Into the Throne Room of God
Isaiah chapter 6:1-13
Good morning everyone,
Have you ever experienced the Lord’s presence so much that you were dropped to your knees in reverence for the Lord and found yourself without words? Would you want that to happen?
If you would turn to Isaiah chapter 6, we are going to look at the prophet Isaiah as he is in the Spirit by the Spirit of God.
First let us honor the ladies in our life this Mother’s Day- those that have sacrificially given their lives to make sure we have what we need when we need it.
This is the first Mothers day that I will not have my mom to call and let her know how important she is to me. Years ago, we lost Becky’s mom and there is a piece of the puzzle missing and the picture just doesn’t look complete without them.
So if your mother has passed, I understand the void you experience and we need to hold the memories of the past to help us live in the future.
I know for some Mothers day is tough- I pray that today the Lord will fill the void that you have with His love, peace, and fullness.
The message this morning is not a Mother’s day specific message.
It is a message for those that need the Lord’s face to shine upon them.
It is a message that no matter what void is in your life… I know a savior and His name if Jesus!
Prayer-
Isaiah chapter 6:1-13
Let me give you some background before we dig into the text-
Isaiah was a prophet that lived about 740 years before Jesus walked this earth.
King Uzziah who took the throne as a young boy (16) was an evil king who has just died of leprosy.
King Uzziah was the prophet Isaiah’s uncle.
The prophet realized that a Holy God would judge even a king for the sins that he committed.
He was given a chance to see firsthand the holiness of God in the judgment of the leprous king and knew that if God judged him, he would be judged also.
When we see and understand the way that God deals with sin, our eyes are opened and we see the Lord the way He really is.
Society needs to have their eyes opened. They need to see a Holy God that doesn’t tolerate sin but they also need to see a God that desires to show mercy.
He is transported into the throne room of God where he comes into the presence of God. Like I said, he was in the Spirit by the Spirit of God.
Isaiah saw what happens in the throne room of God and saw the glory of God.
He experienced the trembling of the foundation of the temple.
He saw with his own eyes the altar of God.
He saw flying seraphims (flaming angels with six wings)
Illustration-
1982 in Corpus Christi Texas, I was sitting at the dining room table by myself doing my studies and the presence of God became so real to me that I was brought down to my knees in reverence. For a moment I was scared and the next I was in such awe that I could not get out any words verbally except praise you Lord, Praise you Lord. In His presence was so freeing, so exhilarating, so life-changing. I have never had that experience to that extinct since.
The song I can only imagine has such meaning to me!
I can only imagine what it will be like, when I walk by your side.
I can only imagine what my eyes would see, when your face is before me.
Surrounded by your glory, what will my heart feel- will I dance for you Jesus or in awe of you be still.
Will I stand in your presence or to my knees will I fall.
Will I sing hallelujah, will I be able to speak at all. I can only imagine.
I will tell you this! You will never forget it and it will change your life forever!
Isaiah tells us that he clearly saw the Lord high and lifted up- exalted above the heavens. And a six winged angels were calling out Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty! The whole earth is filled with His glory!
If we got a glimpse of God for who He truly is, we would not be able to contain our worship- our praise. We would be at the feet of Jesus!
“And the train of his robe filled the temple.” The glory robe of Almighty God!
Just the edge of it filled the temple- The glory robe of God has touched us in Jesus Christ our savior!
When we put on the robe of Christ, we become his sanctuary, His temple.
We are robed in His splendor before God the Father and the flaming Angels that surround the throne room of God.
Just the edge of his robe fills the temple- it not only shows us the majesty of God, but shows us the incomparable size of God.
Whatever the size of your God! Think bigger.
The question of how big is God can only be answered by God because our minds cannot fathom the size of God.
God transcends physical dimension. We cannot use human words to describe a God that created the universe, He created everything we see and feel and experience.
Infinity is a big word for us but it does not complete God.
God is outside of time and space.
God is not made of matter, He has no physical form like us, that is why He had to come incarnate in Jesus Christ.
God is Spirit (John 4:24)
We are a soul, connected to a body, and we exist within the limits of time and space.
We live from birth to death in a physical body
God is eternal and is not restricted by anything!
Rev. 21:22 in heaven there will not be a temple because the temple is the Lord God almighty.
Psalm 33:13-14 tells us that God can see every person on the earth at one time and is not restricted by space.
