Our Vision of God
Key Passage: Isaiah 6
Date: June 7, 2024
If you would take the word of God, please with me, and go to the book of Isaiah tonight, and we will be in Isaiah chapter number six for our message this evening. I do appreciate the opportunity to be back with you tonight. We were able to go home Monday afternoon and be home for about two days. It was great to be back in our own house, sleep in your own bed for two nights, and Lord willing, we will be back there late again tomorrow night, and then headed back to Tennessee on Saturday for another week-long meeting.
It is a lot of traveling, and I appreciate my family and just their patience in being a part of all of that—the four children, my wife having to deal with all of them. It can be trying at times, but when we keep our minds on what it is that we are doing—we are not traveling for traveling’s sake; we are traveling for the gospel’s sake—it helps to shed some light and perspective on that.
But I am grateful to be able to be back at a place where we get to do that too often: to leave and then return for another meeting. I appreciate your pastor letting us come back and just see some more familiar faces tonight and allowing me the privilege of being able to preach behind his pulpit and fill the spot for him while he is away. I do not take that lightly, and I am grateful for that. I just hope that I can be a blessing and a help to you tonight.
Here in Isaiah chapter number six, we will begin reading in verse number one. The Bible says: “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto 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 moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. Then said I, 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 mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.”
“Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: and he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.”
“Also I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send? And who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.”
If you are in the habit of marking things in the Bible, I would encourage you to underline just a few phrases that we see in this passage tonight. These phrases will be kind of what we use as points as we walk through it. Notice in verse number one, “In the year that King Uzziah died”; in verse number five, “Then said I, Woe is me”; and then in verse number eight, “Here am I, send me.”
The phrase that we will look at that we will get our title from our message tonight is in verse number one, where Isaiah says, “I saw also the Lord.” I saw also the Lord.
What we come to in Isaiah chapter 6 is that this passage of Scripture is known as Isaiah’s vision. Isaiah’s vision. We see here that Isaiah got a vision for who God is. He saw God as one who is high, and who is holy, and who is lifted up. This vision allowed him to then see himself for who he truly was, and his countrymen for who they truly were. Then it helped him to see what God wanted him to do and what God needed other individuals to do: to be a messenger for him to the world.
I would like to preach on this thought tonight as we apply this to our lives biblically. We just came out of a missions conference, and what a great time that we had. We were just blessed to be here with you all, and we appreciate your heart to see the gospel go all around the world and even here at home to see churches planted, and I want to commend you for that. We were excited to see the promises that were made, and I want to encourage you in all of that: God will provide what He has laid on your heart to give. I could probably have preached a message on that tonight and just shared a lot of personal testimonies over the years of how by faith, when we stepped out to obey the Lord, the Lord gave us what He laid on our heart to give to Him. As I heard one preacher say a couple weeks ago, if it is God’s will, it is God’s bill; He will provide.
We just came out of a mission conference, and we take this thought of our vision of God. I want us to apply that thought to ourselves biblically and practically here as we sit tonight and ask ourselves, what is our vision of God currently? Because the truth of the matter is, our vision of God will determine how we view everything else in this life.
Hold your place here, if you would, and go with me to the New Testament gospel record of Matthew chapter number 22. Matthew chapter 22. We are going to look at two verses here, two instances where a similar question is asked: what think we of Christ, or what will we do with Christ? We will see how that was answered by individuals based on how they treated the Lord. It was an indication of what their view of God is or was.
Matthew chapter 22, look with me in verse number 42, if you would. Here we come to the end of the Lord’s ministry and His physical body on this earth, and He is speaking to the disciples here, and He asks them this question in Matthew chapter 22, verse number 42. He says, saying, “What think ye of Christ?” He is asking the Pharisees, not His disciples, the Pharisees this question: “What think ye of Christ? Whose son is he?” What think ye of Christ?
Then fast forward a few more pages, a few more chapters in the book of Matthew, to Matthew chapter 27. Matthew chapter 27, verse number 22. Here we see Pilate with the Lord Jesus Christ. He has asked the crowd already who they would prefer that he release—prefer that he release the Lord Jesus Christ, or to release Barabbas—and they choose Barabbas. Then he asks the crowd this question in verse number 22. He says, “What shall I do then with Jesus, which is called Christ?”
