Honor the Lord - Isaiah 6:1-3

As many will know, our Wednesday night services have, for several years, included our fellowship dinner, a round-table prayer service and then a message from our pastor. I can remember when we simply called the Wednesday night service ‘prayer meeting’ and for some reason it evolved into a time when there were very few prayers offered, and it consisted primarily of a message from the pastor. Personally, I believe that a prayer meeting should give many the opportunities to talk to God in a personal way. Having said this, I will admit that most of the prayers that are voiced in our meetings are personal request for God to do something for someone in need. And there is nothing wrong with an intercessory prayer. They are great!

I will say that it is a rare occasion when we hear a prayer that is voiced entirely with the whole intent to praise and honor the Lord Jesus Christ. I simply challenge you to occasionally pray a prayer that does nothing else. This can be done by simply talking to the master in a personal way, expressing with every wonderful adjective you have in your vocabulary just how great you think he is. Thank Him for everything under the sun, and ask him for nothing in return. A prayer like this will HONOR THE LORD and this is our subject for today. God always honors prayer and he is especially happy when we pray for others because of his love for all. However, God wants us to recognize His lordship; and he wants us to continually thank him for his grace toward us—grace that has saved our soul. Then finally, he loves to hear our promises to serve him, praise him, and glorify his wholly name.

What happened to Isaiah? When did it happen? He either went to sleep or entered a trance—in 740 BC—that allowed his sub-conscious mind to record one of the most famous visions ever recorded in God’s word; and he awakened the next day to tell us about the vision that God had given him. In this vision he saw God in all of his glory, and was able to retain enough of the picture in his mind to paint one of the most vivid pictures recorded anywhere…of the way God must appear to a mortal man’s vision.

He said that it happened in the year that King Uzziah died. He saw God, our Lord and Savior, high and lifted up. He was seated on an exalted throne that could only have been accommodated in a huge palace with cathedral type ceilings, the likes of which no earthly man has ever witnessed. The train of a wealthy bride’s dress may sometimes flow from their shoulders and extend twenty feet or more and requiring two attendants. Imagine God’s train was so huge that it filled the entire floor part of the temple.

There must have been a lofty area in this huge kingdom throne room, because Isaiah saw two or more angels constantly flying freely above the train that covered the lower part. They were special angelic beings called seraphs that attended the throne and expressed God’s holiness. Each had six wings; two covered their faces indicating that God can not be viewed by man’s natural eyes. Two wings covered their feet indicating that when God is present the floor or ground is holy. With the two normal and natural wings they were able to fly about the throne room.

They were there to deliver a message and to worship God as they chanted Holy, Holy, Holy: no doubt they were conveying the existence of a triune God; the Holy Father, Holy Son, and Holy Spirit. As they proclaimed His majesty the sound rattled the doorpost and the whole room was filled with smoke. Some say that these seraphs were a special angel whose name came from the word “burn” and perhaps this was to indicate their special purity required to be God’s ministers. Oh please! Stop, kneel and pray that you can somehow comprehend enough about the splendor, power, and love of God that is pictured here to cause you to want to worship him as He was being worshiped in this scene.

The bible reveals that King Uzziah was a relatively good king and was allowed a long and prosperous reign. At a time earlier in his reign he had tried to usurp the duties of the high priest and for this mistake he became a leprous man until death. In the later days of his reign far too many of his people turned away from God. Isaiah was the man chosen by God to go to these disobedient people and tell them that they were doomed for destruction because of their disobedience. This was a very difficult mission because these people believed that they were God’s chosen and that He would care for them.

Oh please hear me now, listen, this was a time when both moral and spiritual decay had peaked, just as many believe they have repeated here in our beloved America. There are no other warnings in God’s word that are more relevant to our world today. There was only one remedy then and it remains the same today; and that is the holiness of God. The word holiness means being morally perfect, pure and set apart from all sin. Believers today need to grasp this lofty view of God’s holiness—we need to see him high and lifted up as our white throne judge; and if we can see and recognize Him as our Master—he is faithful to forgive us and clines our minds from our present problems.

