Over the next several Lords' table services, we're going to be in this chapter. I think this chapter is very familiar to most of us. If you've been in church for any length of time, you've probably heard preaching in this chapter. I think most of the concentration of that preaching is later on in the chapter concerning the voice of the Lord saying, who will go for us? And Isaiah says, behold, here am I, send me. that that's really been the point that most preaching has come to, and yet I'm not sure that that is really the main point that Isaiah is trying to get across to us. And so, I want to spend the next several Lord's Day reminding us of a very important truth, and that simple truth is this, that the Holy One of Israel is King. I think in these days and in our nation, I think that in America, especially American Christianity, has forgotten that there is a government over governments. And I think we've forgotten that our citizenship is in heaven. And I definitely think that we have come to think wrongly and falsely that God's government is democratic. It's not, he's not taking polls among his people, thank God. He's not asking us how we feel about it. God's kingdom is a monarchy. And he is king of kings and lord of lords. And I think that we need to remind ourselves strongly of this, especially in light of what is beholding us in the days ahead. So let's read, I want to read the first four verses and really I just want to give some introductory thoughts to this chapter and Lord willing in January, January the first at our Lord's table, I hope to really paint a picture of this that will make this come alive to us, perhaps in a way that has not yet occurred. Isaiah chapter 6 and verse 1, In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims, each one had six wings, with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he did fly. And one cried unto another and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory. And the post of the door moved, or was shook, At the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. I think an important thing if you are studying the book of Isaiah, the very first thing that you might be confronted with is the uniqueness of this book. Not only is it the most quoted book in the New Testament, but you have to deal with this singular question, why did Isaiah wait six chapters? before he records this vision of his calling. In all the other prophets, where's the calling? immediately, right up front, and so immediately you are confronted with this fact. I really don't want to answer that question. I'm not sure there's a definitive, explicit answer to that question, but it definitely confronts us right away. I think maybe that might stir your thoughts here just for a few moments as we look at this book. But he does see the Lord. You'll see that in verse 1, in the year that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord. sitting upon a throne high and lifted up and his train filled the temple. And this vision that Isaiah had of the Lord so engraved itself in him that it never left his thoughts. It never really left his mind. It left his thoughts. He calls the Lord the Holy One. 29 times in this book. He keeps reminding the people of Israel. God is the Holy One of Israel. It really becomes, chapter six really becomes a vision that kind of swallows up the whole theme of this book. Who is this Holy One of Israel? And it's interesting as you go through this book, it explicitly makes such statements as this. To that nation, your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel. So this One that is sitting on the throne, this One is the Redeemer of Israel. He says in another place in Isaiah that the Creator of all heaven and earth and the Creator of that nation is the Holy One of Israel. So you begin to see who this personage is there in this book. He not only says that, and Isaiah records that the Holy One of Israel is your Savior. These are very, very explicit terminology. It's not something that you really have to meditate on and gleam out of the book. It's just written there in black and white right before you. He's the Redeemer, amen? He's the Savior. He's the Lord. He's the Holy One. He's the King. He's the Most High. He is the Lord of Heaven and Earth. In fact, you know, Or I might bring it back to your mind that one of the things that the New Testament writers bring out is that in order to be saved, you have to know who Jesus is. In Mark chapter 1 verse 24, the demon cries out, I know who you are. The Holy One of God. Did you hear my emphasis? Here's Isaiah 29 times. The Holy One of Israel. The demon cries out. He's looking at this human being, God incarnate. He says, I know who you are. You're the Holy One. Again, a reference back where? Isaiah chapter 6. And John would write in his gospel, in John chapter 6, when every