Let us turn again to that portion
in Isaiah, Isaiah chapter 6, and I'll read again the opening
verse. We read Isaiah 6.1, 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. I want us to consider Isaiah's
vision of God as we have it set before us here. I'm sure it's
a chapter not unfamiliar with you. The record of how this man
received his call and his commission to be a prophet of the Lord. And as we consider the vision
that's set before us throughout the chapter, we see something
of the majesty of God and something also of that mystery which is
God. And that's really the twofold
division that I want us to take up. First of all, to say something
with regards to God's majesty. We read here of the one who is
seated upon a throne. And doesn't that immediately
speak to us of the power of God, the majesty of God? He is that
one who is exalted high and lifted up. The psalmist says, Thy throne,
O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of thy kingdom is
a right scepter." And it's interesting how those particular words that
are found in Psalm 45 are in fact taken up in the New Testament
in reference to the Lord Jesus Christ in that remarkable passage
that we have in the opening chapter of the epistle to the Hebrews.
There, Paul in verse 8 quotes those words that we've just referred
to in Psalm 45, but look at what he is saying, look at the one
of whom he is speaking there. Verse 5 following, unto which
of the angels said he at any time thou art my son this day
have I begotten thee and again I will be to him a father, and
he shall be to me a son, and a gain, when he bringeth in the
first begotten into the world, he saith, and let all the angels
of God worship him. And of the angels, he saith,
who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of
fire, but unto the son. He saith, Thy throne, O God,
is for ever and ever. A scepter of righteousness is
the scepter of Thy kingdom. Oh, it is that Lord Jesus Christ,
who is truly God over all, and of course, as that One who has
come to accomplish that great work of redemption, He is now
made head over all things to the Church, which is His body.
the fullness of Him that filleth all in all." The Lord Jesus,
then, is that One who is seated upon the throne of glory, and
it reminds us of His sovereignty. Again, the Psalmist can say,
Our God is in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever He pleased. We were reminded just now in
prayer of that sovereign will of God that we desire to be brought
into submission to, even as we come together tonight and as
we turn to the Word of God. Oh, I trust that we're those
who desire that we might understand what that will of the Lord is,
as we have it set before us here in Holy Scripture, that we come
to recognize Him, that we know something of that humility that
we see even in such a man as that proud nebuchadnezzar when
the Lord humbled him and he was brought to acknowledge and to
confess that all the inhabitants of the earth are recounted as
nothing and God doeth according to his will among the armies
of heaven and the inhabitants of the earth and none can say
unto him what doeth there. Here then we are reminded of
the sovereignty of God as that one whom the prophet is granted
this vision of. I saw also the Lord sitting upon
a throne high and lifted up and his train filled the temple. But when we think of the majesty
of God, we're not just to think in terms of his absolute sovereignty,
but surely this throne also reminds us of the holiness of God. The psalmist says, of God he
sitth upon the throne of his holiness. And here is that throne
high and lifted up, and the angels, the seraphim, the burning ones,
those pure creatures that are about that throne of God, and
how they worship God. And we have that praise that
they desire to express as they encourage one another. Verse
3, one cried unto another and said, Holy, Holy, holy is the
Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his
glory. O God, is that one the Holy One
of Israel? The psalmist says, Holiness becometh
thine house, O Lord, forever. And as we come together, though
we don't think of this building as being equivalent to the temple,
but it is that house of prayer, it's that place where we gather
together for the worship of God, and we do desire to come in that
spirit of due reverence. wanting to understand something
of the greatness of this God, the glory, and to stand in awe
before Him. Think of the language of Ecclesiastes
5, Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more
ready to hear than to give the sacrifice of fools, for they
consider not what they do. Be not rash with thy mouth, let
not thine heart be hasty to utter anything before God. For God
is in heaven and thou upon earth, therefore let thy words be few."
All the wisdom and Ecclesiastes of course is part of that wisdom
literature, the wisdom of God. How we should desire then to
come in that proper spirit of reverence as we approach this
God who is sovereign, this God who is a holy God. and that one
who, of course, being high and lifted up, he sees all things,
he knows all things. His eyes behold, his eyelids
try. The children of men, we're told. And John, oh, John, the beloved
apostle, had an experience not dissimilar to that of the prophet
here, as we read there in the opening chapter of the book of
the Revelation, when John was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day.
