Isaiah's Vision of the Lord — Stephen Kaung

Isaiah’s Prophetic Ministry and Three Visions

This is Sunday evening, April 7th, 1974, in Richmond, Virginia. Ministry is being given through Brother Stephen Collins.

Please turn to the book of Isaiah, Isaiah chapter 6. You'll read the whole chapter. Isaiah chapter 6, verse 1. In the year of the death of King Uzziah, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.

Seraphim were standing above him. Each had six wings. With twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he flew. And one called to the other and said, Holy, holy, holy, is Jehovah of hosts.

The whole earth is full of his glory. And the foundations of the threshold shook at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. And I say, Woe unto me, for I am dumb. For 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, Jehovah of hosts. And one of the Seraphim flew unto me, and he had in his hand a glowing coal, which he had taken with a thorn from of the altar. And he made it touch my mouth, and said, Behold, this has touched thy lips, and thy iniquity is taken away, and thy sin expiated.

And I heard a voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? And I said, Here am I, send me. And he said, Go, and thou shalt say unto this people, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand.

And seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and blind their eyes, lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted and healed.

And I said, Lord, how long? And he said, Until the cities be wasted, without inhabitants, and the houses without men, and the land become an utter desolation, and Jehovah hath removed man far away, and the solitude be great in the midst of the land.

For the tenth part shall still be therein, and it shall return, and be eaten. As the terebinth, and as the oak, whose trunk remaineth after the felling, the holy seed shall be the plant. The very name of the prophet is a sign and a title, which God gave to his people.

Isaiah means the salvation of the Lord. We do not know too much of the history of Isaiah's past. We only know that he was the son of Amoz. Now, who was this Amoz? We do not know. According to Jewish tradition, they believe that Amoz and Amaziah, King Amaziah, were brothers.

And because of that, Isaiah, when he began to prophesy in the year, in the reign of Isaiah, he was a cousin of Isaiah. Now, how true that is, we do not know. We only know that he was very close to King Uzziah.

And of all the prophets God raised up in Israel and in Judah, we have to acknowledge that Isaiah was a prophet. Not only prophesied with the largest book in his prophecy, but he was the sublimest, the most beautiful in his prophecy of all the prophets.

So probably it has something to do with his royal background. He prophesied as we find in the first chapter. He prophesied during the reign of four kings of Judah. Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. And this period was a very interesting period in the history of Judah.

Because during the first two kings, Uzziah and Jotham, the nation of Judah enjoyed a period of great prosperity. Then in the reign of Ahaz, the nation began to go down to the verge of, and it was only gradually restored through the long reign of kings.

So Isaiah prophesied during a period of great changes. Whether Isaiah was called to be a prophet in the year of the death of Uzziah, or whether he prophesied even before the death of King Uzziah, we do not know.

But even if we shall count from the last year of King Uzziah, that is the death of King Uzziah, to the 14th year of King Hezekiah, you'll find it was a long period, 47 years. So God used him to prophesy for a very long period.

Some people thought that he died before King Hezekiah. Because after the 14th year of Hezekiah being mentioned, there was no more mentioning of any further years. But other people thought that he continued to live on to very old age.

He suffered martyrdom under King Manasseh. And according to tradition, we were told that he was stoned. And that was where in Hebrews, you know, it was said, some were being sown. And that was referring to Isaiah.

But anyway, he was a prophet, raised up by God, for a very significant period. The book of Isaiah has 66 chapters. I wonder how we should fellowship on Isaiah this time. As I look to the Lord, I thought probably we can condense the book of Isaiah into three different visions.

Number one is Isaiah's vision of the Lord. Number two is Isaiah's vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem. And of course, in connection with that, the neighboring nations. And number three, Isaiah's vision of Christ.

And probably, God willing, we'll go along these three lines. Now tonight, we will begin with Isaiah's vision of the Lord. King Uzziah was not a bad king. He was a good king. He did everything that was right in the eyes of God.

And because of that, God prospered. And the whole nation prospered under his reign. But unfortunately, because he was so favored of God, pride entered into his heart. He thought that he was so favored, that he was qualified to enter into the temple to burn incense.

King Uzziah’s Pride and Isaiah’s Crisis

You know, burning incense before the very presence of the Lord, because the golden altar of incense stood right before the ark without a veil. It was the highest privilege of priestly service. And yet, it came into the mind of Uzziah to enter into the temple to offer incense.

