Well, that went with what we
just read. Sherry played, Be Thou My Vision. How appropriate. And then that
song, Immortal, Invisible. They all veil in their sight.
Well done. Well chosen. All right, Isaiah
chapter 6. Now, this is not a myth. This is not This was not a fable. This was not. It's not a fairytale, Isaiah
saw the Lord. He saw the Lord actually, actually
saw the Lord. Now. Scripture says God is spirit. Scripture says God dwelleth in
light which no man can approach unto, God who dwelleth in light
and immortality, whom no man hath seen nor can see. But yet Isaiah saw the Lord,
as did others in the Old Testament. Well, who did he see? Who did
Isaiah see? Who is the Lord? The Lord Jesus
Christ. Because the scripture says, no
man, Christ said this, no man has seen the Father, but the
only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath
declared it. One day Thomas, when he saw the
Lord, he said, my Lord and my God. So this vision Or rather,
who Isaiah saw was the Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ. And the
Christ he saw was a true Christ. And his description of the true
Christ is very different from what men say today. But you can believe Isaiah. You
can believe this record. This is the record which God
has given concerning his son. who he is, what he's like. And
every believer, now listen, every believer sees, not literally,
but sees by eye of faith, sees the same Lord from the pages
of this book. All right, let's look at it.
Isaiah chapter 1, it says, it's chapter 6. Isaiah chapter 6,
verse 1 says, that King Uzziah died, I saw
also the Lord sitting upon a throne." Now, everything is significant. He's not just given a time period. He says the year that King Uzziah
died. You remember chapter 1, Isaiah
lived through four kings. Uzziah was one of them. Let's
go back to the year that King Uzziah died, 2 Chronicles chapter
26. This is very important because what Isaiah saw was a result
of something else he saw. What happened Isaiah's vision was the result
of something that happened. Isaiah saw something, and then
he saw the Lord. Second Chronicle, something happened
that caused Isaiah to see the Lord as he did. Now this Uzziah,
let me just make the story short. Uzziah was king during Isaiah's
day. He started reigning when he was
sixteen years old. Sixteen years old. King. Real king. And he reigned fifty-two
years. He was sixty-eight years old
when he died. But he was powerful. He was rich. He was famous. He
was a good king. He was a moral king. He was a
very religious king. True. He worshipped the true
God. A nice man. A good man. Now he
had a wife that is mentioned. in the story here that Isaiah,
apparently, Isaiah was a friend of the family. He loved Uzziah. He admired him, esteemed him,
everything he did. He, his wife, he appreciated
her. They were, he was a friend of
the family. I'm sure he was their own personal chaplain, if you
will. I'm certain of that. Well, all
right, look at verses 16 through 18. But Uzziah, like all men
do, When they become rich and famous, verse 16, when he was
strong, his heart was lifted up. He began to be proud to his destruction. See, he that
exalted himself shall be abased. Pride cometh before a father.
Read on. He transgressed against the Lord.
Now here's what he did. He went into the temple. One
day he went into the temple of the Lord to burn incense upon
the altar of incense. He was so rich, so powerful,
so influential, that one day he just decided,
I'm going to go into the temple and I'm going to burn incense.
I just feel like it. I know why he did this. The Lord
allowed this to happen. Now look at verse 17 and 18.
It says, Azariah the priest, God's priest, went in after him. He saw him go in there. And with
him, four score, eighty priests of the Lord. Valiant men, fine
men. There were some good men then.
True preachers. And they stood in front of Uzziah
the king. They withstood Uzziah the king
and said unto him, this is not any of your business. That's
what it says, "'It pertaineth not unto thee, Uzziah, to burn
incense unto the Lord.' This is the priests, sons of Aaron,
the ordained men of God. This is for those whom God has
consecrated to burn incense. Get out of here.' They warned
him. They were faithful men. They
said, "'Get out of here, Uzziah, fast. Get out of the sanctuary. You've trespassed And this is
not going to be for your honor." Well, Uzziah got mad. Now, they told him the truth,
didn't they, Sam? And they were bold to tell the
truth. Azariah, the priest, was bold. He was courageous. He wasn't
going to mince words. He didn't care if it was the
king or not. He was going to tell him, you
don't have any business doing that. I don't care who you are,
Uzziah. This pertaineth only to the priest of God." Now, you'd
better get out of here. And Uzziah got mad. Don't you
know who I am? Well, he had a censer in his
hand, verse 19. He had that censer with the incense
in it, in his hand to burn incense. And while he was holding it,
when he was wroth with the priest, I'm sure he was venting his wrath.
