Isaiah 6:1-8
Topic: Stand up and speak up for Jesus Christ.
Isaiah, whose name means “Salvation of Jehovah” is one of the 4 major prophets of the Old Testament along with Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel. As a Old Testament prophet, Isaiah prophesied to the southern tribe of Israel, which was the tribe of Judah, and he also prophesied to the people who lived in the city of Jerusalem. In his prophetic ministry, Isaiah had warned the people to turn from their wicked ways, and to return to worshipping and serving the true and living God. Isaiah had warned the people in his day and time that if they continued with their wicked ways, Isaiah said that God was going to send a nation from the north, which was Babylon, to destroy the city of Jerusalem, and to take the people of Judah into captivity for 70 years.
Not only did Isaiah prophesied and warned the people of Judah, but he also prophesied to other nations as well, warning them too, to repent from sinning, and to worship and serve the true and living God, or else God was going to bring judgment upon them as well.
Now the book of Isaiah itself is likened unto the Holy Bible. The Holy Bible has 66 books , while the book of Isaiah has 66 chapters in itself..
The Holy Bible has two divisions. The first division of the Holy Bible is the Old Testament with 39 books that deals with the law of God. And the second part of the Holy Bible is the New Testament with 27 books that deals with the grace of God.
Likewise, the book of Isaiah has two divisions in itself. The first 39 chapters in the book of Isaiah deals with God’s judgement, His anger with his people, while the last 27 chapters in the book of Isaiah deals with God comforting his people with his love and mercy.
Now the most important person spoken of in the Holy Bible is Jesus Christ himself, and guess what? The most important person in the book of Isaiah is Jesus Christ himself. How and why you may asked? Because in the book of Isaiah, Isaiah prophesied many things concerning Jesus Christ. In matter of fact, the prophet Isaiah prophesied about the birth of Jesus Christ 700 years before He was born, for He says in Isaaih 7:14, “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign, Behold, a virgin shall concieve, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel, which means God with us.”
He also said this in Isaiah 9:6, where he says, “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
Last but not least, Isaiah prophesied about the death of Jesus Christ, for He says in Isaiah 53:5, “But he was wounded for our transgression, he was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.”
Now in Isaiah chapter 6 versed 1-8, we read about Isaiah’s heavenly vision of Lord God Almighty, and how he had responded to the call to the prophetic ministry. Now in today’s time, we may not see the Lord like Isaiah had saw Him in his heavenly vision in his day and time in Isaiah 6:1-8, but yet we can still see the Lord. That is, we can still see Lord for who he is and what he is in the Word of God because the Word of God reveals to us who the Lord is.
Now, it must be understood that just as Isaiah had been called by God to the prophetic ministry, all of us, whether you know it not, has been called by God. Your calling may not be like my calling, but we both been called by God. My calling may not be like your calling but yet we both have been called by God.
You see, when God calls us, He first calls us to salvation. He calls us to repent of our sins and come to Jesus Christ to be saved and to receive salvation for your souls. Romans 10:9 says, “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus ,and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved..
Now after the calling to salvation comes the second calling, and the second calling is the call to discipleship. The call to discipleship is the call to follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ. It is the call to live the Christ-like, or the Christian lifestyle. But to live the Christian life style, one must always be in prayer daily. One must take time out to read, memorize, study ,and to obey the Word of God. One must belong, attend, and fellowship with a bible believing Church where Jesus Christ is Lord, and is preached. One must always praise and worship the Lord Jesus Christ. One must always attend Bible study and Sunday School so you can learn more about Jesus Christ and how you should live for him on a daily basis. In other words, one must be willing to grow in their faith in Jesus Christ.
Now the third calling that we get from God is the call to ministry. Now most people think that the call to ministry is just for certain folk. But if you are a born again Christian, you have been called to ministry. That is you have been called, commanded to share the good news of Jesus Christ with your family, friends, co-workers, neighbors, and to whomever you may have come in contact with. Mark 16:15 says “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” You must understand that the call to ministry does not mean a call to the pulpit.
Also one must understand that just because you may have been called to minister, and if you are child of God, you have been called to minister, but yet that does not necessary means that you have been called to pastor. Ephesians 4:11 says, “And he gave some apostles, some, prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers.” Not all of us has been called to pastor.
Yes, all of us who are born again believers in Christ has been called to minister the the gospel of Jesus Christ because in 2 Corinthiams 5:18 say that God has given us the “ministry of reconciliation”, that is to share the good news of Jesus Christ to the world, but yet one must understand that there is more to ministry than just pastoring. Yes, all of us who are born again believers in Christ have been called to minister God’s word, but not all of us is called to the same ministries, or have the same ministries. You see, some of us have been called to the Pastor ministries, Associate Minister ministries Evangelism/Street Witnessing ministries, Teaching ministries, Deacon ministries Prison ministries, Hospital ministries, Feeding the homeless ministries, Retirement home ministries, Children ministries, Youth ministries, Young Adult ministries, Men ministries, Women ministries, Pre-marriage and marriage counseling ministries, College ministries, Education ministries, Dance ministries, Music ministries, Home and Foreign mission ministries, Media Ministries, Bus ministries and the list goes on and on.
