(Isaiah) Conviction, Cleansing, and Call — David Guzik

Isaiah’s Vision of the Enthroned Lord

Isaiah chapter 6, beginning at verse 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. 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. The first two verses of this chapter tell us what Isaiah saw in this heavenly vision. Maybe I should say that the first line tells us when he saw it.

He saw it in the year that King Uzziah died. The King Uzziah of Judah had a long and distinguished reign. It's described in 2 Chronicles chapter 26 and in 2 Kings chapter 15. Uzziah began his reign when he was only 15 years old.

He reigned 52 years, and overall he was a good king. 2 Kings 15 .3 says that he did what was right in the sight of the Lord according to all that his father Amaziah had done. And in 2 Chronicles chapter 28, it says that he sought God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the visions of God.

And as long as he sought the Lord, God made him prosper. Uzziah was also a man who was a mighty military leader of the nation of Judah. He also led Israel in military victories over the Philistines. And other neighboring nations.

He was a strong king, an energetic builder, a planner, and a general. 2 Chronicles chapter 26 says that his fame spread as far as the entrance of Egypt, for he strengthened himself exceedingly. Marvelous king.

Tremendous reign. Uzziah's life ended tragically. 2 Chronicles 26 .16 reads, but when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction, for he transgressed against the Lord God by entering the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense.

You see, Uzziah was a king. And he was forbidden to participate in the priestly service. He was forbidden to offer sacrifices or to burn incense at the sacred altar of incense which stood inside the holy place, not the holy of holies of the temple, but in the room of the temple which priests would go in and out every day to take care of the lamps and to burn incense.

And Uzziah, being a king, was forbidden to enter in there and to conduct priestly service. But one day, strong in himself and lifted up in pride, he transgressed. He went to a place that he shouldn't have gone.

He crossed a barrier that he shouldn't have crossed. And in response, God struck Uzziah with leprosy. There's the priest shouting at him, don't go in there, king! You don't belong in there! And Uzziah, strong in himself and lifted up in his pride, thinking that there's no barrier to him.

I'm a king. I can go anywhere I want. This is my nation, my city, my temple. But it wasn't his. It was the temple of the Lord. And he transgressed that. And as the priests are trying to keep him out, he barges in and as soon as he enters in, his body is stricken from head to toe with leprosy.

Immediately. He was an isolated leper until the day he died. So when Isaiah begins, Isaiah chapter 6, verse 1, with the phrase, in the year that king Uzziah died, it means something. It says a lot. It says, in the year that a great and wise king died.

But it also says, in the year that a great and wise king who had a tragic end died. And Isaiah had great reason to be discouraged and disillusioned at the death of king Uzziah because a great king had passed away and because his life had ended tragically.

He could ask the question fairly, where is the Lord in all of this? Well, where was the Lord? Look at verse 1. Sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Where was the Lord in all this?

He was sitting on a throne. God was still enthroned in heaven and God was in charge of all creation. I find it fascinating when you go through the Bible and study the accounts that men have brought forth of their own visions of heaven, of their own encounters in heaven.

You talk about Paul, you talk about John, you talk about Daniel, you talk about Zechariah, you talk about Isaiah here, and what they see when they go to heaven is a throne. There's a throne in heaven.

And the Lord God sits upon it as the sovereign ruler of the universe. This is the central fact of heaven that there is an occupied throne in heaven. God does not sit on a chair in heaven like the hired help or somebody who just needs a rest from a long day of work.

Anyone might sit on a chair, but a sovereign sits on the throne. Judges sit on thrones. Those with proper authority and sovereignty sit on thrones. So just like the prophet Micaiah, just like David, just like the sons of Korah, just like Ethan the Ezraite, just like Jeremiah, just like Ezekiel, just like Daniel, just like the apostle John, they all saw heaven and they all saw God sitting upon His throne.

By the way, if there's any book in the Bible that shows us heaven and gives us an interior view of what heaven's all about, it's the book of Revelation. Well, God's throne is specifically mentioned more than 35 times in the book of Revelation, the book of the throne.

Now, when we think about the competing world philosophies in the day, when we think of atheism or materialism, they believe that there is no throne, that there is no seat of authority or power that all the universe must answer to, that there is no authority, there's no power.

Everybody just has their own throne. You have your throne, I have my throne, everybody has their own throne. And then it's just whoever is the strongest or smartest, they get to rule over others. The bottom line of humanism is that there is a throne, but man sits upon it, not God.

