I SAW THE LORD
Isaiah 6:1-8
Verse 1 says, “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.”
Do you know about King Uzziah? He was just sixteen years old when he became King in Judah. His father, Amaziah, who was King before him, was brutally murdered by some of the people of Jerusalem.
Uzziah, the son of Amaziah, reigned 52 years in Jerusalem. It is said of Uzziah that as long as he sought the Lord, God made him prosper,” (2 Chronicles 26:5). He was a great military leader, and a fine builder. But when his kingdom prospered, his heart transgressed against the Lord, and his pride led him to usurp the role of Azariah the high priest. When Uzziah was confronted about his arrogance, he became so furious he threw a censer full of burning incense at the high priest.
Immediately, leprosy broke out on the King’s forehead. He remained a leper until the day he died.
This is the Uzziah whose death is mentioned in our text today. It says that it was in the year that King Uzziah died that Isaiah went to the temple to worship. This was not the day of Uzzian’s death, but sometime afterwards. The public period of mourning had ended. None of the people were still coming to the temple to mourn the loss of King Uzziah, except Isaiah.
Isaiah was a court prophet, meaning he lived in the court of the King, ate at the King’s table, and lived on the King’s money. He had been intimately aware of Uzziah’s successes and his failures. He had often counseled Uzziah as to what God expected. This counsel had often fallen on deaf ears.
Now, alone in his grief, Isaiah came once again to the temple to worship and pray. He had been there many times since the death of King Uzziah. Time after time he came. Nothing happened! He came, and he went back home as broken-hearted as when he entered the sanctuary.
Many of us have come to the sanctuary of God feeling like Isaiah. We have come broken-hearted, and we have gone home the same. A broken-hearted person is one who is grieving over something lost. Perhaps we have lost a parent, a spouse, a child, a friend. It could be the loss of a job, maybe financial disaster, or even the loss of a dream that never came true.
We come to church, put on our religious face, and pretend we are not broken-hearted, but beneath the pretense, we are in painful grief.
Maybe we are not broken-hearted. We might have a disillusioned heart. We thought being a Christian would be easy, full of sunshine and flowers, with everything going our way. But, life brought many disappointments, and people did not always treat us well. Even those at church may seem unconcerned about our troubles. Maybe we even feel that God has let us down. Are there any of you here today who have a disillusioned heart?
Or, you might be here today with an empty heart. You have promised God so many things, but you have not kept those promises. You have tried so many times to overcome the things in your life that keep defeating you. You feel like a failure. Slowly, over time, your heart became empty, and now you are weary of even trying anymore. Is this you?
Then there are those here today with a divided heart. You love God, but something is pulling you away. The cry of your own flesh to be fed and satisfied has you under great pressure. You want to be better, to do better, but your heart is divided, half in and half out. How about you? Do you have a divided heart?
There could be a million things going on inside you today. And, like Isaiah, you have been to church time after time hoping each time that it would be the day that something would happen to change your circumstances, that would fill you with joy and hope, and that would free you from the pain and emptiness you feel. You come, and you come, but you go home just as you came.
So it was for Isaiah. He was broken-hearted for more than one reason. He was very sad that the King had died. They were close companions. But, even more so, Isaiah knew how far below his potential the King had lived. He never became what he could have become, and he died a sad and defeated man. Isaiah grieved for the King‘s loss.
But, something was about to change! This time, Isaiah’s world would be turned upside down. This time, when Isaiah came to the temple to worship, he saw the Lord sitting on a throne. Have you ever come to church and seen the Lord sitting on a throne? No? Maybe that is why worship is often so ineffective! When we come to church, we see the choir, the musicians, the pastor, and the people. It is good to see them. They are dear to us. But, when will we see the Lord sitting on a throne? It is not enough for someone else to see Him! We must see Him with our own eyes!
Isaiah saw Him sitting on His throne, high and lifted up, and the skirt of his robe filled the entire temple. Imagine what that looked like! There sat God in all His regal glory. He was high above where the people would be. His splendor was lifted up so that Isaiah could see all of it!
Had Isaiah not seen God before in the temple? Apparently not! The sad truth is we are so used to coming to church, so comfortable with our services that we do not even expect to see God on His throne when we get to church.
Isaiah was at a point in his life where he could not go on just serving God as a prophet just as he had for so long. He had spoken for God to the King on many occasions. His words had fallen on dull ears. Now Isaiah needed to see God himself, and see Him he did. The robe of God’s glory spread out across the temple until it filled every place, from top to bottom, from front to back, from side to side. It was the most incredible sight Isaiah had ever seen.
I am where Isaiah was. I am desperate to see God in His sanctuary. Oh my Lord, spread out Your glory over this sanctuary, fill it from the top to the bottom, from the front to the back, from this side to the that side.
There in the sanctuary Isaiah saw something else. In verse 2 of our text, it says, “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.”
What were these seraphim doing? Verse 3 says: “And one cried to another and said: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory.’”
