Thursday
Evening Bible Study
March
12, 2020
Introduction
Tonight I want to take you into one of my favorite
passages about worship.
:1-8 Isaiah
sees the Lord
:1 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.
:1 In the year that king Uzziah died
Uzziah, also known as Azariah, was king over Judah from 792-740 BC. He had a long and very prosperous reign. While he was king, he had great victory over
his enemies, increased the nation’s agricultural output, built a huge army,
designed great war weapons and simply brought the nation to a new, higher
level.
(2 Chronicles
26:15–16 NKJV) —15 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. 16 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.
When he was strong, his pride brought
him down.
He wasn’t content to stay within the
wonderful calling that God had for him as king, but he wanted to do the things
that a priest should do as well.
The priests in the Temple realized
that Uzziah was out of bounds. He was
doing something that only the priests were allowed to
do. His pride got in the way. He was rebuked by the priests and told to get
out of the Temple.
(2
Chronicles 26:19 NKJV) 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.
Uzziah would spend the rest of his
life isolated from the world because of his leprosy.
His pride ruined him.
We pick up Uzziah’s story with the
telling by the Jewish historian Josephus
(Antiquities of
the Jews Book 9:10:4):
“Accordingly, when a remarkable day was
come, and a general festival was to be celebrated, he put on the holy garment,
and went into the temple to offer incense to God upon the golden altar, which
he was prohibited to do by Azariah the high priest, who had fourscore priests
with him, and who told him that it was not lawful for him to offer sacrifice, and
that “none besides the posterity of Aaron were permitted so to do.” And when
they cried out that he must go out of the temple, and not transgress against
God, he was wroth at them, and threatened to kill
them, unless they would hold their peace. In the mean time a great earthquake shook the ground and a
rent was made in the temple, and the bright rays of the sun shone through it,
and fell upon the king’s face, insomuch that the leprosy seized upon him
immediately… Now, as soon as the priests saw that the king’s face was infected
with the leprosy, they told him of the calamity he was under, and commanded
that he should go out of the city as a polluted person. Hereupon he was so
confounded at the sad distemper, and sensible that he was not at liberty to contradict,
that he did as he was commanded, and underwent this miserable and terrible
punishment for an intention beyond what befitted a man to have, and for that
impiety against God which was implied therein. So he
abode out of the city for some time, and lived a private life, while his son
Jotham took the government; after which he died with grief and anxiety at what
had happened to him …
The phrase “the year that King Uzziah
died” could bring the idea of this great king who has brought such stability
and prosperity passing away and the grief associated with it. But I wonder if there isn’t more the idea
that of having seen a man humbled in his great pride in the very presence of
God.
:1 I saw the Lord sitting
on a throne
Isaiah is having a vision. He isn’t seeing this literally, but in a
vision.
Isaiah’s vision takes place within
the temple, where he sees a throne.
There is only one true King sitting
on a throne. There has always only been
one true King. And it wasn’t Uzziah, it
is the Lord.
It could have been in the temple in
Jerusalem, or it could have been in the REAL temple, the one in heaven after
which the temple in Jerusalem was a copy of.
There is a throne in the temple, just
as there was in the tabernacle in the wilderness.
Video: Indiana Jones – The Ark of the Covenant
The Ark was the only piece of
furniture that was transferred from the tabernacle to the temple.
It had the “mercy seat” (think
“throne”), the solid gold lid that covered the box known as the “Ark of the
Covenant” (Exo. 25).
Molded in one piece with the mercy
seat were two angelic figures, known as “cherubim”, one on each end, facing
towards the middle, bowed down, their wings stretching outward toward each
other, covering the center of the mercy seat.
This was all a picture of God’s real
throne in heaven (Heb. 8:1-5). The
“mercy seat” was God’s throne, surrounded by the angelic beings who worship Him
constantly.
the Lord – the Hebrew word is adonai, which simply means
“Lord”.
We’re going to have this person
identified later as “Yahweh” (Isa. 6:3,5).