Isaiah stood in awe as he viewed God on his throne and listened to the proclamation of the angles that He was the holy one. This awesome experience caused Isaiah to realize that he stood unclean and undeserving before his Master. There was the experience of having his lips burned clean with coals of fire. Here again, we know that God is often referred to as a burning fire. So, it was not a coal of fire from the stove of heaven…but it was God who cleansed his lips and forgave him of his sins. God cleansed his lips, his voice, and his life to be God’s messenger to His people. Isaiah knew what God was asking of him, and he completely surrendered his life to God by saying—“Here am I, send me.”

This picture of cleansing and commitment tells us that we must do the same thing, if we are to represent God to a disobedient people. If you are to preach, teach or witness to the lost, you must be able to look in your mind’s eye and see God, high and lifted up, and know that He is the power you are calling on to help you in your witness. Listen, you know that you will not have an actual ‘out of life’ vision as did Isaiah, but you must have the same faith and determination that he had, or you will not be successful.

This is not a game we play. Instead, you must be able to see through the eye of your heart…through your mind’s eye…and be fully aware that you personally are inadequate for the task. Then you must submit to God’s control and stand as model of the man you are saying God expects of all men. Has God called you? If your answer is no; then let me ask you a question—‘Why did He give you one of the spiritual blessings? The bible teaches that each believer has been given one or more of the spiritual blessings. Each believer is call to do a work for God, so, you either have not listened to his call, or you are refusing to submit to the call. You HONOR THE LORD by using the spiritual blessings that he has given you.

The rest of this chapter, 9-13, gives us the message that God gave to Isaiah to deliver to His people in Judah and Israel who had refused to obey his commandments regarding their worship of only one God and living a morally decent life; they had gone too far already and were about to be destroyed. In verse 9, the people have heard but did not understand; they saw but did not perceive the meaning of what they saw. God told him to go to the people, but to leave them alone until their problems begin. Their cities will be destroyed and homes would be left deserted. God will send them into captivity to countries far away. Then the promise of always saving his remnant is proclaimed. Even though a tenth of the people may remain, the land will still be in ruin, and they will have to struggle through these adversities, during which time they will realize that they are dependant on God. His remnant is described as a stump of an oak tree. Even though a tree is cut, the stump will sprout, and a new forest will grow. The stumps that are left will be the holy seed that grows a new and obedient people.

God set a president in his punishment rendered to his own people. As I see what God is doing here to the Jewish nation [northern and southern kingdoms] that have sinned beyond His forgiveness—it leads me to warn Americas that they can also sin themselves into total destruction. We sing “God bless America” and make it our prayer. God has blessed America! However, gross sins are being committed and the sinful are even being protected by laws of the land. The court case of Roe vs. Wade is an example of permissive law that protects the murderer of the unborn. God has said, “Thou Shall Not Kill.”

The majorities who have enjoyed the blessings in America “Under God” are supporting laws that remove the very name of God from our money, our monuments, and from public places in general, can not continue to reject God in this way. They will not be allowed to continue without paying a price. That price could very well be total destruction or capture by a heathen nation.

If you doubt my prediction of future possibilities—please read for yourself the examples of how God has always been sovereign and has always triumphed over judges, kings, and despot rulers of all nations. Each situation has always been as a warning to some future generation. His rule for the individual is that the man that sins shall surely die. The rule for a nation is exactly the same—and the nation that sins against God [and refuses to repent] shall surely die. History repeats itself. God is no respecter of any man [or nation] and what so ever we sow, that we shall also reap. Magnify and praise God and reap his blessings; deny or curse God and die. God is the same, yesterday, today and forever—He changes not! He will treat us as he has always treated people. He has warned us so we surely cannot blame Him when we commit the very sins and live our selfish lives that he has forbidden.