stirred, but our nest is taken away beneath us. Now that is a critical period. We do not know whether we will fly or whether we will fall. Life is composed of many crises like this.
Our crises may be introduced into our life in many different ways or because of many different reasons. But, dear brothers and sisters, as you look back, you can find how you live for a while until you are familiar with your circumstances and begin to feel comfortable; then suddenly the bottom is gone.
I believe this was what Isaiah saw at that time. He was in such a good relationship with King Uzziah. Probably they worked together. Probably the reason why Uzziah did everything that was right in the sight of the Lord was somewhat attributed to Isaiah.
And now Uzziah died. Isaiah did not know what the future was or what he should do. He was at a critical hour.
When he was in a crisis, he took the only way that he could take, and it is the only way that anyone can take when you enter into a crisis.
You know, when we enter into a crisis, how often we look around and try to lay hold of something, even if it is a straw, because it gives us a kind of security. Sometimes, when we are in a crisis, we look around for people, hoping that somehow they can lay hold of us, or we can lay hold of them.
But, dear brothers and sisters, the only right way of facing a crisis is to go into the temple and inquire of Him.
So here you find Isaiah, in the year of the death of King Uzziah, in the temple. Why did he go into the temple? Because he was at a crisis. He had to seek the face of the Lord in order to meet the crisis and then make the right turn.
But, as you know, he was not a priest. Certainly, he had learned a lesson from King Uzziah. He would not dare to enter into the temple proper. He would not dare to enter into the holy place where the altar of incense was. He dared not do that.
When he entered into the temple, he must have been in the court of the temple, that space where the children of Israel were allowed. So evidently he entered into the court of the temple with the desire of prayer, seeking the face of the Lord.
Physically speaking, he was in the court. There was the holy place, and behind the holy place there was the holy of holies. But the holy of holies was covered by a heavy veil. In other words, there was no way for him to see the ark, upon which was the mercy seat, and upon which was the glory of the Lord.
Physically, there was no way for him to see that. He knew the ark was there. He knew the mercy seat was there. He knew the glory of the Lord was there on the mercy seat, but he could not see it.
But as he was praying, he was lost in the Spirit. As he was in the Spirit, the veil was removed. Not only did he see the mercy seat in the holiest of all, but as a matter of fact, he was transported to the very heaven, and he saw the reality, the shadow of which was the temple in Jerusalem.
So here, brothers and sisters, while Isaiah was praying in the earthly temple of Jerusalem, God opened up the heavenly reality.
He saw the Lord sitting upon a throne. The glory of the Lord sitting on the mercy seat over the ark was just a shadow, but Isaiah was given to see the reality, the eternal reality. He saw God sitting on the throne, high and lifted up.
Times had changed. Uzziah was dead. And when change comes, you are afraid.
But here you find Isaiah. Yes, he was deeply touched by the death of King Uzziah. Probably his sense of security was gone. But as he entered into the temple to seek the Lord, he saw the Lord on the throne.
Dear brothers and sisters, everything changes. You would like to hold on to time. You would like to hold on to things. But you are not able to.
As you look back over your individual life, you will find many changes have come into your life. As you look around in this world, you will find the world is always changing. As we are coming toward the end of this age, change seems to come swifter and swifter.
We are living in a changing world. Nothing is stable. But, dear brothers and sisters, we need to see that the Lord sits on the throne. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and His throne is always there.
In other words, no matter what change may come into your life, no matter what change may come to the world, need we be fearful? Need we lose our sense of security?
God is on the throne. He knows what has happened. As a matter of fact, He controls everything that happens.
So Isaiah entered into the temple, and he saw that God was in control. Even the death of Uzziah was under God’s control. He did not need to worry. He did not need to be too much concerned. He could trust that God was on the throne. He controlled everything, and He knew everything that happened. What a comfort it must have been to Isaiah.
Dear brothers and sisters, we need to catch this. We need to see that the Lord is on the throne. Oftentimes, when things happen, we enter into a crisis because our very faith is shaken, our very confidence is taken away from us, and our very sense of security is gone.
