I Saw Also the Lord

What is said here and when it was said is important to understanding what Isaiah said.  The first five chapters give us a clear picture of the shape of the country and the spiritual condition of the people. Isaiah’s prophecies were mostly of judgment.  Here he had a vision, more of a revelation from heaven.  God pulled back the curtain for Isaiah to see what lay just beyond.  The Lord is the connection, the boundary, between this temporal world and the eternal one. We cannot physically reach through, but God pulled the veil so it could be seen.  How Isaiah worded it means a great deal.

Isaiah 6: 1 “In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. 2 Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. 3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. 4 And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. 5 Then said I, 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 mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.”

Notice “also” in verse 1.  Why did he say “I saw also the Lord?”  Why did he not say “I saw the Lord?”  Verse 1 begins this portion with “I saw also the Lord” and verse 5 ends with “mine eyes have seen the King.” It was all because of what happened in between verses 1 and 5. As time passes, things change. Life changes. Nothing seems the same, but things that are really important stay the same.

The voice of God spoke and told Isaiah what to do.  He obeyed and delivered the messages from God to the people.  Until now he had heard the voice. We have an active God in our lives.  By faith we hear God in the still small voice.  Our eyes can’t help but see the wickedness. We wade and live through it. The works of the devil are in our face all the time.  It cannot help but have an effect on us. When God speaks, we find enough, and it will do for us what it did for Isaiah.

Isaiah begins with a time reference.  It was an unlikely time for Isaiah to see the Lord. It was the lowest year in Isaiah’s life. One of the greatest kings, Uzziah, had died.   He was a good friend of Isaiah’s.  He also saw the dilapidation of his country as a nation and the backsliding of the people. Hope was dying. That happens all too quickly when things get bad.  We see the condition of the world today and the despondency of the people. There seems to be an increasing feeling of “what’s the use?”  It’s harder to win people to the Lord. This was Isaiah’s worst year, but it was the year that God chose to give him this revelation.

As Isaiah saw all the bad things around him he “ALSO” saw the Lord.  As hopeless and useless as we feel sometimes, there is an ALSO for us, and it is the Lord.  When Isaiah opened his eyes completely, he saw him.  When we narrow our vision, we see only the bad.  There exists something ALSO that takes looking up and expanding our vision beyond the devil, this world, and all the things that get us down for us to see.

What Isaiah saw was as real as the bad he was saw.  It was more powerful than sin, Satan, discouragement, and despondency. As powerful as they are, something ALSO sits on his throne. The devil may sit on his rickety throne, but God’s throne is high above it all. Isaiah had seen many devils around him, but they were no match for the Lord. “Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.”

The seraphim hovered above it. They saw the Lord and cried “Holy, holy, holy.” In verse 5 Isaiah recognized God as the Lord of hosts. The world may get more confusing all the time, but the above can be clearer and clearer if we but ALSO see the Lord. What we can see dominates what is here. God is higher and always will be the Lord.  Regardless of the state of our lives, there is ALSO the Lord.  If we focus on him, our life can change just as Isaiah’s did. We can say “my eyes have seen the Lord.”

The devil tried to dethrone God in heaven; it didn’t work. Now he tries to dethrone him in our heart.  God reigns on the throne of our heart and will stay there if we let him.  We see what all is around us but remember who is ALSO there.  God is high and lifted up, untouched by what’s around us. We can’t help but be touched by it, but the devil can’t enter our throne room unless we let him.  The devil may touch us externally, but internally he cannot when God is on the throne. It’s not that God will reign.  God does reign.   You will be touched, but don’t let it get you down and rule you.  It’s vastly important that you ALSO see the Lord. Seeing him helped Isaiah realize how unclean and caught up in the temporal he was. God has given us the privilege to see ALSO the Lord.

From then on Isaiah’s prophecies change. He begins to tell about the Emmanuel to come. In chapter 9 he wrote “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.” In chapters 27/28 he speaks of the resurrection. In the 40’s he tells how close God will be to his people. Isaiah 53 tells us about the suffering of the Lord for us. Chapter 66 tells us about the new heaven and earth.  Everything changed when Isaiah saw ALSO the Lord.

I need to learn this and get the ability to see ALSO the Lord. Let’s pray for our vision to be unclouded and our eyes to be opened to clearly see ALSO the Lord no matter what else is going on around us.