The Bible makes it clear that there is a throne in heaven and no fallen man sits upon it, but the Lord God is enthroned in heaven. So we can just see Isaiah depressed, discouraged, because a great leader of Judah was no longer on the throne, but God in heaven now shows Isaiah, don't worry about it, Isaiah, Uzziah may not be on his throne, but I am on my throne.

And as we notice it here in verse one, he's high and lifted up. His throne is exalted and majestic. The throne set its occupant in a superior position. When you see the throne of God, you will know that he's greater than you, greater than angels, greater than all.

Matter of fact, his greatness is illustrated in verse one by the idea of his train of the robe fills the temple. Now kings of that time would wear robes with long trains. You know what the train is, it's the long flowing part, sort of the unnecessary part.

It doesn't do anything for covering. It's just there for glory, for splendor. But the only thing we think of of having trains today is bridal gowns, right? You see the bride there, big, long train. It's so long that she's got three or four kids behind her.

All dressed up, taking care of the train. And what does it mean? It means that she's in her glory. It means that she's object of special attention. It means that she's not doing any work. Bride's not out there chopping wood with the big train on her temple.

She's not there doing work in the kitchen, hopefully, with the big train on her dress. Wearing a long train meant I'm important enough. I don't have to work. I'm a person of honor and dignity. Others must serve me and wait upon me.

And how long is the train of God's robe? It fills the temple. I've never seen a bridal dress with a train that long. You know, you think of TV weddings. Big, big, long train. I've never seen one that long.

God is so honored, so important, so dignified that the train of His robe fills the temple. That's not all that Isaiah saw. Look at verse two. Above it, speaking of the throne, above it stood Seraphim.

Each one had six wings. With two, he covered his face. With two, he covered his feet. With two, he flew. Surrounding the throne of God are angels known here as Seraphim. Now, in many other passages, these angels are described and known as cherubim.

Or Revelation chapter four refers to them as the living creatures surrounding the throne. This is the only chapter in the Bible where they are referred to as Seraphim. Now, you'll get some Bible scholars, and boy, do they like to make a debate.

Let me explain to you, they say, the difference between cherubim and Seraphim. And they say, well, they're different beings. I don't think so. I've done careful study on this. You compare Ezekiel chapter one, verse 13.

Ezekiel chapter 10, verse 15. This passage here, I'm firmly convinced cherubim or Seraphim are the same thing. The name Seraphim means burning ones. And so when Isaiah makes a reference here to these burning ones, he speaks of their appearance being a flame of fire.

And it says that each one had six wings. In Revelation chapter four, the apostle John also mentions these six wings. And here in Isaiah, it says that with the six wings, each one covers their face with two of the wings.

They cover their feet to show two wings with two wings. And then with the other two wings, they fly. Four of the six wings are given to express humility on behalf of that being. Covering their face. I cannot look upon you, Lord.

By the way, that just simply blows my mind. Blows my mind. Now, I understand when God says to men, no man shall look upon me and live. I understand that. We're fallen humanity. These are perhaps the most glorious beings in all of God's creation.

And they cannot look upon me. Now, when we are glorified in heaven, we will be raised to a position of glory higher than even the seraphim. And we will be able to look upon the Lord. But when we look at the seraphim, we won't even see their faces.

Their faces are gonna be covered with wings. They can't look upon the Lord. So with two, they cover their face. With two, they cover their feet. Sort of, if you will, the human part. The part that comes into contact with everything.

It's an expression of their humility. Four of the six wings are used to show their humility. And two of them are used to show their willingness to serve. We'll fly anywhere you want us to, God. We're ready to serve.

We'll go. We've got our track shoes on, so to speak. We're ready to go wherever you want us, God. Here, there, anywhere, we're ready. Friends, isn't it significant that four of the six are used to express adoration and humiliation before God?

Two of them are to serve. Charles Spurgeon wrote, thus they have four wings for adoration and two for active energy. Four to conceal themselves and two with which to occupy themselves in service. And we may learn from them that we shall serve God best when we are most deeply reverend and humbled in his presence.

Veneration must be in larger proportion than vigor. Adoration must exceed activity. And so, as Mary at Jesus's feet was preferred to Martha in her much serving, so sacred reverence take the first place in energetic service to follow and do good.