But before you start limiting this
vision to that of seeing God the Father on His throne, the apostle John
identifies the “Lord” here as Jesus:
(John 12:41 NKJV) These things Isaiah said when he saw His glory and spoke of Him.
:1 the train of His robe
filled the temple
train – shuwl – skirt (of robe).
These are the king’s robes, not a
passenger train. Robes so royal and
awesome that they fill the temple.
The “holy of holies” in the Jerusalem
temple was 30x30 feet (2Chr. 3:8).
That’s a lot of “robe” to fill up a
space like that.
What’s more – the Holy of Holies was
to be a small model of heaven. ALL of
heaven is filled with the train of His robe.
I wonder sometimes if we don’t tend
to think of God a bit smaller than He really is.
:2 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.
:2 Above it stood seraphim
seraphim – saraph – literally, “burning ones”
These are the same beings that are
referred to as the “cherubim” in the tabernacle and the temple (Ex. 25:18; 1Ki.
6:23) and the “living creatures” seen in Ezekiel’s and John’s heavenly visions
(Eze. 1; Rev. 4).
Ezekiel and John add a few more
details about these beings, that they each have four faces (man, lion, bull,
eagle), they move as quick as lightening, and there is some
kind of fire and wheels associated with them.
:2 each one had six wings:
with two he covered his face …
There seems to be a sense of humility
even among the angelic beings in that they cover themselves while in God’s
presence.
It has been suggested that Satan was
once one of these cherubim:
(Ezekiel
28:14 NKJV) “You were the anointed cherub who covers; I
established you;
You
were on the holy mountain of God; You walked back and forth in the midst of
fiery stones.
Yet Satan’s fall was not too unlike
that of Uzziah. He fell because of
pride.
(Isaiah 14:13–14
NKJV) —13 For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt
my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the
farthest sides of the north; 14 I will ascend above the heights of
the clouds, I will be
like the Most High.’
Lesson
No place for pride
If you didn’t get the message while
we looked at Uzziah, listen again. The person who thinks they’re really hot stuff, and God is lucky to have a person like
them, doesn’t have a clue to real life.
Illustration
A newly elected politician was
visiting Washington, D.C., to get acquainted. He was visiting in the home of
one of the ranking senators who was trying to interpret the bizarre wonder of
the capitol. As they stood looking out over the Potomac River, an old
deteriorating log floated by in view on the river. The old-timer said, “This
city is like that log out there.” The fledgling politician asked, “How’s that?”
The senator came back, “Well, there are probably more than one hundred thousand
grubs, ants, bugs and critters on that old log as it floats down the river. And
I imagine every one of them thinks that he’s steering it.”
Illustration
Dick Jones lived as if everything in
the whole community depended upon him. One morning he woke up early with a high
fever. His wife called next door to a doctor friend. When he diagnosed that
Jones had viral pneumonia, he suggested that Dick stay in bed for several days but Dick complained, “No! I’ve got a breakfast meeting
at the school, I’m president of the PTA board, then I’ve got crucial business
at the office, a luncheon date, and three very important dates this afternoon,
and then the Building Committee at church this evening. There’s no way I can be
sick today doctor.”
“I’m sorry,” says his doctor friend, “but
Dick, I don’t know anyone who’s indispensable, and I suggest you stay in bed.”
But at that very moment, as the story goes, Dick’s high fever sent him into a
trance. And there in that trance, he saw himself looking in on heaven. The
angels were gathering around God and His holy throne. But everything seemed to
be in disarray; some papers were being passed around, and finally after some
discussion, the angels passed a significant-looking paper to God, He read it
and God was obviously upset. God got up off His throne and said “Oh, no! Oh,
no! What will I do today? What will I do?” The angels in chorus said, “What is
it, God? What is it?” And God replied, “What will I do today? Dick Jones is
sick!”
When you and I find ourselves in the
very presence of God, we will have a much better idea of just how small we are,
how big God is, and how much He loves us.
It’s all very humbling.
:3 And one cried to
another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory!”
:3 “Holy, holy, holy is
the Lord of hosts”
Lord here is “Yahweh”
God is holy.
holy – qadowsh – sacred, holy, set apart.
