TITLE: THE ANCIENT OF DAYS IS STILL ON HIS THRONE
SCRIPTURE: ISAIAH 6:1 / PSALM 103:19 / DANIEL 7:13
++++The world is watching and will be watching what our nation will do on Tuesday as we go to the polls to elect our new nation’s leader. I am sure there is trepidation felt in each of us. Don’t pay too much attention to the POLITICAL PUNDITS, just get to the polls if you have not already done so, and let your voice be heard. Without your vote, the others who vote also decide about your life, and perhaps your freedoms.
• The system of democracy does not work without the voice of the people
• With abstention, you are not making a statement, and you allow the others what they want, so you cannot express a protest
• If you have not early voted – make your plan today on how you will get to the polls on Tuesday
++++I recall hearing a story some 30 years ago told by a Parent how their son came home from school wearing his "I VOTED" sticker and slumped into the chair. Their 6-year-old son, lover of all thing’s sports-related, had just “voted” for the first time in his ELEMENTARY SCHOOL’S MOCK ELECTION - vote for your FAVORITE TEAM SPORT. Apparently, his choice was not the most popular.
• “Hey Noah, did you get to vote today?" this parent asked
• "Yeah, I but didn't win," he answered with a defeated voice
• "Well, did you vote for what you believed in?"
• Quietly and slowly, still thinking it through, he responded, "Yes"
• "Were you willing to take a risk to stand up for what mattered most to you?"
• He pulled off the round sticker from his shirt and examined it from all sides, "Yes. (long, dramatic sigh)
• But, I still don't like losing"
++++In a few short days, close to half of our nation may relate to those feelings.
• It’s never easy to lose
• It's Discouraging
• It’s Disappointing
• You may feel defeated and wonder why it all didn't go your way
• Or why others didn’t see things the way you did
++++Nevertheless, many will celebrate election results on Tuesday and many others will not. Yet no matter which side of the race you have been on over these long months, this truth remains -
• Every time we are willing to have a voice, to take a stand for what we believe in, we “Win”
• And we can trust God with the results
• The enemy is at work more than ever during these times
• He will seek to divide believers and stir up strife and hate, over an election
++++Whenever we see division occur in the world, especially division that pits one group in society against another, we can affirm that THE DEVIL IS IN SOME WAY BEHIND IT. He wants us to destroy ourselves and hatred against other people is one of the fastest ways we become the AUTHORS OF OUR OWN DEMISE.
• It’s not politicians that divide us
• It’s not your political affiliation that divides us
• The devil, the adversary is behind it all
• Don’t be fooled
++++DON’T FALL FOR THAT TRAP. Whether it’s in election season or just daily life -
• We win when we do what God asks us to do
• We win when we are willing to live wisely
• We win every time we choose to obey His word to the very best of our ability
++++There’s great freedom there.
• Freedom from fear
• Freedom from worry
• Freedom from defeat
• Freedom from anger and hate
++++Let me remind us this morning, nothing has taken God by surprise. Never has, Never Will. Not ever. HE’S ON THE THRONE AND SOVEREIGN OVER ALL. He has a plan and is at work on behalf of His people, “FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS.” ESTHER 4:14 --
• Our prayers matter
• Our voice matters
• We can choose to move forward from here with Grace
• We can choose to stay involved
• We can choose to have a voice
• We can choose to be engaged
• And maybe more than ever before, to make a difference in our nation
++++GOD IS NOT A GOD OF POLITICS. God is not a REPUBLICAN – DEMOCRAT - INDEPENDENT. To confine the God of the Universe to the petty entanglements of American politics is to reject the many attributes of a Supreme God who is OMNISCIENT – OMNIPOTENT – OMNIPRESENT.
• The Bible says -- HE IS ABOVE ALL THINGS, AND THAT HIS WAYS ARE HIGHER THAN OUR WAYS
++++Our nation is in a time of crisis not unlike the crisis the NATION OF ISRAEL was facing in the book of ISAIAH. They had compromised and become corrupted because of their sinful rebellion against God. God raised up Isaiah to confront them and plead with them to REPENT IN ORDER TO AVERT HIS COMING JUDGMENT.
