Will you please turn to the book of Isaiah?
Isaiah chapter 6.
Isaiah 6:1-13:
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 shook 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 Isaiah is very meaningful. In Isaiah 8, he mentions that he and his children were given as signs to the people.
Isaiah means, “The Lord is salvation,” or “the salvation of the Lord.”
No book in the Old Testament is more quoted by our Lord and His disciples in the New Testament than the book of Isaiah.
Of course, we cannot enter into this book this morning, but we would like to consider together before the Lord this vision of Isaiah in chapter 6.
It says, “In the year of the death of King Uzziah.”
Some people think that Isaiah and Uzziah, because of the affinity of their names, probably were brothers or cousins. Now, if that is the case, you will find that Isaiah must have been very close to King Uzziah.
If Isaiah was not his brother or his cousin, at least we know Isaiah was very close to Uzziah. Why? Because he wrote all the deeds of King Uzziah in his book. He was his friend, his chronicler—very close.
But in the year when King Uzziah died, evidently it constituted a kind of crisis in the life of Isaiah.
Now, whether Isaiah prophesied before chapter 6, we find that there are prophecies in chapters 1 through 5. But we do not know whether these five chapters were actually words that he prophesied before he saw the Lord in chapter 6.
Now, if he did, then he had prophesied even before the year of the death of King Uzziah. But when King Uzziah died, it became a crisis to him as a prophet.
Now, if he had never prophesied before, then this year of the death of King Uzziah formed such a crisis in his life that from then on he was called to be a prophet. But anyway, you will find that the death of King Uzziah became a crisis to Isaiah.
You know, oftentimes life is made up of crises. From time to time, you will find a crisis will come to you.
Now, we are not only speaking generally. Life is such that you just cannot go on without any crisis. Maybe someone dies—your friend or your close relative. Or maybe something happens to you in your life. But anyway, you will find that life is full of crises, and they are spiritual crises too.
These are very important times, because if we can meet a crisis in the right way, we will come out on higher ground. But if we meet the crisis in the wrong way, then probably we will turn somewhere else.
Crisis is very important to us. Now, brothers and sisters, when a crisis comes to your life, whatever kind it may be, how are you going to face your crisis?
A crisis had come to the life of Isaiah. It must have been a critical crisis. Now, how did he meet that crisis?
You will find he did one thing—the only thing that is right. He entered into the temple to inquire of the Lord.
Oh, brothers and sisters, if a crisis comes to your life and you begin to look at the crisis, and you begin to look at yourself, or you begin to look around at other people, you will not be able to solve your crisis in the right way.
The only way to face a crisis of any kind is to enter into the temple and inquire of the Lord. Do not think that you can solve the problem. Do not even try to solve it, but go to the Lord and seek His face. Then everything will be clear.
You know, as a matter of fact, King Uzziah was not a bad king. The Bible says he was a good king. He did everything that was right in the eyes of the Lord.
And because of that, God prospered him. And when he prospered, he became proud. He did one thing: he went into the temple to offer incense.
You know, from all outward appearances this was not something bad. He was not doing anything worldly, in any sense. Because God had so blessed him, he wanted to go to the temple to offer incense to God. He wanted to pray; he wanted to worship God.
Now, to our reasoning, this would be a good thing. But offering incense was the work of the priest, not of the king.
And because he was blessed, he became spiritually proud. He thought he could do everything. He entered into the temple to burn incense, and because of that, he was smitten with leprosy.
That was his downfall. He had to live in a separate house, never again entering into the temple until he died.
And, you know, Isaiah must have known very well what happened to King Uzziah. The downfall of King Uzziah was entering into the temple to offer incense.
You would think Isaiah would be afraid of entering into the temple then. But on the contrary, in the year of the death of King Uzziah, Isaiah entered into the temple to face the crisis of his life.
Not being a priest, and knowing what had happened to King Uzziah, certainly he would not dare to burn incense. He would not dare to enter into the holy place.
Even though he might have been of royal seed, when he entered into the temple, he was just like the other children of Israel: he would be in the court. In a sense, he was far from the holiest of all.
He must be in the court. And there in the court, he prayed. He opened his heart to God. He cried unto the Lord.
He was almost like the picture our Lord Jesus gave of that publican. You know, that Pharisee would go into the temple, and there he boasted of himself. But the publican stood afar off, beat his breast, and said, “Have mercy on me, O Lord.”
Isaiah was standing probably at the back of the court, and there he opened his heart to God. He cried unto God concerning that crisis. And when he was praying, something happened.
The veil was opened. In the Spirit, he was brought into the holiest of all, the place where no one could enter.