disciple had left him. And Jesus turns to the twelve. He says, are you going to leave too? And Peter stands up and speaks for that group of men and here's what he says. Listen to what he says. We have believed and have come to know that you are the Holy One of God. What's Peter thinking? He's thinking that the Holy One of Israel as recorded by the prophet Isaiah, the One of whom we read in Isaiah 6 and verse 1 that sits on a throne high and lifted up, whose train fills the temple, the One whom the seraphims are flying over, of whom one cries out, Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is filled with His glory. That One took on human flesh. They believe that. I wonder if that question was framed in a poll today of everyone in America that claims to be a Christian, if you would ask them that question, if they even would know enough of the Bible to be able to answer it intelligently. Do you believe that Jesus is the Holy One of Israel? How many of them do you think would make a connection to Isaiah 6? And yet that's what they're saying. And even Peter, on the day of Pentecost, now listen to this, quoted Psalm 16 and verse 10. when it says, you shall not suffer thy holy one to see corruption. Again, referring to the one that sits upon the throne. And so this morning I want us to remember the holy one whose name is Jesus. the Christ, the promised one, the Lord of glory, the one that sits upon a throne. So here are three introductory thoughts for our remembering and transformation here this morning. Number one, the scripture desires for the true Israel of God. to remember that we live and exist under the reign, the universal reign of a sovereign, holy, and here's what I want us to get, king. King. And you'll notice in Isaiah 6 and verse 1, that there's a contrast between two kings. The first king is in Isaiah 6 and verse 1, In the year that king Uzziah died, I saw the Lord. Verses, verse 5, when he says, Woe is me, I am an 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 holy one, the Lord. There's a contrast here between two kings, and this contrast is a contrast between the inadequacies of human government. If you'll recall, if you go back a couple of pages in your Bible, in the book of Isaiah, to Isaiah chapter 1, you'll recall that the ministry of Isaiah extended, Isaiah chapter 1 and verse 1, through the days of Uzziah, Jothan, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Israel. And you'll remember, if not because you've read it, but because naturalness teaches us this, King Uzziah died. Isaiah 6 and verse 1 states that very explicitly, doesn't it? Not only did Uzziah die, but Jothun died. Not only did Uzziah and Jothun die, Ahaz died. And not only did those three kings die, but also who died? Hezekiah died. And this is in direct contrast to the king that sits upon the throne of whose eyes Isaiah behold because he never dies. Amen? He is forever and eternal on the throne. He's always been on the throne. He is on the throne when? Right now, He is coming to establish His throne on the earth, and one day His throne and His temple will dwell among men, and there will only be righteousness and holiness, the glory of God, and the knowledge of God will fill the earth transformantly, and there will be such movement and prosperity that you and I could never comprehend. Governments come and go, don't they? Men flourish and then die. They come up like the grass of the field, which one day is and the next day is cast into the oven and burnt, whose flower comes up and it looks so beautiful and quickly fades away. That's the way men are. Our breath is temporal. Our life is temporal. In some cases, when wickedness grabs hold of governments of the world and of the nations, we think, thank God man's governments are temporal. But sometimes, when someone is ruling and reigning that we really like, who we agree with, who seemingly has a materialistic prosperity, we have a tendency to forget the giver. The one who raises up. The one who puts down. And brethren, if there's anybody that should never forget, it should be the church of God. Your neighbors need to know there is a government over all human governments. That is our hope. Amen? Our hope rests with that. They need to see that government functioning in local New Testament churches all throughout our land. It needs to see a people who's willing to confess that the Holy One of Israel is the Lord. His name is Jesus. He's seated on a throne. Stephen looked up upon his death. He says, I see the Lord. He's standing on the throne. He's welcoming me into that heavenly city. Where is the church today who is so enraptured with the sight of unseen things that we're willing to give the realities to people who are crying out? I mean, folks, is the only hope we reach out to people is the Constitution of the United States? What is