You all know who I am? How dare you tell me that? While
he was doing that, the veins were popping out on his neck,
and he was telling, I'm the king, I'll have you... It says, look
at this, verse 19, leprosy rose up in his forehead. Roy, he began
to turn white with leprosy. And all the priests were looking
at him. And they saw it. He turned into
a leper. Azariah saw this. And Azariah,
verse 20, and the chief priests, Azariah and all the priests,
looked upon him, the whole leprous in his forehead, they grabbed
him and threw him out. The king. And verse 21, it says, The king
was a leper until the day of his death, and he dwelt in a
several house, a common house. He was reduced to being a common
leper. And he was cut off from the house
of the Lord. And so Isaiah said, in the year
King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord. You see, go back to Isaiah 6
now. When that happened, now Isaiah
loved this man. Isaiah esteemed this man. But
what he did was, he usurped the place of the priest. He took
upon himself to do what only the priest could do. And this,
the work of the high priest, to go in and offer the incense
and to offer the blood, was a picture of the work of the Lord Jesus
Christ. To go in the very presence of
God Almighty who is holy. Only those sanctified by God,
only one man could go into the holy of holies. Only one man
could go in there and offer up the incense and so forth, the
bread and all that. One man, the high priest. who
represents the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the only holy man, the
only sanctified man, the only consecrated man, the only accepted
one of God, to go into God's presence on behalf of the people.
And it doesn't matter how good a man is, how moral a man is,
how high a man is, how intelligent a man is, how everybody esteems
him highly. If he does that which pertains
to Christ only, God will kill him. It's an abomination to God. Why? Because God is holy. You understand that? You understand
what happened here? And Isaiah, here he came, here
came Uzziah out, a leper, and finally reduced to being a common
leper in a leper house. Isaiah saw this great man, greatest
king on earth at the time, reduced to being a common leper, cut
off from worship from God, and he said to the priest, what happened
here? And they told him. And I don't know when this happened
or what Isaiah was doing, perhaps reading God's Word or worshipping
or when the priest was going in, but Isaiah saw the Lord. That year. And here's his description
of the Lord Jesus Christ now. The Lord Jesus Christ. Alright? Isaiah chapter 6, verse 1, he
says, I saw him sitting. Stop right there. I saw the Lord
sitting. I've heard a lot of people talking
about visions of Jesus and seeing the Lord. The Lord said to me,
the Lord appeared to me. Isaiah saw the Lord. the Lord Jesus Christ. What was
he doing? Child, what was he doing? Sit
down. You see, he's seated. He's not pacing the floor. He's not leaning over the banister
of heaven to see what men are going to do. He's not knocking,
going door to door. He's sitting, and when you sit,
what does that mean? It means everything you did is
done. When you're sitting, that means
you're resting. When you're sitting, that means
you aren't perfect. Some of you ladies don't sit
much, do you? You don't sit much. They say a woman's work is never
done. Always doing this and that and the other. There's work to
be done, and our Lord's work is done. He's sitting. You remember in the Old Testament,
the tabernacle, there was one... Everybody in here has a house,
and you have many chairs in your house, don't you? Sofas, chairs. What for? To sit. There's a lamb. Okay, there were
no chairs in God's house. There were no chairs in the tabernacle
of old. Why? Because the high priest,
his work was never done. He was not allowed to sit. He
had to offer the same sacrifices day and day, morning and evening,
same, he's always busy, always doing the work. It was continual. But the scripture
says after the Lord Jesus Christ did his work, he came to this
earth to save his people, and went back to the right hand of
the majesty on high, and it says where he sat down. Meaning, the
work's done. Relax. It's over. Say unto my
people, accomplished. The work's done. I, the great
high priest, the prophet, priest, and king. I've done it all. I've
done it all for my people. He's sitting upon a throne. And
here it is, a throne. He's sitting upon a throne. It's
a throne. What is a throne? What is a throne? It's the place of sovereignty. It's the place of rule. It's
the place of judgment. It's the place of power and authority,
a throne. We don't have any more thrones
today, do we? There are no more thrones. I
know that woman in England sits on a throne, but it's a pretended
throne. She's a figurehead. She has no
more authority and power than you and I do. But now, this is
no pretended throne. This is no figurehead here. This
is the head. This is the king of kings and
lord of lords. And he's sitting on a throne,
a place of power and a place of authority, all authority.
