IN THE YEAR THAT KING UZZIAH DIED.
“In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.
And one cried to another and said:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;The whole earth is full of His glory!”
And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke.
So, I said:“Woe is me, for I am undone!Because I am a man of unclean lips,And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips;For my eyes have seen the King,The Lord of hosts.”
Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth with it, and said:“Behold, this has touched your lips;Your iniquity is taken away,And your sin purged.” Also, I heard the voice of the Lord, saying:“Whom shall I send,And who will go for Us?”
Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.”
And He said, “Go, and tell this people:‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand;Keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’ “Make the heart of this people dull,And their ears heavy,And shut their eyes;Lest they see with their eyes,And hear with their ears,And understand with their heart,And return and be healed.”
Then I said, “Lord, how long?”And He answered:“Until the cities are laid waste and without inhabitant,The houses are without a man,The land is utterly desolate, The Lord has removed men far away,And the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land. But yet a tenth will be in it,And will return and be for consuming,As a terebinth tree or as an oak,Whose stump remains when it is cut down.So the holy seed shall be its stump.” NKJV
The vision that Prophet Isaiah, the son of Amoz saw is one of the best visions in the Bible that gives us an insight into heaven. He was taken to the throne room of God, where he saw God in the fullness of his splendor and majesty and in the beauty of his holiness. He was privileged to see and hear from heaven, where God presides in the affairs of man.
This is a vision of majesty and beauty. God was seated on his throne and the train of his robes filled the temple. Seraphims or ministering Angels paid homage and obeisance to God Almighty, as they covered their faces and their feet with their wings. They veiled their faces in his presence, as they worshipped God in reverence and ascribed glory and honor to “Him who seats on the throne”. They cried with ceaseless voices, saying:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;The whole earth is full of His glory!”
Confronted with such an awesome sight, Prophet Isaiah realized that as a human being, he was full of sin and realized how unholy and unrighteous he was. This was the same prophet that had criticized the men and women of Judah for their many sins and shortcomings.When he saw the vision of God in the beauty of his holiness, he realized that he was filthy and unclean. So, he cried out in lament at his own limitations. Isaiah realized that he couldn’t cleanse himself from his own sins.
In response to his cry, one of the angels flew with a live coal which he had taken with tongs from off the altar. The altar symbolizes a place of sacrifice and purification. The angel touched his lips, which was the part of his body that he will use to convey God’s message. By this singular act, Isaiah’s sins were forgiven, and his lips were purged. He was made a clean vessel for the Lord and was now fit and able to carry God’s message to the people of Judah and especially those living in Jerusalem. God’s forgiveness of the sins of Isaiah gave him empowerment to do God’s work. So, when God asked who to send with a message to his people, Isaiah felt that he was qualified to do so, and he volunteered to go and give God’s message to the people.
The message God gave to Isaiah was not a pleasant one. The people had been living in sin, and this was well documented in the first five chapters of the book of Isaiah. There was injustice, corruption, denial of rights to the weak, fatherless, orphans and widows.
God told Isaiah to tell the people that they are to keep on hearing, but not understand and to keep on seeing, but not perceiving. The purpose is to keep them in their sinful state so that they will not come to repentance until the punishment decreed against them was carried out. In other words, they had sinned against the Almighty and the only thing left for them was the judgment of God. They were doomed and will be carried away to exile by their enemies. However, God in his infinite mercy will leave a remnant who will thrive and prosper in the land.
The vision of Prophet Isaiah is just one of the many visions of heaven written in the Bible. Others have seen visions of heaven too. For example, Apostle John saw the vision of heaven whilst he was in exile on the Isle of Patmos. This is well documented in the Book of Revelation. Also, Prophet Micaiah had a glimpse of the Court of heaven in 1Kings 22:19-23. Similarly, in the Book of Job 1:6-12, we read of how God was presiding in heaven and the angels and even Satan came and presented themselves before the Lord.
What makes the vision of prophet Isaiah so unique is that he was given a commission to Judah and Jerusalem, but he himself was unclean and needed to be purged before he could take on the assignment. He was given specific instructions to give a message to the people.
So, who was Prophet Isaiah? Why did God wait until after the death of King Uzziah to speak to him? What was the commission given to Prophet Isaiah? Why didn’t God send his angels to give this message to his people?
Prophet Isaiah is one of the major prophets in the Old Testament and is believed to have written the Book of Isaiah. This book is considered to be a “mini-Bible”, as it has 66 chapters, just like the Bible. It is also the most quoted book from the Old Testament in the New Testament. It contains several prophesies, especially about the coming Messiah, Jesus Christ. For example, in Isaiah 7:14:
“Therefore, the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel”. NKJV
In Isaiah 53:1-6:
“Who has believed our report?And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant,And as a root out of dry ground.He has no form or comeliness;And when we see Him,There is no beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised and rejected by men,A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely, He has borne our griefsAnd carried our sorrows;Yet we esteemed Him stricken,Smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions,He was bruised for our iniquities;The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,And by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray;We have turned, every one, to his own way;And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all” NKJV.
As for King Uzziah mentioned in Isaiah 6, he was the King who reigned at the time of Isaiah. As a matter of fact, Isaiah was a prophet during the reign of 4 kings- Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah.
King Uzziah was 16 years old when he became king after the death of his father, king Amaziah. He started out as a good king in Judah and reigned for 52 years. He was very popular because he did the right things. However, somewhere down the line, he became proud and puffed up.
