In The Year That King Uzziah Died.

IN THE YEAR THAT KING UZZIAH DIED.

“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. 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.

And one cried to another and said:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;The whole earth is full of His glory!”

And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke.

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.”

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. And he touched my mouth with it, and said:“Behold, this has touched your lips;Your iniquity is taken away,And your sin purged.” 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.”

And He said, “Go, and tell this people:‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand;Keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’ “Make the heart of this people dull,And their ears heavy,And shut their eyes;Lest they see with their eyes,And hear with their ears,And understand with their heart,And return and be healed.”

Then I said, “Lord, how long?”And He answered:“Until the cities are laid waste and without inhabitant,The houses are without a man,The land is utterly desolate, The Lord has removed men far away,And the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land. But yet a tenth will be in it,And will return and be for consuming,As a terebinth tree or as an oak,Whose stump remains when it is cut down.So the holy seed shall be its stump.” NKJV

The vision that Prophet Isaiah, the son of Amoz saw is one of the best visions in the Bible that gives us an insight into heaven. He was taken to the throne room of God, where he saw God in the fullness of his splendor and majesty and in the beauty of his holiness. He was privileged to see and hear from heaven, where God presides in the affairs of man.

This is a vision of majesty and beauty. God was seated on his throne and the train of his robes filled the temple. Seraphims or ministering Angels paid homage and obeisance to God Almighty, as they covered their faces and their feet with their wings. They veiled their faces in his presence, as they worshipped God in reverence and ascribed glory and honor to “Him who seats on the throne”. They cried with ceaseless voices, saying:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;The whole earth is full of His glory!”

Confronted with such an awesome sight, Prophet Isaiah realized that as a human being, he was full of sin and realized how unholy and unrighteous he was. This was the same prophet that had criticized the men and women of Judah for their many sins and shortcomings.When he saw the vision of God in the beauty of his holiness, he realized that he was filthy and unclean. So, he cried out in lament at his own limitations. Isaiah realized that he couldn’t cleanse himself from his own sins.

In response to his cry, one of the angels flew with a live coal which he had taken with tongs from off the altar. The altar symbolizes a place of sacrifice and purification. The angel touched his lips, which was the part of his body that he will use to convey God’s message. By this singular act, Isaiah’s sins were forgiven, and his lips were purged. He was made a clean vessel for the Lord and was now fit and able to carry God’s message to the people of Judah and especially those living in Jerusalem. God’s forgiveness of the sins of Isaiah gave him empowerment to do God’s work. So, when God asked who to send with a message to his people, Isaiah felt that he was qualified to do so, and he volunteered to go and give God’s message to the people.

The message God gave to Isaiah was not a pleasant one. The people had been living in sin, and this was well documented in the first five chapters of the book of Isaiah. There was injustice, corruption, denial of rights to the weak, fatherless, orphans and widows.

God told Isaiah to tell the people that they are to keep on hearing, but not understand and to keep on seeing, but not perceiving. The purpose is to keep them in their sinful state so that they will not come to repentance until the punishment decreed against them was carried out. In other words, they had sinned against the Almighty and the only thing left for them was the judgment of God. They were doomed and will be carried away to exile by their enemies. However, God in his infinite mercy will leave a remnant who will thrive and prosper in the land.