that compared to the breath of God? The words of God. And so we have this wonderful thing that is going on that in light of all the temporalness that is out there. And you know what? These kings had weaknesses. It's amazing to think that here King Uzziah I don't know if you remember, was he a good king or a bad king? Well, the Bible says that he was a good king, but he had weaknesses. And part of those weaknesses was this. Do you realize that the Bible says, now please hear this, the Bible says that in the latter part of Uzziah's reign, his heart was lifted up. And he decided that being a king wasn't enough for him. He wanted to be a priest. And he went in to the temple of God to make the high priest offering. All the priests of the Lord confronted him. The Bible says they were valiant men. You can imagine. And they said, don't do this. He shoved him out of the way and God judged him with leprosy. He was removed, cut off because of his pride. And folks, do you realize Hezekiah, was he a good king or a bad king? Hezekiah was a good king. And in the last 15 years of his reign, which was a gift from God, the Bible says that Hezekiah did not return to the Lord what was appropriate for that gift that was given to him. And he came and he showed the emissaries of Babylon all the riches and wealth. And Isaiah confronted him. This is what he told him. Listen to what he says. Your heart was lifted up. What's the problem with human kings? Our hearts get what? Lifted up and proud and arrogant before the Lord. And yet here is the Lord of lords whose heart is never arrogant. He is not sinfully prideful as that fallen angel was, of whom we ourselves are so tempted with this sin. Have you ever looked at your pride? Have you ever thought about how prideful you are? Have you ever tried to blast through that barrier called pride? And what you find is that it is a hard, rebellious, steadfast, rooted-in thing in our souls. Thank God for the King of Kings and Lord of Lords that our hope is not among men. This God is the same. His rule is holy. His reign is sovereign. His word is righteous. It's always right, amen? You never have to question it. You never have to have the media in heaven if there is such a thing. You never have to have the media in heaven wonder if it's right. He's the Lord of Lords. And this King, the Holy One of Israel, is the same. Are you hearing me? He's the same. He's the same. There is no shadow of turning. The same King that we read about in Isaiah 6 is the same King today. He's the same across successive generations. across different nationalities, across different cultures and time periods. He's the same. Jesus, remember He's the Holy One of Israel, Jesus Christ, the same. Yesterday, amen? Isaiah 6, Book of Acts, Romans, the same. He's the same today. So-called Christian theologians are saying, we've got to change because these are different days. Well, they're certainly different toys, but man's still the same. God hasn't changed. This book is not outdated. His word has not fallen to the ground. Nations come, nations go, America risen up, America will go one day, but the Lord reigns. And you'll notice in Isaiah 6 and verse 1, he saw the Lord sitting upon a throne. Did you notice this? High and what? Lifted up. Here's another title for God. He's the Most High. What does that mean? You ever thought about what that means? I was typing this in my notes, and I wrote that he's the most high, and my grammar checker flagged it. Bad grammar, told me. I actually thought, didn't say it out loud, but after I saw the computer tell me it was bad grammar, I immediately thought, I'm just writing down what the text says. So I clicked it. It said replace it with this. Highest. I don't think you ought to replace it. I think the most high makes an impression upon the mind and the heart that just saying highest doesn't give. But it does mean he's the highest. And when you think, now listen to this, when you think that back in the days of David, when that temple was still standing, you went into the holy place, you go into the holy of holies, there is the Ark of the Covenant, right? The Bible says that the mercy seat was his footstool. That means where his feet are at. So you think about, here's Israel, and Israel itself, the city of Jerusalem, is on a mountain. There you have the temple. You walk into that material temple and you think to yourself, if you could go into the Holy of Holies, you go into that and you look on the mercy seat and think, I'm looking at His feet. Where's His throne? High! Now where's that? You just go, Isaiah saw the Lord high, lifted up. He's the most high. The Lord wants the true Israel of God, that's us, Jew, Gentile, genuine believers, born again by the grace of God. He wants us to remember this morning, Isaiah, I think, would say, among a lot of other things, that