The Holiness of God and the Glory Filling the Temple

That's what Isaiah saw. What did he hear? Look at verses three and four. And one cried to the other and said, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory. And the doors, the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out and the house was filled with smoke.

Now, don't you think it's interesting that the seraphim aren't even addressing the Lord. They're not speaking to him, they're speaking to one another. They're proclaiming the glorious nature and character of God to one another in the presence of the Lord.

It's as if they, hey, holy is the Lord and you bet he's holy. Yes, he's holy. They're declaring the greatness of God to one another. And they say it over and over again, three times, holy, holy, holy is the Lord.

Why three times? Isn't it once just to say it once? No, it's not enough. Say it three times because there are three persons in the one God and the Father is holy and the Son is holy and the Holy Spirit is holy.

Friends, they also say it to intensify the idea. In the Hebrew language, intensity is communicated by repetition. It isn't like they would say, well, he's holy, holier, holiest. Instead of going holy, holier, holiest, they'd be more likely to say holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, and let the repetition express the strength of it.

To say that the Lord is holy is to say something. To say that he is holy, holy says far more. To say holy, holy, holy is the Lord is to declare his holiness in the highest possible degree. What does it mean to say that God is holy?

Holiness, at its root, has the idea of apartness. It describes someone or something which is set apart from other people or other things. An object can be set apart if it's set apart for sacred service.

A microphone, if it's only used to sing songs of worship, you would say that microphone is holy unto the singing of worship. If something is set apart for a purpose, set apart unto something unique, then it can be regarded as holy.

And when God says he's holy, he is set apart from, well, from what? Number one, he's set apart from creation. The Lord God is not a creature and he exists outside of all creation. If all creation were to dissolve, if every molecule of matter were to perish in the entire creation, God would still exist unaffected.

He doesn't depend on anything. You think God breathes? You think God drinks water? You think he needs to eat food? God is not dependent on anything. But he's not only set apart from creation. The Lord God is also set apart from humanity.

His nature, his essence is divine. It is not human. God is not a superman or the ultimate man. It's not as if he's just smarter than any man or stronger than any man or older than any man or better than any man.

You can't measure God on man's chart at all. He's divine and we're human. God is holy. He's set apart from us. Now, I know most of the time when we hear about the holiness of God, we expect it to make us feel a certain way.

Usually, I expect it to make me feel condemned. I mean, if I said, tonight I'm going to preach on holiness. You'd say, whew, been for a long night here tonight. And obviously, the holiness of God demands a moral holiness and a moral purity from us.

There's no doubt about that. It shouldn't be diminished or separated at all. But friends, if we understand the fullness of what holiness is, we understand that the idea of moral purity is just one small aspect of what the holiness of the Lord is all about.

When we say that the Lord is holy, we are saying that God has a moral purity, a sinlessness, a spotlessness that is far above any man, that is unlike any man, that is separate and apart from any man. We understand that.

But you realize that it also means that God has a love that is separate from any man. A forgiveness that's separate from any man. A graciousness that's separate from any man. A mercy and a forgiveness that's greater than any man.

Holiness just doesn't refer to the moral purity of God. It refers to everything in His nature. God's holiness is a part of everything He is and everything He does. God's power is a holy power. God's love is a holy love.

God's wisdom is a holy wisdom. Holiness is not an aspect of God's personality. It's one characteristic of His entire being. Not only that. Not only is He holy, but look at verse 3. And the whole earth is full of His glory.

I think it's funny that the Seraphim probably see that more clearly than we who live on the earth see it. I mean, they probably know it far more. We probably have very little sense of the greatness of the glory of God all around us.

If we could only see it. If our eyes were only opened, if the veil was taken away to see the glory of God, the power and the majesty of His in creation, in redemption, in all of His unfathomable work.

The whole earth is full of His glory. When the angel said that, look at what happened in verse 4. And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of Him who cried out and the house was filled with smoke.

The Seraphim are pretty majestic beings, friends. What they say carries weight. You picture Isaiah standing by the posts of the door here of this great room of this great temple. And there he is in front of these doorposts and as the angels are crying out, holy, holy, holy.

It echoes across the room. And it's such a strong word. There's such mighty beings that it's shaking the temple. Friends, this is not some little prefab shack. Here's a little big trailer tent here. This is the Lord God's temple in heaven.

I think it's built up to code and all of that. To shake those posts, man, you're doing something. And there's Isaiah. Everything's shaking. It's like an earthquake there. And it may be that he could feel the doorpost shake.