We enter into a period of doubts, a period of darkness, a period of puzzlement—a dangerous time. Oh, if we only see that the Lord is on the throne, that will stabilize us.
Isaiah saw the Lord on the throne, high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple.
Have you seen the coronation of Queen Elizabeth? With that royal robe, you find that it spreads out far. But here you find God sitting on the throne, and His train filled the temple.
What really fills the temple? As far as you can see, there in the court was the brazen altar of sacrifice, and then you find the brazen laver of washing.
As you enter into the holy place, you find the golden table of showbread on one side, and you find the candlestick of gold on the other side. As you enter further, just before the veil, you find the golden altar of incense. Of course, in the holiest of all there was the ark, the mercy seat, and the glory of God.
But in the vision that Isaiah saw, he saw God sitting on the throne, and His train filled the temple.
You know, in the Scripture, robe, garment, clothing, or dress always carries a spiritual significance. The spiritual significance is work—behavior, conduct, works.
God is on the throne, and His train fills the temple. What is the temple? Remember, Isaiah was now in the heavenly reality. What is the temple in this eternal reality? It is not a temple in Jerusalem, not a physical building. We are the temple of God.
God sits on the throne in His temple. The Lord is on the throne of His church. Brothers and sisters, we need to see that.
God is not only on the throne of the universe, but God is on the throne in His temple. He is God on the throne of His people.
Not only individually is He on the throne of your life, but together, among His people, it is God on the throne in His church. That is the spiritual reality.
Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them.
Think of this verse. “Where two or three are gathered together in My name.” What does it mean by “unto My name”? It means when two or three put themselves under the authority of His name—that is to say, when two or three submit themselves under the headship of Christ, that Christ may sit on the throne of His people. There He will reveal Himself.
God sits on the throne of His people, His church, and His train fills the temple. In other words, His works fill the church.
All these pieces of furniture in the temple speak to us of certain aspects of the works of Christ.
The brazen altar of sacrifice speaks of how He sacrificed Himself and shed His blood for the remission of our sins. The brazen laver of washing speaks of how He washes us with His own life, that we may be fit to serve as priests.
The table of showbread shows us that He is the bread of life to us. It is by His life that we live. Then we can testify to these things.
The candlestick of gold speaks of Him as our light.
In Him was life; and the life was the light of men.
If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanseth us from all sin.
The golden altar of incense speaks of His high-priestly ministry of intercession—how He intercedes for us.
So here you find what fills the church. God is on the throne of His own church, and that which fills the house is the work of Christ. Everything speaks of what Christ has done for us—nothing else.
We are His workmanship, prepared by God for the good works which He has ordained for us. So here you find that His train fills the temple.
Then you find the seraphim. This is the only mention in the whole Bible of seraphim. We do not know who they are.
We only know that seraphim, according to the Hebrew root, probably means “the burning ones.” They were like fire—burning, full of energy, bright ones, burning ones.
You know, in the temple, the mercy seat was upon the ark, and then you find two cherubim serving as the deck and the arms of the throne—two cherubim.
But actually, we do not know who the cherubim are, whether the seraphim are the same as the cherubim, or whether they are different. We do not know. Whether they are angelic beings—most likely they are—we do not know.
Because they are spirits, every time in the Scripture when cherubim or seraphim are mentioned, you find that they change their forms. They are so flexible. They are living; they are not rigid at all. Oftentimes, you find the form is given according to the emphasis that God wants to impress upon us at that moment.
That is why it is very difficult to try to fix their forms. They always change.
So here you find the seraphim. We do not know how many of them there were—probably two, like the two cherubim that cover the ark and the mercy seat; or perhaps two groups of seraphim. We do not know.
But here you find the seraphim. They cry one to another unceasingly:
Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts:
The whole earth is full of His glory.
The seraphim have six wings. With two wings they cover their face, with two wings they cover their feet, and with two wings they fly.