we live and exist under the universal reign of a sovereign, holy King of Kings. Secondly, I think the Scripture desires us, the true Israel of God, to remember But this king is the king of judgment. You don't hear much about this anymore in churches. We're too busy trying to make people feel good. And when you say that he's the king of judgment, it doesn't make us feel good. But I want to remind you in chapter 6, verse 5, it didn't make Isaiah feel good either. Amen? Look at verse 5. What was Isaiah's feeling? What was it? Whoa! Whoa is me! That was the spontaneous outburst of his mouth. The feeling was so strong that it just not bubbled up, it just burst out of him. Why in the world would he say this upon seeing the king high and lifted up, seated upon the throne? Why would he say this? I mean, he should have gotten up like the country song I was listening to last Sunday morning in church that shouldn't have been playing. And the opening song, I don't think there was anything in it that was scriptural. But it was designed to make us feel good about how we're all just going to be dancing in heaven. Folks, I want to let you know something. If you really saw the Lord, He would be high and lifted up. And the feeling that you would have would not be one of ecstasy, but one of woe. Now I want to ask you, when you read those four verses, do you come out of those four verses feeling that woe? Because I'm telling you, if you read the first four verses of Isaiah, and you don't feel what Isaiah felt to some degree and to some measure, you haven't seen what Isaiah saw. You heard it with your what? Your ears, but you didn't see it with the eyes of your understanding. Isaiah saw the king! He saw the king! He saw the king! And his immediate response was his sin was exposed and the judgment came upon him and he said, woe is me, the King James translation, woe is me for I am undone. Let me give it to you in a more literal translation. This is what he said. Hear this. He says, Calamity has fallen upon me. I am cut off and doomed to die because my eyes have seen the Holy One of Israel. Is Isaiah a believer? He is a believer, isn't he? He's a prophet. Brother, I want to remind you that if you're reading through your Bible, and all you do is read the verses, and you just kind of read through it, and there's nothing inherently evil about that, but there's got to be somewhere along the line where you're thinking about these verses, where you're reading what those words are saying, you're hearing how those words are defined, and those words are, as it were, is formulating a picture in your mind so that you end up feeling the response that the scripture says you ought to feel. My wife and I, my wife is reading, she's been reading it for the last year, she's hoping to make it by the end of December 31st. She's been reading David Brainerd, the diary of David Brainerd. And so it's a pretty thick little book. My wife's not exactly the speediest reader, and she's really thinking through this. We were talking in the car, and she says, when's the last time you saw somebody cry in church? Like, tears. I don't mean like cry like a baby. When's the last time that you were moved emotionally because you had the eyes of your understanding opened and you realized with whom you have to do with? When was the last time you read something in your Bible and you felt in your soul, judgment, calamity has fallen upon us. I am doomed to die. And your response was that you're so thankful that the coals of the altar have been applied on your soul through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. that you can stand before this awesome King. And I mean awesome in the right sense of the word. Brother, we have forgotten who Jesus is, haven't we? How can we sit here and read these words and be unmoved? Could it be, could it be that our hearts are fat, that we see but don't perceive, that we hear but don't understand, that our ears are heavy, our eyes are shut? Could it be that the church, professing church of God in America, is numb to what they have in their hands? Isaiah knew this individually. And immediately he saw that, verse 5, he says, I am a man, I am an individual, I am a man of unclean lips, and then immediately he thought about who? The nation that he dwelt with. That would be like you today saying, sitting in church, reading the Bible, and you saying to yourself, woe is me, I'm undone, and our church, I dwell, I'm sitting, we're going to include you, I'm sitting among a people of unclean lips. They're unclean too. The whole nation's under the same judgment he's under. He's doomed to die, they're doomed to die. And brother, I want to remind us that from other portions in the revelation of the Word of God, we do know that our King is benevolent, isn't he? Can we all agree with that? He is benevolent. But