Now one must understand that just because God may have called you into various ministries in the church, or outside the church, that does not mean that He calls us all the same way. Yes, God uses the Holy Spirit and His Word to call us to salvation, to discipleship, and to ministry, but sometimes He will use different circumstances to get our attention when it comes to calling us into the ministry. For example, when God called Moses, He used a burning bush. When God called Samuel, He awoke him up in the middle of the night. When God called Jeremiah, He called him before he was born. When God called David, he was watching over his father’s sheep in the field. When God called Amos, he was out picking fruit from a sycamore tree. When God called Peter and John, they was out mending their nets after fishing all night long. When God called Paul, He called him by knocking him off of his horse while He was on the road to Damascus. And when God called Isaiah, He called him while he was sitting in the temple after King Uzziah had died. Yes, God calls us in many different ways to do his will.
But yet before anyone can fulfill their calling of God on their lives, they must have at least three things in place. First they must have a proper view of who God is, who Jesus Christ is, and secondly they must have a proper view of themselves, and you must be willing to stand up and speak up for Jesus Christ. If you look at Isaiah 6:1, Isaiah says it says “ In the year when King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord…”
Now it must be understood that the Lord himself was always there in the temple for Isaiah to see, for the Lord always exited, for He is eternal and
Everlasting. Plus the Lord himself is omnipresence, which means he is everywhere at the same time…..But Isaiah says, it wasn’t until King Uzziah had died that he saw the Lord.
Now King Uzziah was considered one of the good kings of Judah who did right in the sight of God. In matter of fact during the reign of King Uzziah, the tribe of Judah had prospered economically, and it had a strong military base. But King Uzziah had became prideful and he sinned against God by burning incense in the temple, which was the duty of the priest. And as a s result he was striken with leprosy, and he became a leper until he died.
Now if I was to do sermon on King Uzziah, it would be entitled, “What happens when you don’t do what called God you to do”. You see, God called King Uzziah to be the king of Judah. He called him to rule and to lead the tribe of Judah. But King Uzziah over stepped his boundary when he tried to burn incense in the temple, which was the job of the priest, and not the job of the king. And because King Uzziah did not stick to what he was called to do, he was stricken by God with leprosy and later on he died. And the lesson that we can learn from King Uzziah is you do only what God has called you do. You only do what God has a purpose for you to do. Don’t try to be like somebody else. Be whom God called you to be and be the very best that you can be for the glory of God.
Yes, King Uzziah was a good king. And because King Uzziah was a good king, a successful king who did right in the sight of God, and helped the tribe of Judah to be prosperous in its day and time, apparently Isaiah looked up to King Uzziah, and had a lot of respect for him. But yet it wasn’t until King Uzziah had died that He saw the Lord. Why? It was because Isaiah, at one point in his life, had depended upon King Uzziah more than he depended upon the Lord. Instead of having his eyes upon God, he was more trusting in King Uzziah. But it wasn’t until King Uzziah died that Isaiah first saw the Lord.
And you know sometimes in order for us to get a proper view of who God is, somebody or something in our lives have to die. And usually it is something that we hold on dearly to that keeps us from seeing God for who He really is. Now the scripture says that when King Uzziah had died, Isaiah said he saw the Lord. Now the question is….what is your King Uzziah? Is it your boy/girlfriend relationship? Is it your job? Is it your car? Your house? Is your money? Is it your family? Is it your pride, is it lust, drugs, alcohol, favorite TV Show, movie star celebrity, or whatever? Just like Isaiah, who saw the Lord after King Uzziah died, some of us have some King Uzziah’s in our lives that need to die before we can get a proper view of who God is.
Now notice what Isaiah first saw when he saw the Lord He said he saw the Lord “sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up and his train filled the temple.”
Now, the first thing that Isaiah learned when he first saw the Lord was that the Lord is an everlasting King sitting upon his heavenly throne, that He is the King of Kings, that He is the Lord of Lords, that He is God above all Gods. Yes, King Uzziah is dead, but Isaiah learned that there was another King that was far more greater than King Uzziah, and that King is the Lord Jesus Christ himself who is the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the God above all Gods. So if you want to fullfill your calling as a minister you must see Jesus Christ as a exalted King who is above all Kings.
Now the second thing that Isaiah learned from seeing the Lord is that the Lord is holy, and the earth is full of his glory Isaiah 6:2-4 two says there were seraphims( which were some heavenly beings,possibly heavenly angels) and each seraphim had six wings.
With two of the wings they covered their eyes because they felt unworthy in looking at God straight in the face.