I wonder tonight what our answer would be to those questions. What will I do with the Lord Jesus Christ? What do I think of the Lord Jesus Christ? As we study the gospel records in the life of Christ, it is easy to tell what many thought about Christ. The Pharisees, because of their view of who Christ is, they chose to condemn the Lord Jesus Christ and convict Him of crimes He had not committed. Pilate’s view of who Christ was is what led him to be offered up to be sacrificed. Peter’s view of who Christ was led Peter to deny the Lord Jesus Christ. Judas, because of his view of Christ, is what led Judas to betray the Lord Jesus Christ. None of them saw the Lord Jesus Christ for who He truly is.
Our vision of God will determine everything else in our life: how we view everything and how we live our life on this earth. So I wonder tonight, what is our vision of God?
Would you pray with me as we examine that in Isaiah 6 this evening?
Father, I do thank You again for allowing us to be able to gather this evening. I pray as we gather, Lord, that we would not miss what You have for us tonight. We have not come to hear any individual or to see anyone. We have come to meet with You. Father, we pray that that is what would take place now, that You would meet with us. As we open Your word, may it be clear in our hearts and our minds. Please give me the words to say as I explain and expound upon these passages of Scripture that we will examine. But Father, I pray that it would be the Holy Spirit who truly does the preaching tonight. As You speak to our hearts, may we obey in the fullest, and may Your will and way be fully accomplished in our time together this evening, and may You receive all of the honor and all of the glory. And it is in Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
As we think about our vision of God and as we meet together tonight, the truth of the matter is, I believe we all would agree that we are meeting in the midst of a troubled world. As we look around at our nation tonight, politically in our country and in the world, we are on the brink of World War III, it seems, especially according to many sources. Economically, inflation is rising. The economy is tanking. Spiritually tonight, as a country, we are drifting further and further away into apostasy. Brother Barbara mentioned that in his presentation, talking about churches, especially in the Nashville area, but it seems more and more is the case that churches, as they meet, they are trading a cheap alternative for what is true worship. Too often, as we think about the spiritual condition of our nation, we hear of pastors who have left the ministry to pursue other interests or pastors who have been forced to leave the ministry due to immoral actions. We are living in the midst of a troubled time.
The truth of the matter is, we should not be surprised that that is the day and age that we live in because Paul, in his letter to young Timothy, said that in the last days, perilous times would come. When we look around and we see these perilous times, we should not be surprised because God has already told us that it would be so.
But the question that we must ask ourselves is not just what is the time in which we live, but what are we going to do about it? The truth of the matter is, we could become all consumed about different reforms and different policies and trying to treat all the symptoms that we see. But if we engage our efforts in that area, we are truly only treating the symptoms of root causes.
We could stand and lift our voices tonight against the culture and the direction that things are heading, and I am not saying that none of that is needed. Some of that is needed, but if we do that, we are really addressing only the surface area. We must address the root problem of what we see in our nation, and the root problem of what we see is certainly a sin problem. The answer to the problem that we see in this world and in our country is what we need: a revolution back to the Word of God. If we would begin to build our lives and build our views off of the Word of God again, we would see us headed in the right direction.
The truth of the matter is, we have a vision problem in America tonight. Our Christianity has become so shallow and so superficial that it ceases to draw mankind to it. It is not because Christ has lost any of His power, that the gospel does not have the power that it once had, because God’s power never wanes. But His power and His love and His word have been falsely misrepresented, or poorly misrepresented by His people. The Bible says in Proverbs chapter 29, verse 18, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.”
When we think about the vision problem in America tonight, it is not a vision problem amongst the lost of this world because the Bible says they are blind and cannot see. The vision problem lies at the feet of God’s people who failed to see God for who He truly is.
As we think about this vision problem, we are not discussing tonight about a vision—I know we just came out of a mission conference—but we are not talking about a vision for the harvest or a vision for the souls of this world or a vision for our community or a vision for our church, although that is needed. But we are talking about our vision of God, and if that vision is what it ought to be, then the vision for the rest of the world will be what it ought to be. Because our vision of God will determine how we view everything else in this life. So I ask you again tonight, what is our vision of God?