Even though they were burning ones, and though they were so close to the throne of God—probably closest to the throne of God—yet they dared not reveal their faces. They hid their faces. They were ashamed to show themselves.
With two wings they covered their feet. They dared not show their feet. In other words, they dared not walk in their own way.
Brothers and sisters, if you know God, how can you show your face? We need to be faceless before God, and feetless too.
But with two wings they flew. That is to say, they were ready and swift to give glory to God and to carry out God’s will.
They cried to one another, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord.” Now, dear brothers and sisters, what is holy?
We often think of holy as the opposite of sin. But the opposite of sin is righteousness. What is the opposite of holy? The opposite of holy is common—common.
So here you find these seraphim crying, “Holy, holy, holy.” In other words, uncommon, uncommon, uncommon. You know what I mean?
God is different. He is unique. He is all alone by Himself. He is uncommon, very uncommon. You can never make Him like one of you.
Brothers and sisters, thank God there are still people who remain in the promised land. We still remain to bear the testimony of Jesus. But what is their condition?
As you find in the history of the nation of Judah, they too were in danger of entering into captivity.
Somehow, in a very subtle way, those who desire to stand for the Lord’s testimony are in danger of captivity too. It may not be Assyrian captivity, but it will be Babylonian captivity, and one is not better than the other.
Somehow the world, as a system, is of such subtlety and such strength that it can come in and take away God’s people as a testimony of God. Because of that, you find how much God’s interest and concern are centered upon such people—those who remain.
God has a word for us today. So here you find, as Isaiah begins his prophecy, he says, “Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth,” the witnesses, because God has something to say.
Now, of course, the first five chapters of the book of Isaiah serve as an introduction to the whole book. It is not only an introduction, but it is an outline of the whole book.
So probably, for this morning, we would restrict ourselves to the first five chapters. But let us remember that actually the first five chapters give us the substance of the prophecies that you find throughout the book.
God has a controversy with His own people.
The Lord hath spoken: I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against Me.
God had a controversy with Judah and Jerusalem. The controversy was that God had brought them up and nourished them as children, but they rebelled against God.
God was like a father to the nation of Israel. How God took care of them! Yet they rebelled against God. Now remember, this word was spoken to Judah and Jerusalem.
For the world to rebel against God, that is natural, because the world does not know God. But for God’s people, who have received His nourishment and received His training, to rebel against God—that is something unusual.
In other words, rebellion is the problem with the children of Judah and Jerusalem.
You see, our relationship with God is a relationship of Father and children. If the nation of Israel was touched in this way, how much more is our relationship with God as Father and children?
With the nation of Israel, God was a Father to the nation, but they did not know God as Father to each individual. That was not revealed in the Old Testament.
It is a song—the song of the Beloved touching His vineyard. The Beloved is God; the vineyard is Israel. So here you find God, as it were, through His prophet, singing a song to express His feeling.
This song can be divided into three parts. The first part is from Isaiah 5:2 through Isaiah 5:7. It tells how God planted Israel as His vineyard, how God used the choicest vine, how God put a hedge around it, and how God prepared everything for the vineyard with the expectation that He would reap good grapes from it.
But unexpectedly, He did not get what He expected. He got wild grapes—wild, wild grapes. God was disappointed. He was disappointed with His people.
He said, “Because of this, I will judge. I will take away the hedge. I will allow wild beasts to come, to tread it down and to eat it all. I will allow all these things to happen.”
That is the first part. The second part is from Isaiah 5:8 through Isaiah 5:25. There God, in the song, describes their condition—how they disappointed God. Here you find six woes. God proclaims six woes.
Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no room, and ye be made to dwell alone in the midst of the land!
That is the first one. Here you find that they add house to house and join field to field. In other words, there is a greediness for gain. They try to gain the things of this world as if they were successful.
But because they were after earthly gain, the result was that there were no more people—very few people were left.
Spiritually, of course, if our whole life is to gain, “What can we get?” if we try to gain for ourselves, we will suffer. The more you gain, the less will remain. The only gain is to give all to the Lord. That is real gain.
Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that tarry late into the night, till wine inflame them!
In other words, they seek pleasure. Not only gain, but pleasure. They just want to enjoy themselves, enjoy themselves. That was their condition.
The result was that God would bring them very low. Do we seek for pleasure, or do we seek to please God?
Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope;
That say, Let Him make speed, let Him hasten His work, that we may see it; and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come, that we may know it!
Subversion—they had completely gone off. Subversion against moral principles. There is no principle, no moral standard anymore. Complete subversion. That is what you find today.
The whole earth is filled with the glory of the Lord. Even the priests cannot stand and have to come out of the temple and let the glory of the Lord do the work.
You know, oftentimes we do too much because the glory does not fill, so we have to fill it. But when the glory of the Lord shall fill the earth, all we need to do is stand by, prostrate, and worship. He is well able to do it.
When Isaiah saw such a vision and heard such a cry, the Bible says that the foundations of the threshold of the temple were shaken—shaken—and the house was filled with smoke.
No wonder it shook Isaiah. Isaiah was shaken. He was stricken before the Lord. He cried and said:
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.
Dear brothers and sisters, if you have seen a vision of the Lord, what will be the effect upon you?
As you read the whole Bible, whether it is the Old Testament or the New Testament, it never changes. Whenever God appears to man, whenever men are privileged to see the Lord—the glory of the Lord—the one result is always that they fall flat upon their faces as if dead.
Daniel, the beloved of the Lord, when he was given a vision of the Lord, fell down as dead. When the Lord touched him and restored him, he said, “My beauty was turned in me into corruption.”
Are you proud of your beauty? Are you proud of your knowledge? Are you proud of your vision? Some people say, “I have seen a vision. The Lord has given me a vision, and because the Lord has given me a vision, I am now somebody.”
You have not seen the vision of the Lord. If you have seen a vision of the Lord, you will be as one dead. There is no way to lift up your head.
“Woe is me! for I am undone.” If Isaiah prophesied before this day, if you read the first five chapters of Isaiah, what a sharp tongue he had! He slashed the people with his tongue. What strong condemnation!
For a person to denounce the nation in such a way, what character he must have had, what a person he must have been! Yet when he saw the Lord, he said, “I am completely destroyed—completely destroyed.”
His strongest point became the most acute point of condemnation. That is, the strongest point of the prophet was his lips. A prophet has to speak, so his lips were his strongest point. Here he was conscious most acutely of uncleanness.
Dear brothers and sisters, if you have seen the Lord, if the Lord has met you, not only will your whole being collapse before the Lord, but your strongest point will become your ugliest point.
The strongest point of Jacob—what was it? He was a wrestler, a born wrestler. He wrestled before he was born. Yet when he met the Lord, he was crippled. His strongest point became his ugliest point.
Oh, brothers and sisters, we all have our strong points. It is very easy to know that which you always look back on and feel happy about, you know.
But when you see the Lord, remember: if the strongest point of your life is not touched, to borrow a term, your backbone is not yet broken.
You may have some minor wounds, but your backbone is not broken. So here you find Isaiah. He was completely broken before the Lord.
Oh, dear brothers and sisters, if you see the Lord, you will be an unbroken man no longer.
But thank God, He does not want to destroy us. He breaks us, yes. He breaks us because He wants to make us.
So when Isaiah began to see his uncleanness and began to repent, God’s salvation came to him.
As you read the Bible, you find that this happened to all those upon whom God had His hand. Look at Job. Job was a perfect man. The Bible said he was perfect and upright. There was no man on earth like Job, one who feared God.
That was where he began, but look at where he ended—in dust and ashes. He said, “I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes, because formerly I had heard of Thee, but now mine eye seeth Thee.”
Is it not true? When you really see the Lord—I do not mean merely an appearance, but in your spirit the Lord gives you a realization of spiritual reality—the best of reality—then all appearances, all superficial things, are never enough.
But once you meet reality, the very core is touched; it is broken.