Not even the priest could enter. The high priest entered only once a year, behind the veil, for a short while, with the blood and the smoke of the incense; and he hurried out, because no one could stand in the presence of God.
And here you find, as he prayed, the physical began to disappear and fade away. He was taken by the Spirit, as it were, into the holiest of all. He saw the Lord.
He saw the Lord sitting on the throne, high and lifted up.
Brothers and sisters, we know what was behind the veil, in the holiest of all. There was the ark, and upon the ark the mercy seat, with the cherubim as the covering of the seat. The glory of God rested upon the mercy seat.
No one was allowed to see this scene. And yet here you find Isaiah: he saw what people could not see. He saw the Lord sitting on the throne, high and lifted up.
Dear brothers and sisters, the physical is just a type; the spiritual is the reality. The earthly is just a shadow; the heavenly is the real thing.
And here you find the earthly things, the physical things, fade away. The spiritual and the heavenly appeared. He saw the reality.
And what is the reality? The reality is: the Lord is on the throne, high and lifted up.
King Uzziah died. The nation entered into a period of change.
Isaiah probably was wondering whether the change would be for the better or for the worse. Because of the death of King Uzziah, a change might come to Isaiah himself. He did not know what kind of attack might come upon him.
He wondered about himself. He wondered about the nation. Everything would be changing. And you know, we are always afraid when things are changing, because we are no longer sure.
And what can really stabilize us when everything around us is changing, and we ourselves are changing? What can really stabilize us? Only one thing: the Lord on the throne.
Everything changes, but He remains the same—yesterday, today, and forever. Everything is shaken, but there is a throne of God that never shakes. God is on the throne.
He rules, and He overrules.
Brothers and sisters, we are living in a very critical day. We find changes all around us, and you are amazed at the swiftness of these changes. Things change very quickly today.
And as we are surrounded by changes, as we ourselves are changing, where is our security? Where is our strength? Where is our stability?
It is not in us. It is not around us. It is only in the Lord, He who sits on the throne. We know one thing: the Lord sits on the throne. We know one thing: He rules and overrules over all things. He is high and lifted up. That we know.
I believe this is a vision that we need to catch today, because only that will stabilize us, will give us strength, and give us faith to go on.
He said, “I saw the Lord, sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple.”
You know, just like in a royal court, you will find the king has that beautiful royal robe upon him, and then the train will spread out—a very long train. Here you find Isaiah saw in the vision the Lord sitting on the throne, the King of kings sitting on the throne, and His robe, the train of His robe, filled the temple.
The glory of the Lord was in the holiest of all, but it was hidden by a heavy veil. Nobody could see anything in the holiest place.
That is to say, nobody could see the glory of the Lord in the holiest place. All they could see was the golden altar of incense, the golden table of showbread, the candlestick all of gold, the brazen laver in the court, and also the brazen altar there at the entrance of the court.
Now, you see these things, but you do not see the glory of the Lord because it is hidden behind the veil. But here you find the train filled the temple. The glory of the Lord came out, and His train filled the temple.
Now, what are these things that you see in the temple—the altar of incense, the table of showbread, the candlestick of gold, the brazen laver, and the brazen altar? What are these things?
These speak to us of the works of God in Christ Jesus. All these things in the temple speak of the works of our Lord Jesus—what the Lord has done.
He is the brazen altar. He shed His blood for the remission of our sins.
He is the brazen laver. He is our sanctification. He sanctifies us by the washing of water with the Word, that He may present us to Himself a glorious church, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing.
He is the candlestick of gold; He is our light. If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another. He is the light of life.
He is the showbread upon the table. He is the bread of life, and if we eat of Him, we shall never die.
He is the golden altar of incense. He is our great High Priest, making intercession for us, and He is able to save to the uttermost those who come unto God by Him.
So you find that all these things in the temple speak of the works of our Lord Jesus.
The train fills the temple. In other words, here you find the works of the Lord Jesus fill the house.
What is God’s house today? The church—the church.
Here you find the Lord is on the throne, and His train fills the temple. The Lord is on the throne, and His work fills the church. He is working. He is working toward His purpose, until His glory shall fill all the earth.
Brothers and sisters, sometimes when we find everything is shaken, when we find changes coming, we wonder if God will ever get what He wants. We wonder if God is really able to have His purpose realized.
We look at ourselves. We do not look as though we can be that vessel for the purpose of God.
But you will remember, the Lord said, “I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” He is working in the church. He is working. His work is to fill the church until He has obtained what He wanted.
It all begins from the throne. He is on the throne, and He is working from the throne outward until His glory not only fills the temple, but His glory shall fill the whole earth.
Brothers and sisters, this is the vision that Isaiah saw. God is still on the throne. He is still working out His purpose. He will work first through the church, and then His glory shall fill the earth.
And Isaiah saw the seraphim. Now, this is the only mention in the Bible of seraphim. We do not know if seraphim are cherubim or whether they are two different groups. But seraphim, the very word, means “burning ones.” They are the burning ones.
These beings stand for the holiness of God—the holiness of God in relation to God’s people.
And here these seraphim were crying, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of His glory.”
Now look at these seraphim. They were very close to the throne of God, and yet they used their two wings to cover their faces.
Even though they were burning ones, yet they dared not look at God. They covered their faces as if they were ashamed of their own creatureliness.
They used their other two wings to cover their feet. They dared not show their feet. They were, as it were, faceless and footless in the presence of God.
With two other wings they flew. They flew.
Now, brothers and sisters, holy as these seraphim were, they were burning ones, and yet they dared not show their faces. They covered their faces. How about us?
Dare we show our faces before God? Should we not just cover our heads before God?
We are nothing. We do not want people to look at us. We are covered.
As it were, faceless before God, we dare not show our feet. We dare not walk in our own ways.
If we walk in our own ways, we have gone astray. And yet, like the two wings, we are swift to worship God and to do His will.
These are the seraphim. And because they are so close to God, they cry out incessantly, one to another, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord of hosts.”
What is the meaning of holy? We know that righteous is the opposite of sin. Holy is the opposite of common.
Our God is holy. That is to say, He is uncommon. He is not like us. He is different—altogether different. He is unique. He is alone by Himself. He is special.
There is no comparison with Him. He is incomparable. He is all by Himself. That is holy.
Brothers and sisters, if we see God, if we see the Lord, one thing should impress us: He is different from us.
Oftentimes we make God like one of us. What we cannot do, He cannot do. What we do not like, He should not like.
Oh, brothers and sisters, here we see the Lord. One thing we know: He is different. His ways are higher than our ways. His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. He is just beyond us. He is not common; He is unique.
You know, this is the same vision that Job saw. You remember, after God spoke to Job, Job said, “Formerly I had heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear; but now mine eye seeth Thee.”
Now, what did Job see? Job did not see any explanation, because God did not explain to him his crisis. What did Job see? Job saw the holiness of God.
God is total. You do not argue with Him. His way is higher than your way. His thought is higher than your thoughts. All you do is bow down and repent. That is what you do.
And that is the same vision that the three disciples on the Mount of Transfiguration saw. They saw the Lord.
Moses disappeared, Elijah disappeared, and the voice said, “This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him.”
He is unique. You cannot compare Him with Moses. You cannot compare Him with Elijah. He is different—altogether different. He is all alone by Himself. And all you can do is hear Him.
Oh, brothers and sisters, we need that vision. We need to see the Lord on the throne. We need to see His work fill the temple. We need to see that He is holy, He is unique.
We have to cry out, “Holy, holy, holy! You are so different. You are so unique. You are so special.”
Lord of hosts: He has not only heavenly hosts; He has also earthly hosts. His heavenly hosts are the angels. They listen and carry out His will. His earthly host today is the church.
It is for us to fear, to obey, to believe, and to do the will of God. And the result is that the whole earth is full of His glory.
Oh, brothers and sisters, we are living at a time of much discouraging news and discouraging things. But there is one thing that will give us spiritual strength, sustain us against all changes, sustain us against everything, and give us hope: the vision of the Lord, the vision of God.
Thank God, He is on the throne. He is working out His purpose, and He is working out His purpose through His church. We may fail, but He will never fail.
One day His glory shall fill the earth as the waters cover the sea.
And when Isaiah saw this vision, what was the effect of it? The effect was that, because of the cry of these seraphim, “Holy, holy, holy,” the foundations of the thresholds of the temple shook.
The temple was filled with smoke, and Isaiah shook. Isaiah was completely shaken. He was shattered.
He said, “Woe is me, for I am undone. I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people with unclean lips.”
No one can see the Lord and stand.
Even Daniel, the beloved of the Lord, when he saw the Lord, said, “My beauty was turned into corruption.”
When you see the Lord, your beauty will turn into corruption.
What was the strongest point in the life of Isaiah? His lips. He must have talked a lot. That was the strongest point, and that was the very point at which he was shaken and shattered before God.
“I am undone. I am altogether ruined. There is nothing good in me—especially one thing: my lips, my speaking. Oh, I am good at that.”