And he sees the glorified Christ, and his eyes were as a flame
of fire, he says. And it is that same one. And
what is the response of this man, Isaiah? Verse 5, 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." As we come
together, or that this might be something of our experience,
to feel what we are before the holiness of the Lord God Himself. We come before one then who is
full of majesty. He is the great God. But here
in this in this particular chapter. We also have revealed something
of the mystery, which is God. The mystery of God. Do we not
here see the doctrine of God, the doctrine of the Trinity,
as we see in that third verse? The one that the angels address
is thrice holy. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord
of hosts. He is Holy Father, Holy Son,
and Holy Spirit. And that is a blessed truth,
that He is the thrice-holy Jehovah. And we see these intimations
of the doctrine of the Trinity in the Old Testament? Oh yes,
it's true that the unity of the Godhead is clearly set before
us there in the Old Testament. The God of Israel is the only
living and true God. There is but one God. Here, O
Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. And yet we have those indications
when we think of the blessing that the priests of Aram were
to pronounce upon the children of Israel, they were to put God's
name upon the children of Israel. We're told there at the end of
Numbers chapter 6 and we know that Aaronic blessing and three
times we have the word the Lord. The Lord, the Lord, the Lord
bless thee and keep thee. The Lord make his face to shine
upon thee and be gracious unto thee. The Lord lift up his countenance
upon thee and give thee peace. All God's name is Lord, Lord,
Lord. Here is that great mystery that
though he be one God, yet He is three persons. And look
at what God says to the Prophet in verse 8. He says, I heard
the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send and who will
go for us? We have both the singular and
the plural. He is one but He is more than
one. Whom shall I send? And who will
go for us? He is one and yet he subsists
in those three persons, the three that bear record in heaven, the
Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one. This is a mystery. And we cannot
really begin to fathom that mystery. Can so by searching find out
God? Can so find out the Almighty
unto perfection? It is high as heaven. What can
so know? How can we really begin to understand,
to comprehend? But we're to worship this God.
All where reason fails with all her powers, there faith prevails
and love adores. But it's not just the doctrine
of God, the doctrine of the Trinity that we have here, we also have
the doctrine of Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ is that
one that Isaiah sees in the vision. The doctrine of Christ. Now,
we know that on the authority of what we read in the New Testament,
because this passage is actually referred to. there in the 12th
chapter of the Gospel according to John. You're probably familiar
with the verses there in John 12 verse 39 following. The Lord Jesus speaking says
they could not believe Because, as Esaias said again, he hath
blinded their eyes, and hardened their hearts, that they should
not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart,
and be converted, and I should heal them. The quotation being
from verse 10 in Isaiah chapter 6. And then this is added in
verse 41, These things said Esaias when he saw his glory, and spake
of him. That's what John remarks, under
the inspiration of the Spirit, how Isaiah was seeing the glory
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Isaiah is speaking of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And so here, in this vision,
we see the doctrine of Christ, and how important that doctrine
is. Whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of
Christ hath not God, says John. He that abideth in the doctrine
of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son." And in some ways
I was drawn to this chapter by a remark that I came across only
recently in reading in John Owen's Meditations on the Glory of Christ. In reference to what he said
here in our text, his train filled the temple. Owen makes the remark
that here it was that the prophets sought a representation of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Wouldn't the Lord Jesus Christ
in the fullness of the time come and fill the temple of his human
nature with divine glory? That's what Dr. Owen says. The
fullness of deity dwelt in the Lord Jesus Christ bodily. And
the great Puritan sees it here. When we think of where this is,
this is the temple. And what is the temple? It is
a type of the Lord Jesus. Christ himself is the great anti-type
of the temple. He says to the to the Jews in
John chapter 2, destroy this temple and in three days I will
build it again. They think kindly, they think
he's speaking of the building there in Jerusalem, but it says
no, he's speaking of his body. He's speaking of his resurrection.
That human body that would be put to death upon the cross at
Calvary would be raised again on the third day. Or they might
think that they've destroyed it. But the temple there, you
see, that he is speaking of, is the great antitype that we
have in the Old Testament. And, as Owen says, in reference
to those words in Colossians 2, concerning Christ, in him
dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. All this glory that the prophet
sees there, a throne high and lifted up. The Lord seated upon
the throne and is trying, filling the temple. It is the Lord Jesus
Christ. It is the mystery of the person
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And what of that person? Well,
Christ is that one who is God. He is God's manifest in the flesh. That is, the other mystery that
is revealed to us in Scripture, the great mystery of the doctrine
of God, that is the first of all mysteries, but the second
mystery, which is so likened to it, the person of the Lord
Jesus, those two natures in that one person. And how he declares
himself time and again to be God. Think of the language that
we have there in John 14 as he addresses Philip. Have I been
so long time with thee, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip?
He that hath seen me hath seen the Father. Why sayest thou then,
Show us the Father? Believest thou not that I am
in the Father, and the Father in me? Who is that one who is
the only begotten Son of the Father,
full of grace and truth, that One who dwells in the bosom of
the Father. For no man hath seen God at any
time, we're told. The only begotten Son, which
is in the bosom of the Father, He hath revealed Him." the glories
of the Lord Jesus Christ as that one who is God, and yet that
one who also in the fullness of the time will become man. This is what is represented before
the prophet here. Christ is God, Christ is man,
and He is the man, as we were saying only last Lord's Day.