So when Isaiah cried out, one of the seraphim flew down, took a live coal out of the altar, touched his lips, and said, “Your sins are forgiven. Your iniquities are expiated. Now you are cleansed.”
Now, the altar here most likely is the golden altar of incense, because it is at the golden altar of incense that all the incense ascends before the ark, before the mercy seat.
So here you find a combination. How are we cleansed? Through the finished work of Christ on the cross, together with His intercessory work in heaven as our great High Priest. That is how we are restored, cleansed, and purified.
It was only at that time that Isaiah heard a voice. He heard:
I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?
After he was cleansed, he heard the voice of the Lord: “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” He heard the calling.
Now here you find, brothers and sisters, God did not speak directly to Isaiah and say, “Isaiah, I call you.” God allowed Isaiah to overhear, as it were, when the Godhead was in counsel.
The Father and the Son were in counsel. They were talking, discussing something that was a matter of great importance. They were talking to each other and said, “Whom shall I send? Who will go for Us?”
Isaiah was there. He overheard it, and he said, “Here am I; send me.”
You know, brothers and sisters, some say God does not need volunteers. Often we volunteer to do God’s work. We say, “Oh, God does not want volunteers. God always calls.”
If you volunteer, God does not say, “Then I accept you.” He says, “Wait a minute. I take the initiative. I call.” That is true.
Yet there is another side. When God calls, we volunteer. You know, it is one thing, actually. If God calls you, there is no escape. Do not try to escape. God always calls because He is God.
Yet, brothers and sisters, you see the beauty of it: if you cooperate with God, when God calls, you volunteer.
That is what Isaiah did. He overheard that God was looking for someone to be a messenger, and Isaiah volunteered and said, “Send me; here I am.”
God said, “Go.”
Why was it that Isaiah had to see the vision of the Lord before he heard the call?
The reason is this: if Isaiah should hear the calling without the vision of the Lord, when God’s message came to him, he would change it, alter it, water it down, dilute it, when he felt that it would make him unpopular or that it did not fit with his idea.
To be a prophet of God, to speak for God—and especially when Isaiah was sent to the children of Israel, to the nation of Judah, to deliver a message of judgment—there was no return.
Humanly speaking, who would like to deliver such a message? That would make you most unpopular.
But after Isaiah had seen the Lord, he would go and deliver the message one hundred percent, without any change.
We say we have heard God’s call; therefore, we go out. But, brothers and sisters, if you have not seen the Lord, even if God’s word should come to you, it will be altered.
So basically, if we want to be useful to the Lord, God is looking for a vessel through which He can manifest Himself without being changed.
That is what God is looking for. That is the reason why He is looking for brokenness. Brokenness comes through a vision of the holiness of the Lord.
Isaiah became a prophet, and he prophesied for a great length of time. God used him to touch upon many things. So far as the nation of Israel was concerned, it was a message of judgment. There was no hope.
If you read the book of Isaiah, you will find that there is no hope in Israel. Israel’s hope is in the Messiah, in Christ.
Is it not true? There is no hope in the world—no hope. But thank God, out of a hopeless situation, our only hope is in Christ.
I believe this is the message God wants the world, and even His own people, to hear.
So this is the vision that Isaiah saw of the Lord. Shall we pray?
Lord, oftentimes Thou dost lead us into a crisis that we may seek Thy face and be given a vision of Thyself.
Do not allow us to live within ourselves or to look around for man. But, Lord, even though we are in a time of crisis, we are puzzled, we doubt, we are afraid. Teach us how to enter into Thy temple to inquire of Thee.
Lord, we praise and thank Thee that through crisis Thou art able to reveal Thyself to us in a new and living way. Thou art able to deliver us from what we are. Thou art able to fill us with what Thou art.
We pray that we may be a people who are so broken and clean that Thou mayest be able to use us for whatever Thou dost want to say or to do.
Oh Lord, we do praise and thank Thee that Thou dost tell us there is no hope in the world. There is no hope in man. There is no hope in us. Our hope is in Christ.
Teach us how to turn our eyes upon Christ. We ask in Thy precious name.