As we examine Isaiah’s vision, we will see that this vision that he has of God in this chapter drastically changes his life, gives him greater clarity and greater perspective, and propels him into a life filled in ministry to His people on behalf of God.
Would you notice with me, number one, tonight, as we look at the vision of Isaiah and consider this thought of our vision of God, would you notice the death of his king in verse number one? The death of his king. It says, “In the year that King Uzziah died.” That is very interesting, is it not? That God would give us this little fact of information that not only did Isaiah have a vision of God, but he had this vision of God in the day that the king, Uzziah, died. That would beg the question tonight: Who is this King Uzziah?
Would you hold your place here and go with me to the book of Second Chronicles, Chapter 26? When we come to Second Chronicles chapter 26, we are introduced to this ruler named Uzziah. Uzziah is considered by many scholars as the last great king of the nation of Judah. If we understand our Bible history, we know after Solomon, the nation of Israel ceased to be one nation made up of the 12 tribes. After Solomon’s rule, they split into two separate kingdoms. Ten tribes followed Jeroboam, and they made up what was known as the nation of Israel. Two tribes stayed faithful to the House of David. They followed Rehoboam, and they were known as the Southern Kingdom, the nation of Judah. From that point on, there would be two separate kingdoms attributed to the House of Israel.
So this is the kingdom of Judah. There were some godly kings in Judah’s line. There were some ungodly kings in Judah’s line. But Uzziah is considered to be the greatest king of the southern kingdom, the kingdom of Judah. Let us just look at a few verses to kind of give us an idea of who Uzziah was. Now, we must point out that Uzziah did not finish well. Much like Solomon, his heart, when it was lifted up in pride, caused him to rebel, and he was judged for that. But up until that point, he was a very mighty king.
Notice it says in verse number two of Second Chronicles chapter 26: “He built Eloth, and restored it to Judah: after that the king slept with his fathers.” Sixteen years old was Uzziah when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty and two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name also was Jecoliah of Jerusalem. And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father Amaziah did. And he sought God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the visions of God.
Skip down to verse number six. “And he went forth and warred against the Philistines, and brake down the wall of Gath, and the wall of Jabneh, and the wall of Ashdod, and built cities about Ashdod, and among the Philistines.” He was a king of war and victory.
Also, verse number nine, it says, “Moreover Uzziah built towers at Jerusalem at the corner gate, and at the valley gate, and at the turning of the wall, and fortified them. Also he built towers in the desert, and digged many wells: for he had much cattle, both in the low country, and in the plains, and husbandmen also, and vine dressers in the mountains and in Carmel: for he loved husbandry.” He was a king who led an infrastructure. He was a king who built up the wealth and the might of the kingdom of Judah.
It was in the day that this king, King Uzziah, died that Isaiah saw his vision. If we study out the kings, we know that the next one was Jotham, and he was a godly king, not to the level of might and prosperity as Uzziah, but he was a godly king. And after Jotham was Ahaz. Ahaz would be a king who rebelled against God. Ahaz would be a king who would lead the nation of Judah into idolatry and turn them away from the heart of God. Because of that, they would face oppression from their enemies.
No doubt Isaiah, a man of great understanding, a man of great discernment, a man of great perception, understood what it meant when King Uzziah died. I submit to you tonight that Isaiah was placing his confidence in a man prior to chapter number six, then placing his confidence in Almighty God. But it was on the day that the king died that Isaiah got his vision of who God clearly is.
I wonder tonight, who is it that is seated on the throne of our hearts? I wonder tonight, where is it that our confidence is being placed this evening? In the situations and the things that we are facing and the things that we are dealing with, where are we placing our confidence? If it is in anyone or anything else other than Almighty God, it is misplaced confidence.
I believe we see this every time in our nation that we have an election cycle. I know that we are coming up on an election cycle this year. In November, we will cast our vote for the next president of the United States. I am certainly not negating our responsibility to exercise our God-given right to choose our leaders. I firmly believe, just as Daniel did in the book of Daniel, that we as Christians should exert every ounce of influence that we have to elect righteous leaders and to influence our leaders for righteousness. However, we must draw the line at thinking that that is where our hope is found.
There is not one man or one woman or one group or one party that can make everything in our country what it ought to be. Remember the root problem with what we are dealing with and what we are facing is a sin problem. It is an age-old problem, a problem that began in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve were tempted by Satan and they disobeyed God, and sin entered the heart of man, and sin entered this world. That battle between good and evil, between God and Satan, has gone on throughout the ages, and there is only one person who can bring victory and who can rectify that problem, and that is the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. No one else can solve the issues of our world except the Lord Jesus Christ.
So for the answer for what we see taking place in our world, the answer to address those problems is what? It is the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Yet how often do we see—and I am not talking about the world, I am talking about believers—on two separate sides of an issue or two differences of opinions, and they are willing to stand up and debate this policy or debate this candidate or debate this decision, and they are willing to go on and on and on and on. But when it is time to go out and knock doors and share the gospel to the people, they are silent. When it is time to talk about the things of God and how that can fix the problems of this world, they do not have anything to say.
When that is the case, again, I am not saying that we do not have to debate those things or address those things. That all has its place, but it must not come in the place of the things of God.
Isaiah, in the day that King Uzziah died, that is the day that Isaiah got his clear vision of who God is. All too often, we place things on the throne of our heart and put it into place which only God should hold in our lives. Sometimes God has to come in and has to remove those things from our lives. Who is it tonight that we are looking to? Placing our confidence? Again, I ask, what is our vision of God?
I know we do not like to remember it or talk about it, and I want to say this before I do mention it: everybody’s place is coming from a different place when we talk about what we faced four years ago on COVID. Everybody’s health is different, everybody’s situation is different, and I understand all of that. We certainly should be discerning, and we certainly should be cautious. But one thing that bothered me as we went through that period in our nation was the fear that I saw amongst God’s people. Again, I am not excluding that we, or saying that we should not be discerning, that we should not be careful, that we should not use the wisdom that God gives us to make right decisions. But I am talking about there was a spirit of fear that was prevalent, not only amongst the world, but amongst the church in our land. We must get back to the place where we place all of our confidence at the feet of Almighty God.
Tonight I wonder, who is the king that rules over our heart tonight? Maybe tonight there are some kings in our midst that need to be removed so that we can get our eyes back on God again and see a clear vision of who He is.
We see the death of his king. Then secondly, tonight, would you notice the depth of his vision? The depth of his vision. In verse number one of Isaiah chapter number six, he says, “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord.” Now it is interesting, the name of the Lord used here. It is the name Adonai, which means my Lord, but it was used in the place of Jehovah throughout this passage. We see that word Lord capitalized; that is the word Jehovah. But here he uses the word Adonai. The Jews would use that word Adonai as a more reverent term for Almighty God. It is both a personal term, and it is also a term of reverence for the Lord. It is my Lord.
He said, as Isaiah is coming before the throne of God, in the day that the king died, we see that he is approaching God in a form of reverence. When the disciples asked the Lord Jesus Christ, they said, “Lord, teach us to pray,” and He began to teach them that model prayer. He began this: “Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.” He came with a spirit of reverence for Almighty God.
All too often we see a cheapening of the name of God in our society. One of the Ten Commandments is still, “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.” It is not just using it in a certain way. Anytime that we speak the name of God without really giving any proper attention to it, we speak it in a vain way; that is a sin against God. God is not our buddy. God is not the man upstairs. He is the Creator God, and He allows us to graciously approach His throne, but we are to come before His presence reverently.
Sometimes it is not just what we say when we speak to God or the names that we use for Him. Sometimes it is the spirit in which we approach Him. We have four small children, and you have had the opportunity to meet some of them this week and spend a little time with them, and we let them pray from time to time. I have one in particular that when it is their turn to pray, they like to jump right in and jump right back out. Sometimes we are left wondering as a family, what did we just pray for? So we are trying to teach them that when we pray, we want to sit up straight, we want to bow our head, we want to close our eyes, we want to ask for things specifically. What is it exactly that we are asking God to do here? We want to give attention to the Lord when we are praying because we want to come before Him in reverence.
The truth of the matter is, in my own life, sometimes I know that I do not come before His throne reverently. I come before Him in a hurry. I come before Him distracted. Sometimes I come before Him with my list of things that He needs to do for me this day instead of coming and seeing what does He want done in my life today. And in the day that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, Adonai, my Lord, a reverent term for the Lord. What is our approach to God tonight?
Not only do we see the approach that he made, but notice the location of where the Lord is in his vision. He says, “I saw the Lord where? Sitting upon a throne.” He saw God seated on high, on His throne. May I submit to you tonight that God is still on the throne this evening? The Bible says in Proverbs chapter 21, verse number one, “The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will.”
As you study the Bible and you look at the kings that are mentioned in the Bible, I think specifically of King Cyrus in the book of Ezra. God had told the nation of Judah that they were going to be taken captive, and that captivity would last for 70 years. Once that 70 years was up, King Cyrus, a Persian king—not a Jewish king, but a heathen king—issued a decree allowing the nation of Israel who had been taken in the Babylonian captivity, the nation of Judah pardoning, to return and to go back and to rebuild their land, to rebuild the temple, and to restore the worship. God stirred the heart of King Cyrus, and tonight as we meet, we must remember that the heart of the king is still in the hand of the Lord, and the true ruler of this universe, the true sovereign of this entire world, is God, and He is still seated on the throne.
Revelation chapter 13 verse 1 says, “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.” Not only is God seated on His throne and holding all power, but we must remember that we have a benevolent God. Though He is sovereign, He is still all loving. Romans chapter 8 verse 28 reminds us that “all things work together for good, to them who love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” But in another verse, mentioned just a few verses later, verse number 32, it says, “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?”
Isaiah saw the Lord seated on His throne. God is overall, and He knows exactly what we need, exactly when we need it, and not only does He know what is best, He wants what is best for us, if we will just let Him have His way with us.
He saw the Lord, but notice as we look on in the depth of his vision, it says he saw him on a throne high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Here we see the temple filled with what we would call the skirts of the robe of God in his vision. Look down at verse number four as well. It says, “And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.” We see the train filling the temple and the house filled with smoke. This is a reference to the Spirit of God and that it goes everywhere.
If you study the temple, you will find that there were certain areas where only certain people were allowed. There was the most holy place, the Holy of Holies; only the high priest could go into that place. There was a portion of that temple where only Jews were allowed. There was a portion of the temple that the Gentiles could not enter into and could not come past. But yet here we see the train of God’s robe and the smoke filling the entire place. This reminds us that there is not a place on this earth where God’s presence cannot be found. Here we see the scope of God’s presence.
I do not know what it is tonight that you are dealing with, and I do not know where it is that you find yourself on a regular basis. Maybe you are here tonight, and you are a mother, and you have children at home. Maybe you find yourself—it seems like you are just in a constant cycle of wiping noses and changing diapers and cleaning rooms and cooking meals and doing it all over again, not only every day, but multiple times a day it seems. But God’s presence is there. Maybe you find yourself in a hospital room fighting for your life or dealing with some difficult infirmity. God’s presence is there. Maybe you are going through a situation and you feel like you have been placed off all by yourself. You have been abandoned by everybody that you thought loved you dearly. Yet God’s presence is there.
As he gets a high vision of who God is, a clear vision of who God is, he sees God as one who is high, who is holy, who is lifted up, and his presence is everywhere. Look with me in verse number two, if you would. Another aspect of his vision. It says, “And above it stood the seraphim.” These are angelic-type beings that he sees. They had six wings. “Each one had six wings: with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain, he did fly.”
Here we see these angelic beings. We see the two wings covering their face, showing reverence for Almighty God. With two, they cover their feet, showing a sign and a symbol of humility. Then with two, they are flying, which demonstrates their service to Almighty God. But I want you to notice, even more importantly than their wings and where the placement of their wings is: would you notice the cry upon their lips in verse number three? “And one cried unto another and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.”
This tense in which the word holy is used shows that this cry would be a continual cry. It was not just once that they would say, “Holy, holy, holy…” It was a continuous, repeated cry.
Hold your place here and go with me to the book of Revelation, if you would, chapter number four, verse number eight. Revelation chapter four, verse number eight. Here we see in Revelation chapter 4, God kind of pulls back the curtain and lets us have a glimpse into what it is like in heaven. In Revelation chapter 4, verse number 8, it says, “And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was and is, and is to come.”
“And when those beasts give glory and honor and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever, the four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.”
Here we see that repeated cry over and over and over. As we get a clear vision of who God is, we will see that He is a holy God. That word holy means to set apart or to be distant from, and it does not mean that God is distant from us in that He cannot be reached with our cries, but that He is separated from mankind; He is far superior. The book of Hebrews talks about that, that He is far greater than we could ever hope to be. He is an almighty, holy God.
Therefore, the whole earth is full of His glory. How is God worthy of glory? Because He and He alone is holy. Are you not grateful tonight that we can serve a holy God? We have all had people that were over us, and because of their humanity, they may have been a good individual, but because of their humanity, there were flaws within them, and us being under them and near to them were witnesses to those flaws, which made it harder sometimes to have a proper respect for them. But there are no flaws in Almighty God, the One that we are to serve ultimately. There are no flaws found in Him. He is a holy God, and we have the privilege tonight of serving a holy God.
Not only do we have the privilege of serving a holy God, not only should we be grateful that He is holy, we also are convicted, for He has said that we should be holy as He is holy. We know we can never reach His level of perfection, but we should strive each and every day to live a holy life unto a holy God.
Isaiah’s vision of God: he saw God as one who is high and lifted up, His presence is everywhere, there was a reverence given, and he saw God for who He is—He is holy. We see the depth of his vision.
Would you notice with me, thirdly tonight, the depth of his vision led to the despair of his soul. Verse number five in our text. It says, “Then said I, 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 mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.”
A clear vision of God, as I said, will make all else clear. As Isaiah gets a clear vision of who God is, when he sees God for who God truly is, he then gets a clear vision of himself. He says, “Woe is me!” That is a far cry from what the world is saying today. Many around us today want to say, “Worthy is me.” But Isaiah says, “Woe is me.” The difference between saying “worthy is me” and “woe is me” is this: a clear vision for who God is.
He says, “I am undone.” That word undone means to be cut off or destroyed. When I see God for who God truly is, as Isaiah says, I look at my own life and I look at the life of my people. We are going to be destroyed. We deserve to be cut off. We deserve to be condemned. We deserve to be destroyed. What are we going to do? Woe is me! Woe is us! For if God is that holy, there is no way that we could ever come before Him or come into His presence. The depth of his vision lent to the despair of his soul.
But notice here in verse number six, it says, “Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from off the altar: and he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips, and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.”
Though Isaiah stands there in his iniquity and cries, “Woe is me,” we see a beautiful truth here: there is no iniquity in our hearts that God is not willing and able to purge. That seraphim lifts that coal from off the altar. We must remember the altar; that is where the sacrifice was made. That is where the sin was atoned for. As that seraphim lifts that coal from off the altar and that coal is applied to Isaiah’s lips, it says, “Thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin is purged.”
Here we see a beautiful picture of the gospel—the gospel. As the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross of Calvary on behalf of the sin of mankind, died to take away our sin. Romans chapter 8 verse 1 says, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit.” Romans 5 verse 30, 20 verse 23 says, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” That is us standing in our condemned state, saying, “Woe is me! I deserve to be cut off. I deserve to be destroyed because I am a sinner and I cannot come into God on my own merit.” But it goes on to say in verse 24, “Being justified freely by His grace.” Justification means to be seen in the sight of God just as if we were never a sinner. “Justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God.”
If we will come to Christ in faith, our iniquity will be taken away, our sin will be purged from us. We receive God’s justification and His free gift of eternal life. As the tongs took the coal from off the altar and touched them to Isaiah’s lips, his iniquity was purged. God remedied the despair of his soul in His mercy. Oh, are we not grateful for the mercy of God?
