| The Christian Life | July 1944 |
“High and Lifted Up”
“I Saw Also the Lord”
“Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.”—Isaiah 6:8
ISAIAH’S vision in which he saw God high and lifted up, was the divine method by which the prophet was invited to enter upon a special service for the Lord. It is in keeping with the manner in which the Lord invites and commissions all of His servants to become co-workers with Him in the carrying out of His great plan of salvation. The Lord doesn’t draft His servants, but holds up before them the privilege of being messengers for the High and Lofty One who inhabiteth eternity. There could be no more compelling incentive for any one to enter the divine service than to glimpse the glory of the great Jehovah whom they are invited to serve.
In telling us of this vision, Isaiah says that he saw the Lord. This does not contradict the plain teachings of the Scriptures that no man can look upon God and live. It does, however, remind us that there is more than one way in which God can be seen by His creatures. The prophet Job, while in the midst of adversity and suffering from a loathsome disease, expressed his confidence in God and his hope of a better time to come, saying: “And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God.”—Job 19:26
Later in Job’s life before he besought God for his comforters and the sunny days of divine favor had returned to the prophet, his fidelity having stood the tests, and even before his health and other valuable possessions had been restored to him, he remarked concerning God, “I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear; but now mine eye seeth Thee.” (Job 42:5) In this we have a verification of another of Job’s expressions of confidence in the Creator when he said, “He knoweth the way that I take: when He hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.”—Job 23:10
Now that the prophet had come forth from his great trial, he realized that divine wisdom knew what was best for him, and that divine love had more than compensated for his suffering. Thus, by undergoing the severe trials as well as experiencing the joys which divine providence had permitted to come into his life, he had learned to know God better than he could possibly have known Him in any other way. Job symbolized this intimate knowledge of his Creator’s attributes by characterizing it as sight—“Mine eye seeth Thee.” His whole lifetime of experience had been as a vision in which he too, like Isaiah, had seen God “high and lifted up.”
Job’s trials and his subsequent restitution constitute a beautiful illustration of the manner in which all mankind will yet have their eyes of understanding opened to behold the glory of God. In a prophecy depicting this happy outcome of the permission of evil, the prophet Isaiah declares, “The Lord hath made bare His holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.”—Isaiah 52:10
Visions of God’s Will
Isaiah’s vision of the Lord was of a supernatural nature, impressing upon the prophet’s consciousness a scene of glory by which God’s majesty and righteousness were vividly impressed upon his heart and mind. But the Scriptures do not limit the term vision to miraculous phenomena of this nature. Concerning Israel, the wise man said, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” (Proverbs 29:18) Here, a vision denotes understanding of the divine purpose and will, a mental concept of who the Lord is, and what He requires of His people. From this standpoint we may properly think of the servants of God in all ages as being called into His service by means of visions—visions of His will, visions of the work that He has had for them to do according to the time in which they lived.
God gave Noah a vision of the coming flood, and the necessity of building an ark. The purpose of that vision was to call Noah into the service of God requisite at that time. Moses was given a vision at the burning bush. (Exodus 3:2; Mark 12:26; Acts 7:35) This vision was introduced by supernatural means, yet, the great importance of God’s message to Moses was the explanation of the divine will which was given to him. The minds of Jesus and the apostles were miraculously illuminated by visions of God and His will. God’s plan revealed by miraculous means to His prophets, to Jesus and to His apostles, is now recorded in His written Word; and by the use of His Word, visions of the truth are given to all the footstep followers of the Master.
Lessons from the Past
“Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning upon whom the ends of the ages are come.” (Rom. 15:4; I Cor. 10:11) This is true not only of the prophecies, promises and types of the Old Testament, but in many instances, even the experiences of God’s ancient servants illustrate His dealings with Christ and the church during this Gospel age.
When Isaiah thus saw the Lord in all His glory, and heard Him inquire, “Whom shall I send and who will go for us?” the prophet knew that this was God’s way of commissioning him to render special service. Isaiah promptly and without any hesitation affirmatively responded, and was blessed thereby. But that which was true on a small scale in the individual experiences of Isaiah, has a much larger fulfillment in connection with the privileges of the “New Creation.” (II Cor. 5:17 Diagtott) Thus, as we study the details of this vision, we are blessed by observing its effects upon the prophet, and may be doubly blessed by noting how its lessons apply to us.
