“I saw the Lord…”
By Fiona Harniess
Our family were recently visiting Jordan where we used to live, and it is striking how much the atmosphere has changed. One night we were sitting in a café by the Red Sea when suddenly a bright tail of fire crossed the sky. The tension in the air ratcheted up as strangers exchanged views on what it was and where it had come from. There have been multiple missiles spotted across Jordanian skies with the escalation in unrest over the past year. And on the ground, in the moment, clear perspective on what is really going on is hard to find.
Amid trouble, accurate perspective is vital. In this passage we see how Isaiah was offered true perspective to worship and live from. In these troubled days on the earth, will we inhabit the anxiety of our age? Or might encounter with the Holy One radically shape our perspective on all that’s unfolding around us?
“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!” ”
Some Context
Isaiah dates this vision to the year of King Uzziah’s death. Uzziah’s 52 year reign had been largely a time of strength and fruitfulness for Judah. But 42 years in, Uzziah’s heart became proud and conceited. 2 Chronicles 26 tells of the fateful moment when he ignored Temple regulations, went into the restricted area and offered burning coals of incense himself, usurping the role of the priests. The priests tried to correct him, and, as he raged at them before the altar, leprosy began to break out on his forehead. Ushered out of the Temple, his life was spared but he spent the 12 years until his death as a leper, excluded from the life of the nation. The same year, Jerusalem suffered a huge earthquake; the mood of the nation was anxious and fearful. The glorious Davidic kingdom was losing ground to surrounding imperial powers. Romulus was born that year, and Rome was founded within a short time.
Against this backdrop of growing national chaos, Isaiah has this beautiful vision of the Lord. He glimpses the Holy One, sitting in full control on the throne, high and lifted up. The train of his robe filled the Temple. In those days, the longer the robe, the more powerful and majestic the king. Above the throne are seraphim, the highest rank of angels. They are bright and all aflame; they stand and fly around the throne, crying out to each other, proclaiming the holiness of Yahweh, LORD of hosts. ‘Holy! Holy! Holy! Is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.’
In the nation, the glory days may have seemed to be over, but Isaiah is caught up to gaze in rapture on the blazing radiance of the Holy One, which spills over and fills all of creation with glory. The whole earth is full of His glory! The glory of creation, marred by sin, still shines through. And for those who have eyes to see, the earth is filled with the glory of creation being made new. Christ is on the throne; His reign is established, and his glory is ever-increasing as the kingdom grows.
A right response to glory
Whereas Uzziah burst in presumptuously and raged before the altar, Isaiah is cut to the heart. ‘Woe is me! I am undone!’ Isaiah is ruined by the holiness of God; devastated by his own uncleanness. And yet he has seen the King! His sin hasn’t kept him out of God’s presence, but having seen the king, he can never be the same.
Uzziah took coals and incense into his own hands, thinking himself pure enough to come before the Holy One. In contrast, Isaiah, devastated by his guilt and shame, is ministered to by a seraph who brings burning coal to touch and purify his lips. As we behold the Lord on his throne, we too know our guilt burnt away by his holy fire, and our shame banished as we stretch our hands out for healing. How graciously he tends to us in our brokenness.
‘Here I am’. Having been so utterly undone and then so tenderly restored, hear Isaiah’s willing ‘here I am’. Listen to how emptied of ego it is! He’s not presenting himself as the answer to the Lord’s lack of suitable candidates. This is a simple surrender of a humble, thankful soul to the great and mysterious purposes of the Almighty, whose glory lights up the earth.
Often, we want to be spectacular for him – to achieve and to be ambitious in the kingdom. In many ways that is honourable. And yet the paradox is that it’s the self-emptied, undone soul, offering everything in simplicity, that He loves to catch up in His story.
As we come before him together this month, let’s anticipate true and deep encounter. May our perspective be changed as we gaze upon our glorious king. May we come with humble hearts, knowing our need of his mercy and healing. May we be undone by his glorious holiness, allowing him to tenderly remake our broken hearts and lives. May he lead us beyond good and ordered practices into fiery encounter with and for his glory. And may we burn with pure, fiery love for him, caught up in his eternal kingdom story.
