He Is Still God, He Is Still On The Throne

He Is Still God, He Is Still On The Throne

TEXT:

Isaiah 6:1-8 (NKJV)

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. 2 Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one cried to 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 were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke.

5 So I 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 my eyes have seen the King, The Lord of hosts.”

6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar. 7 And he touched my mouth with it, and said:

“Behold, this has touched your lips; Your iniquity is taken away, And your sin purged.”

8 Also 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.”

Movement #1:

Isaiah 6:1a

"In the year that King Uzziah died..."

There are some things that change everything.

Murray Bowen describes what he calls "nodal" events. There are times when people either enter or leave our lives and depending on how healthy our families are we may not handle it very well. Nodal events can include the birth of a child, a grandparent moving in, a parent losing a job, or a joyful family member no longer being there. Divorce, a career change, the loss of a home, relocating in order to care for the medical needs of a loved one. For better or worse, we may adjust, but it is never the same. There are some things that we learn to live with but they do impact us that we are never the same.

There are also watershed events in our own personal lives, in our families, in our church, and in our nation that determined the trajectory of things for generations. Things like immigration to a new country or experiencing a traumatic event like the Holocaust. We can tend to mark the calendar by these watershed moments.

Where were you the day JFK was assassinated? Where were you the day the Challenger space shuttle exploded? I was in the library at Whittier Elementary School watching the launch on the television monitor. What about September 11? I was riding with my mechanic on I-45, headed to work on a motor for a hydraulic elevator at the mental hospital. Or, do you remember covid-19? Hurricane Harvey?

Each of these events changed our lives in ways that cause us to mark the calendar by them.

Isaiah begins his prophecy by marking the calendar with the death of one of Judah's greatest kings.

Uzziah came to the throne at the age of 16 when his father died. 2 Chronicles 26 records the life of Uzziah. He reigned for 52 years. His long tenure and wise leadership brought stability and prosperity to the nation. He expanded the borders of Israel and their economic influence to places where they had not been since the days of Solomon. He expanded the military might of the little kingdom of Judah. He invented and implemented new weapons to protect his nation and developed agriculture to feed his people.

As long as he sought the LORD he prospered. He was a person that for most of his reign the word that characterized his relationship with God was "seeking." He realized that he had not arrived. As the apostle, Paul said, "This one thing I do, forgetting those things that are behind, I reach for the upward calling of God in Christ Jesus" (Phil.3:14-14). Jesus said that we should be continually asking, seeking, and knocking. If we are found in a state of asking, we will receive. If we are found in a state of seeking, we will find. If we are continually knocking, the doors will be opened. Uzziah sought God and prospered. There is something about making God a priority in all that we do!

Uzziah also served the LORD all the days of Zechariah who had understanding in the visions of God. Uzziah clothed himself with humility. He recognized that there were some things he did not know. He recognized that he needed help spiritually. We need one another and we need those people who can speak into our lives and tell us what they see God doing. The hardest thing to know is what we don't know that we don't know.