In this message, Stephen reflects on Isaiah chapter 6, emphasizing the significance of Isaiah's vision of the Lord seated on a high and lifted throne, filling the temple with His glory. This vision reveals God's holiness, majesty, and sovereignty, which profoundly impacts Isaiah, causing him to recognize his own unworthiness and sinfulness. The seraphim surrounding God's throne declare His holiness repeatedly, highlighting God's uniqueness and incomparability. Stephen underscores that seeing the Lord's holiness leads to humility and repentance, as Isaiah acknowledges his unclean lips and lives among an unclean people. The vision also reveals that God's work, symbolized by the temple furnishings, points to Christ's redemptive work—His blood, sanctification, light, and intercession—filling the church and ultimately the earth. Despite the world's changes and crises, Stephen encourages believers to fix their eyes on God's unshakable throne, which provides stability and hope. The vision of God's holiness and sovereignty should inspire us to worship, obey, and participate in God's purpose. Stephen concludes by urging believers to seek this divine vision, which brings humility, strength, and a renewed mission to serve in a changing world, trusting that God's glory will fill the earth.
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. 8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.
9 And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. 10 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 convert, and be healed. 11 Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate, 12 And the LORD have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land. 13 But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten: as a teil tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them, when they cast their leaves: so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof.