Lord’s Day, Vol. 11 No. 14
His Glorious Presence
The Lord is in His holy temple, let all the earth keep silence before Him.
A believing sight of God’s glorious majesty should affect us all with reverence and godly fear. [Matthew Henry]
The vision in which God revealed his glory, majesty, holiness, and grace changed Isaiah’s entire life and ministry (Isaiah 6:1-8). Let us catch a glimpse of this life-transforming heavenly vision of Isaiah and understand its relevance to us today to answer this question posed “What are we waiting for?”
| Isaiah 6:1 is quoted 11 times | Rev. 4:2, 9–10; 5:1, 7, 13; 6:16; 7:10, 15; 19:4; 21:5 |
The prophet was taken to heaven, where everything conveys a sense of God’s transcendence. Heaven is the place where God is most highly exalted.
There His robe fills the temple and there He is surrounded by the seraphim – literally “the burning ones”- angels who, despite their own glory, modestly avert their gaze and cover their feet to shield themselves from the greater glory of God. These angels offer a crescendo of praise, worshipping God in the beauty of holiness. Their voices thunder, shaking the doorposts of the heavenly temple. To add to the sense of transcendence, the whole place is filled with smoke, giving a sense of glory with mystery. What is most significant is what God is doing. God is seated on His kingly throne, reigning from the place of supreme royal authority over heaven and earth. As a further demonstration of His divine authority, the throne itself is exalted – it is high and lifted. God enthroned in heaven is the God who rules.
Psalm 103:19 The LORD hath prepared his throne in the heavens; and his kingdom ruleth over all.
It is from His throne He issues His royal decrees including His sovereign decree of election, and also executes His plan of salvation, drawing sinners to Himself by His grace. It is not without reason that God’s throne is called “the throne of grace” (Heb 4:16), for all the grace defined by the doctrines of grace flows from the heavenly throne. What is grace? Grace is the unmerited favour of God toward totally depraved man.
Isaiah’s vision is not simply a dream of the past; it is a present reality. To this day, the Lord of glory sits at the centre of heaven and receives the praise of countless angels. The book of Revelation confirms this, for when the apostle John visited God’s throne room, he saw the same thing that Isaiah had seen hundreds of years before.
He saw the Lord exalted on His heavenly throne, and he heard the six living creatures around the throne saying, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is and is to come” Rev 4:8. The only difference is that in John’s vision, the Lord who reigns is explicitly identified as Christ: “Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the centre of the throne” (Rev 5:6, Heb 1:3).
When the prophet Isaiah saw the Lord high and lifted up, his own self-righteousness was utterly destroyed. Humanly speaking, he thought he was a righteous man before he entered God’s throne room. As a prophet, he dedicated his life to God’s service. At this time, many terrifying thoughts must have run through Isaiah’s mind when he saw God on his holy throne. Frankly, he thought he was a dead man, for he knew that it was impossible for anyone to see God…and live (Ex. 33:20). “Woe is me!” he said, “For…my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty” (Isaiah 6:5).
Isaiah also remembered what had happened to King Uzziah, who had died earlier that same year. Uzziah had been one of Judah’s most successful monarchs. He was a good king, a man who “sought God” and did what was right in the eyes of the LORD 1 Chron 26:4-5. However, Uzziah became proud of his accomplishments, and in his pride, he entered the Holy Place to burn incense on God’s altar. This was strictly forbidden, so the priests tried to bar the king’s entrance. While they argued back and forth, Uzziah was struck with leprosy. This made him ceremonially unclean, and he was thus forced to leave the temple and never return. The king lived in seclusion until his dying day. This was the consequence of his unlawful entrance into God’s holy sanctuary (2 Chron 26:16-23). The throne of Judah had changed occupants but God was still on His throne and in perfect control of everything.
With all of this in the back of his mind, Isaiah was terrified by his vision of God’s majesty, and understandably so. He cried, “Woe is me!…I am ruined!” The word is significant. In the previous chapter, in chapter 5, Isaiah had pronounced six woes against the sins of the nation of Judah starting from verse 8.
Isaiah 5:8 Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth!
Here “join house to house” means that they denied others their own property rights, they were greedy landgrabbers.
The second woe is against drunkards and those that follow strong drink in verse 11. Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, till wine inflame them!
The third woe in verse 18 is that their sin is so open that they literally draw iniquity with cords as one would pull a cart rope. The idea is that the people are so ungodly that they are sinning with such deliberate willfulness it is as if they are parading their sin in front of God as one would pull a cart rope in order to parade some great idol in a procession. The people of Judah are parading their sins before God.
The fourth woe in verse 20 states that they now call evil good and good evil. The fifth woe in verse 21 is against those that are wise in their own eyes.
The sixth woe is against drinking, this time the emphasis is upon those who mingle strong drink as opposed to regular wine.
According to the conventions of Hebrew literature (in which things ordinarily come in sevens), one would expect one more woe. By pronouncing only six woes, Isaiah seemed to have left things hanging. Then the prophet saw the sovereign Lord, seated in majesty, and his woe was made complete. “Woe is me!” he cried, pronouncing the seventh and final woe. Isaiah knew that he was finished. There was no way that he would survive this encounter, let alone join the angels in praising God’s holiness. All he could do was say, “I am ruined”. In other words, “it’s over. I’m undone. What so completely overwhelmed Isaiah was a clear view of his own depravity. He now had what Martin Luther calls “a deep experimental acquaintance with his own sinfulness.” This is what always happens when we see God on His throne: by seeing Him as He really is, we see ourselves as we really are. We stop comparing ourselves to others and start seeing our true state in the sight of God.
Thus, a true vision of God’s sovereign majesty always includes a painful awareness of our own radical depravity. The more we see of God’s glory, the more we recognize our need for His grace. God has strong consolations ready for holy mourners. Those that humble themselves in penitential shame and fear shall soon be encouraged and exalted; those that are struck down with the visions of God’s glory shall soon be raised up again with the visits of His grace; he that tears will heal. Note, further, Angels are ministering spirits for the good of the saints, for their spiritual good. Here was one of the seraphim dismissed, for a time, from attending on the throne of God’s glory, to be a messenger of His grace to a good man; and so well pleased was he with the office that he came flying to him. To our Lord Jesus himself, in his agony, there appeared an angel from heaven, strengthening him,after his temptation Lu. 22:43. [Matthew Henry]
What is particularly striking in Isaiah’s case is the specific sin that he confessed, he discovered that he was a sinner in one area of life where he was most committed to doing God’s will. Buswell said it was the revelation of God’s holy character that caused Isaiah to recognize his own sinful corruption. Isaiah saw the sight of the Lord. Isaiah had a life-changing vision of Jesus Christ, this is recorded in the gospel of John chapter 12 verses 38-41.
John 12:38-41 That the saying of Esaias the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed? Therefore they could not believe, because that Esaias said again, He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them. These things said Esaias, when he saw his glory, and spake of him.
Isaiah saw the sight of Jesus Christ and did testify.
To be continued…
Yours lovingly,
Pastor Lek Aik Wee