What did Isaiah see when King Uzziah died ?
Isaiah 6: 1-8
Isaiah’s Commission
6 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3 And they were calling to one another:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory.”
4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.
5 “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”
8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”
And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”
Background
Ozias-Uzziah.jpg
Isaiah's King of 52 years have died. He was a good king and a very wise king, building the nation to be strong and prosperous. His reign was "the most prosperous excepting that of Jehoshaphat since the time of Solomon." He made one mistake, trying offered sacrifice like a priest. He was struck with leprosy after that. We must know our boundary and our calling. When he disrespected God's law, King Uzziah made that fatal mistake.
During the period of Uzziah’s reign, the nation prospered, and desert areas were reclaimed by water conservation. Jerusalem’s walls were reconstructed, towers were added, and engines of war were mounted at strategic points. A large army was also maintained. The nation’s prosperity under Uzziah was considered to have been a result of the king’s fidelity to Yahweh.
According to the biblical record, Uzziah’s strength caused him to become proud, which led to his destruction. He attempted to burn incense in the Temple, an act restricted to priests. When the priests attempted to send him from the Temple, the king became angry and was immediately stricken with leprosy. His son Jotham ruled for his father until Uzziah died.
King Uzziah ruled Judah from the age of 16 years old, after he had leprosy, his son took over the throne but he remained as king until he died. The whole nation mourned the loss a great king, they were all lost without him, including Isaiah. Perhaps before the king died, Isaiah was also over dependent on the power of King Uzziah until he did not realise Jehovah was the greatest King over them.
At turning point in history, God will show Himself to the people He wants to call. In the pivotal time of change, God opened to Isaiah's eyes to see who is the real king. All along Isaiah could only see one king in his life, now his eyes opened.
What did Isaiah see -
1) Death - King Uzziah was a great king, revered, honoured, worshiped and he was dead, no one to look up to as king
2) Splendour of God
3) Reverence of God
4) God sitting in His Throne
5) Majestic Train of God's robe hanging from His throne covering the entire temple!
6) Angelic Beings worshiping God
7) Holiness of God
8) Glorious appearance of God
Here is a sermon on the same verse :-
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/when-king-uzziah-died-joel-sumagaysay-sermon-on-god-s-holiness-106136?page=1&wc=800
Malaysia Year of Prayer 2020
3 Things to achieve for every Christian who commits to pray:-
1) We grow in consistency in our prayer life.
2) At 12 noon, everyone pause to pray.
3) Pray for 5 people to come to know the Lord.
Declaration through prayers is important just like what happened in the 1969 Apollo 11 Mission, when they broadcasted first time from space to earth with the largest audience tuning in, the astronauts decided to recite Genesis Chapter 1.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_8_Genesis_reading
William Anders
We are now approaching lunar sunrise, and for all the people back on Earth, the crew of Apollo 8 has a message that we would like to send to you.
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
James Lovell
And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.
And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.
And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.
Frank Borman
And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.
And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called the Seas: and God saw that it was good.
And from the crew of Apollo 8, we close with good night, good luck, a Merry Christmas – and God bless all of you, all of you on the good Earth.
They dared to declare the Word of God over the whole earth and yet when they returned to earth, NASA faced a lawsuit over this reading of Genesis Chapter 1.
Lawsuit
Madalyn Murray O'Hair, founder of American Atheists, responded by suing the United States government, alleging violations of the First Amendment. The suit was filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas. It was submitted to a three-judge panel, which concluded that the case was not a three-judge matter, and dismissed the case for failure to state a cause of action. The direct appeal to the Supreme Court was dismissed for lack of jurisdiction. Another appeal was heard before the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which affirmed the trial court's dismissal per curiam. The Supreme Court declined to review the case.
Later, on the 1969 Apollo 11 mission, Buzz Aldrin took Communion on the lunar surface shortly after landing, using bread and wine he brought from his home church congregation. When he tried to speak to the flight crew operations manager and get the permission to broadcast his singular celebration of the Holy Communion service, he was answered with "keep your comments more general". Hence, over the radio he merely asked his listeners to pause and reflect on the events of the last few hours, and give thanks in their own way. He then read the specifically Christian scripture, John 15:5, off-air. However, after the Apollo team was reunited and heading back to earth, Aldrin read aloud a second scripture that was scrawled on the same notecard but of a more universally human reference from the Old Testament, Psalm 8:3–4, "When I considered the heavens, the work of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars which Thou hast ordained, what is man that Thou art mindful of him." This reading was broadcast live to the entire earth just as was the Genesis 1 reading so objectionable to O'Hair, and was depicted in the 1969 documentary, Footprints on the Moon: Apollo 11 (beginning at 1:28:32), but stimulated no further antitheistic legal action.
- From Wikipedia
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