And this isn't the word of the Lord. This is just the word of the Seraphim. These are majestic, mighty beings. And these majestic, incredible beings, perhaps the highest beings in all of God's creation, they have one occupation.

Their existence is given over to the praise and worship and honor of the Lord God who's enthroned in heaven. What could we possibly do that's a higher calling? They sang so powerfully that the doorposts were shaking.

Kind of makes us feel silly the way we sing sometimes, right? La, la, la, la. That's not how the angels praise God. They sang so powerfully the doorposts were shaking. Let me ask you a simple question.

Do those angels surrounding the throne of God, do they have more to thank God for than you do? And I don't know why our praise is so wimpy sometimes. Our praise wouldn't shake a piece of tissue paper, right in front of our mouth.

And they're shaking the posts of the temple. Verse 4,. And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of Him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke. The smoke reminds us of the pillar of cloud that represented the presence of God.

The smoke on Mount Sinai, the cloud of God's Shekinah glory that filled the temple. A cloud of glory often marks the presence of the Lord. And in the midst of all this, look at what Isaiah felt here. Verse 5,.

Conviction of Sin in the Presence of God

Then I said, Woe to 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. What made Isaiah feel like he was coming apart?

Two things. First, it was the sight and the sound of the seraphim. When Isaiah saw those angels in all of their holy humility, in all of their obedience, in all of their praise to God, he realized, not only am I not like the Lord, I'm not even like these angels.

They cry out, Holy, holy, holy. They praise God so beautifully. Isaiah says, I don't. I am a man of unclean lips. I cannot say, Holy, holy, holy, the way they do. They're holy. I'm not. The first thing that made him feel like he was coming apart was he saw the angels.

But the second thing was that he saw the Lord and when he saw the Lord, he knew what kind of man he was. As poorly as he compared to the seraphim. That was nothing in relation to how he compared to the Lord.

This vision or actual experience of the throne of God, friends, it did not make Isaiah feel good. He didn't have a peaceful, easy feeling there in the temple. The more clearly he saw the Lord, the more clearly he saw how bad his state was.

But that's no surprise. Job felt it when he was in the presence of the Lord. Daniel felt it in the presence of the Lord. Peter felt it in the presence of the Lord. John felt it in the presence of the Lord.

Maybe when he cries out, I am undone. That's not a bad place to be. I don't think God will do anything with us until He's undone us first. What makes him think he's undone? Look at verse 5. I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips.

Isaiah saw his sinfulness and the sinfulness of his people mainly in terms of sinful speech. Now, Isaiah did not think for a moment that this was his only sin. But he saw that this was an example of the great and incurable disease of sin and in his people.

He had a lip problem. I am a man of unclean lips. By nature, our lips are full of flattery and false intent. Psalm 12 says, with flattering lips and a double heart, they speak. By nature, our lips lie and are proud.

Psalm 31 says, let the lying lips be put to silence which speak insolent things proudly and contentiously against the righteous. By nature, our lips deceive. Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit.

That's Psalm 34. By nature, our lips are violent. Psalm 59 says, swords are in their lips. By nature, our lips bring death to others. Psalm 140 says, the poison of snakes is under their lips. A lot of damage.

As much as that, look at the end of verse 5. It says, for my eyes have seen the King. Isaiah was a righteous, godly man by all outward appearance. Yet when he saw the enthroned King, the Lord of hosts, he saw how sinful he was in comparison.

Isaiah was a righteous man. You looked at his life. There's a godly man. You've got nothing to be ashamed of, Isaiah. So go ahead and stand before the Lord. He says, no. No, when you put my life next to the King of glory, it's nothing.

You take a diamond and you look at it, you know, just in a light background, it looks pretty good. You put it against a black velvet background and suddenly flaws that you never saw before become apparent.

Imperfections. Little difficulties. You say, oh, now I see them. Now Isaiah could see those flaws and imperfections that were invisible before. God will not leave him there. Look at verse 6. Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal, which he'd taken with the tongs from the altar.

And he touched my mouth with it and said, behold, this has touched your lips. Your iniquity is taken away and your sin purged. One of the seraphim flies. They're surrounding the throne of God, but they minister to Isaiah and they come with a live coal.

This means that the coal was hot and burning. It was so hot that the angel needed to use tongs. Friends, if an angel needs tongs to pick up something, these people aren't wimps. It's hot. What does he do?