Isaiah saw the Lord “high and lifted up.” Has not the vision of truth thus revealed our Heavenly Father to us? How high and how lofty a position He should occupy in our lives as a result of the knowledge of His great plan of salvation! Through that plan is mirrored to us the great attributes of His character—His love, His wisdom, His justice and His power. These attributes, perfectly blended and harmoniously in accord with all that He does and purposes to do, combine to reveal His glory.
The fitting praise of such a high God that must have filled the heart of Isaiah was voiced by the seraphim, who in the vision, “cried one unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of His glory.” (Isa. 6:3) This latter expression reminds us that it is only through an understanding of the plan of God that we are able to see and appreciate His glory. The earth was not full of God’s glory in Isaiah’s day; it is not full of God’s glory today. Because of the reign of sin and selfishness, the earth for six thousand years has been filled with suffering, sadness and death. Were there no more than this in store for God’s human creatures—had the Creator succeeded only in creating men but to die and thus had failed in His eternal purpose toward them—then we could see no glory in our vision of Him. But what we see around us today is not the completed picture. Man is to be recovered; sin is to be destroyed; darkness is to be dispelled; health is to take the place of suffering; joy, of sadness. Then the knowledge of the glory of God will fill the earth. (Isa.35:2; 40:5; Hab. 2:14) Hence, the seraphim’s anthem of praise to Him who was high and lifted up, of necessity carried that prophetic note of hope in the glorious consummation of His purposes—“the whole earth is full of His glory.”
God’s Glory Displayed
The proclamation of God’s glory by the seraphim resulted in a further marvelous display of glory. The prophet says that “the posts of the door moved at the voice of Him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.” Smoke is used in the Scriptures as a symbol of God’s jealousy against iniquity, His exacting justice. This is shown in Deuteronomy 29:20 where Moses explains God’s attitude toward His people who are not faithful to Him, but who serve false gods, and otherwise transgress His laws. Concerning such, he says: “The Lord will not spare him, but the anger of the Lord and His jealousy shall smoke against that man, and all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him, and the Lord shall blot out his name from under heaven.” See also Revelation 18:18 and 19:3.
Apparently the Israelites understood the significance of fire and smoke as these elements were related to God’s dealings with them. At Sinai a miraculous demonstration of God’s glory was given in which smoke played a prominent part, and the people were filled with fear, and pleaded for a mediator to stand between them and divine justice.—Exodus 19:16-19
But justice is not the only element of divine glory. When the Lord communed with Moses the second time in connection with the writing of the law on tables of stone, he was given a word picture of God’s glory, which reads: “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty, …”—Ex. 34:6,7
Yes, divine love and mercy are necessary to complete the picture of God’s glory, and this was beautifully portrayed to Isaiah when, seeing the house of the Lord filled with the symbolic smoke of His justice, he also was reminded in symbol of His mercy, which apparently is the significance of the moving of the posts. This thought is hidden, however, by the fact that “posts” is a wrong translation of the Hebrew word here used. It is the word that is universally translated cubit throughout the Old Testament. It is translated measure in a prophecy in which the Lord indicates that He has set a Limit upon the life of covetousness of symbolic Babylon. (Jer. 51:13) It is mistranslated posts only in this one instance. The thought unquestionably is that of a standard of measurement, or definite limitations. Such is God’s justice, by the measuring rod of which the human race was condemned to death. But in the vision Isaiah saw the measurements moved. He saw that God’s great wisdom and power were capable of making provision even for the guilty. Such are the blessed assurances of divine mercy that have enraptured us by the glorious vision of truth.
“Woe is Me”
The first effect of this awe-inspiring vision upon Isaiah was that of humbling him, and impressing vividly upon his conscience the fact that he was unworthy to stand in the presence of such glory. He voiced this sincere contrition of heart, saying, “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.”—Isaiah 6:5
A true vision of God will always have this wholesome effect upon the sincere and pure of heart. As we begin to learn the truth, and it unfolds the glorious attributes of the divine character, one of the first things we learn is that we are undone, and that we dwell with undone people, that is, are members of a fallen race. We are inspired with this vision, and feel that we, too, like the seraphim, would like to join in the proclamation of God’s glory, but realize, as Isaiah did, that our lips are unclean, and hence our praise would not be acceptable.
The prophet’s recognition of his sin, however, was not the consummation of the vision, nor is it for this purpose alone that God has favored us with the vision of truth. That prospective servants of God may be properly impressed with the realization of their own unworthiness, is, from God’s viewpoint, merely a means to an end. When Isaiah indicated that he realized his own undone condition, the vision progressed to a definite end. Had Isaiah not thus humbled himself before the Lord, the vision would have failed of its intended purpose. God inspires with visions of His glory, and He invites co-operation of the humble, but He doesn’t coerce. He knocks at the door of our hearts by the words of His truth, and by His providences, but He doesn’t intrude Himself into our lives. He waits to be invited.