• Isaiah knew they would eventually be invaded and taken into exile by the Babylonians
++++The looming question in his mind, as it may be in our minds as well as we face new leadership in our nation -
• What went wrong?
• Have the purposes of God somehow been thwarted or defeated?
• Is God still in control?
• Is He still on His throne?
++++And perhaps another question in his mind was “WHAT KIND OF PERSON IS GOD LOOKING FOR IN A TIME OF CRISIS LIKE THIS?” These questions are answered in this chapter where Isaiah recorded how God had called and commissioned him to serve as a PROPHET.
++++Like every prophet, God had to first prepare him for the job. And in the case of Isaiah, God prepared him by GIVING HIM A VISION OF HIS MAJESTIC HOLINESS that overwhelmed him with a sense of his utter sinfulness.
• He was never the same after this awe-inspiring, life-changing encounter with God
++++During Isaiah's lifetime, the nation of Judah, too, went through a period of ANXIETY and UNCERTAINTY. ISAIAH 6:1 tells us, "IN THE YEAR THAT KING UZZIAH DIED, I SAW THE LORD, HIGH AND EXALTED, SEATED ON A THRONE; AND THE TRAIN OF HIS ROBE FILLED THE TEMPLE." Now, many people read right past those opening words, but God isn't merely telling us it was the year Uzziah died as a way of marking the date. He's giving us that bit of information so that we might recognize it was A SEASON OF CHANGE FOR THE PEOPLE OF JUDAH.
++++As the chapter begins, the reader is told of the death of Uzziah the king. II CHRONICLES 26:1-5 explains that HE DID RIGHT IN THE SIGHT OF THE LORD.
• As long as he sought the Lord, God made him prosper
• He was given two names — AZARIAH -- 1 KINGS 15:1-7, meaning “The Lord has helped”
• And UZZIAH, meaning “The Lord is my strength”
• His 52-year reign over Judah was one of great prosperity for the nation and he was esteemed by the people
++++He must have meant something special to Isaiah; the prophet wrote of “THE REST OF THE ACTS OF UZZIAH FROM FIRST TO LAST” -- II CHRONICLES 26:22 is one of the prophet’s great themes, that term appearing some 30 times in his writing.
• So, when we come to Isaiah 6, uncertainty dominates
• Who is going to be the strength of the kingdom now?
• What Economic, Political and, most importantly, Spiritual changes can be expected?
++++The sad reality is the fact we are doing the same thing today. Placing too much attention on who will be seated in the White House. We have picked sides as to who we feel should be seated there. Our focus as God’s people has been diverted to the wrong place for too long.
• Uzziah was a great king and Isaiah apparently looked up to him
• Isaiah was a man of God
• He was a prophet
• Yet, he didn’t see the Lord until Uzziah died
++++Why? BECAUSE HE HAD MORE RESPECT FOR UZZIAH THAN HE HAD FOR GOD.
• He depended on Uzziah more than he depended on God
• Instead of having his eyes on God, Isaiah had been trusting in the king
• It wasn’t until that which he had placed between himself, and God had been removed that he was able to see the God he was called to serve
++++Can I tell you my brothers and sisters, we have depended on everything else but God during the election cycle.
• We have depended on ‘Get Out the Vote’
• We have depended on Early Voting
• We have depended on who has the largest rallies
• We have depended on CNN/MSNBC/FOX/ABC
• Have we forgotten ‘THE ANCIENT OF DAYS IS STILL ON THE THRONE’
++++ISAIAH MINISTERED AND PREACHED THROUGH THE REIGNS OF FOUR SUCCESSIVE KINGS, the last of which, UZZIAH’S GREAT-GREAT-GRANDSON, MANASSEH, HAD THE MAN OF GOD (ISAIAH) EXECUTED FOR HIS WORDS. But, significantly, at the onset of his ministry, Isaiah saw the Lord — the strength of Israel — sitting on his throne.
• In these days, may we also have a fresh vision of the one who sits on his throne and whose sovereignty rules over all
• Whoever is in the White House, you make sure God is still in your House
++++THE NATION WAS TRAUMATIZED BY UZZIAH'S DEATH.