Whatever the size of your God- think bigger! He is outside of all that we could possibly imagine!
Yet He wants to have a relationship with us! Isn’t that wonderful! Doesn’t that just blow you away that God would want to communicate with us in prayer and share in what we go through and want to give us power to live a life within His presence.
That is what Isaiah saw as the Lord took him in the Spirit to the throne room of God.
“I saw the Lord high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple.”
Surrounded around the throne room were Seraphs praising God-
“Holy, holy, Holy is the Lord Almighty, the whole earth is filled with His glory”
I hear this and I realize that the Lord is going to receive His praise no matter what! We are given an opportunity to experience His presence and to worship Him.
Isaiah is also given the opportunity to see who he is in himself without the mercy and grace of almighty God.
At the sound of the mighty worship of the seraphs, the temple shook and the temple filled with smoke.
“Woe to me, I cried, I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the king, the Lord almighty.”
Just like a good good God, He offers salvation!
“Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it, he touched my mouth and said, see, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”
In our desperation and need, me with unclean lips, you with unclean lips, mankind with unclean lips, he takes a live coal off the altar of God, Jesus Christ our Lord. He touches our lips, our guilt and our sins are atoned for.”
Someone ought to say amen!
Once we see who He is and we see who we are without him, we can see that at the altar of God comes forgiveness and mercy and grace!
Instead of throwing him out of the sanctuary of God because of his sin, God offers the cleansing coal of mercy and grace. Sin has to be dealt with- it cannot be ignored!
Isaiah was a prophet who made his living speaking- yet he declares he is a man with unclean lips. He declares himself a sinner in need of a holy God. His words were unclean, he has offended others and he has offended a holy God.
Polluted with sin, defiled, contaminated- Isaiah who came to the altar of God with a heart of repentance was met with a God of healing.
Passion version
(5-7) “Then I stammered and said, Woe is me! I’m destroyed-doomed as a sinful man! For my words are tainted and I live among people who talk the same way. King Yahweh, commander of angel Armies! My eyes have gazed upon him.”
Don’t miss this! He was shown who God is-
He understood who he was without the Lord in his life- and lastly he was shown that we all have a calling to be God servant in this world!
After the assurance of forgiveness- He calls out for those who would go to his people!
(8) “Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, whom shall I send? And who will go for us? …and I said, Here am I
Our response to a loving forgiving God- Here am I send me!
No one answered God’s call faster than the prophet Isaiah.
Calloused hearts when softened by the Lord must respond with send me!
Whatever that looks like and it will be different for each of us!
Light of God rejected hardens the heart!
Isaiah’s message was to a people who have plaster over their eyes and don’t see the things of God as important.
Those who practice idolatry, those who have crave out material idols and think that another time would be a better time for salvation.
Those who idols of wood and stone and themselves have become as hard as their idols.
As we close, listen to the words of Isaiah as he bring the message to the people around them- again reading from passion version 9-13.
“Then he said, go and tell the people: you keep listening but understand nothing. You keep watching but learn nothing. Go and preach a message that will make their hearts dull, their ears plugged, and their eyes blind. Otherwise, their eyes will begin to see, their ears will begin to hear, their hearts will begin to understand, and they will return to me for healing and be healed.” Then I asked, O Lord, for how long? He answered, until their houses and cities are destroyed, and uninhabited and their land a desolate wasteland. Until the Lord has exiled them all to a distant country and the entire land lies deserted. Yet if even a tenth remains there, it will be burned again. It will be like a fallen oak or terebinth tree when it falls. The stump will grow again, now the stump is the holy seed.”
We are to keep speaking truth as long as we have breath-
Jesus longs for open and hungry hearts to receive his message- some will receive and some will not- it is not up for us to decide who we will speak too. At some point all those without Christ will be destroyed.
The two trees mentioned in this verse grow in the Middle East. Both trees even if cut down will again grow from the stump left. The seed of holiness is the stump. The stump can become the sacred seed and can become a new beginning. God will always use his remnant of believers to make a difference even in a world that has shut his ears to the things of God.
Our requirements from this passage
Revelation of God as high and lifted up
Revelation of His holiness
Revelation of our uncleanness without Him
Salvation is a divine cleansing through Christ
Divine call to spread His Word
Here am I Lord- Send me!
Prayer-