He is not like us. He is totally pure, totally clean, totally
apart from sin. We see God’s holiness
often described as “light”.
(1 John 1:5 NKJV) This is the message which we have
heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no
darkness at all.
Paul writes to Timothy about God:
(1 Timothy 6:16 NKJV) who alone has immortality, dwelling
in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be
honor and everlasting power. Amen.
I think God’s
“light” pierces straight through us, revealing everything in our lives like an xray or mri.
Why do the angels repeat “holy” three
times?
It might just be because God is
really, really holy.
It might also be because there are
three persons in one God.
In heaven, John heard the angels say
much the same thing:
(Revelation
4:8 NKJV) The four living creatures, each having six
wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night,
saying: “Holy, holy,
holy, Lord God
Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!”
John adds this extra line, “Who was
and is and is to come”.
It could be because
John’s vision will be moving towards pictures of the future (“is to come”)
Perhaps it could be
that God is “holy” in the past, present, and in the future.
:3 The whole earth is
full of His glory!
Paul talks about how the progression
of how mankind has fallen.
(Romans 1:20–21
NKJV) —20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes
are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His
eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, 21 because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as
God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish
hearts were darkened.
David wrote that the heavens declare
“the glory of God” (Ps. 19:1)
(Psalm 19:1 NKJV) The heavens declare the glory of
God; And the
firmament shows His handiwork.
Everything around us screams of God’s
power and glory, and yet mankind has chosen to ignore what’s right in front of
us.
As a result, man’s understanding gets
“darkened”.
We’ve seen in the life of Uzziah that
he sought his own glory, and now we see the contrast with Yahweh. With Yahweh, the WHOLE EARTH is full of His
glory.
:4 And the posts of the
door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled
with smoke.
:4 the house was filled
with smoke
This doesn’t mean that the temple was
on fire.
This is God’s glory filling the
temple.
When Moses set up the tabernacle, it
was filled with a “cloud” and Moses wasn’t even able to enter
into the tent because of it (Ex. 40:34-35).
When Solomon built the temple, there
was also a cloud:
(2 Chronicles 5:13–14
NKJV) —13 indeed it came to pass, when the trumpeters and singers were
as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord, and when they lifted up their
voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music, and praised the Lord, saying: “For He
is good, For His
mercy endures forever,” that the house, the house of the Lord,
was filled with a cloud, 14 so that the priests could not
continue ministering because of the cloud; for the glory of the Lord filled the house of God.
Isn’t it interesting that God’s
“glory” didn’t fill the Temple until the worshippers began to praise Him?
The Bible tells us:
(Psalm 22:3 NKJV) But You are
holy, Enthroned in
the praises of Israel.
I think this means that when we
begin to praise God, we will find Him sitting on His throne right in the middle
of us.
:5 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.”
:5 Woe is me, for I
am undone!
undone – damah – to cease, cut off, destroy, perish
When Uzziah came into the temple, he
got angry because the priests wouldn’t let him do what he thought he should be
allowed to do.
When Isaiah came into the temple, he
realized he was unworthy, unclean, and shouldn’t even be there.
One man came out of the temple a
leper.
The other came out cleansed.
Which do you suppose was the proper
response to God’s presence, Uzziah’s or Isaiah’s?
I believe that if we’ve been truly worshipping, there’s going to be a
time when this too is the place we come to.
Illustration
It’s like being in a bright
light. The more light you have, the more
you see the imperfections. If you’ve
ever tried to shave your face in a darkened bathroom, and then later are able to look in a mirror with a bright light, you can
see all the imperfections. The more
light you have, the easier it is to see the problems.
The more we spend in God’s actual
presence, the more we will be aware of our own sinfulness and God’s holiness.
I’m going to show another clip from
Indiana Jones. It’s what happens when the Ark is opened by the Nazis.
If you want to you can close your
eyes, but I edited the face melting out…
But it gives a great picture of how
God’s holiness and glory will affect a person who is unrepentant.