Remember how the language of Psalm 8, where that question
is put, what is man? That thou art mindful of him,
or the son of man that thou visitest him, how that Psalm is again
taken up by the Apostle there in the second chapter of Hebrews,
and it's quoted at length there in that particular portion in in Hebrews chapter 2, verses 6 through to 9. Verse
6, the question is, what is man? And then when we come to verse
9, we have those words, but we see Jesus. Oh, Christ is that
one who is truly the man unto us the child is born unto us
a son is given he is that one who is born as the man-child
in the great mystery of the incarnation that first man Adam the first
man is of the earth earthy the second man is the Lord from heaven
that son who is given in the fullness of the time God sends
forth his son made of a woman made under the law or we see
him as that one who is the man then in the incarnation as he
takes upon himself the seed of Abraham. And because the children
were partakers of flesh and blood, he partakes of the same. We're
familiar with these truths concerning his coming into this world, and
the purpose of that coming, he comes to redeem a people. all
that great work that he came to accomplish. And doesn't Pilate
direct to him? When the Jews bring the Lord
before the Roman governor and make their accusation, remember
how Pilate sets him before the Jews and says to them, behold
the man. Oh, this is that man who will
die in the room and stead of sinful men. He will come and
make that great sin atoning sacrifice for all those that the Father
has given to Him in the eternal covenant. And what is His experience
there? In the language again of the
prophetic scripture, Psalm 22, He says, But I am a worm and
no man, a reproach of men and despised of the people. And all of this in order to to
accomplish the great work of redemption. He must pay that
ransom price that the holy righteous law of God demands. And here in this chapter do we
not see the application of that great work to the life of a sinful
man? How we've seen The Prophet, in
verse 5, making his confession, acknowledging his sin. And then
we're told of verse 6, Then flew one of the seraphims unto me,
having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongues
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. or that is the application of
the work of Christ. This living coal taken from the
brazen altar, the place of sacrifice, where all those remarkable types
of the Levitical law were to be sacrificed daily. And as there
is the application to the lips of Isaiah, why his sin, his purge,
His iniquities have been altogether removed. It's the great work
of that one whom he is seeing now in vision. He sees the glories
of Christ. What of those glories of Christ?
Part of that glory surely is his accomplishment of that great
work of redemption. Christ is the man. He is God,
but He is man. And we see Him in the Incarnation,
we see Him in the great work of redemption, we see Him also
as that one who, as the great high priest, has not only made
sacrifice, but now ascended, He ever lives to make intercession.
One God, we are told, and one mediator between God and men,
the man, Christ Jesus. Again, it's the man. the man
that is the Lord Jesus Christ and how he comes to to intercede
he stands between heaven and earth when we think of him in
his in his person as God-man or can he not put his hand upon
us both he can stand between heaven and earth he can intercede
before God on behalf of his people And again, coming to the opening
verse of this chapter, here we have the Lord, it says, sitting
upon a throne, high and lifted up. He sits upon a throne. And remember, there's that sense
also in which we see the Lord Jesus Christ as the antitype
of a throne. What was the throne of God in
the midst of Israel? Well, God was there in the Holy
of Holies. God said that He would come and
He would meet with the children of Israel and commune with the
children of Israel from between the cherubim upon the mercy seat,
covering over the Ark of the Covenant. That was the throne
of God. And the Lord Jesus himself is the antitype of the mercy
seat. The Lord Jesus is that one who
is truly the throne of grace. Look at Romans 3.25. We read,
"...of Christ, whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation
through faith in his blood." And that word, propitiation,
the margin, indicates that the alternative reading is mercy
seat, whom God has set forth to be a mercy seat through faith
in his blood. The mercy seat, that's where
the blood was sprinkled on the great atoning day. That's where
the atonement was made. That's why it was called the
mercy seat. And the word that is used there
in Romans 3.25, if I remember right, is used on just one other
occasion in the New Testament, that's in Hebrews 9.5, where
it is actually translated as Mercy Seat in the text. The Lord
Jesus is the antitype of the Mercy Seat. It is through the
Lord Jesus Christ that we come and approach unto God and we
can enjoy all that blessing of access to Him who is the Holy
One. Though we come as those who are
sinners and those who feel our sins, we can plead the name of
Christ, we can plead the efficacy of that great work that Christ
has done, or we can plead His blood. and His righteousness,
and we must make that all our plea as we come before Him in
worship and in prayers. And then, having said something
then with regard to this vision and the majesty of the one that Isaiah sees in the vision,
but also the mercy of God as He reveals Himself, as the great
Jehovah and as that one ultimately seen in and through the person
and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. I want, by way of conclusion,
