Here's my subject today. What
Isaiah saw. What Isaiah saw. And here's my
text. Isaiah chapter 6 verse 1. It says, In the year that King
Uzziah died, I saw the Lord. In the year that King Uzziah
died, I saw the Lord. Sitting on a throne, high and
lifted up and his glory his glory filled the temple the whole earth
is full of his glory now we don't know a great deal about this
man Isaiah except to say first of all he was a prophet of God
we do know that he was a prophet of God who prophesied in the
days of Uzziah and Jotham and Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. He lived almost 120 years and
he prophesied for 85 of those 120 years. He lived approximately
700 years before the Lord Jesus Christ visited our earth, came
in the flesh. And his writings, did you know
this, the writings of the prophet Isaiah are quoted in the New
Testament more than all 39 of the Old Testament books except
the book of Psalms. The book of Psalms is quoted
more in the New Testament than any other book in the Bible,
but Isaiah is quoted more than any book except the Psalms. Now
John the forerunner of Christ began his ministry quoting Isaiah. He said the voice one crying
in the wilderness prepare you the way of the Lord our Lord
Jesus Christ went down to Nazareth where he was brought up as his
custom was he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day and he stood
up to read and our master the Lord himself selected a passage
of scripture from Isaiah chapter 61 and read it and preached from
it the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, he hath anointed me
to preach the gospel to the poor to give sight to the blind and
to heal the sick and to recover the captive our Lord quoted that
passage from Isaiah 61 and then it was Isaiah that the Ethiopian
eunuch was reading when he was journeying from Jerusalem to
Ethiopia in the chariot was sitting there reading the scriptures
And God sent Philip, the preacher, down to preach to him. He was
reading Isaiah, chapter 50, 53. Isaiah is fitly called the Gospel
of the Old Testament. But enough of that. What I want
you to look at this morning is this. Isaiah had a revelation
of the Lord. God revealed Himself to Isaiah. as he's pleased to reveal himself
to all whom he saves. Paul said, God separated me from
my mother's womb and called me by his grace and he was pleased
to reveal himself to me. And God was pleased to reveal
himself to this man Isaiah. Over in the New Testament, our
Lord said to the apostle Peter one day, said, whom do you say
that I am? And Peter said, you're the Christ,
the son of the living God. And our Master said, flesh and
blood didn't reveal that to you, but my Father revealed it to
you, my Father which is in heaven. In Matthew 11, 25, our Lord said,
I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, thou hast hid
these things from the wise and the prudent, and thou hast revealed
them. unto babes. And then in 1 Corinthians
2 verse 8 and 9 and 10 the scripture says, I hath not seen, ear hath
not heard, neither hath it entered the heart of men, the things
which God has prepared for them that love him, but he has revealed
them unto us by his Spirit. And the thing I want to talk
about today is not just the fact that Isaiah was a great writer
and a great prophet and a prophet who prophesied for a number of
years, and a prophet who was often quoted, but he was a prophet
who saw the Lord. God revealed himself to Isaiah. That's what it says here in Isaiah
chapter 6. Isaiah saw the Lord. He said, in the year that King
Uzziah died, I saw the Lord. I saw the Lord. Now what did
that mean? What did Isaiah mean? Well, he
did not see God essentially considered. Now, you've got to learn that
first. No man has seen God at any time. Isn't that what the
Bible says? No man has seen God at any time. God is a spirit.
The Bible talks about our God being invisible. No man, God
said to Moses, can look on me and live. Even Moses was not
permitted, essentially considered, to look on God. No man can look
on God and live. God is a spirit. His essence
is not to be seen. Well, you say, Preacher, what
did Isaiah see? Whom did Isaiah see? He said,
I saw the Lord. I saw the Lord. Isn't that what
he said? Isaiah saw the Lord Jesus Christ. That's exactly who he saw. He
saw the Lord Jesus Christ. Isaiah, 700 years. Before Christ
came into this world, was manifested in human flesh, walked on this
earth, lived in the flesh, and died on the cross, was buried
and rose again 700 years before Christ came to this earth, Isaiah,
the prophet, had a pre-incarnation view of the Son of God. He said,
I saw the Lord. I saw the Lord. That has to be the Lord Jesus
Christ. Because Christ said, no man hath
seen the Father. No man. Christ said this 700
years later, He said, no man hath seen the Father. The only
begotten hath declared Him, manifested Him, revealed Him. So when Isaiah
said, I saw the Lord, he saw the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
who he saw. And he saw Christ on a throne.