He was not trying to do something bad. As a matter of fact, he was trying to do something which was most excellent. He was trying to burn incense unto God. He was so sure that he was such a favored person.

He was qualified to do so. But thank God for Azariah, the high priest, and a valiant man among the priests. They withstood him and said, King Uzziah, this is not something that God had given to you. That was given to the sons of Levi.

But he wouldn't listen. He was so sure he was the favored one. And as he was resisting, leprosy appeared upon his breath. He repeated, he lived in a separate house until his death. His son Jotham reigned for him until he died.

Isaiah must have very close relationship with King Uzziah. So the death of the King Uzziah constituted a crisis in the life. We do not know how this crisis was formed. But we know one thing, that it was a critical moment in the life of Isaiah.

If Isaiah was a prophet before chapter 6, some people think that chapter 1 to chapter 6, actually, should be after chapter 1 to 5, should be after chapter 6, so far as chronological order is concerned.

Some people believe that chapter 1 to chapter 6, 5, were those prophecies given by Isaiah before he had this new experience of seeing the Lord. But whether he prophesied before, or whether this was the beginning of his prophecy, one thing was sure, it was a critical hour of his life.

Dear brothers and sisters, our life is composed of crisis. We often come to a crisis. And a crisis is a time of turning. Whether you turn in the right direction, or you turn in the wrong direction, you don't know.

Therefore it is a most dangerous time. And yet it was a good opportunity too. And our life is composed of crisis. You know, we live comfortably for a while. We are familiar with our environment. We begin to have a sense of security.

We know where we are. We know where we stand. And we are quite comfortable. But you'll find suddenly our net is not only stirred, but our net is taken away beneath us. Now therefore that is a critical period.

We do not know whether we will fly or whether we will fall. And life is composed of many crises like this. Our crisis may be introduced into our life in many different ways, or because of many different reasons.

But dear brothers and sisters, as you look back, you can find that how you live for a while until you're familiar with your circumstance and begin to feel comfortable. And suddenly the problem is gone.

And I believe this was what Isaiah said at that time. He was in such good relationship with King Uzziah. Probably they worked together. Probably the reason why Uzziah did everything that was right in the sight of the Lord was somewhat attributed to Isaiah.

And now Uzziah, Isaiah didn't know what was the future. What should he do? He was at a critical. When he was in a crisis, he took the only way that he could take. And it is the only way that anyone can take when you enter into a crisis.

You know, when we enter into a crisis, how often we look around and try to lay a hold of something, even if it is a straw, because it gives us a kind of security. Sometimes when we are in a crisis, we look around for people, hoping that somehow they can lay hold of us or we can lay hold of them.

But dear brothers and sisters, the only right way of facing a crisis is go into the temple and inquire of them. So here you'll find Isaiah in the year of the death of King Uzziah. He was in the temple.

Why did he go into the temple? Because he was at a crisis. He had to seek the face of the Lord in order to meet the crisis and then make the right turn. So there he was in the temple. But as you know, he was not a priest.

And certainly he had learned a lesson from King Uzziah. He wouldn't dare to enter into the temple proper. He wouldn't dare to enter into the holy place where the altar of incense was. He dare not do that.

When he entered into the temple, he must be in the court. That's where the children of Israel were allowed. So evidently he entered into the court of the temple with a desire of praise. Seeking the face of the Lord.

Physically speaking, he was in the court. There was a holy place and behind the holy place, there was the holiest of all. But the holiest of all was covered by a heavy veil. In other words, there was no way for him to see the ark upon which was the mercy seat and upon which was the glory of the Lord.

Physically, there was no way for him to see that. He knew the ark was there. He knew the mercy seat was there. He knew the glory of the Lord was there on the mercy seat. But he couldn't see. As he was, he was in the ark.

And as he was in the spirit, the veil was open. Not only he saw the mercy seat in the holiest of all, but as a matter of fact, he was transported to the very heaven and he saw the reality. The shadow of which was the temple.

So here, brothers and sisters, you find Isaiah. As he was praying in the earthly temple of Jerusalem, God opened up the heavenly reality. He saw sitting, the glory of the Lord, sitting on the mercy seat over the ark, was just a shadow.

But Isaiah was given to see the reality. The eternal reality. He saw God sitting on the throne high. King Uzziah was there. And when change came, you were afraid. But here you'll find Isaiah. As he was deeply touched by the death of King Uzziah, probably the sense of security was gone from him.