He takes that coal from the altar. Now this must be heaven's version of the altar of incense that's set before the holy of holies in the earthly tabernacle that God told Moses to build. It was a model of what there was in heaven.

And in the earthly tabernacle before the holy of holies stood the altar of incense. And on it were burning coals that would receive the incense and burn it upon it and raise it up as beautiful smoke unto God.

By the way, isn't it beautiful? There's a altar in heaven. That's the place for us. The throne isn't for us. That's for God. The altar? That's for us. We need the altar. A lot of us need to get off the throne and get down on the altar.

Leave the throne to God. The altar is where we belong. So what does he do? He takes that burning hot coal from the altar and he touches Isaiah's lips with it. Now friends, can I just tell you, that must have hurt.

You don't take a burning hot coal, put it on a person's lips, which is one of the more sensitive parts of a person's body, and it hurts. But look at verse 7. Does it say anything about Isaiah reacting in pain?

And the prophet screamed, Ouch! You're not going to read it in there. There was no pain. Why? Perhaps it was a special, unique blessing from God. Or maybe it was that the pain did not matter because of the majesty of the surroundings and the goodness of the cleansing.

That's what mattered to Isaiah. Isaiah knew that he did not serve the Lord like the seraphim. What does seraphim mean? Burning ones. So God says, I'm going to light a fire in you. I'm going to make you like one of these burning ones.

And that's why a burning coal was used to purify Isaiah. You know what I think is amazing? There is a cry of pain. There is a cry of agony in this chapter. But it's back at verse 5. Before the burning coal.

Woe is me, for I am undone. Isaiah was more pained at the vision of a holy God than he was at having a burning coal applied to his lips. Friends, that's what it's like to see the Lord and to see yourself.

So it says there in verse 7, Your iniquity is taken away and your sin purged. Isaiah's sin had to be burned away. The fire of judgment was applied to his place of sin. And it burned away. Even as the fire of God was put upon our Savior, Jesus Christ.

The wrath of God. It burned away our sin. Once Isaiah had met with the Lord and been convicted of his sin and cleansed from his guilt, now he's ready to serve God. Charles Spurgeon said, The effect of that live coal will be to fire the lip with a heavenly flame.

Oh, says one man, a flaming coal will burn the lips so that I cannot speak at all. That's just how God works with us. It's by consuming the fleshly power that he inspires the heavenly might. Oh, let the lip be burnt.

Let the fleshly power of eloquence be destroyed. But oh, for that live coal to make the tongue eloquent with the heaven's flame. The true divine power which urged the apostles forward and made them conquerors of the whole world.

Isaiah’s Call to Go and Preach

That's where we come to verse 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. God looked. God looked all around. He looked all around heaven.

He looked for someone to send. He wanted someone to go. Now, on the one hand, this absolutely... It's almost, not really, almost troubling to me that God in heaven asks a question. What does He ask a question about?

What doesn't He know? What questions would He have? God was asking for a person because God wants to reach the world through people. And He wants willing people. It isn't that God doesn't know who these people are.

It's that God is waiting for ready hearts to reveal themselves. But do you understand here? Is there any more majestic, sovereign picture we have of God in the old Scriptures here? High and lifted up, the train of His robe fills the temple.

Holy, holy, holy, doorposts shake and smoke everywhere. And what does God say? Do I have any volunteers? A God like that doesn't need volunteers. He can command anyone He wants. But He asks for volunteers.

He could create robots to do His work. He could command angels to carry out His will. But He wants willing, surrendered servants. Friends, have you been waiting for God to force you to serve Him? Okay, God, when You make me, then I will.

Okay, Lord, just when it gets so heavy. What do you do waiting for God to force you? You're going to wait a long time. God wants willing hearts. He's looking for volunteers. God says, whom shall I send?

That means that the missionary, the Christian worker, the witness of Jesus Christ is sent. This is a divine commission. And notice, who will go for us? It means that the missionary, the Christian worker, the witness of Jesus Christ has decided to go.

There's a divine commission. There's a human will to go. So Isaiah says, here I am. Send me. Isaiah emphatically answered God's call. He didn't hesitate. Isn't it glorious? Isaiah wanted to be the answer to God's question.

Do you want to be the answer to God's question? God's asking a question. You can answer it. What created this kind of heart in Isaiah? First, he had a heart that had been in the presence of God. Secondly, he had a heart that knew its own sinfulness.