With two of the wings they covered their feet because they felt unworthy in standing in the presence of God, and with the other two wings they use those to fly in to praise God and to bring judgement on the earth at God‘s command. .
And those serapphims cried one unto another saying, Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of Host: the whole earth is full of his glory. .
Now, it must be understood that if you are going serve the Lord in whatever capacity in the ministry of the church, you got to know that God is holy God because He is pure, He is sinless, He is righteous, He is perfect. And if God is holy, then we should be holy because God has called to be holy, that He has called us to live Christ-like lives. That means we should be Christ like in our speech, in our walk, and in our dealings with other people, not just on Sunday when we come to church, but everyday of our lives.
And also the seraphims said that the whole earth is full of the glory of God. Psalm 19:1 says that “the heaven declare the glory of God, and his firmament his handiwork.” You see, when you look at the mountains around you, when you look at the stars at night time, and everything else that God has created, you are looking at the glory of God, for God is the creator of the heaven and the earth, and whatever he has created, it is good, and it speaks of his glory.
Now notice what had happened when the seraphims testified and praised God for his holiness and glory. Isaiah 6:4 says, “ And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried ,and the house was filled with smoke, which was the shekinah glory, which is also the glorious presence of the Lord.
When the seraphims praised God for his holiness and glory, the shekinah glory, the smoke filled the temple. And if you want God’s glory and power to be in your life, you need to learn to praise Him because God inhabitats the praises of his saints, and when God inhabitats the praises of his saints, God presence and power will be evident. Someone once when the praises of God goes up, blessings comes down. You see God is always worthy to be praised at all times. And you ought to praise the Lord because He woke you up this morning, put food on your table, put clothes on your back, and a roof over your head.
You ought to praise the Lord because He is the one who saved your soul, healed you when you were sick, delivered you out of trouble, and washed all of your sins away.
You ought to praise the Lord because He is such a good God, such a loving God, such a merciful God, such a gracious God, such an awesome God, such a caring God.
You ought to praise the Lord for He has brought you from a mighty long way. You ought to praise Him for what He has done in the past, for what He is doing right now, and what He will do in the future.
Psalm 100:1-2 says, “Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. Serve the Lord with gladness(excitement, joy, happiness); come before his presence with singing.”
Now The third thing that Isaiah learned about the Lord when he first saw him, he learned that He is a merciful God because when Isaiah saw the Lord in his majesty, Isaiah got a proper view of himself, especially when He compared himself with the Lord. He saw the Lord as holy and righteous, while He saw himself as wretched sinner undone. He said woe is me. I am undone because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the Lord.”
And guess what? All of us are just like Isaiah, a wretched sinner undone because the bible tells us in Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.“ But yet God will forgive you of your sins if you repent and confess that you have done wrong, for the scripture says “that one of the seraphims took a live hot coal which he had taken from the altar, and put it on Isaiah’s lips and said thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin is purged.”
And just as God forgave Isaiah for being a man with unclean lips, God will forgive you of your sins. I John 1:9 says, “If you confess your sins, God is faithful and just to forgive you your sins,and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness.
The last thing that Isaiah had learned when He first saw the Lord is that God is calling men and women, boys and girls to stand up and to speak for him. For Isaiah heard the voice of the Lord saying,: Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? And Isaiah said , I, HERE AM I , SEND ME!!!!!
After seeing the glorious appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ, Isaiah answered the call to be a prophet, to be a witness for the Lord.
Now today you may not see the Lord in his heavenly appearance like Isaiah saw Him. But you can still see God in his Word, and in the person of Jesus Christ. And just like God called Isaiah into the ministry, God is still calling people to serve him.
And you ought to be willing to stand up and speak up for the Lord becasue
Jesus Christ is our bread when we are hungry
Jesus Christ is our Comfort when we are feeling lonely
Jesus Christ is our Peace when we are feeling tense
Jesus Christ is our Rest when we are feeling weary
You ought to want to stand up and speak for the Lord because
Jesus Christ is our Joy when we are feeling sad
Jesus Christ is our Strength when we are feeling weak
Jesus Christ is our Living Waters when we are thirsty
Jesus Christ is our Help when we are in need
You ought to be willing to stand up and speak for Lord because
Jesus Christ is our Wisdom when we are confused
Jesus Christ is our Protection when we are endangered
Jesus Christ is our Supply when we are empty
Jesus Christ is our healing when we are hurt
Jesus Christ is our encouragement when we are feeling depressed
You ought to want to stand up and speak for the Lord because
Jesus Christ is the Lord of Lord, the King of Kings
Jesus Christ is the Light and the Savior of the world
Jesus Christ is the Mighty Son of God
Jesus Christ is the Living Word of God
Jesus Christ is the Prince of Peace
Jesus Christ is Good Shepherd
Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life
Jesus Christ is the Alpha and Omega
Jesus Christ is the True Vine
Jesus Christ is the Resurrection and the Life