But as he entered into the temple to seek the Lord, he saw the Lord sitting. Dear brothers and sisters, everything, you will like to hold on to time. You will like to hold on to things. As you look back to your individual life, you'll find many changes have come into your life.

The Lord Enthroned Above Every Change

As you look around into this world, you'll find the world is always changing. And as we are coming towards the end of this age, the change seems to come swifter. We are living in a changing world. Nothing is stable.

But dear brothers and sisters, we need to see that the Lord sits. He is the same yesterday, today, and His throne is always there. In other words, no matter what change may come into your life, no matter what change may come into the world, need we be fearful?

Need we lose our sense? God is on the throne. He knows what is happening. As a matter of fact, He controls everything that happens. For Isaiah, he entered into the temple and he saw that God was in full control.

Even the death of Isaiah was under God's control. He didn't need to worry. He had too much confidence. He could trust that God was on the throne. He controlled everything and He knew everything. What a comfort it must be.

Dear brothers and sisters, we need to catch that vision. We need to see that the Lord is on the throne. Oftentimes, when things happen, we enter into a crisis. The reason is our very faith is shaken. Our very confidence is taken away from us.

Our very strength of security is gone. We enter into a period of doubt, a period of darkness, a period of puzzlement, a dangerous time. Oh, if we only see that the Lord is on the throne. That will stabilize us.

Isaiah saw the Lord on the throne and His high eminence and His strength healed. Have you seen the coronation of King Elizabeth? In that royal robe, you'll find it spreads out far. But here you'll find God sits on the throne and His strength heals.

What heals the temple? I mean, so far as you can see. There in the court at the door was the brazen altar of sacrifice. And then you'll find the brazen labor of washing. As you enter into the holy place, you'll find the golden table of showbread on one side and you'll find the candlestick of gold on the other side.

And as you enter into further, just before the veil, you'll find the golden altar of incense. Of course, in the holiest of all, there was the ark, the mercy seat, and the glory of God. But in the vision that Isaiah saw, he saw God sitting on the throne and His strength healed.

You know, in the scripture, the robe or garment or clothes or dress always carries a spiritual and a spiritual significance to it. Work, behavior, conduct works. God is on the throne and His strength heals the temple.

What heals the temple? Remember, Isaiah was now in the heavenly reality. What is the temple in its eternal reality? Not the temple in Jerusalem. Not the physical building. We are the temple on the throne in His temple.

The Lord is on the throne of brothers and sisters. We need to see that. God is not only on the throne of the universe, but God is on the throne in His temple. Is God on the throne of His temple? Not only individually, He is on the throne of your life.

But together as His people, is God on the throne in His temple. That is the spiritual. Where two or three are gathered together unto my name, there am I in the midst. Think of this. Where two or three are gathered together unto my name, what does it mean by unto my name?

Unto my name simply means when two or three put themselves under the authority of His name. That is to say, when two or three submit themselves under the headship of Christ, that Christ may sit on the throne of His people.

There He will reveal Himself. God sits in the throne of, and His trains fill the temple. In other words, His works fill. These pieces of furniture in the temple speak to us of certain aspects of the works of Christ.

Christ’s Finished Work in the Temple

The brazen altar of sacrifice speaks of how He sacrifices Himself, shed His blood for the remission of our sins. The brazen laborer of washings, He washes us with His own life that we may be fit to serve as priests.

The table of showbread show us that He is the bread of life to us. It is by His life that we live. Then we can testify to His name. The candlestick of gold speaks of Him as our light. In Him was light, and the light was the light of man.

If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, the Son of God, cleanses us from all our sins. The golden altar of incense speaks of His high priestly ministry of intercession, how He intercedes for us.

So here you'll find what fills the church. God is on the throne of His own church, and that which fills the house is the work of Christ. Everything speaks of what Christ has done. We are His workmanship, prepared by God for the good work which He has ordained.

So here you'll find the train field. Then you'll find seraphim, the only mentioning in the whole Bible of seraphim. We do not know who they are. Only know seraphim according to the Hebrew root. Probably means the burning ones.

They were like fire, burning, pure energy, burning. You know, in the temple, the mercy seat was upon the altar. And then you'll find two cherubim serving as the back and the arms of the throne. Two cherubim.

But actually we don't know who cherubim are. Whether the seraphim are the same as the cherubim or whether they are different, we don't know. Whether they are angelic beings, most likely they are. We don't know.

