One of the most mesmerizing passages in the Bible is found in Isaiah 6. There the prophet declares, “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.”
Apparently, Isaiah was given an open vision into heaven where he saw the glory of the Lord in the heavenly temple. Isaiah’s initial response was one of terror as he measured his weakness, frailty, and even sinfulness against the holiness of God. In the moment of the vision he cried out, “Woe to me. I am ruined. For I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.” The expectation in the Old Testament was that a man would die if he ever looked on the face of God as God had warned Moses on Mt. Sinai. However, Moses was in the very presence of God while Isaiah was seeing him through a vision. And yet, the effect of feeling defiled and filthy in the presence of “the Lord of All” was still devastating.
The good news was that an angel took a burning coal from the altar (probably the altar of incense that stood just outside the Holy of Holies in the temple) with a pair of tongs and touched the prophet’s mouth with it, declaring him forgiven and his sin atoned for. At that point, Isaiah was ready to stand before God and receive his commission to go preach to the rebellious nation of Israel. It’s interesting that Isaiah measured his sin and the sin of the nation, by the words that he and the nation had spoken. The burning coal was placed on his lips as if to purify his speech. One again we are reminded that words matter.
I wish that Isaiah had been more artistically minded and had given us a more detailed description of what he saw…colors, light, radiance, lines, proportions, music in the background, etc. But what he does reveal is a God so big that even the hem or the train of his robe filled the temple. Seraphim, a special class of angel, surrounded the throne declaring the holiness of God. “Holy, Holy, Holy” was the chorus. Perhaps, the triple holy was for emphasis like exclamation points. Or, perhaps, it was in recognition of the Father, Son, and Spirit. When the seraphim spoke the doorposts of the eternal temple shook and the palace was filled with smoke. If the servants are that powerful, how much greater is the master? If the servants are that impressive, how much more impressive is the one they serve? Whatever details Isaiah left out, he was overwhelmed by the vision. The greatness, the power, the glory, the holiness, and the majesty of God made Isaiah want to melt.
But why the vision? There seem to be two possible reasons for the vision and the timing of the vision and both are probably true. First of all, the reign of King Uzziah was either about to end or has just come to an end after 52 years on the throne in Jerusalem. The transition of power in those days could often be bloody and violent. In the history of Israel, civil wars had broken out over who would replace a king who has just died. Assassinations were not unheard of to remove new kings before they could consolidate their power. In those days, many more kings turned out to be evil than good and the judgment of God was always standing in the shadows just off stage. In fact, although Uzziah had been a faithful king until his latter years, the people as a whole were both idolatrous and rebellious. The future had to be uncertain – even to the prophet.
So, here was God still on his throne regardless of who was on the throne in Jerusalem. There was no weakness in heaven, no panic, no uncertainty and no king who would leave a vacant throne some day. Isaiah was reminded in his vision that his God was still ruling in heaven, full of power and majesty. He was still in control and he would still care for his own. In a year of great uncertainty, even the prophet needed the reminder of where the true king and true power resided. In our own year of great uncertainty, we need the same vision. We need to be reminded that our salvation is not in the Republican Party or the Democrat Party but in heaven where there is no corruption, no voter fraud, and no untested candidates.
A second reason for the vision was that Isaiah was about to be given an assignment to go out and preach to a hostile crowd that was not always adverse to killing or jailing prophets who were calling them to repentance. As he received his orders, he also needed to know that an unimaginable power in heaven would be his covering, his protection, and his provision. He needed to know that had qualified him for his mission by taking away his sin. Whatever God will be calling us to in the decade to come, we may also need to know that. To some degree, our faith is only as big as our God, our security is only as big as our God, our boldness is only as big as our God.
Isaiah reminds us that we have an immense God who is not detached from us at all but rather had laid plans for our redemption before the foundation of the world and announced it once again through his prophet Isaiah. In the last few verses of Isaiah 6, God tells the prophet that judgment is coming and that Israel would be cut down like a tree but, in the stump, a holy seed would remain that would someday be the salvation and restoration of Israel. That Holy Seed would be Jesus, the Messiah.
Interestingly, John quotes Isaiah 6:10 in the 12th chapter of his gospel (Jn.12:48) and tells us that Isaiah was actually seeing Jesus and his glory in this vision. This same Jesus has now regained that glory and intercedes for each of us every day with the Father. This vision simply reminds us as it did Isaiah, that Jesus is big enough, powerful enough, and glorious enough to meet our every need. Even though the world might shake around us he can make us stand. In the face of uncertain politics, crumbling economics, terrorists, the devastating loss of a loved one, a cancer diagnosis, or the rebellion of a child, our God is big enough.
Jesus, the lover of our souls, is big enough and from his throne in heaven reminds us, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you” (Jer.29:11-12). Isaiah reminds us that when the day is bleak and tomorrow is troubling, do not focus on the problem but the one who overcame death and is big enough to overcome anything that comes our way.
