Growing Through Worship

MEMORY VERSE: “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for thou Nast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.” —Revelation 4:11

ISAIAH 6:1-8

THE more we appreciate the greatness and the glory of God the more we should endeavor to be like him in character, exhibiting in our contacts with others his graciousness, his mercy, and his love. We see and know God through his Word of truth, and through his plan of redemption revealed therein. Every precious promise of God should give us a glimpse of his glory, and increase in us the desire to serve and please him.

The Prophet Isaiah was favored with a spectacular vision which revealed the glory of the Lord to him. He wrote, “I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up.” All true visions of the Lord show him in this same wonderful manner—“high and lifted up.” The great Creator of the universe is always “high and lifted up,” and any true vision of him is sure to reveal him in this manner.

The seraphim in the vision given to Isaiah added to the sense of God’s glory when they cried one to another, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.” In Isaiah’s day the whole earth was not filled with God’s glory except in a limited way by the things created. It was, however, forecast by the promises of God pertaining to the accomplished work of the messianic kingdom. So we do have the assurances of those promises that the time will come when all will know the Lord; when the knowledge of him will fill the earth, and his glory will be recognized.—Jer. 31:34; Isa. 11:9; 40:5

The vision of God’s glory had the same effect upon Isaiah as it should have upon all who see a measure of his glory, through his Word or otherwise. He said, “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.” The sharp contrast between the character and glory of God, and ourselves as members of a sinful and dying race, should, when humbly considered, make us realize that we are indeed “undone” and must trust in the mercy of the Lord; that our lips are unclean and not suitable for use in the service of the Lord unless cleansed by provisions of his making.

In the case of Isaiah, one of the seraphim in the vision flew to him and placed a live coal from the altar upon his lips, and said, “Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.” With us of the Gospel Age, the cleansing of our lips, and of our whole beings, is accomplished through the blood of Christ, and by the washing by the water of the Word. Only those who are thus cleansed are made worthy of participating in any service which the Lord may assign to his people.

Most visions which the Lord gives to his people have as their objective their calling into his service; and so it was with the vision given to Isaiah. In the vision he heard the voice of the Lord asking, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?”

Isaiah grasped the meaning of the vision, and was quick to respond, “Here am I; send me.” We are now living in the end of the Gospel Age. The Lord is present, conducting the harvest work. There is reaping work to be done, and the Lord has given his people the vision of “present truth.” Through this vision they, like Isaiah, see the Lord “high and lifted up.” They recognize that through the glorious vision of truth the Lord is calling them into his service, and like Isaiah, their reply is, “Here am I; send me.”

In the vision of “present truth” we see the glory of the Lord; that glory which is made up of his wisdom, justice, love, and power. We see how these attributes have been working through the ages, furthering the divine plan of love whereby the sinful and dying race will eventually be restored to that which was lost. Through the divine plan we, like Isaiah, see the time when the whole earth will be filled with the glory of the Lord, and we recognize, as our memory verse declares, that our great and loving God is worthy “to receive glory and honor and power.”

QUESTIONS

What important fact concerning the Lord did Isaiah note in his vision?

What effect should visions of the Lord have upon his people?

What should be our response to the vision of truth through which we now see the Lord?

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