And you know, because they are spirit. Therefore, every time in the scripture, when cherubim or seraphim are mentioned, you'll find they change their forms. They are so flexible. They are so living. They are not rigid at all.

And oftentimes you'll find the form is given according to the emphasis that God wants to impress upon us at that moment. So that's why it's very difficult to try to fix their form. They always change it.

But here you'll find the seraphim. We do not know how many of them. Probably two. Like the two cherubim that cover the ark. The mercy seat. Or probably two groups of cherubim, of seraphim. We don't know.

But here you'll find the seraphim. They cry one to the other. Unceasingly, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The earth is filled. Seraphim have, with two wings, they cover their face. With two wings, they cover their feet.

And with two wings, even though they were burning one. Oh, they were so close to the throne of God. Probably they were the closest to the throne of God. And yet, they dare not reveal their face. They hid their face.

They were ashamed to show themselves. Two wings, they cover their feet. They dare not show their feet. In other words, they dare not walk in their own way. Brothers and sisters, if you know God, how can you show your face?

We need to be faceless before God and feetless too. But with two wings, they flew. That is to say, they were yet swift to give glory to God and to carry out. And they cry to one another, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts.

The Holiness of God and Human Brokenness

Now, dear brothers and sisters, what is holy? We often think of holy as the opposite of sin. But the opposite of sin is righteous. The opposite of holy. The opposite of holy is common. Common. So here you'll find these seraphim, they were crying holy, holy, holy.

In other words, uncommon, uncommon, uncommon. You know what it means? God is his unique, all alone, by himself. He is uncommon, very uncommon. You can never make him like one of you. Oh, brothers and sisters, one day, even Peter tried.

You remember the Lord took three disciples to the mountain. We are more interested in what would happen to the people. But what things that should happen to the people will result in what will be happening to the testimony of God, which is of a much more early significance.

Brothers and sisters, thank God they are still people who still remain in the promised land. Who still remain to be, to bear the testimony. But what are their conditions? As you'll find in the history of the nation of Judah.

They too are in danger of entry in a very subtle way. Those who desire to stand for the Lord's testimony are in danger of captivity. It may not be Assyrian captivity, but it will be Babylonian captivity.

And the one is not better than the other. Somehow the world as a system is of such subtlety, it can come in. And because of that, you'll find how much God's interest and concern are centered upon those who...

Isaiah’s Song of the Vineyard

And God has a word for us. So here you'll find as Isaiah began his prophecy, he said, Hear ye heaven, hear ye earth, be witnesses, because God... Let us listen to what God... Now of course, the first five chapters of the book of Isaiah serve as an introduction to the whole book.

It is not only an introduction, but it is an outline of the whole book. You know, probably for this morning, we will just restrict ourselves to the first five chapters. But let us remember that actually the first five chapters give us the substance of the prophecies that you'll find throughout the book.

God has a controversy with his own people. God has spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. God had a controversy with Judah and Jerusalem. And the controversy was God had brought them up and nourished them as children.

But they rebelled. God was like a father to the nation of Israel. How God took care of them. And yet they rebelled. Now remember, this word was spoken to Judah and Jerusalem. For the world to rebel against God, that was natural.

That's natural. Because the world does not know God. But for God's people, who have received his nourishment, and has received his agreeing, and then rebelled against God, that is something unusual. In other words, rebellion.

That is the problem with the children of Judah. You see, our relationship with God is a relationship of father and children. And if the nation of Israel was such, how much more is our relationship with God as father and children.

With the children of Israel, God was a father to the nation. But they didn't know God as father to each individual. That was not revealed in the Old Testament. It is the son of the Beloved. Because the Beloved is God.

The vineyard is Israel. So here you'll find God, as it were, through his prophet, was singing. And through a song to express his feelings. And this song can be divided into three parts. The first part is from verse two through verse seven.

And that is how God planted as his vineyard. How God used the best seed for it. How God put a hedge around it. How God prepared everything for that vineyard. With the expectation that he will reap from it the good grain.

But unexpectedly, he didn't get what. He got the wild, wild. God was disappointed. He was disappointed with his people. And he said, because of this, I will judge. I will take away the hedge. I will allow wild beasts to come to tread and to eat up all.

I will allow all these things. That is the first part. The second part is from verse eight through verse 25. And there God, in the song, describes their condition. They did God. How did they disappoint God?

