Let's look together tonight at
Isaiah chapter 6, Isaiah chapter 6. This marvelous, marvelous passage
of scripture speaks of a vision the Lord God gave to Isaiah in
the year that King Uzziah died. The wise man Solomon wrote, Where
there is no vision, the people perish. Without a vision, there's
no purpose, no driving force, no inspiration, no motivation
in a person's life. Where there is no vision, the
people perish. We need a vision, not some foolish,
charismatic nonsense, but a vision. A vision that drives our lives
and controls our lives. We need a vision of Christ in
his glory. Now we know that this is what
Isaiah saw because our Lord Jesus tells us in John chapter 12 that
the things that Isaiah saw here were things he saw when he saw
Christ in his glory. He saw the Lord Jesus glorified. And Isaiah here tells us about
what he saw. If God ever saves you by his
grace, he will give you a vision of Christ. He will make known
in you his mercy, love, and grace in the Lord Jesus Christ. You
can't be saved. except God make you to see and
know the Lord Jesus. And if ever God is pleased to
do that for you, you'll never get over it. You'll never get
over it. Thank God you'll never get over
it. You won't need a preacher to
constantly keep you rededicating yourself and re-consecrating
yourself and re and re and re and re and re nonsense they do
in religion. If God ever reveals Christ in
you, you'll never get over it. If ever the Lord God calls you
men, any of you men, to preach the gospel of his grace, he'll
do so by giving you the revelation of Christ in you. just as he
did Moses on the backside of the desert, when Moses stood
and God spoke to him out of the bush and revealed himself in
his redemptive glory as Jehovah, I am God who saves. If you try to preach without
that, you'll just fall on your face. If you try to preach without
that, you'll go through the mechanics of teaching and preaching the
word of God, but it'll be kind of like reading a book to folks. You can't preach the gospel of
God's grace, except God give you the vision of his glory in
Christ Jesus. If you are truly inspired to
devotion, to consecrate your life to Christ, motivated to
live for him, his honor and his glory. The only thing that can
give that inspiration is the revelation of Christ in you,
the continual renewal of the vision of Christ in his glory. Only by seeing Christ, Looking
to Christ, do you follow Christ and seek to honor Christ? Brother
Scott Richardson preached a sermon years ago. I don't think I'll
ever forget his outline. It's standing right here. He
said, salvation begins in a look. Look unto me and be you saved
all the ends of the earth. And he preached on that for a
while. And then he said, salvation continues in a look. under Jesus,
the author and finisher of our faith. And he preached on that
for a few minutes. And then he wrapped his message
up by taking us to Revelation and said, salvation ends in a
look. They shall see his face. This thing called salvation is
intimately wrapped up in the vision of Jesus Christ our Lord. God making known His Son in you. Now let's turn to Isaiah chapter
6 and I want to address this question. What did Isaiah see? Our Savior said, These things
said Isaiah when he saw His glory and spoke of Him. But what was
it that this man saw? me show you five things here
that Isaiah saw by which he was made to know and see the glory
of the Lord Jesus Christ. First look at verses 1-4, When
the Lord Jesus revealed Himself to Isaiah, this man saw God in
His true character. He saw God as He really is. He saw Him in His glorious sovereignty
and in His infinite holiness. Now I can't stress this adequately.
I know that people have the idea that somehow you get saved and
then you come to find out who God is and you come to find out
what God did and you come to find out what Christ did and
come to find out who Christ is, come to find out who the Holy
Ghost is. Nothing could be further from the truth. You grow in the
grace and knowledge of Christ. But nobody's saved who doesn't
know who God is. You can't trust an unknown God. When Isaiah speaks of the Lord
God revealing himself to him, he's talking about God making
himself known in his true character, the glorious, sovereign, infinitely
holy, almighty God. Look at Isaiah chapter one. The
chapter begins, or chapter six rather, verse one. In the year
that King Uzziah died, Uzziah was a great, great king. He reigned
in Jerusalem for 52 years. And in all those years, he did
that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to 2 Chronicles.