Early in His ministry, Jesus asked
some fishermen to help Him. A large
crowd was gathering around Jesus near the edge of the Sea of Galilee. Jesus asked if He could use a boat so He
could get a little distance from the crowd so He could better speak to them. After teaching the crowd, Jesus told the
fishermen to put their boat out a little deeper and toss their nets into the
water. They ended up catching the
biggest catch of their lives.
It was an early demonstration of
Jesus’ amazing power. It was a taste of
His glory.
(Luke 5:8 NKJV) When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down
at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!”
That’s the proper
response when our eyes are opened to just how wonderful God is.
:6 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.
:6 a live coal …from
the altar
This is referring to what was called
the “golden altar”, the altar of incense.
It stood somewhere near the veil that
separated the holy of holies from the holy place.
It was used for burning incense
during the hour of prayer.
The incense represented the prayers
of the people, rising before the throne of God as a sweet perfume.
It’s as if the cleansing that’s about
to happen is coming out of a time of prayer.
In fact, it comes from the “fire” in
our prayer time.
:7 And he touched my
mouth with it, and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; Your
iniquity is taken away, And your sin purged.”
:7 Your iniquity is
taken away, And your sin purged.
God doesn’t leave you in a “woeful”
condition. When you cry, He responds.
(Proverbs
28:13 NKJV) He who covers his sins will not prosper, But whoever
confesses and forsakes them will have mercy.
(1 John 1:9 NKJV) If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our
sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
We’re not done worshipping when we’ve
gotten to the “Woe is me”. God’s desire
is for you to be cleansed.
:8 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.”
:8 Whom shall I send, And who will go for Us?
I believe the “us” is referring to
God, the Trinity, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Jews have no problem seeing the Father
here, because of the use of Yahweh. Yet
John told us it was Jesus’ glory that Isaiah saw (John 12:41), and in Acts
28:25, Paul said it was the Holy Spirit who was speaking.
(Acts 28:25 NKJV) So when they did not agree among themselves, they departed after
Paul had said one word: “The Holy Spirit spoke rightly through Isaiah the
prophet to our fathers,
Of course this is just Isaiah’s call to serve God, but
it is still an excellent example for us all.
When we experience a work of God in
our lives, there ought to be a resulting work of “sending” as well.
:8 Then I said, “Here am
I! Send me.
Illustration
There is a story told about a faithful
old deacon whose oft repeated prayer expression was, “O Lord, touch the unsaved
with Thy finger.” One prayer meeting night he was leading in prayer when as he
intoned this petition, as he so often did, he abruptly stopped praying. Supposing he had been taken suddenly ill,
someone went to him and asked if there was anything wrong, if he were ill. “No,”
he replied, “I’m not ill. But something
seemed to say to me, ‘Thou art the finger’.”
Lesson
A picture of worship
We can look at this chapter as a “call to ministry” for Isaiah,
and use it as a picture of what it means to be called to serve God.
I have always loved this chapter as a picture of what ought to take place just
about every time we worship God.
1)
Seeing - Seeing the
Lord
There are too many people doing “ministry” who don’t have a real good grasp
on just who God really is. We get all kinds
of goofy ideas but we don’t really see Him in His
glory and power.
2)
Woe - Humbled in
sin
There’s a sense in which you aren’t going to get anywhere with God until
you start taking responsibility for your own sin. You can’t blame it on anyone else. Until
you’ve been humbled by realizing how great your sin is, you’re going to be more
like Uzziah than Isaiah.
3)
Cleansed - Receiving cleansing
It doesn’t stop with conviction. The
process should always go through to cleansing.
Some of us are good at wallowing around in condemnation, but we stop
short of the cleansing that God wants to give us. We get to Romans 7, “O wretched man that I
am”, but we stop before we get to Romans 8, “There is therefore now NO condemnation
…”
4)
Called - Hearing His
call to go
What is God asking you to do? Are
you doing what He has asked you to do, or are you making up your own plan? It’s okay to be serving if you haven’t heard
the specific call, but have you asked God for a specific call on your life?
5)
Send me –
Availability. He’s calling, He’s
called. Will you go?