Isaiah 6:1-3 - I saw the Lord

6:1

We now get the formal commissioning of Isaiah. “In the year that King Uzziah died ...”. The death of King Uzziah, also called Azariah (see 2 Kings 15:1-7) was no great loss. He had started off as a good king (2 Kings 15:3), but then went to seed and was afflicted with leprosy. In fact he has a remarkable small entry in 2 Kings for a reign of fifty two years. If we want to be truly significant then we need to live in obedience to the Lord, and with trust in the Lord. 2 Chronicles 26 gives a much fuller picture of his life. He started off well, seeking the Lord (2 Chr 26:4). He built up the nation, largely in a militarily manner. However 2 Chr 26:16 says “But after Uzziah became powerful, his pride led to his downfall.” He was warned by the priests that he was acting against God, but he paid no attention.

Isaiah must have been troubled by the things he saw in the nation during Uzziah’s reign. Then Isaiah see the Lord , high and exalted. He has a picture of the Lord reigning. Men behaving badly does nothing to dethrone the real king. A prophet of God needs to know who the Lord is, needs to know who is really in charge. And all of us need to know that in this day.

6:2,3

Then there is a vision angels surrounding the throne. The angels are called seraphim, and this means “burning ones”. They declared “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of His glory” (NIV). This is in stark contrast to the utterly unholy nature of Uzziah and his reign. In a day when our society wants nothing to do with godly ways we should remember that the Lord is still the holy one, and His glory fills the earth. Glory includes the concept of “weight” or “significance”. The Lord is still the significant one, even in our day!