This man Uzziah was Isaiah's cousin as well as his king. And
Isaiah apparently loved this man king, almost to the point
of idolizing his cousin who was his king. Excuse me. Isaiah was the prophet in the
king's court, but Uzziah died under the curse of God. This
man who had done that which is right in the eyes of the Lord
for half a century. This man who for a half a century
had served well as king in Judah. This man that Isaiah admired
and loved, this man he adored, his cousin Uzziah the king, went
in to the temple of God to offer incense before the Lord. not through God's priest, but
to offer incense himself, thereby despising the Son of God and
doing so publicly, despising the substitutionary work of the
Lord Jesus, despising the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. He
went in and took incense and said, I'll go in to God. What
presumption, not even the king, not even the king. Not even the
king. Immediately he was stricken with
leprosy and died under the curse of God because he despised God's
son. God's son's sacrifice. The doing
and dying of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he died as a leper. Isaiah
was, needless to say, devastated. But this was the gracious hand
of God and the gracious hand of God for Isaiah. God destroyed
the king that Isaiah might see him who really is king. God destroyed that one who was
Isaiah's joy that Isaiah might see him who is truly his joy. took from Isaiah his earthly
comfort and security, that Isaiah might see him who is his true
comfort and security. God took away all those things
which tempted Isaiah to lean on the arm of the flesh, that
he might be compelled to lean on the Lord his God. Look at
verse 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. He said, I saw the Lord. Not
the word Jehovah, the word Adonai. I saw the triune God. I saw God incarnate. I saw God, I saw him. I saw God. I saw Christ in the flesh, crucified,
exalted in throne. I saw the Word of God. I saw Him who is the wisdom of
God. I saw the Lord sitting. That's a blessed picture of God.
God our Savior sits upon His throne. He sits. Sits. A man who is sitting is at ease. A man who's sitting is comfortable. A man who's sitting isn't agitated. A man who's sitting is undisturbed. Isaiah said, I saw God sitting
in the ease of total dominion, total sovereignty. I saw God,
my savior, sitting on his throne, sitting upon the throne. The
throne he saw was the mercy seat portrayed in the Ark of the Covenant.
overshadowing the Ark of the Covenant and the Holy of Holies,
that mercy seat, it's called the throne of grace. This is
where God's saying is, I'll meet you on the mercy seat. I'll meet
you between the cherubs, so that God sits upon a throne of grace. God, our Savior, rules the world
in absolute ease from a throne, but a throne of mercy, a throne
of grace. And he said he was high and lifted
up, exalted, exalted. I saw my Redeemer, the Lamb that
had been slain, now sitting on a throne, high and lifted up,
exalted with all power and dominion over all flesh. And his train
filled the temple. These are tokens of his regal
authority. his back parts, a king's train. We don't see those things in
our day, even those Arab kings don't have the kind of train
Isaiah's talking about. The nearest thing we can come
to in our immediate thought is a bride's train, when she comes
walking down that aisle in that long train that's following behind
her and she's just all decked out. But a king's trade's something
else. Oh, that king in all his royal
splendor walks before men and his trade displays his wealth. His power, His kingdom, all the
tokens of royalty. Isaiah says, I saw the Lord Jesus,
the crucified Christ, having accomplished redemption, sitting
on His throne, exalted in His glory, and I saw all the tokens
of His royalty as King of the universe. Look at verse two.
Above it, that is above the throne, You might ask, well, how do you
know that throne is a mercy seat? He tells us right here. Above
it stood the seraphims. Each one had six wings. And with twain, with two he covered
his face. And with two he covered his feet.
And with two he did fly. The word seraphims here is found
only in this portion of Holy Scripture. You don't find it
anywhere else. places where you have the similar
description, this same vision speaks of cherubs. But here it
speaks of seraphims. It's given only in the plural,
never in the singular. These seraphims represent God's
preachers, His messengers to His people. Now I want you to
see this. Hold your hands here in Isaiah and turn over to Revelation
4, Revelation chapter 4. God's servants are described
constantly as angels, messengers of God. They're portrayed here
as these seraphims looking on the mercy seat. You remember
when Moses was commanded to make the Ark of the Covenant, he was
commanded to make the mercy seat. He said, the Lord told him, said,
you make cherubs on each end of that mercy seat, looking toward
one another and see that their wings touch each other. so that
as they bow toward the mercy seat, looking on blood atonement,
looking on Christ crucified, these seraphims, touching their
wings, constantly have their eyes fixed upon the glorified
Christ. That is Christ in his glory as
our accomplished redeemer. These seraphims are described
here in Revelation chapter four. John has a very similar vision.