This is not a print, this is not a theory, this is an actuality. Isaiah said, I saw the Lord,
and he's sitting on a throne, reigning and ruling. Now this
is how powerful this king is, this king of kings. This is how
powerful this monarch is, that he just sits. and reigns. He doesn't go out to battle,
he sits. And how he reigns and rules is
with a word. And all things move when he speaks. All things are done when he says
so. Isaiah said, I saw the Lord,
the Lord Jesus Christ, not knocking on hearts door, hoping men will
do this, and just sitting on a throne. reigning, ruling with
all authority in heaven and certainly on this little piece of dirt
called earth. All authority. And all he has
to do, Brother Stephen, is say, move, and it moves. Jump, and
it jumps. Bow, and it bows. Die, and it
dies. Live, and it lives. Sitting on
throne. And this is a far different description
of the true and living Lord than what men are saying today. Huh?
I remind you, the Lord Jesus Christ is who Isaiah saw. A throne. Now look at this. Verse 1. We may not get past
verse 1. I saw him sitting upon a throne,
he said, high and lifted up. High and lifted up. Now, he's no longer this lowly
Jesus. I don't like that song. There's
not a friend like the lowly Jesus. I don't like that. He is no longer. Now, Paul said this in Hebrew,
and I'm not splitting hairs here, I'm preaching scripture. Paul
said, we see Jesus, talking to his Jewish brethren and all that. He said, we see Jesus. We saw
this man named Jesus, a little lower than the angels, that is,
confined to a human body upon this earth for the suffering
of death. We see Jesus, the Son of God.
Yes, his name was Jesus. A child is born, they gave him
his name Jesus, but the Son now, the eternal Son of God, is given. But we do see this man named
Jesus who walked this planet as a man, and men didn't see
anything in the man that was special. They just thought of
him as Jesus, the carpenter's son, lowly, meek and lowly, for
the suffering of death, so that he could die on the behalf of
his people. But now, Paul said, but now we
see him a lot higher than that. He's not lowly Jesus now. He's
not here on this earth now. He's not at men's. He's seated. He's seated at the right hand
of the majesty on high. He's high and lifted up. He's
not lowly. John's description in Revelation
1. John's description. John said,
I saw him and his countenance was as a sun that shines in his
strength. John said, I wasn't able to look
on him. John said, I fell at his feet as a dead man. Because
I'm just flesh, and he's in his glory, and I saw his glory, and
he said, I couldn't behold the sight. He's high and lifted up. Now, this is typical of two things
concerning our Lord. High and lifted up. Our Lord
says, I'll be lifted up. I'll draw all men to me. Scripture
says in John chapter three, he said, as Moses lifted up the
serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted
up. What's that speaking of? Christ
crucified. All right. Christ ascended the
cross. He was lifted up. He was lifted
up like Moses lifted up that serpent on a pole. for all those
who were bitten by that snake and they were dying. And Christ,
God put Christ on that cross. And God lifted up Christ on that
cross for all sin-bitten sinners to look upon and be healed. God
lifted him up. If I be lifted up, he said, like
Moses on that serpent. Moses did that serpent. I'll
draw all men, my men, my people, the men which thou hast given
me, I'll draw them to me. They'll look to me and they'll
be saved. All right? But now they took him down from
the cross, didn't they? They took him down from the cross.
