Message Four

The Vision of Christ in Glory

Scripture Reading: Isa. 6:1-8; John 12:38-41

1. “In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting on a high and lofty throne, and the train of His robe filled the temple”—Isa. 6:1:
   1. The One who was seen by Isaiah was Christ as the Lord, the King, Jehovah of hosts—v. 5b:
      1. John, in his account of Christ’s living and working on earth, said that Isaiah “saw His glory and spoke concerning Him”—John 12:41.
      2. In order to see the vision of the glorious enthroned Christ, we need to take heed to Isaiah’s warning word (Isa. 6:9-10) by exercising our spirit to pray that the Lord would open our inner eyes, soften our heart, and keep our heart turned to Him so that we may receive His inner healing of our blindness and sickness (John 12:38-40; Matt. 13:14-17; Acts 28:25-27; Rev. 3:18; 4:2; 2 Cor. 3:16-18).
   2. The vision of Christ in glory was seen by Isaiah in his depression—Isa. 6:1, 5; cf. 22:1; 2 Chron. 26:3-5, 16-22:
      1. In spite of the rebellion, iniquities, and corruptions of God’s chosen and beloved people, Christ is still sitting on a high and lofty throne in glory—Isa. 6:1-4; Lam. 5:19; Rev. 22:1.
      2. Christ is the unique good thing in the universe; we must look at Him with undivided attention by turning away from every other object; we should not look at anything or anyone other than Christ—Heb. 12:1-2a.
      3. On this earth everything changes and fluctuates, but Christ remains the same today and forever; hence, we should not look down at the situation on earth but should look up to Christ on the throne—v. 2; 13:8.
   3. Christ’s long robe signifies His splendor in His virtues, expressed mainly in and through His humanity; that Christ was wearing a long robe indicates that He appeared to Isaiah in the image of a man; Christ is the enthroned God-man with the divine glory expressed in His human virtues—Isa. 6:1; cf. Ezek. 1:26, 22; Acts 2:36; Heb. 2:9a.
2. “Seraphim hovered over Him, each having six wings: With two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to the other, saying: Holy, holy, holy, Jehovah of hosts; / The whole earth is filled with His glory”—Isa. 6:2-3:
   1. Isaiah saw the long robe signifying Christ’s splendor in His virtues, and the seraphim were praising Christ in His holiness and declaring that the whole earth is filled with Christ’s glory.
   2. Isaiah saw Christ in His divine glory with His human virtues and His holiness based on His righteousness:
      1. The seraphim signify or represent the holiness of Christ, the embodiment of the Triune God; they were standing there for Christ’s holiness.
      2. Christ’s holiness is based on His righteousness; because Christ was always righteous, He was sanctified, separated, from the common people—5:16.
3. “And the foundations of the threshold shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. Then I said, Woe is me, for I am finished! / For I am a man of unclean lips, / And in the midst of a people of unclean lips I dwell; / Yet my eyes have seen the King, Jehovah of hosts”—6:4-5:
   1. The shaking of the foundations of the threshold signifies solemnity, and the house being filled with smoke signifies glory burning in awe—cf. 4:5.
   2. As a result of seeing this vision, Isaiah was terminated, finished, realizing that he was a man of unclean lips, dwelling in the midst of a people of unclean lips—6:5:
      1. Revelation comprises seeing as well as killing; the greatest thing in the Christian experience is the killing that comes from light.
      2. The more we see God, the more we see what we are and the more we deny ourselves and hate ourselves—Job 42:5-6; Psa. 36:9; Eph. 5:13; Luke 5:8.
      3. Everyone who truly sees a vision of the Lord in His glory is enlightened in his conscience concerning his uncleanness—cf. v. 8.
      4. A great percentage of the words that we speak are evil because most of the words are words of criticism; if we eliminate gossip, murmuring, and reasoning, we may find that we have very little to talk about—Phil. 2:12-14; cf. Luke 6:45; Eph. 4:29-30; 1 Pet. 1:15-16.
   3. How much we realize concerning ourselves depends upon how much we see the Lord; for this reason we need a revival every morning; morning revival is the time for us to see the Lord—Matt. 5:8; Psa. 27:4, 8.
   4. The more we see the Lord and are measured by the Lord, the more we are cleansed, supplied, and transformed—Ezek. 40:3; 47:3-5.
   5. Seeing God transforms us because in seeing God, we gain God and receive His element into us—2 Cor. 3:18.
4. “Then one of the seraphim flew to me with an ember in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. And he touched my mouth with it and said, Now that this has touched your lips, / Your iniquity is taken away, and your sin is purged”—Isa. 6:6-7:
   1. After Isaiah realized that he was unclean, he was purged by one of the seraphim, signifying the holiness of God—v. 6a.
   2. Isaiah was purged with an ember from the altar; the application of this ember by the seraphim signifies the effectiveness of Christ’s redemption accomplished on the cross and applied by “the Spirit, the Holy” in His judging, burning, and sanctifying power—vv. 6b-7a; 4:4; cf. Luke 12:49; Rev. 4:5.
   3. This purging by the seraphim with an ember from the altar took away Isaiah’s iniquity and purged his sin—Isa. 6:7b.
5. “Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send? Who will go for Us? And I said, Here am I; send me”—v. 8; cf. John 17:21; 20:21-22:
   1. Seeing God issues in being purged and cleansed by God, and being cleansed by God issues in being sent by God—Isa. 6:6-8; 1 John 1:7-9.
   2. The words I and Us indicate that the One speaking is triune and that this One is not merely Christ but Christ as the embodiment of the Triune God—Isa. 6:8a; Col. 2:9.
   3. The Triune God sends us to bring His chosen people into a state of living Christ so that they might express Him in His glory, be saturated with His holiness, and live in His righteousness—Isa. 6:8b; Acts 13:47; Isa. 49:6; Phil. 1:21a.