He says, after this, I looked and behold, a door was opened
in heaven. And the first voice which I heard
was as it were of a trumpet talking with me, which said, come up
hither. I will show thee things which must be hereafter. And
immediately I was in the spirit. And behold, a throne was set
in heaven. And one sat on the throne. And
he that sat was to look upon like jasper and a sardine stone. And there was a rainbow round
about the throne, and the sight likened to an emerald. I saw
God sitting on his throne, encircled with the bow of his covenant.
And round about the throne were four and 20 seats, and upon the
seats I saw four and 20 elders sitting, all God's elect sitting,
clothed in white raiment, and they had on their heads crowns
of gold. Here are all the host of God's
elect, crowned with glory in Christ Jesus, redemption accomplished,
salvation finished. And out of the throne proceeded
lightnings, and thunderings and voices. And there were seven
lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven
spirits of God. And before the throne, there
was a sea of glass like in the crystal. And in the midst of
the throne, round about the throne, were four beasts, these seraphims,
these cherubs, those angelic-like creatures who were formed at
each end of the mercy sea. But here they're described as
four. Four beasts, full of eyes, before and behind. And the first
beast was like a lion, bold. And the second beast like a calf,
strong. And the third beast had the face
of a man, tender and compassionate. And the fourth beast was like
a flying eagle, soaring into the heavens. And the four beasts
had each one of them six wings about him. And they were full
of eyes within and they rest not day and night saying, holy,
holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, which was and is and is to come. And when the beast give glory
and honor and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who liveth
forever and ever, all the saints of God fall down and worship
him that sat on the throne. And look back in Isaiah six,
Isaiah six. He says, I saw these seraphims. In verse three, they cried, holy,
holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Lord of hosts. These seraphims
then are faithful gospel preachers, always looking upon the sacrifice
of Christ. And they cover their faces, and
they cover their feet in humility, and they fly swiftly to do God's
will at God's appointment. Read it with me, verse three.
And when one cried unto another and said, holy, holy, holy is
the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his
glory. And the post of the door moved at the voice of him that
cried and the house was filled with smoke. This speaks of the
thrice holy God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. He is indeed
Lord, the Lord of hosts. He's the God of heaven and earth. He rules everybody and everything.
The whole earth. is full of His glory. The whole
earth is full of His glory. What can that possibly mean?
The whole earth is full of the wisdom and power and glory of
God as our Creator, displayed for everybody to see. The whole
earth is full of the glory of God revealed in the gospel as
the gospel is preached throughout the four corners of the earth.
The whole earth is full of the glory of God for therein you
find God's elect scattered across the four corners of the earth,
saved by his grace in whom he makes known his glory. Look at
the next line. And the post of the door moved
at the voice of him that cried. What does that mean? When the
Lord Jesus Christ came and he fulfilled the law, satisfying
all the types of the law, satisfying all the justice of the law by
the sacrifice of himself, he broke the pillars of the house
of the law. and destroyed those pillars forever. The Lord Jesus took away the
first that he may bring in the second, that he might establish
the second. He took away the old covenant
of works and established a covenant of grace. The old covenant of
law and established a covenant of mercy. He broke the pillars
of the house. And when our Lord Jesus comes
in saving mercy to chose and redeem sinners, he breaks the
post of our hearts. It causes your house to collapse
around you. And he sets his throne in the
house of his own, in the hearts of his own. Second, Isaiah saw
God as he really is. And Isaiah saw himself as he
really was. A guilty, helpless, doomed, damned,
lost sinner before the Holy Lord God. And if God ever saves you by
His grace, you will see yourself as a guilty, lost, helpless,
doomed, damned sinner before the Holy Lord God. And unless
God brings you down to see yourself as you really are, you will never
be saved by God's free grace. Verse five, then said I, when
I saw Christ crucified. Isn't that what the prophet Zechariah