Now will you see this? He saw Christ on a throne. The
scripture says in Hebrews 1.8, the Father declared to the Son,
Thy throne, O God, is forever. Thy throne. Thy throne, O God,
is forever. And Christ is called our merciful
high priest. And we're invited to come to
his throne of grace. Our merciful high priest is on
a throne, which is called a throne of grace, that we may find mercy
and grace to help in time of need. And it says in Hebrews
10, 12, Christ, having offered one sacrifice for sin forever,
sat down on a throne on the right hand of God. He is Lord, sovereign,
omnipotent Lord by decree. God hath made this same Jesus,
whom you crucified, Lord and Christ. And He's not only Lord
by decree, He's Lord by death. He died that he might be Lord
of the dead and the living. So Jesus Christ, don't get the
wrong conception of Christ. He came as the Lamb. He came
as the sinner's friend. He came as the Redeemer. He came
in the flesh and died. But our Lord Jesus Christ is
seated on a throne high and lifted up. That's what Isaiah said.
He said, I saw him on a throne, and I saw him high and lifted
up. Now the throne wasn't necessarily
high and lifted up. Christ was high and lifted up.
He became the Son of Man, and the Son of Man was lifted up
to save. Now the Son of Man is lifted
up to reign. He's no longer on a cross. He's
not in a tomb in Jerusalem. He's on a throne. And he reigns. He said to his disciples, I have
all authority in heaven and earth. Go ye therefore and preach the
gospel. Philippians 2 said that God hath highly exalted him and
given him a name which is above every name, above the name of
Abraham, above the name of Moses, above the name of David, above
the name of angels, greater than the angels. And God has given
him a name above every name, that it's the name of Jesus Christ. Every knee shall bow in heaven,
earth, and under the earth, and every tongue shall proclaim that
he's Lord, to the glory of God the Father. I saw the Lord, he
said. I saw him on a throne. I saw him high and lifted up.
That's a little different view from what I hear people talk
about seeing Jesus now at the foot of the bed seeing Him out
there wandering around in a field and seeing Him with visions,
Isaiah saw Him on a throne, high and lifted up. And it said His
glory literally filled the temple. The whole earth was full of His
glory. And Isaiah saw His holiness and
righteousness. It said the seraphims around
the throne, Many people think those represent his prophets,
his preachers, his evangelists. But these seraphims around the
throne had six wings. And with two of them, they covered
their faces, ashamed of themselves in his presence. Even the seraphims
cover their faces in the presence of his immaculate holiness, his
awesome holiness. They covered their faces. And
with two wings, they covered their feet. Ashamed of their
walk, ashamed of their conduct, ashamed of their conversation,
covered their feet in humility. And with two they did fly about
the throne of our Lord. They flew, someone said, in haste
to proclaim the good news that Christ is enthroned. But cheaply,
Isaiah saw the Lord Jesus Christ, and he saw Him on a throne. That's
not sweet little Jesus, boy. This is King of Kings and Lord
of Lords. They saw Him lifted up. And they
saw His glory fill the temple. And they saw even the seraphims
cover their faces in His awesome, holy, and righteous presence.
And they saw the whole earth full of His glory. Now the heavens
declared His glory. All things that were made were
made by Him. Now every believer has seen his glory and is filled
with his glory, and the church, his body knows something about
his glory, but someday the whole earth shall be full of his glory
as the waters that cover the sea. There won't be a place he
doesn't reign. There won't be a heart over which
he doesn't reign. There won't be a bird in the
skies or an animal on the shore. or a man walking on legs that
will not love him with all his heart, mind, soul, and strength.
The glory of God is revealed in the face of Jesus Christ. I saw the Lord. I don't know. I listen to the religionists
of this day. I listen with a broken heart. I listen with a tear in my eye.
I listen with a sob in my throat. And the Jesus they're talking
about He's not the one Isaiah saw. Paul said, it's another
Jesus. It's another gospel. It's another
spirit. It's the spirit of Antichrist.
It's the imposter. It's the counterfeit. Isaiah
saw the Lord. I know he saw the Lord. I don't
know that you've seen Him, but I know Isaiah saw Him. God said
he saw Him. God said He revealed Himself
to him. Isaiah said, in the year that King Uzziah died, I saw
the Lord. And I saw him on the throne. I didn't see him begging
anybody for anything. God said, if I were hungry, I
wouldn't tell you. The cattle on a thousand hills are mine.