to say something with regards to Isaiah and the outcome, the
ministry that Isaiah is subsequently called to fulfill. He says in
verse 8, Here am I, said Mary, And God says at verse 9, Go and
tell these people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not, and see ye
indeed, but perceive not. Make the hearts of these people
fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes, lest they
see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand
with their heart, and convert, and be healed. Isaiah's ministry. There's a certain negativity
to it, yes. There's certainly a great amount
of discrimination in that ministry. And what was true in Isaiah was
much more true when we think of the Lord Jesus. Remember,
we've already referred to that passage in John chapter 12, where
John makes it clear that it is Christ who is seen in that vision
back in Isaiah 6. Now look at what he said previous
to the verses we looked at just now. John 12, 37, concerning
Christ, though He had done so many miracles before them, yet
they believed not on Him. Now why was that? You would think
that the miracles were such that they must believe. We know how
that Nicodemus, when he comes to Christ, he recognizes the
significance of the miracles. No man could do these miracles
that they do, except God be with him. And yet the multitude didn't
believe these things. But we're told the reason, that
the saying of it, as high as 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." That's Isaiah 53,
1. Therefore they could not believe,
because Isaiah 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 Isaiah when he saw His glory
and spake of Him. There is the reason. The ministry
of the Lord Jesus Christ. What a remarkable ministry it
was. We're told on three occasions in John's Gospel that there was
a division amongst the people because of him, or there was
a division because of these sayings, because of the content of his
preaching. And it is the truth of sovereign
grace that is so offensive. And that is sovereign grace that's
referred to in Isaiah 53.1. Who has believed our report?
And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? How does anyone
believe the report? How does anyone come to faith
in the Christ that He set before us in the Gospels only as the
Lord reveals His arm? It is only God who can work that
saving faith in the soul of any sinner. It's a mighty and it's
a majestic work of God. the truth of sovereign grace,
how offensive it is. And we see it again in the ministry
of the Lord Jesus. John chapter 6, that chapter
of the great reducings. Do you remember when we come
to the end of John 6? And there at verse 65, the Lord says, Therefore said
I unto you that no man can come unto me except it were given
unto him of my father. Oh, the Lord must make bare his
arm, he must give faith, he must work faith, no man can come except
it were given unto him of my father. From that time, many
of his disciples went back. and walks no more with Him."
There is the offense, the offense of the sovereign grace of God. And this is Isaiah's ministry. This is what he is being called
to, this is the point and purpose of what he sees, the glory of
God, the majesty of God, the grace of God, the mercy of
God. But look at what it says at the end, verse 11. He's been
told by his ministry there's going to be great offense, the
consequence will be that there will be those who do not believe.
Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, until the cities
be wasted without inhabitant and the houses without man and
the land be utterly desolate. And the Lord hath removed men
far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the
land." It's a prophecy of the Babylonian exile which would
come about a hundred years after the ministry of Isaiah. But,
yet. Strange, isn't it, that we have
both a but and a yet there at the beginning of verse 13. There's
a contrast. But yet, "...in it shall be a
tent, and it shall return." and shall be eaten as a tile tree
and as an oak, whose substance is in them when they cast their
leaves, so the Holy Seed shall be the substance thereof." Oh,
there is the Holy Seed. There are those whom the Lord
God will call. There is that spiritual Israel.
And it is a remnant. Remember the language that we
have at the beginning of the book. In chapter 1, verse 9,
except the Lord of Hosts had left unto us a very little remnant. a very little remnant. We should
have been, as Sodom, we should have been like unto Gomorrah,
it seems. All God's throne is never vacated. Let us not forget that. It's striking, isn't it? It's
the year that the king dies, Uzziah. The king of Judah dies. There will be another king, but
there is obviously great mourning in the midst of the nation, the
death of the monarch. But Isaiah sees a throne that
is never vacated. Whatever troubles or turmoils
might come into the life of the individual or into the life of
the nation, God's throne is never vacated. Well, that's our comfort. and we can come to that throne,
even the throne of grace, and there we can obtain mercy, there
we can find grace to help in time of need, that we be but
a very little remnant and such an insignificant company of people. Remember the language, again,
of the Gospel, Luke 18, And shall not God avenge his own elect,
which cry day and night unto him, though he bear it long with
them? I tell you, says Christ, he will
revenge them speedily nevertheless, when the Son of Man cometh. Shall
he find faith in the earth? Or the Lord grant that we might
be blessed tonight with praying faith, as we come before God's
throne, coming before that blessed throne of Christ. May the Lord
be pleased to bless His Word.