we have so preached the benevolency of God that we have made God out of balance. And Proverbs tells us not to have those types of balances. In other words, when we read this passage, what we should be feeling is horror. Not warm and fuzzy. Fear. He is the trice holy king. And brethren, if you don't get that out of Isaiah 6, if that's not where you start, you've missed the whole underlying point of the book and of this chapter. And as I mentioned at the introduction, this was a point that never left Isaiah. He called this one the Holy One of Israel 29 times in this book. Now what was the problem? Why did he feel this way? Well, I want you to go back to Isaiah chapter 1. I just want to show you something here that may help us. The first five chapters of this book are bookended with the same accusation. Look in Isaiah chapter 1 and verse 4. Ah, sinful nation! A people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corruptors. They have forsaken the Lord. They have provoked. This Hebrew word means to despise. They have despised who? The Holy One of Israel unto anger, and they have gone backward. Everybody see that? I mean, right away he confronts that unclean nation with this truth. Now go to chapter 5 and go towards the end of that chapter. I'm going to make an obvious statement. Chapter 5 is right before chapter 6. Verse 24, Therefore as the fire devours the stubble, and the flame consumes the chaff, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust, because they have cast away the law of the Lord of hosts, and despise... There's the same Hebrew word. Despise the word of who? The Holy One of Israel. So in the first five chapters, you've got this accusation that they have despised God. Bookend. Now what does it mean to despise God? Let me just give you a few instances. Well, in Psalm 10 and verse 13, God accuses the nation of despising Him because they thought they could walk in wickedness and God would not judge it. Now think about today. How many of us think that we can sin and God will not visit it? What do you think? You think our professing Christian nation here? How many of them are standing in fear because God is going to visit the sins of this nation? What do people think? God has forgotten. They're despising the Holy One of Israel. In Proverbs 1.30 and Proverbs 15 and verse 5, they rejected the Lord's chastisements. They rejected the Lord's reproofs. They rejected and would not go to Him for counsel. And the Bible says they despised Him. They treated holy things as common. 1 Samuel 2, 17. They walked in injustice. They walked in their idolatries. They walked in their greed and their covetousness. And the Bible says in chapter 2 and verse 10, just look back and look at chapter 2 and verse 10. He says, enter into the rock, hide you in the dust for the fear of the Lord and for the glory of His majesty. The lofty looks of men shall be humbled and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down." What's the problem with that nation? They're prideful. And remember, why did King Uzziah err in his latter reign? Pride. Why did King Uzziah, Hezekiah, why did he err in his last 15 years? Because of what? Pride. And the people were prideful. And folks, I want to remind you, God has vowed, He has vowed His holy name that He will destroy all human pride. That's why in Isaiah 6 he's called, high. Lift it up. Folks, this was the sin of Satan. I get so upset every time I'm watching a football game and they talk about, oh, he just needs more self-confidence. I'm thinking, no he doesn't! God's gonna destroy it! What do you tell the guy? We need more trust in the Holy One of Israel. Not self-trust. God's going to destroy it. And how high has America exalted itself? We had a candidate who said, I'm going to make America great again. Oh, what pride! Every time I read it, I shook. He's provoking the Holy One of Israel. He's provoking the Lord Jesus. Thirdly, the Scripture desires for the true Israel of God to remember that this King is Christ Jesus the Lord. We read this in John chapter 12 for our Scripture reading. When this passage is quoted in Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, It's referred to in other books by the word or phrase, holy one. When we read about that, and then John writes, when Isaiah saw the king, the holy one of Israel, he spoke. He was speaking of the man, Christ Jesus. Jesus of Nazareth, the incarnate Son of God, is the King that Isaiah saw on that throne. And to think that that King, as it were, stepped down from that throne of glory take on human dust, to be lowered, to become a baby in an earthly mother's womb. We sang about that, didn't we? to subject himself to be a servant of all, to wash sinful men's feet, to allow sinful men to handle himself, to beat him, to put a thorn of crowns on his head, to place him on a cross, to drive