It must not be lost on us that the coal was administered by whom? By that seraphim. By that seraphim with two wings to do service, two wings in humility, two wings in reverence. That seraphim applied the coal. We understand that we have no part in saving the soul of any man other than the part of carrying the coal of the gospel to the lost world. God has a part for us to play in this gospel work. We cannot save anyone; we cannot force anyone to come to Christ. But we can take the message of the Savior, this message of mercy that the world stands in need of here.
As we come to Isaiah’s vision, and we see the despair of his soul, and it is remedied by the mercy of God, we see our last point: the dedication of his heart in verse number eight. “Also I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” Then said I, “Here am I, send me.”
When Isaiah saw God for who God truly is—high, holy, and lifted up—he saw himself for who he truly was: a dirty, rotten sinner who deserved to be destroyed, deserved to be cut off, but one who had been graciously and mercifully forgiven. Then he also saw the world for what it was: a world in need of someone to go for them, go to them on behalf of God. He saw God searching for someone to go, and he said, “Here am I. Send me.”
I can see Isaiah standing there and contemplating this question before responding and reflecting on what he had just witnessed. This is more than an emotional decision. We have all been in situations before where our emotions were stirred and we were led to commit to something that maybe we really had not fully thought through, but because of the emotions of the moment, we stepped out and said we would do it. But this is a decision that was made based on a personal experience. Isaiah understood what needed to be done and what had been done for him, and he replied with purpose and commitment, “God, I will go to them for You.” Here am I, Lord. Send me. Almost even a plea: “God, would You please let me go for You? I will go.”
Then skip down to verse number 11. Another question in this response—it is interesting to notice. In verse number 11, he said, “Then said I, Lord, how long?” I will go, Lord. I know You want me to go, I will go, but how long? God’s response is, and He answered, “Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate.” In other words, until the time of judgment comes. Isaiah, I want you to go on My behalf to the lost of this world, to your people, until judgment comes.
Brethren, we know what the Bible says: there is coming a day when the trumpet will sound, and the dead in Christ will be raised, and those which are alive and remain will be caught up with them to be with the Lord. The Bible tells us that we do not know when that day may come. It may be tomorrow; it may be months from now, years from now. But the question is, in the meantime, who will go? Who will go on behalf of God to the world and tell them that there is a God who wants to have a relationship with them? There is a holy God who is also a merciful God and has extended His mercy to them.
In the meantime, who will go to the people of Hoover and tell them that there is a God who sent His Son to die on the cross for their sins to offer them forgiveness and the gift of eternal life? Who will go to the people of Smyrna and tell them that they can have a personal relationship with God? Who will go to the people that live on your street? Who will go to the people that you work with? Who will go to the people in your family with the gospel?
If we have a clear vision of God and who He truly is, then our response will be what Isaiah’s response was: “Here am I, Lord. Send me.”
Our vision of God will translate into the way that we live the rest of our lives. If we have a small little vision of who God is, we will live as if we have a little God. But if we get a clear vision of who God is, then we will live as one who has a great big God. A God who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we could ever ask or think. A God who we can call unto and He will show us great and mighty works which we know not.
Have you ever wondered how could Elijah go before Ahab when his life was on the line and demand the things that he demanded, say the things that he said to Ahab? Because Isaiah had a clear vision of who God is. How can Moses return to Egypt, a place where he was wanted for murder, and stand before Pharaoh and say, “Let my people go”? God said, “Let my people go.” Because Moses understood that as he stood in the presence of Pharaoh—at that point in time, one of the mightiest men on this earth—he was standing in the presence of one far mightier than Pharaoh. He was standing in the presence of Almighty God, and God had sent him to God.
Our vision of God will determine everything else in our life. Many things that take place in our lives will no longer take place if we have a clear vision of who God is. Many things that are being done in churches today would not be done if we had a clear vision of who God is. So the question remains tonight: What is our vision?
Original File: Missionary Austin Brown - Our vision of God - Wednesday PM 01312024