He was lifted up on Calvary's tree. That's the reason he's,
that's the reason he's crucifixed. An abomination now. He's not
our cross now. We don't look to, a helpless
figure on a cross now. They took him down from that
cross and laid him in a tomb, but God raised him up, Scripture
said. God wouldn't suffer his Holy
One to see corruption. God raised him up a third day
and sat him, right here, right hand, sat him down on the right
hand of the majesty on high. But he sat him in a place high
above his fellows, the throne of glory. He's high and lifted
up now. Oh, he's seated. He's high. He's lifted up in
his glory. And now that's how we look to
him now. Not as a helpless martyr on a cross, or not as a dead
figure in a tomb, but as a reigning ruling. Not as a man named Jesus,
but as a King of kings and Lord of lords are enthroned. High
and lifted up. Now look at this, verse 1. It
says, His train filled the temple. His train. Any of you ladies,
when you got married, I hope you didn't, but you probably
did, wore one of those bridal veils that was long and stretched
out. You've seen some of those In
those big elaborate weddings, at this bridal veil, her train
is what it is. Stretched out long, way down. If you saw the marriage of Charles
and Diana, she had one that stretched out two miles. That's the train. That's what
it's talking about. Train filled the temple. of her robe. The veil, her bridal veil. Well, the scripture says here,
his train filled the temple. What's that talking about? The
skirts of his robe. His righteousness covers everyone. The skirts of his glory. That's
his glory, too. You know, this woman. God is so backward today in marriage.
Here comes the bride, you know. Here comes the bride. Look at
her. And her train, her veil, her skirts just everywhere, and
the pitiful little groom standing beside her. But look at the bride,
would you? Well, people, now, all glory
belongs to the bridegroom. In Scripture, in the Scripture,
the bridegroom, his train fills the temple. His glory. till all
those at the marriage supper of the Lamb are saying, here
comes the groom. And you know what? She's behind
him. She's behind him. But she's in
his train. She's covered with his robe.
She's covered with his glory. His train filled the temple,
his presence, his power, his glory, his works, his spirit,
filling the temple. Verse two, we made it. Now, above the throne stood the
seraphims. Above the throne stood the seraphim.
Now, is this familiar? To you teachers, it should be,
Deborah. The tabernacle of old. What was it? And when God told
Moses to make that ark of the covenant, a golden box, what
was it? Under the mercy seat on top of
it, where he's going to pour all that blood and cover the
mercy seat, the broken law inside of it. What did he tell Moses
to construct on top of that ark, on top of that mercy seat? There's
two things he said to put, to construct on top of that Two
cherubs, two seraphs, two angels were on top of that ark, and
they were huge figures, and their wings touched each other while
they themselves looked down on the ark. Isaiah saw the same exact Lord,
he said. All of God's people are taught
the same thing. Isaiah saw what Moses saw. Isaiah
saw what Abraham saw. Isaiah saw what I saw. And these
seraphims, it says, they stood above the throne. Peter, I love
this, Peter said, talking about the gospel, Peter was talking
about the gospel of Christ. Who is that ark of the covenant?
Who is the mercy seat? Who is the blood upon the mercy
seat? And Peter said, this gospel, he said, angels desire to look
into it. Which means angels desire to
look into it. That's the sense, Brother Dan,
in which the seraphims were over top of the ark and they were
looking, beholding. The ark. The mercy seat. God is holy. Holy. Holy. But he's merciful. He will cover transgressions. He will pass by the iniquity
of his people. They desire to look into it.
That's the reason what this was about. Isaiah said, I saw them. Verse really now, he said, I
saw real seraphim. Not just gold little cherubs
over a golden ark. I saw the Lord sitting on a throne. A person sitting. on a throne,
and above him, not better than, but just above him, in keeping
with the type. These two seraphims above him,
looking at him, and it says in verse 2, they
had six wings. Six wings. And it says, with two of them,
now look at this, with two of these wings, they had six With
two of them, they covered their face. They were looking at him, but
they couldn't look at him. Too glorious. And it says, with Twain, look
at it, verse 2, with two he covered his feet. Huge wings, you know,
like this, with two of them. Two of them, their feet means their whole
bodies. What's this picture of? Man, the angels, that God is,
Christ is far too glorious to even to look upon. And that this
is modesty too. Shame, humility, modesty. This
isn't the head of two others, though. With two, they did fly,
just hovering, ready to go at his beckoning call. I thought of God's preachers,
you know. This is a good picture of God's
preachers who were called the angel of the church, that humble,
modest, and ready to fly. And here's what they said. Here's
what they said about this one sitting on the throne. Here's what they said. Isaiah
saw the Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ, high and lifted up, His
train, His glory filled the temple. I can't begin, Brother William,
I can't begin to preach this as it was. I can't begin to describe
the Lord Jesus Christ as He is. We preach in part. And what a pitiful attempt it
is. Isaiah said, I saw the Lord,
the Lord Jesus Christ, not meek and lowly, but high and lifted
up. He was trained, filled the temple. And these charities, seraphims,
these angels stood above him, six wings, Look at what they
said. They're going to describe it.