And here you'll find six woos. Six woos. God proclaimed six woos over them. Verse eight. Woo unto them that add house to house, that join field to field, until there is no more room, and that dwell yourselves alone in the midst of the land.

Greed, Pleasure, and Moral Rebellion

That's the first woos. Here you'll find they add house to house, join field to field. In other words, there is a greediness for gain. They try to gain the things of it, as if they were successful. But because they were after earthly gain, the result was there were no more people.

Very few people there left. Now, there was the first woo. Spiritually, of course. If our whole life is towards gain, what can we do? If we try to gain for ourselves, we will suffer. The more you gain, the less you will suffer.

The only gain is to give all to the Lord. That's real gain. Number two. Woo unto them that rising early in the morning, run after strong drink, that linger till twilight, kill wine in flame of death. In other words, they sought not only after gain, but after pleasure.

They just want to enjoy themselves, indulge themselves. That was their condition, and the result was God will bring them very low. We seek for pleasure, or do we seek to plead God? Number three. Woo unto them that draw iniquity with cause of vanity, and think as with cockroach, who say, let him hasten, let him speed his work, that we may see it.

And let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come, that we may subversion. They are completely go off. Subversion against moral. There is no principle, no moral standard anymore. Complete subversion.

And that's what you'll find today. Number four. I'm able to. The whole earth. When the glory of the Lord fills this temple, even the priest cannot stand, and have to come out and let the glory of the Lord does the work.

You know, oftentimes, we do too much. Because the glory does not fill, so we have to fill in. But when the glory of the Lord shall fill the earth, oh, all we need to do is stand by. Prostrate. He is well able to do it.

And you know, when Isaiah saw such a vision, and heard such a cry, the Bible said, the threshold, the foundations of the threshold of the temple were shaken, shaken. And the house was filled with smoke.

Seeing the Lord Produces Repentance

It shook, shaken before the Lord. He cried out and said, rule is me unto me. Oh, for I am undone. I'm a man of unclean lips and live among a people of unclean lips. I have seen the King, the Lord. Dear brothers and sisters, if you have seen a vision of the Lord.

What will be the effect upon you? As you read the whole Bible, whether it is the Old Testament or the New Testament, it never changes. Whenever God appears to man, whenever man are privileged to see the Lord, the glory of the Lord.

The one result is, he always falls flat upon his face. And as in Daniel, the beloved of the Lord. When he was given a vision of the Lord, he fell down. And when the Lord touched him and restored him, he said, my beauty has turned into color.

Are you proud of your beauty? Are you proud of your knowledge? Are you proud of your vision? Oh, some people say, I've seen a vision. The Lord has given me a vision. And because the Lord has given me a vision, I'm now someone.

You haven't seen a vision of the Lord. If you have seen a vision of the Lord, you will be as one day. There is no way to lift up your head. Oh, if Isaiah prophesied before this day. If you read the first five chapters of Isaiah, what sharp tongue he had.

He slashed the people with his tongue in condemnation. For a person to denounce the nation in such a way, what character he must have. What a person he must be. And yet, when he saw the Lord, he was completely dismayed.

And his strongest point becomes the most acute point of condemnation. That is the strongest point of a prophet, his lips. A prophet has to speak through his lips on the strongest point. So here he was conscious most acutely of the uncleanness.

Dear brothers and sisters, if you have seen the Lord. If the Lord has met you, not only your whole being will collapse before the Lord, but your strongest point will be your ugliest. The strongest point of Jacob was his father.

He was a wrestler, born wrestler. He wrestled before he was born. And yet, when he met the Lord, his strongest point became his ugliest point. Dear brothers and sisters, we all have our strong points.

It's very easy to know. That which you always look back and feel happy about it, you know. That which sticks out all the time when you see the Lord. Remember, if your strongest point of your life is not touched, to borrow a term, your backbone is not yet broken.

In other words, you are still what you are. You may have some minor wounds, but your backbone is not broken. So here you'll find Isaiah, he was completely broken before the Lord. Oh, dear brothers and sisters, if you see the Lord, you will be a broken man.

He does not want to destroy us. He breaks us, yes. He breaks us because he wants to make us. So when Isaiah began to see his unclean, he came to repent in dust and ashes. God's salvation. And you know, as you read the Bible, you'll find this happened to all whom God has his hand upon.

Look at Joe. Joe was the perfect man. The Bible says he was perfect. Upright. There was no man on earth like Joe. Who feared God. That was where he began. But look at where he ended. He said, I uphold myself in dust because formerly I've heard of you.