said would happen? The Lord said, I'll pour out
my spirit upon you, then you'll mourn. I'll pour out my spirit
upon you, the spirit of grace and supplication, then you'll
call on me. Then said I, woe is me. Damned, damned, damned! That's who I am. Forever damned! Woe is me. I'm undone. I'm undone. I'm reduced to nothing. I'm cut off. I'm helpless. I'm useless. I got nothing more
to say. I got nothing more to say. I'll
quit excusing myself. I'll quit finding excuses for
what I am and what I do. I'll quit defending myself. I'm
undone. And then he says, I'm a man of
unclean lips. I'm dirty. Dirty from the inside out. That which proceeds out of the
mouth reveals what's in the heart. I'm dirty, dirty from the inside
out. A man of unclean lips. This is
exactly what happened to Daniel. If you wanna turn over to Daniel
10, Daniel chapter 10, verse five. What happened to Job? He said,
I abhorred myself and repent in dust and ashes. In Daniel
10, verse five, then I lifted up mine eyes and looked. And
behold, a certain man clothed in linen, whose loins were girded
with fine gold of Euphaz. His body also was like the barrel,
and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as
lamps of fire, and his arms and his feet in color like an abolished
brass, and the voice of his words like the voice of a multitude.
Daniel's talking about the man spoken of in chapter nine, the
Messiah, the Prince, the Redeemer, who'd take away sin and bring
in everlasting righteousness, as I saw him. And I, Daniel alone,
saw the vision. For the men that were with me
saw not the vision, but a great quaking fell on them. So they
fled to hide themselves. That's kind of what happens when
the Lord makes himself known to a man. You're sitting here
and God calls his hidden word to go forth in power, and folks
sitting beside you somehow get a sense something's going on,
but don't have a clue what it is. Don't have a clue what it is, but God
speaks to you. And God makes himself known to
you. Therefore I was left alone, and saw this great vision. What's
the result of that? There remained no strength in
me, for my comeliness was turned in me into corruption, and I
retained no strength. Oh, may God ever constantly cause
me to see him in his true character and to see myself as I really
am. Just corruption, undone, useless,
worthless, worthless. Then third, look at verse five
again. Isaiah saw the complete depravity
of all Adam's fallen race. Then said, I woe is me for I'm
undone because I'm a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst
of a people of unclean lips. Reckon why he said that? He said,
I'm a sinner and none of you can help me because you are too.
I'm a sinner and there's nothing you can do about it because you're
the same shape I'm in. The whole of the race is unclean. The whole human race fallen and
depraved. The whole human race lost in
sin. The whole human race justly condemned
by a holy God. The whole human race ruined. I dwell in the midst of a people
of unclean lips. I myself am undone, and I confess
this, for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. What a terrifying sight for a
man to see God in his holiness, in his strict justice, in his
absolute purity, in his glorious sovereignty. and then see himself
in his corruption, depravity, rebellion, ungodliness, and helplessness. I've seen the king. I've seen
the king. Oh, I'm undone. But then Isaiah
saw something else. And I promise you, if ever You're
made to see God in his true character, and Christ in his glory as our
Redeemer, and made to see yourself as you really are. By the goodness
and grace of God, like Isaiah, you will see and experience the
complete forgiveness of sin by the blood atonement of Christ
Jesus. Look at verse six. Then flew
one of the seraphims unto me, having a live cold in his hand,
which he had taken with tongs from off the altar, and had laid
it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips, thine
iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged. Then, then, then
I saw, I heard then, I saw the seraphim, a gospel preacher,
took a coal from off the altar, the altar of sacrifice. Christ,
our Passover, sacrificed for us. He took that live coal and
he laid it on my lips. The gospel preacher comes and
brings the message of God's grace and God, speaking by his servant,
speaks to my soul. And when God speaks, God gives
this testimony that your iniquity is purged, your sin is taken
away because of what transpired at the altar of God. Because
of the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus, your guilt is removed. Now, look at verses six through
13. Isaiah, when he saw the Lord's
glory, saw all these things accomplished in Christ, He saw the purpose
of God perfectly fulfilled by Christ, Jehovah's servant. Look