But if, when we recognize our sin and indicate a desire to be free from it and to co-operate with the High and Lofty One, God reveals the way. It was so in the case of Isaiah. One of the seraphim flew to the prophet bearing a coal from the altar of sacrifice, touched his lips therewith, and he was cleansed. The altar of sacrifice is God’s provision for the entire undone race. The whole program of reconciliation of sinners in this age and in the age to come is based upon sacrifice.
God himself was the first to sacrifice, in that He gave His dearly beloved and only begotten Son to be the Redeemer of mankind. This sacrifice on God’s part was an evidence of His love. Jesus heartily acquiesced in this divine principle of love and God’s loving arrangement for the recovery of sinners, by the sacrifice which was consummated on Calvary’s cross. Footstep followers of the Master in this age are invited to share with Him in the privilege of sacrifice, and of participating thus in the blessed opportunity of being co-workers with God in the salvation of an undone race.
Evidence of Sacrifice
While the symbolisms used to describe the relationship of sacrifice to that of cleansing and reconciliation is different in the New Testament from that employed in Isaiah’s vision, yet the lesson is the same. The coal “from off the altar” was the evidence of sacrifice—of the fact that there was an altar of sacrifice upon which the fires were brightly burning. The shed blood by which we are cleansed is also the evidence of sacrifice, the proof that a life, even the perfect life of Jesus, the Sinless One, was poured out for us, zealously and faithfully, even unto death.
Isaiah’s lips were cleansed, and thus he was prepared to speak for God. Similarly we, through the work of sacrifice, are purged and qualified to render acceptable service to Him who called us “out of darkness into His marvelous light.” (I Pet. 2:9) That is why we can thankfully, and from the heart, sing those beautiful words,
“While joyfully in Thine employ,
The thought shall fill my soul with joy,That my imperfect work shall be
Acceptable through Christ to Thee.”
Having been purged from his iniquity, and now pure in God’s sight through the merit of the altar of sacrifice, Isaiah was in a position to become a messenger of the One who was “high and lifted up.” Like the seraphim who cried one to another, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts,” Isaiah himself could now cry unto his fellows, and in an acceptable manner show forth the praises of the High God who had cleansed him from his iniquities.
God does not invite sinners to serve Him. (John 9:31) But now that the prophet was a potential servant of the Lord through cleansing, he heard the High and Holy One inquire, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Here we have the free-will aspect of God’s invitation beautifully exemplified. The Lord did not address the question specifically to the prophet, as though he might be embarrassed if he didn’t feel like responding. The manner in which the call for service was given left the prophet free not to respond at all, had’ he wished to ignore the invitation. The only constraint impelling the prophet to respond was the inspiration that had overpowered him in witnessing the vision of God’s glory. Inspired by such a high motive, he replied, “Here am I; send me.” (Isa. 6:8) Thus did the prophet commit himself unreservedly to carry whatever message God was pleased to entrust to him.
Full Surrender
In thus voluntarily offering himself in service to God, the prophet exemplified the spirit of true consecration. He didn’t first ask how, or when, or why. Nor did the Lord furnish the details of the service for which He sought a servant. God made it plain that He had need of a messenger, and Isaiah agreed without reservation to do God’s bidding. Now that there was this meeting of minds, in which the cleansed prophet was wholly dedicated to carry out the will of his High and Holy God, the details of the commission were revealed to him.
God said, “Go, and tell this people [the Jewish nation], Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.” (Isaiah 6:9,10) It is this outline of the commission of service given to the prophet that points to the larger application of the entire vision. Jesus quotes these instructions, and applies them to His own ministry. (Matt. 13:14,15) This indicates that the larger meaning of the vision has its fulfillment beginning with Jesus.
In verse 11, the prophet raises the question as to how long such a message should be proclaimed, and the Lord replied, “Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate, and the Lord have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land.” (Isa. 6:11,12) In the 24th chapter of Isaiah’s prophecy we are given a vivid picture of the great time of trouble with which the Gospel age ends. The opening verse of this chapter reads: “Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof.”