nails through his hands and feet, to allow him to suffer the cruelest of death. This king, Isaiah 6, is the one who did that. of whom this table is the symbol. This table was instituted by the Holy One, the one Isaiah saw. The one who judges the earth The one whose judgment is among the candlesticks, Revelation 2 and 3 tells us. The one whose judgment is in every nation. The one whose judgment rests upon every individual upon this globe. The one who lay aside the royal robes of splendor. The one who came from hearing the splendor of angelic declaration. to become lower than the angels. The Most High became lower than the angels to be our Redeemer. You know, when Isaiah saw this, it never left him. Brethren, this is the problem today. There are thousands of people out there who sit in churches that have never seen the King. Let me read to you a section from David Brainer's diary. This is an amazing thing. You know, you can sit in church and hear and be blind, or you can sit in church and hear and be in the light of what you're reading. Outwardly, you can't tell, right? David Brainerd writes, he was a missionary among the Indians, in case you're not familiar with him. And he was a single man. He ended up dying of tuberculosis. And he died in Jonathan Edwards' own home. His daughter, Jonathan Edwards' daughter, took care of him. Jerusha took care of him until the day he died. And Jonathan Edwards took his diaries and compiled them. And then Jonathan Edwards wrote a biography of this man that he considered very much a spiritual superior to himself. But he wrote, this is February the 9th, I didn't put down what year, but Brainerd writes, while we were singing, this was a group of Indians, while we were singing, there was one who I venture to say, if I may be allowed to say so much, of any person I ever saw was filled with joy unspeakable and full of glory and could not but burst into prayer and praises to God before us all with many tears. crying, sometimes in English and sometimes in Indian. Can you imagine the scene? Here's what she was saying. Oh, blessed Lord, do come, do come. Oh, do take me away. Let me die and go to Jesus. I'm afraid if I live, I would sin again. Oh, let me die now. Oh, dear Jesus, do come. I can't stay. I can't stay. How can I live in this world? Take my soul from this sinful place. Don't let me sin anymore. And when's the last time you heard that in church? Instead, we walk the aisle chewing gum. I profess Christ. Brainerd writes, in this ecstasy she continued for some time uttering these and such like expressions incessantly, and the grand argument she used with God was to take her away immediately because if she lived she should sin and she doesn't want to what? She doesn't want to sin. So Brainerd writes, when she had recovered herself a little bit, I asked her if Christ was not now sweet to her soul. whereupon turning to me with tears in her eyes, with all signs of deep humility I'd ever saw in any person, this is what she said, quote, she said, I have many times heard you speak of the goodness and sweetness of Christ, that He was better than all the world, but oh, I knew nothing what you meant. I never believed you, I never believed you, but now I know it's true. That's a difference, isn't it? I answered. And do you see enough in Christ for the greatest of sinners? She replied, Oh, enough, enough, enough for all the sinners in the world if they would but come. And when I asked her if she could not tell them of the goodness of Christ, she turned around to the fellow Indians that were there, to some poor Christless souls who stood nearby. She said, There is enough Christ for you. Oh, but if you would come, strive, strive to give your hearts up to him. And she just went on. And I'm thinking to myself, when's the last time you heard that? And she kept repeating her formal expressions and she went into the same ecstasy of joy and desire of the coming of Christ. And she just kept saying, Oh dear Lord, do let me go. What am I going to do? What am I going to do? I want to go to you. I want to go to you now, but I can't. I got to live. Oh, let me die. She was just one, you know, perplexed being. And David Brainerd writes, if you're ready for this, she continued in this sweet frame for more than two hours before she was able to go home. I think she saw the Holy One of Israel. Don't you? Now here's our question. Have you seen Him? I'm not asking if you've heard of Him. I'm asking if you've seen Him. I don't mean with your physical eyes. I don't mean in a vision. I mean has the eyes of your what? Your understanding been opened so that your understanding, your beholding, your embracing, your desiring, He is sweet to your soul. Because that's what this table is about. Let's bow our head and close our eyes as our men come to prepare this table and read our covenant.