If I needed anything, I wouldn't call on you. I hear people say,
God needs you. He needs your tithe. He needs
your money. He needs your support. He needs your this, that, and
the other. God doesn't need anything you have or anybody out there. Not to go to the Bible. He's
on the throne. And His throne's lifted up above
all the earth, and His glory fills the temple, and His glory
fills the earth as the waters that cover the sea. And He's holy. He's holy. What did Isaiah see? He saw the
Lord. And then what did he see? He saw himself. When he saw the
glory and the holiness of the Lord Jesus Christ, he saw himself. He said, I saw the Lord. High
and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. And the seraphims
cried, Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God of hosts. And I cried, Woe
is me. Woe is me. I'm a man of unclean
lips. I'm undone. I'm cut off. Woe
is me. Let me tell you something. This
is another reason that I doubt that this generation has seen
the Lord. It's their attitude toward themselves and toward
sin. A sinner is hard to find. Did
you know that? If a man has seen the Lord, he knows his sin. He
can see his sin. I tell you, if we look at the
worst of men, we are prone to say, I thank you, God, I'm not
like other men. If we look at the law, we are
prone to say with solid Tarsus, I'm blameless. If we look at
the Ten Commandments, we are prone to say with a rich young
ruler, all these have I kept for my youth up. But when a man
gets a look at the Lord, If he ever sees the Lord in his holiness,
in his majesty, in his awesome greatness, in his glory, he can
only say with Isaiah, I'm undone. Woe is me. God be merciful to
me, a sinner. I'm a man of unclean lips. I
dwell among a people of unclean lips. Isaiah said, I'm undone. I'm cut off. I'm reduced to silence. I'm a man of unclean lips." He's
talking about his heart too, because the lips are the outlet
of the heart. As a man thinketh in his heart,
that's the way the abundance of the mouth speaketh. What's
wrong with this man, Isaiah? What makes him so low in the
dust? What causes his tears and his
grief and his mourning and his great exclamation over sin? He's seen the Lord. He's seen
the Lord. And God's perfect love reveals
our hate. And God's perfect obedience in
Christ reveals our rebellion. And His perfect faith reveals
our unbelief. And His perfect wisdom reveals
our foolishness. What caused His feelings of sin
and guilt? Well, He said, mine eyes have
seen the King. I'll never be the same. I've
seen the King. Not some imposter going by the
name of Jesus or whatever. Not some imposter presented by
a covetous greedy pulpit. I've seen the Lord, the Holy
Ghost, hath opened my eyes and removed the scales, and I've
seen the Lord. I've seen Him high and lifted
up on a throne in His awesome majesty and glory and holiness,
and all I can say is this, Woe is me. Woe is me. I question, yes I do, and I sincerely
question. There's too much flippancy, too
much carnality, too much flesh, too much familiarity with the
man called Jesus. There's no familiarity here.
I put my hand on my mouth. Job saw the Lord and he said,
I put my hand on my mouth. I've spoken once, yet twice,
I'll never speak again. I've been talking about things
too wonderful for me." Daniel saw the Lord, and he said, my
comeliness melted into corruption. Isaiah saw the Lord. And the
only way a man can get a glimpse of God in the person of Christ,
in his true character, is a revelation of Christ through his word by
the Spirit of God. not by another spirit, by the
true spirit of God. The true spirit of God gives
a man a true revelation of Christ. And that man is awestruck with
two unchangeable truths, the greatness of God and the emptiness
of himself, the holiness of God and the sinfulness of himself,
the great power of God and the weakness of himself, the righteousness
of God, justice and holiness, And the fact he deserves God's
wrath and condemnation. Thank God Isaiah didn't stop
there. The vision didn't stop there. Isaiah saw the Lord. And when he did, he saw himself.
And he just said, I'm cut off. I'm undone. I'm a man of unclean
lips. There's no communion between
me and that God. But next in verse 6 and 7, he
saw pardon and mercy. Then flew one of those seraphims
unto me. He flew to me. I didn't fly to
Him. I didn't go to Him. I didn't rush into His presence.