at this. Also, I heard the voice of the
Lord. Now Isaiah has been talking about
what he saw. He'd been talking about what
he acknowledged, but now he says, I hear God speaking. I hear God
speaking. 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. And he said, go and tell this
people, hear ye indeed but understand not and see indeed but perceive
not. Make the heart of this 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. He said, He said,
I heard, I heard this, this word of God speaking. And I said,
I said, how long is this going to go on? And he said, until
the reprobate are forever sealed in their reprobation. Then said
I, Lord, how long? And he answered until the city
is be wasted without inhabitant and the houses without man and
the land be utterly desolate. and the Lord have removed men
far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the
land, but yet in it shall be a tent, a remnant, and it shall
return and shall be eaten as the teal tree and as an oak,
whose substance is in them when they cast their leaves, so the
holy seed shall be the substance thereof. Now, I don't have any question
that this portion of Isaiah 6 speaks of the making of a prophet, of
God calling a prophet, of Isaiah himself describing his call. God's servants are men who give
themselves willingly in the calls and service of Christ. They're
all men sent of God. They're servants. who come to
some a saver of life unto life, and to others a saver of death
unto death. But God's servants are made by God and made by the
revelation and call of God. That, the Lord willing, will
be my subject in a few weeks. But look at these verses again.
This eighth verse begins with the words, also I heard, as if
to indicate there's been a change. This last section of the chapter
refers more specifically to Christ, God's servant, our Lord Jesus,
our shepherded. As I heard the voice of the Lord
saying, whom shall I send and who will go for us? And the Lord
Jesus stood up and said, then said I, here am I, send me. Send me, my Father, to accomplish
the redemption and salvation that's here portrayed in this
sacrifice, in this altar, in this mercy seat, in these seraphims
and all that they proclaim. And the Lord Jesus is sent forth
to accomplish redemption as Jehovah's servant. Let me show you this
in Psalm 40, Psalm 40. Verse seven. Then said I, this is what Isaiah
saw and heard. Lo, I come in the volume of the
book it is written to me. I delight to do thy will, O my
God, yea, thy law is within my heart. I have preached righteousness
in the great congregation. Lo, I have not refrained my lips,
O Lord, thou knowest. I have not hid thy righteousness
within my heart. I have declared thy faithfulness
and thy salvation. I have not concealed by loving
kindness and thy truth from the great congregation. Our Lord
Jesus Christ is that one who comes as Jehovah's servant to
accomplish God's purpose. He is that one who was preserved
in the stock of Israel. Preserved in that vine. It looked
like the whole thing was dead, but there's life in it. Don't cut it off yet. Don't cut
it off yet. He is the blessing in that vine,
who must come through whom all the nations of the earth shall
be blessed, in whom is all the holy seed that shall serve the
Lord our God. In verses nine through 12, as
if struck with what he had seen and heard, Isaiah says, how long
shall it be? How long shall it be that the
enemy of souls shall triumph and fallen man remain under the
ruins of apostasy? And the Lord spoke in verse 13.
But yet in it shall be a tenth and it shall return. There is
a remnant that shall return and shall be eaten as a teal tree
and as an oak whose substance is in them. when they cast off
their leaves. It looks dead, looks like it's
all useless. But so the Holy Seed shall be
the substance thereof. Isaiah said, though God cuts
these people off and their apostasy brings them to ruin, there is
a who shall be saved by this one whom Jehovah shall send,
his righteous servant, who shall not fail and shall not be discouraged. They shall fulfill all the purpose
of God. Isaiah says, this is what I saw.
I saw all the character of God and his holiness and sovereignty. I saw myself. Guilty, helpless,
doomed, justly damned. I saw the complete depravity
of our race. I saw the complete forgiveness
of sin by the blood atonement of Christ. And I saw the purpose
of God perfectly fulfilled by Jesus Christ, Jehovah's servant,
my Redeemer, our surety. All is well. I've seen the Lord
in His glory. This is what Isaiah saw. Have
you? Have you seen the Lord in His
glory? The Lord God Almighty who saves
people by His grace and will save all His people by His grace
through the merit and mediation of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.