Verse 3. They cried one to another. This is what they were crying
one to another. Their faces covered, feet covered, their wings flapping. Hold that. Hold that. Hold that. They say, love, holy, holy, holy. He's the Lord of hosts. The whole
earth is full of his glory. Holy, three times. Holy, Father. Holy, Son. Holy, Ghost. Three times. For thrice holy
year, preachers, true preachers, true preachers. Say this a lot,
the thrice-holy God. Not just the holy God, but the
thrice-holy God. The triune God, who is holy,
holy, holy. This is the true and living Lord
Jesus Christ. This is his chief attribute.
And this is how he is to be declared holy, holy, holy. That's his glory. And now nobody,
we don't see Jesus Christ anymore. We don't see him anymore in his
visions. We don't. And yet every person whom God
has chosen, every person whom God gave to Christ in that covenant,
every person whom God sends the Holy Spirit to in the preaching
of the gospel, this is what they're going to see. Through the pages
of this book, through the preaching of the pages of this book, through
the preaching of the gospel of Christ, they're going to see
Him as He is, Brother John. They're going to see Him, number
one, holy. Holy. Holy. Holy. High lifted up. Holy. Uh-huh. Every one of them. Isaiah
said, I saw the Lord, and let me tell you, He's holy. What's he like, Isaiah? Holy. Describe him to me, Isaiah, in
one word. You saw him? Yes, saw the Lord. What's he like? Holy. Well, it says in verse 4, it
says, The post of the door moved at the voice of him that cried.
The post moved. at the voice of him that crieth.
The house was filled with smoke. Again, this is alluding back
to the Old Testament tabernacle, where it says, The smoke, when
the kind of glory came into the Holy of Holies, the smoke filled
the place. This is God's Holy Spirit. This
is God's church, whom he moves at the voice of the gospel. The house was filled with smoke.
The Word, the Scriptures, the Church of God is filled with
the Holy Spirit of God. It moves the doors, the hearts
of God's people and the voice of the preacher and the gospel. And look at what Isaiah saw then.
Look at the next thing Isaiah saw. Isaiah saw the Lord, all
right, as He is. But a child, he saw the Lord
Jesus Christ as he is. What's the next thing he saw?
What's the next thing he saw? Himself. Verse 5. Then said I, woe is me. I am undone. I am half-baked. I am no good. I am unclean. I am a man of unclean lips. I dwell in the midst of a people
of unclean lips. I'm unclean, they're unclean,
everything's unclean. I'm undone, I'm imperfect, they're
imperfect, everything's imperfect. Why do you say this, Isaiah?
Because I saw the Lord. You see, do you see, huh? Do you see the Lord Jesus Christ
and the God of Scripture? as he is, then the next thing
you see is yourself as you are, unclean, undone, no good, sinful,
iniquitous, far short of the glory of God. And so is everybody
else. It's all imperfect in God's eye
because God's holy, thrice holy. He says, where is me? Job said
this, the oldest book of the Bible. Job said, I heard of you. Job said, I've heard of you.
by the hearing of my ear." Talking about Christ, didn't he, Joe?