• Although he wasn't a perfect man — far from it — he was a good king
• Godlier than the king who came before him and the king who reigned after him
• Uzziah led the nation for 52 years and had been the hope of the people
• But now he was gone
• And the people wondered, "What should we do now?"
++++Isaiah must have wondered that too. BUT THEN HE SAW THE LORD WITH HIS OWN EYES, SEATED ON HIS GLORIOUS THRONE.
• The message -- Regardless of who sits upon the thrones of this world, the true King of kings reigns in heaven above
• In a season of Anxiety - Worry - Fear, God gave Isaiah a renewed vision of reality
++++Although Isaiah received this remarkable vision of the Lord on His throne, HE NEVER GOT TO EXPERIENCE THE POWER AND THE STRENGTH OF THE RESURRECTED JESUS.
• Our King, who was mocked and flogged
• Who was crucified and buried
• Rose victoriously on the third day
• Our King, who was hated and had nowhere to lay His head
• He is reigning and ruling on the rim of the universe even now
• We can depend on Him, no matter what comes our way
I stopped by to tell you two days before our nation elects our new leader – THE ANCIENT OF DAYS IS STILL ON HIS THRONE.
• A tremendous change has taken place in Isaiah’s life
• A new king sits upon the throne in Jerusalem
• And yet, Isaiah sees the Lord
• So may we all, when transition and change appear in our lives, so that we too can say as boldly as Isaiah did - In the year of King Uzziah’s death, I saw the Lord!
--So I stopped by this morning with a short and simple message to encourage us – no matter what the outcome will be on Tuesday it will surprise and disappoint many, but it will not surprise God because - THE ANCIENT OF DAYS IS STILL ON HIS THRONE.
Can I prove it to you this morning?
--George Washington – Two term (God is still on His Throne)
--John Adams -- One Term (God is still on His Throne)
--Thomas Jefferson -- Two Terms (God is still on His Throne)
--James Madison -- Two Terms
--James Monroe -- Two Terms
--John Quincy Adams -- One Term
--Andrew Jackson -- Two Terms
--Martin Van Buren -- One Term
--William Henry Harrison – One Year
--John Tyler -- One Term
--James K. Polk – One Term (God is still on His Throne)
--Zachary Taylor – One Year
--Millard Fillmore -- One Term
--Franklin Pierce -- One Term
--James Buchanan -- One Term
--Abraham Lincoln – One Term (Assassinated)
--Andrew Johnson -- One Term
--Ulysses S. Grant -- Two Terms
--Rutherford B. Hayes -- One Term (God is still on His Throne)
--James Garfield – One Year
--Chester Arthur -- One Term
--Grover Cleveland -- One Term
--Benjamin Harrison -- One Term
--Grover Cleveland -- One Term
--William McKinley – One Term
--Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt – Two Terms (God is still on His Throne)
--William Howard Taft -- One Term
--Woodrow Wilson -- Two Terms
--Warren Harding -- Two Years
--Calvin Coolidge – Two Terms
--Herbert Hoover -- One Term (God is still on His Throne)
--Franklin D. Roosevelt -- Two Terms
--Harry S. Truman -- Two Terms
--Dwight D. Eisenhower -- Two Terms
--John F. Kennedy -- One Term (Assassinated) (God is still on His Throne)
--Lyndon B. Johnson – One Term
--Richard Nixon -- One Term (Resigned during second term)
--Gerald Ford -- One Term (God is still on His Throne)
--James (Jimmy) Carter -- One Term
--Ronald Reagan -- Two Terms
--George H.W. Bush – One Term
--William (Bill) J. Clinton – Two Terms
--George W. Bush -- Two Terms (God is still on His Throne)
--Barack Obama – Two Terms
--Donald J. Trump -- One Term
--Joe Biden – One Term
--Through it all – THE ANCIENT OF DAYS IS STILL ON HIS THRONE
--Make sure you put your trust in He who sits high and looks low
--THE ANCIENT OF DAYS IS STILL ON HIS THRONE
