Isaiah’s vision: “In the years that king Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple.”—v. 1.
Isaiah had this vision “in the year that king Uzziah died.”
Describe the earthly glory of Uzziah.
Israel had never enjoyed such prosperity since the days of Solomon.
v. 3—God blessed Uzziah because he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord.
v. 5—He sought God in the days of Zechariah.
v. 5—As long as he sought the Lord, God made him to prosper.
v. 7—And God helped him.
v. 8—And his name spread abroad.
v. 15—He was marvelously helped, till he was strong.
v. 16—“But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction, for he transgressed against the Lord.”
v. 16-20—Describe Uzziah’s sin.
v. 21—Uzziah’s inglorious end.
It was in the year that King Uzziah died that Isaiah saw the glory of the Lord. It seems that the glory of the earthly monarch had blinded his eyes and diverted his attention. When the earthly was removed, then the glory of the Lord filled his whole life.
Maybe there is some person or thing blotting out the full vision of the Lord. These must go before we can see Him in all his glory.
Spiritual expansion is expensive and sometimes excruciating. There are no reduced rates for revolution of the soul.
The vision was for a purpose. This was Isaiah’s call to service, his experience with the Lord changed his life completely.
A vision without a task makes a visionary. A task without a vision is drudgery. A vision with a task makes a missionary.
Isaiah’s vision was in three dimensions.
v. 5—“Then said I, ‘Woe is me! For I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips.’” A word of confession.
v. 7—“Lo this has touched thy lips, thine iniquity is taken away and thy sin purged.” A word of cleansing.
v. 9—“Go and tell this people.” A word of commission.
This must always be the order:
1. The vision of the glory of God.
2. A vision of our uncleanness, then the confession of the same.
3. As we genuinely confess our sin we experience being cleansed from all uncleanness.
4. In this changed and cleansed condition we are commissioned to go into all the world.
This vision was a comprehensive one, and all-inclusive. It was:
1. An upward vision. He saw the Lord high and lifted up.
2. An inward vision. He saw himself.
3. An outward vision. He saw the world.
Most of the men whom God used in His service had similar experiences. Moses at the burning bush, Gideon had a revelation while threshing wheat in the winepress, Paul was enveloped in the glory of the risen Lord.
Some have a vision but no task. They are but visionaries. Others have a task but no vision. Their life is dull, their service fruitless. Thank God for those who have a vision and a passion for God’s service and for the souls of men and women. They are those who, if necessary, will battle mountainous seas of human criticism and storm the flinty heights of devilish opposition to plant the Cross of Christ.
It is my earnest prayer that some of you who have been creeping along in conventional Christianity will be possessed with spiritual alertness, become aggressive in the battle of the Lord, and have a quenchless zeal for the lost.
May all of us have Jacob-like wrestlings with the Lord and come out stripped of the flesh, but changed and strengthened by the Holy Spirit.