Was he not a prophet before that? Of course, a prophet had to use his lips. And if you look into the first five chapters of the book of Isaiah, you will find how strongly he prophesied. That was his strength.
Even though there was nothing wrong with his prophesying, yet when he saw the Lord, he said, “My lips are unclean.” When God’s word came from his lips, it carried uncleanness. It was not pure.
And yet I live among a people of unclean lips—people all talking. They might be talking about the Lord, but they are unclean.
Brothers and sisters, in the holiest things that you do, you will find there is uncleanness, if you see the heart.
Someone said, “Even our repentance needs to be washed with the blood.” It is not pure.
Who can see the Lord and not be broken? If someone says he has seen the Lord and he can stand erect and say, “I have seen the Lord,” you know he has not seen the Lord.
If he has seen the Lord, he will be as dead, prostrate upon the floor, in tears, in dust and ashes.
And because of that, the seraphim came. He took the living coal out of the altar, touched his lips, and said, “Your lips are cleansed. Your sins are forgiven.”
God did not show Himself to Isaiah to destroy him. God showed Himself to Isaiah to complete him.
So here you find Isaiah really repented in dust and ashes, before God. And then he heard the voice: “Whom shall I send? Who will go for Us?”
Of course, brothers and sisters, we need to see the Lord. And if we see the Lord, we will hear the calling.
The calling did not come saying, “Isaiah, Isaiah, I want you.” No. The calling came just as if God were speaking to Himself—as if in the Godhead there were a conversation.
And in the Godhead they were talking about, “Whom shall We send? Who will go for Us?” There was something that needed to be done, some message that needed to be delivered to the children of Israel. But whom could They send? Who would go for Them?
They were talking, as it were, among the Godhead, and Isaiah overheard the conversation. You know, that is the way it is.
God did not speak to Isaiah directly. God was speaking, as it were, within the Godhead, and Isaiah overheard it.
So Isaiah said, “Well, here am I; send me.”
We often say God never wants volunteers; He always gets people. Now, oftentimes we volunteer for God. God says, “I do not want volunteers. I get people. If I need someone, I prepare him.”
But here is the truth: the whole truth is that God speaks, and we volunteer.
So here you find God speaking, and Isaiah volunteers. You know, he volunteered. That is the way it is.
Brothers and sisters, do we overhear God’s burden?
If you overhear God’s burden, then you cannot but volunteer, even though you know you are unfit.
Often people think that they volunteer because they are qualified. No. You volunteer because you are not qualified. You know you are not qualified, and yet you volunteer. Why? Because you have heard God’s burden.
You cannot explain it.
So Isaiah volunteered: “Here am I; send me.”
And, you know, the mission that God sent Isaiah to fulfill was an impossible mission.
God said, “All right, you go and tell My people: they have ears, and yet they cannot hear; they have eyes, and yet they cannot see. They will not understand.”
There will be judgment upon them. Even those that remain—a remnant—will be judged. No hope, no help.
Now, who wants to bring that kind of message? That would be very unpopular.
Unless a person was really broken before God, was really taken into the secret counsel of God, was really in heart one with God—who would be willing to bring such a message and make himself so unpopular?
You would want to change it a little bit, to make it a little milder, you know. But no, that would be unclean.
To be a prophet, one has to prophesy just as God has told him.
There is no hope with the children of Israel—absolutely hopeless. But where is the hope? The hope is in God, in the Messiah.
So that is why in the book of Isaiah you find that, so far as the children of Israel were concerned, there was no hope. No.
But then God started to show that the hope is in Christ. Thank God.
So this is the same thing with us today. Oh, brothers and sisters, here we know the burden of the Lord. We have to say, so far as we are concerned, it is a hopeless situation.
No. Thank God, there is hope in Christ. It is only in Christ that you find salvation, restoration, and hope.
So this is the prophecy of Isaiah, and this is the vision that he saw in that place.
So I do hope that, as we hear a little bit of that vision, may the Lord really give us a vision of the Lord. And with that vision, there will be obedience.
Our Heavenly Father, we do praise and thank Thee that Thou art the same yesterday, today, and forever. We do praise and thank Thee that Thou dost sit on the throne, and Thy throne is unshakable.
Oh, we do praise and thank Thee that Thou art working out Thy purpose. Thy ways are higher than our ways. Thy thoughts are higher than ours. We can trust Thee.
We can just bow ourselves before Thee. We can just give ourselves to Thee, and let Thee claim us and use us as Thou pleasest.
Lord, we do pray that these words may become life and strength to all of us in this changing world. We ask in the name of our Lord Jesus.