At the beginning of his reign, the Bible records in 2 Chronicles 26:5:
“He sought God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the visions of God; and as long as he sought the Lord, God made him prosper.”
King Uzziah was also a brave soldier and he fought against his enemies who surrounded him. In 2 Chronicles 26:7:
“God helped him against the Philistines, against the Arabians who lived in Gur Baal, and against the Meunites. Also, the Ammonites brought tribute to Uzziah. His fame spread as far as the entrance of Egypt, for he became exceedingly strong. “
In verses11-15:
“Moreover, Uzziah had an army of fighting men who went out to war by companies, according to the number on their roll as prepared by Jeiel the scribe and Maaseiah the officer, under the hand of Hananiah, one of the king’s captains. And under their authority was an army of three hundred and seven thousand five hundred, that made war with mighty power, to help the king against the enemy. The total number of chief officers of the mighty men of valor was two thousand six hundred. Then Uzziah prepared for them, for the entire army, shields, spears, helmets, body armor, bows, and slings to cast stones. And he made devices in Jerusalem, invented by skillful men, to be on the towers and the corners, to shoot arrows and large stones. So, his fame spread far and wide, for he was marvelously helped till he became strong.”
King Uzziah also built a great agricultural heritage. In verse 10:
“He dug many wells, for he had much livestock, both in the lowlands and in the plains; he also had farmers and vinedressers in the mountains and in Carmel, for he loved the soil. “
However, like the saying goes:
“Pride goes before a fall!”
King Uzziah became extremely proud. Let’s see what he did to incur the wrath of God. In verses 16-21:
“But when he was strong his heart was lifted up, to his destruction, for he transgressed against the Lord his God by entering the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense. So Azariah the priest went in after him, and with him were eighty priests of the Lord—valiant men. And they withstood King Uzziah, and said to him, “It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord, but for the priests, the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense. Get out of the sanctuary, for you have trespassed! You shall have no honor from the Lord God.”
“Then Uzziah became furious; and he had a censer in his hand to burn incense. And while he was angry with the priests, leprosy broke out on his forehead, before the priests in the house of the Lord, beside the incense altar. And Azariah the chief priest and all the priests looked at him, and there, on his forehead, he was leprous; so, they thrust him out of that placeIndeed, he also hurried to get out, because the Lord had struck him. King Uzziah was a leper until the day of his death. He dwelt in an isolated house, because he was a leper; for he was cut off from the house of the Lord. Then Jotham his son was over the king’s house, judging the people of the land.”NKJV
So, why was there no vision or word from the Lord in Judah until the death of King Uzziah?
The reason was because there was so much sin in the land, that God deliberately kept silent. The chief sinner was King Uzziah, who had the audacity to burn incense on the altar of God when he was not consecrated or authorized to do so. Therefore, a single individual can be the ceiling over the heavens of a nation, preventing open heavens or visions from the Lord because of their own sin.
Another example of the silence of God in the Bible is found in the period between the Old Testament and the New Testament when God was silent for 400 years!
Finally, why didn’t God send one of his angels to give the message to his people? Why did he need a human agent when he could have sent one of the numerous angels that constantly worshipped him?
The truth is that sending an angel could cause so much fear and panic in humans that they may completely miss the message. For example, when Zecharias , the father of John the Baptist saw an angel in the temple, he was exceedingly afraid. In Luke 1:11-13:
“Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard; and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John “. NKJV
Another person who saw an angel in the Bible and became exceedingly afraid was Gideon.
In Judges 6: 22-23:
“Then the Angel of the Lord put out the end of the staff that was in His hand and touched the meat and the unleavened bread; and fire rose out of the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. And the Angel of the Lord departed out of his sight.
Now Gideon perceived that He was the Angel of the Lord. So, Gideon said, “Alas, O Lord God! For I have seen the Angel of the Lord face to face.” Then the Lord said to him, “Peace be with you; do not fear, you shall not die.” NKJV
Also, remember the Shepherds that received the glad tidings of great joy at the birth of Jesus Christ? When the angel came down to rejoice and announce his birth, they were initially afraid until the angel spoke to them. In Luke 2:8-14:
“Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: “Glory to God in the highest,And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”
NKJV.
As human beings, when God draws near to us, let us not feel unworthy of his presence. He loves us and wants to fellowship with us. Let us draw near to him in reverence and give him our full attention and the love, honor and adoration he deserves. Remember, God sometimes needs human agents to do his work or deliver his message. If he sends his angels, we would probably be too dumb struck! However, if he sends human beings, others are likely to listen to God’s message through his chosen vessel.
Our prayer today is that God may find us worthy as he found Prophet Isaiah worthy for his use in any capacity, he chooses to use us.
In Jesus name we pray, Amen!
Invitation to Salvation.
Jesus is calling you today. He is saying to you:
“Come to me all who are tired from carrying your heavy loads and I will give you rest”. Mathew 11:28
If you want to accept this invitation, pray to God. You can say something like this:
“Lord Jesus, I am a sinner. I confess my sins before you today. Thank you for dying on the cross for my sins. I want to know you personally.I open the door of my life to you and ask you to come in and be my Lord and personal Savior.Take control of my life.Thank you for forgiving my sins and giving me eternal life.Make me the kind of person that you want me to be. In Jesus name I have prayed. Amen.”
If you have sincerely put your trust in Jesus to be your Savior, welcome to the household of God!