But now, isn't it clear? When you really see the Lord. I don't mean you see God in your spirit. The Lord gives you a glimpse of spiritual reality. That's the reality. Appearance. They never touched it.

But once you meet reality, the very core. So when Isaiah cried out, one of the Pharisees flew down and took a living cold out of the altar and touched his lips and said, your sins are forgiven. Your iniquities are expired.

Now you're clean. Now the altar here most likely is the golden altar of incense. Because it is the golden altar of incense that stands before the heart, you know, the mercy seat. So here you'll find it is a combination.

How are we clean? To the finished work of Christ on the cross. Together with his intercessory work in heaven as our great high priest. That's how we are restored. We are cleansed. We are purified. And it was only at that time that Isaiah heard and the voice he heard.

Cleansing, Calling, and Faithful Proclamation

I heard the voice of the Lord saying, whom shall I send and who will go for us? After he was cleansed, he heard the voice of the Lord. Who will go for us? Whom shall I send? He heard a calling. Now here you'll find brothers and sisters.

God did not speak directly to Isaiah and say, Isaiah, I call you. God allow Isaiah to overhear as it were. When the Godhead was in council. Father and the Son were in council in the city. They were talking, discussing something that's a matter of great importance.

And they were talking to each other and said, who shall I send? Who will go for us? And Isaiah was there. He overheard it. And he said, thank you. You know, brothers and sisters, often we say God does not be volunteered.

You know, often we volunteer. We volunteer to do God's work, you know. But we say, no, God does not want volunteer. God always drafts. If you volunteer, God may not accept you. God says, wait a minute.

I take the initiative. I draft. That is true. And yet there is another side, you know. When God drafts, we volunteer. You know, that's the thing. Actually, we are drafted. If God drafts you, there is no escape.

Do not try to escape. But he was brought back, you know. God always drafts. Always drafts because he is God. And yet, brothers and sisters, you see the beauty of it. If you cooperate with God, when God drafts, you volunteer.

That's what Isaiah did. He overheard that God was looking for someone to be a messenger. Isaiah volunteered and said, family, here I am. God said, go. Why is it that Isaiah must saw the vision of the Lord before he heard the reason?

If Isaiah should hear the calling without seeing the vision of the Lord, when God's message came to him, he was altered, watered, diluted when he felt that it would make him unpopular. Well, it didn't fit with his idea.

To be a prophet of God, to speak for God, and especially Isaiah was sent to the children of Israel, to the nation of Judah, to deliver a message of judgment. There was no return. Humanly speaking, who would like to deliver such a message?

That would make you most unpopular. But after Isaiah has saw, has seen the Lord, he will go and deliver the message intact, 100 without any change. We say we have heard God's call. Therefore, we go out.

But brothers and sisters, if you have not seen the Lord, even if God's word should come to you, it will be altered. So basically, if we want to be of usefulness to the Lord, God is looking for a vessel through which he can manifest himself without being changed.

That's the kind of vessel God is looking for. And that is the reason why he is looking for a brokenness. And brokenness comes through a vision of the holiness. Isaiah became a prophet. And he prophesied for a great length of time.

God used him to touch upon many things. So far as the nation of Israel concerned, it was a message of judgment. There was no hope. If you read the book of Isaiah, you'll find there is no hope in Israel.

But Israel's hope is in the Messiah. Isn't it true? There is no hope, you know. There is no hope in the world. No hope. But thank God. Out of a hopeless situation, our only hope. And I believe this is the message God wants the world and even his own people to hear.

Christ as the Only Hope in Crisis

This is the vision that Isaiah saw. Oftentimes, thou dost lead us into a crisis that we may sleep thy face. And be given a vision of thyself. Do not allow us to look within ourselves or to look around and murmur.

But Lord, even though we are in time of crisis, we are puzzled. We doubt. We are afraid. Teach us how to enter into thy temple to inquire of thee. Lord, we pray and thank thee that through crisis, thou are able to reveal thyself to us in a new and living way.

Thou are able to deliver us from what we are. Thou are able to fill us with what thou art. We pray that we may be a people who are so broken and clay. That thou may be able to use us for whatever thou dost want to say or to do.

We do pray and thank thee thou dost tell us. There is no hope in the world. There is no hope in man. There is no hope in us. Our hope is in Christ. Teach us how to turn our eyes upon Christ's precious name.