Talking about Christ. He said, I've heard of you by
the hearing of my ear. Dad told me, or grandfather,
somebody told me. A preacher told me. I heard of
you. Growing up, I heard of you. By
the hearing of my ear. Heard it over and over and over
again. But then one day, one day, Mancy, God came to Joe. God came to him, and this is
when salvation comes. This is when a person is going
to, when eternal life comes, with
God. And God dealt with Job. He said,
who do you think you are? Who is this? And after the Lord
finished dealing, speaking to Job, Job said, I've heard of
you, and now I see you. And what do you say? I hate myself. I hate myself. So the band is far different
from professions today. I saw Jesus and he said he needed
me and church wouldn't be church without you. And so I accepted
him, let him into my heart and he sure is glad to have me. He's
my friend. Job said, Isaiah said, I'm undone. Job said, I abhor myself. Daniel said, when Daniel saw
him, Daniel said, my beauty melted into corruption. Saul went down
in the dust. Saul was down in the dust. John
fell at the speed of the dead man. And everyone whom God reveals
Christ to, that's what they say about themselves. I'm undone.
Woe is me. How would God have anything to
do with me? I'm rotten, no good, hell-deserving, wretched sinner.
But wait. One of the seraphs. There are
six. One of the seraphs. One of these
angels of mercy. One of these angels who looked
into the glory of God. One of these angels who saw him
as he is. Went up to the—look at it, verse 6—had a coal in
his hand, a burning ember, which he'd taken with tongs.
He wouldn't touch it himself, no. But he'd taken it with tongs
from the archer itself, and came down to me. Isaiah is sitting
there beating on his jaw. Like Manoah. Manoah said, we've
seen the Lord, we're going to die, we're going to die, we're
going to die. Because I'm a rotten, no good sinner. I've seen the
Lord. I'm going to die. I know I'm going to die. And
one of these angels came down and had this coal on him. And
he came to Isaiah and said, verse 7, and laid it upon him a mount. Now, the heart work had already
started. I heard a preacher one time preach
this, and he entitled the message, Blistered Lips. Preaching with blistered lips.
He laid it upon his mouth. You see, with a heart, a man
believing, he saw the Lord. And with his heart he believed.
He was high and lifted up, holy, righteous. And he saw himself
corrupt, undone, no good, sinful. And here came his angel and laid
this coal on his mouth, which represents the gospel, the gospel
of this burning power, the word of God laid upon us, touching
us, and says, you're undone, but the Lord has taken away your
iniquity. Yeah, you're a sinner, but he's
purged your sins. And he laid it upon me. And that's
what the scripture, that's what the gospel does. Lays hold upon
us. Causes our hearts to burn. Isaiah said, I saw the Lord,
high and lit to death. His train filled the temple.
He's holy. He's holy. And I'm undone. I'm no good.
But then an angel of mercy came with the gospel of God's grace
and mercy. With the gospel of blood and
redemption. with the gospel of Christ crucified, broke my heart,
revealed himself and myself to me, and purged my sin, purged my
iniquity. And then, though he had blistered
lips, though he had, he thought, I'm
sure he thought, how am I going to speak things too wonderful
for me? But then the Lord said in verse
8, the Lord said, whom shall I send? We're going to send somebody
to tell who the Lord is, what he's like, where he is now, what
he's done, what man he is. We're going to send somebody,
a preacher, to tell him who the Lord is. Who shall I send? Isaiah said, he's got blistered lips. I know I'm undone. He doesn't have proud lips. He's
got singed lips. You understand what I'm trying
to say? He's not proud. He's undone. Praise Father Lord. He said, I'll go. Have I spoken too much? Abraham
said, I'll lay my hand on my mouth, Moses. But I'd like to tell That's who
you want to hear about. That's who you want to hear about. Not proud, boastful, but broken-hearted
sinner just like you with blistered lips who heard the gospel, who
saw the Lord as he is, as he is. May the Lord reveal himself to
all of us. All right, what's that hymn? John, verse number 16, isn't
it? Come on. Hymn number 16. Hymn number 16. Let's sing the
first and last verses, okay? Hymn number 16. The Lord is King, since the Prince
of life was born. Sing His praise, sing His praise. God had left before Him, now
He's gone. Sing His praise, sing His praise. I'm glad to wear the joyous garland
for He alone is God and King. But sky to sky, it's better to
sing Sing His praise, sing His praise The Lord is King, throughout
His perfect reign He is all, all in all. The Lord, Jehovah, evermore shall
reign. He is all, all in all. Through earth and heaven our
songs shall ring, For our grateful hearts to them will spring. For what He's made, so we'll
start giving all our days, saying His praise.