Spiritual beings that serve God flew around the temple sanctuary calling out to one another. Whether they are seraphim or angels, my prayer is that they will come here to this sanctuary and call out those beautiful and powerful words once again: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory.”
Sometimes we act as though we are afraid of God, afraid that if He came right here in this sanctuary and sat upon His throne that weird stuff might happen. What God does is never weird. It would be wonderful should a band of angels come here and begin to lead us everyone to sing with joy, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory.”
As the seraphim sang their song of glory, verse 4 says that “the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke.
Maybe this is our problem. We are afraid that if God comes in such glory, He might shake up some things that we don’t won’t shaken. Maybe you don’t need anything in your life shaken up, but I sure do. There are all kinds of circumstances in the lives of the members of my extended family that need to be shaken up. I’ve tried for years to fix some of them, but I just can not fix them. I can’t even fix myself let along anyone else. Shake it up, God shake it up!
The door post is the post that holds the door hinges. When that post is shaken, the door will open. Do you need any open doors in your life? How about your family? Do any of them need an open door? A door can let out and let in. There are some things in my family that need to be let out, kicked out, put out. Then there are some things that need to be let in, drawn in, invited in.
If and when God comes in His glory, both things will begin to happen in the lives of His people. The bad things will be let out of His people, and the good things will be let in.
Hear the response of Isaiah to what he was seeing: “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,” (v. 5).
In verse 4, it says that smoke filled the temple. The word smoke is associated with anger, like smoke coming from the nostrils of an angry person. Maybe it doesn’t seem to us to fit the mood of Isaiah when he saw the Lord high and lifted up. But it does!
Isaiah understood the smoke! God was not pleased. He had not been pleased with King Uzziah. He was not even pleased with Isaiah. Isaiah got the message. God was demanding change.
Isaiah’s response was to the realization that God was not pleased with His people. Isaiah knew that the place God expected things to begin changing was inside Isaiah. Isaiah was convicted of his own need to change. Yes, even the prophets of God need to change if we are ever to see the glory of God fill our sanctuaries.
Isaiah said he was undone, in a position of being silenced as a prophet, of being close to God shutting him down. Why? Because he was a man of unclean lips. Bear with me here. The word “unclean” is the picture of a dead animal that has been laying in the sun for a long time. Isaiah was saying, “Look at that dead and rotting animal. That is a picture of me. I‘m as spiritually dead as that animal is physically dead.”
There was more. Isaiah said he lived among a people with those same unclean lips, who also looked like a dead and rotting animal. Something deep in both Isaiah, and the people of God needed to change. Isaiah did not recognize that until He saw the Lord sitting on His throne.
Change begins with recognizing we need to change. Only if God comes to meet us in His sanctuary will we really ever understand the change we need.
No sooner had Isaiah’s confession left his lips when the seraphim took drastic action. They went to the altar, took one of the burning coals from it, flew to Isaiah and touched his mouth with it. We understand this in a spiritual context. The coal was very real. Its heat was very hot. But, the purpose was not to burn the mouth of Isaiah with third-degree burns.
Verse 6 tells us the purpose of the burning coal, “Your iniquity is taken away, and your sin purged.”
Iniquity is anything in our lives that is bent out of shape, twisted from what God would have us to be, and perverted in ways that keep us from accomplishing everything God wants us to do. The word “sin” means to miss the mark of God’s best. It is when we fail to live up to the great promise and calling God has placed on our lives. These are the things for which we need cleansing. If and when God shows up, His Spirit will touch our lives with His cleansing fire so that we can live the victorious life God has for us. Instead of a broken-heart, a disillusioned heart, an empty heart or a divided heart, we will know a completed heart. We will see all our potential fulfilled.
The Lord spoke openly: “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” God already knew! He was waiting for Isaiah to know!
Isaiah said, “Here am I! Send me.”
The words “Here am I!” are words used when expressing surprise. Isaiah was very surprised. After serving God all those years, many of them with only a little passion and fervor, Isaiah was sure there was nothing important that God would call him to do now!
Have you ever felt that your life was at a place where God would not call you to do something important for Him? All of us have! We underestimate God and we underestimate what God can do with us. The question is not whether God is calling us to rise up and serve Him. The question is whether we will surprise even ourselves and stand up to let God know we will serve him wherever He so chooses.
This morning, I wonder if there are any of us here today who have a broken heart? Any who are disillusioned? Any who are empty in your spirit? Any who have a divided heart?
How desperately we need to see the Lord high and lifted up. Oh Lord, fill this sanctuary with Your glory. Send Your angelic servants to purge and cleanse us from everything that is keeping us from being what You want us to be.
Dear friends, do you hunger for more of God! Are you desperate to see Him in His sanctuary? Will you cry out with the angels and sing, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts!” This is your time to let God touch you with His holy fire and cleanse you with His pure love, grace and mercy. Here is His altar! Will you come? Will you come now? The Lord on His throne is waiting!