Third, he had a heart that knew the need among the people. A need for God's Word, not the Word of sinful lips. And then he had a heart that had been touched by God's cleansing fire. And finally, he had a heart that heard God's heart to reach the nations.

What does Isaiah say? Here am I. Send me. You see, send me is the attitude of a servant submitted unto the Lord. It doesn't say, Here I am, Lord. I will go. Okay, I'll go. That has a little more of the self in it, doesn't it?

It says, I'll go, but only if you will send me. Isaiah would not go at all unless he knew he was sent by the Lord. There are many people who are quick to say, Here I am. I will go. How few there are that will wait for the Lord to send them.

Now, when it's ministry, here's your ministry. Send me. Yes, Lord, I'm pumped. I've got the heavenly call, the heavenly vision. I'm excited. I've received it. I've got it all. Yes, here we go. Tell me my ministry, Lord.

Oh, this is going to be great. Yes, I'm ready. Verse 9,. And he said, Go and tell this people. Keep on hearing, but do not understand. Keep on seeing, but do not perceive. Make the heart of this people dull and their ears heavy.

And shut their eyes, lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and return and be healed. You see what the Lord says to Isaiah in response? The first thing he says is go.

When you say, Here am I, send me to the Lord. You know what he's going to answer back? Go. In some way or another, he's going to say go. He may say, go and serve me here or go and serve me there or go and be prepared for future service.

But there's always a go when we offer ourselves to the Lord. What does he say? Go and tell these people. Keep on hearing, but do not understand. Keep on seeing, but do not perceive. Do you understand what he's getting at?

God told Isaiah to go and preach to a people who would not respond. Isn't that great? What a ministry. Go and preach to a bunch of hard-hearted people who won't respond. And hardly any of them will get saved and repent.

Go. There's your mission. And oh Lord, why am I going? So that their guilt would be certain. One old Puritan commentator. You know it's going to be heavy when it's an old Puritan commentator. He said that Isaiah's ministry was to preach them to hell.

Because of their rejection. I mean, he would offer them heaven. But as they rejected it, it sealed their fate to hell. And that was basically Isaiah's ministry. Go and preach them to hell. What preacher could be satisfied with a ministry that made the heart of the people dull and their ears heavy and shut their eyes?

Now, believe me, I've sat under some preachers like that. But no preacher's satisfied with that. Believe me. The people might not be satisfied with it. Isaiah might not be satisfied with it. But God would be satisfied with it.

So go and do it. So look at Isaiah's response here in verse 11. Then I said, Lord, how long? How long do I got to do this kind of ministry? What is this, Lord? That's a logical question from anybody who's given that kind of commission.

I have to preach to those who will not hear? And the rejection of my ministry will ultimately seal their doom? How long do I have to do that? How long? Verse 11, then he answered, Until the cities are laid waste and without inhabitants, their houses are without a man, the land is utterly desolate.

The Lord has removed the men far away and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land. Yet a tenth will be in it and will return and be for consuming as a terebinth tree or an oak whose stump remains when it's cut down so the holy seed shall be its stump.

Basic answer? Preach until destruction comes. Thank you, Lord. That's the commission. Yet it's also preach in hope of restoration of remnant. Did you see verse 13? But yet a tenth will be in it. There's your ministry, Isaiah.

Ninety percent of the people you preach to, you're going to preach them to hell. Ten percent, you'll preach them to heaven. I'll go. Friends, it's just plain glorious to do the submitted heart of Isaiah.

Ahaz’s Ungodly Alliance and Judah’s Crisis

Now, if this is what happened in the days of Uzziah, or after Uzziah was dead, what happened with the king after him? Take a look at chapter 7. Now, it came to pass in the days of Ahaz, the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah.

Again, this is the grandson of Uzziah. Are you picking something up about the book of Isaiah? We're not strictly chronological here. We're jumping place to place. We passed from the days of Jotham, who succeeded Uzziah, now we're to the days of Jotham's son, Ahaz.

It came to pass in the days of Ahaz, the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that resin king of Syria and pekos son of Ramaliah, king of Israel, went up to Jerusalem to make war against, but could not prevail against it.

And it was told of the house of David saying, Syria's forces are deployed in Ephraim. So his heart and the heart of his people were moved as the trees of the woods are moved with the wind. This takes place in the days of Ahaz, the son of Jotham.