I backed off. I held my hands up before that
awesome light, and I cried, woe is me, I'm cut off. But that
seraphim on orders from the throne, sent by God, flew to me. He came
to me. I'm telling you this, when God
saves a man, God comes to the man. God seeks him, and God calls
him, and God finds him. And God regenerates him, and
God quickens him, and God makes him a new creature. Salvations
of the Lord. He flew to me having a live coal,
a burning live coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar,
and he laid it on my mouth. And he said to me, Lo, this has
touched thy lips, and thy iniquity is taken away, thy uncleanness. is taken away, and your sin is
purged. Now then, if the seraphim represents
those who take the gospel, those who preach the gospel, those
who fly in haste, conscious of their own sinfulness, conscious
of their own guilt, they fly in haste to bring the good news,
If the seraphims represent those messengers of God who bring that
gospel, that good news, then what's the live coal? It's none
other than the gospel which they bring. It's the gospel of Christ. That's that burning coal. That's
that live coal. It's the gospel of God's grace,
which is the power of God unto salvation. The cleansing, quickening,
regenerating, saving, power of God that enables God to be a
holy God and a just God and a merciful God and a forgiving God. And
that gospel is taken from where? From the altar. Where's that
altar? It's a live coal taken from Golgotha's
hill, from Calvary's mountain where our Lamb was slain. It's
a live coal taken from the very altar of Calvary and God Almighty
sends it in haste to be laid on the sin that I confess. And
it's laid on that sin, and that sin is purged and forgiven. Oh,
Isaiah's so pardoned. And when that seraphim came with
the live coal in his hand, taken from off the altar, he laid it
on my mouth. And he says, by the grace of
God, through the obedience of Christ, and through the blood
of the Son of God, Your iniquity is put away. Your iniquity is
taken away. And your sin is purged. And you're
forgiven. Isaiah, he saw something, didn't
he? That beast walking down an aisle
and shaking a preacher's hand and acting silly. That beast
joining somebody's religious movement or somebody's church
and swearing on a stack of Bibles, you're saved when you know you're
not. When a man by divine revelation sees the Lord, Jesus Christ,
as He's revealed in His Word, he sees Him in His glory, in
His holiness, in His position, to which the Father hath placed
Him, in which the Father has placed Him, to which the Father
hath exalted Him, high and lifted up, and he sees himself in his
sin, he's broken at the feet of God, and he cries like the
publican, God be merciful to me, He cries like the Canaanite
woman, God be merciful to me. He cries like Bartimaeus of old,
Lord have mercy upon me. He cries with the thief of old,
Lord remember me. And God sends a messenger with
good news, with alive coal right off the altar and touches his
mouth and he's made whole. But Isaiah saw something else.
He saw something else. He saw human nature in its blindness. In its darkness. Yes, it did. God said, whom shall I send?
Whom shall I send? Isaiah had something to say.
He had something to say. He'd seen something. Whom shall
I send, God said. Who'll go for me? Isaiah said,
here am I, send me. God said, all right, you go to
the people now. You go to the people. Go tell
the people. What shall I tell them? Tell them all flesh is
grass. And behold your God. Behold your
God. What shall I tell them? Well,
when Isaiah saw His glory, he spake of Him. That's what John
said. When he saw His glory, he spake of Christ. Tell them
about Christ. Tell them about the glory of
God. Tell them about the sinfulness of human nature. Tell them about
the only Mediator, Jesus Christ. Tell them about the reigning
High Priest. Tell them about the perfect sacrifice. Well,
Lord, how will they respond? That's a good question, isn't
it? How will they respond? Well, God tells them. He said
they'll hear you, but they won't understand. He said they'll see,
but they'll not comprehend. Having eyes they see not, and
ears they hear not, and having hearts they don't understand. Master, why do you speak to the
people in parables? I speak to them in parables because
they have eyes and they do not see. They don't want to see.
They will not see. They have ears, but they do not
hear. They stop up their ears, and they will not listen. They
said, we have our tradition. We have our custom. We will not
be changed. They have hearts, but they do
not understand. But blessed are your eyes, they see, and your
ears, they hear. The Lord can enable a man to
both see and hear. Did you know that? To both see
and hear. But only God can do it. I pray
He'll give you a vision of His glory. Don't settle for anything
less. It's not a mechanical... This
thing of salvation is not a mechanical religion. It's a revelation of
Christ and the glory of God in Christ. Now, I have two messages
on this tape. The one I preached last week
on will you die tonight? And the one I just preached on,
what Isaiah saw. But I want to tell you about
some Bible class commentaries. Most of you have already heard
about these books. But I've written some Bible class commentaries
on all 21 epistles of the New Testament. Verse by verse. And
they're in simple, everyday, plain language. Not written for
theologians or seminary students. They're written for you and for
me. Plain, ordinary folks. And they're true to the word,
verse by verse, brief explanation or exposition of each verse.
And they're printing all of them in England. They'll be out end
of this year, but we have about eight of the epistles in these
four books. If you want them, you see them
there on your screen. If you want these books, there's
1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Timothy, Romans in one book
by itself, Galatians and Hebrews and James. These are all that
I have right now. More will be in this year. But
if you want these books, you write and I'll send them to you.
They're a dollar and a half each. That's completely wholesale. That's what we pay for them.
I'm not raising money. I want you to read these books
and give them to your friends and share them with others. They're
excellent for Bible classes and Sunday school classes and Bible
studies in the homes. If you want them, you write this
week. And send six dollars, I'll send you all four of the books
which contain eight epistles. The take costs two dollars. I
hope you'll be with us next week, and if you're right, let us hear
from you. Until then, I bid you a very pleasant good day.