This language is so similar to that employed by the Lord when giving Isaiah the time limit of the commission of service, that. it becomes evident it was the Lord’s will that the proclamation of the truth, as initiated by Jesus, should continue until it was cut short by the time of trouble at the end of the Gospel age. Jesus’ application of the commission to Himself, and the Lord’s own explanation as to its time limit, thus gives us the beginning and the ending of its larger fulfillment.
It is our happy privilege to be living in the time when the work of God outlined in this vision is nearing its conclusion. Even now the foretold desolation of the earth is under way. Already, in some parts of the earth, the time of trouble has made it impossible longer to proclaim the message. That is not true in America, nor is it true in some other parts of the earth. So it is still appropriate that we go forth as messengers of the High God, inspired by the vision of His glory, revealed to us through the glorious harvest truths of His Word.
In sending forth His servants as ambassadors for the truth, God has never given them reason to believe that their message will be accepted and acted upon favorably by any considerable number of those who hear. If our faith in the wisdom of the work God has given us to do is to be maintained, and our zeal for doing it is to remain enthusiastic and vital, it is necessary that we keep this point well in mind. God doesn’t want us to judge the value of what He asks us to do, either by the results obtained, or by the lack of results. He is looking for co-workers who will labor zealously and untiringly, never becoming weary in welldoing, simply because they are servants of His, and know that He will not. forget their labor of love, even though others may be cold and indifferent to their ministry.—Gal. 6:9; I Thess. 1:3; II Thess. 3:13
Yet God does not expect us to labor for Him without a realization that our labor is not in vain. He doesn’t ask us to work for work’s sake, nor to toil simply to become weary. He wants us to know that there is a real purpose back of what He asks us to do; that there is something to be accomplished; that results are to be obtained, results that are foreknown to Him, and will redound to His glory. That has been true in God’s dealings with all His servants. It was true with Isaiah; it was true with Jesus; it is true with all the members of His body.
After telling Isaiah that the work was to continue until the cities were wasted without an inhabitant, and the land utterly desolate, God assured the prophet that even though his ministry would not lead to repentance, yet it would not be in vain. How very true this has been of the Gospel-age work of Christ and the church. In fulfillment of the prophecy of a coming Elijah “before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord,” the church in the flesh has proclaimed the message of truth, embracing repentance and salvation through Christ. (Mal. 4:5,6) The world has not heeded this message, and, as Malachi pointed out, the alternative is now being experienced by the world. The foretold curse of the great time of trouble which is desolating civilization is now upon the nations.
Labor Not in Vain
But does this mean that the nineteen centuries of work by consecrated followers of the Master has been in vain? Has this age-long labor of love, involving toil and suffering, persecution and death for those who have participated, been only an experiment?
In our short-sightedness it may appear—in fact, is almost sure to appear—that nothing worth while is accomplished by our service for God. But God judges the results of our toil, not from the limited viewpoint of our brief association with His purpose, but rather, in the light of His understanding of the ultimate objective to be accomplished. It is this glorious and over-all purpose of the Gospel-age work which is alluded to in God’s closing statement in the vision of glory depicted to the prophet. Verse 13 explains that while the cities are to be wasted, and the land utterly desolate, and that even a small remnant of one-tenth of God’s professed people shall, according to Isaac Leeser’s translation, be swept away, yet a substance or “stem” is to remain. This substance, the Lord explains, is the holy seed. In the vision of truth which is the divine plan, this holy seed is described as the seed of Abraham. Paul explains that Christ and the church constitute that seed. (Gal. 3:8,16,29) The call and development of this seed, therefore, is the substance, or real result of all the labor of love by God’s people throughout the nineteen centuries of the Gospel age.
The church did not convert the world, no—but in carrying forward her divine commission as ambassadors for Christ, her members prepared themselves to be future channels of the truth who, according to the divine plan, will join with Christ in offering the waters of salvation to all mankind. (II Cor. 5:20; Rev. 22:17) All her efforts this side the veil have served to prepare her for that wonderful and successful work of the future; a work which will cause the knowledge of the glory of God to fill the earth.
Thus it is that those who, through the truth, have seen God, and thus enlightened, have seen their undone condition and have been cleansed by the precious blood, and have dedicated their lives to the divine service, will yet have that unspeakable privilege of making known to all mankind the glories of the God whom they have worshiped and served. In view of such a wonderful consummation of the divine plan to be accomplished by those who become co-workers with the High God, surely we will want daily, not only with our lips, but from our hearts, to respond to truth’s vision with those words of consecration originally voiced by the prophet Isaiah, “Here am I,” Lord “send me.”—Isaiah 6:8