Macland Baptist Church

Morning Worship

25 Apr

Series: “Visions of Heaven”

“A VISION OF THE HEAVENLY THRONE”
Isaiah 6:1-8

Sunday Morning
April 25, 2010
Macland Baptist Church
Dr. Richard Walker

Something that many are somewhat hesitant to talk about in the Baptist church are visions they believe have come from God. Perhaps we have become so natural in our thinking that we forget we worship and serve a supernatural God. That supernatural God can still use a variety of means to communicate to His people. Of course, His primary means of communication is through His Word. Some believe it is the only way, but I believe God can and does communicate to us through the Holy Spirit in prayer as the Spirit give us comfort and direction. God can communicate through circumstances, as painful as they can sometimes be. God can communicate through those He has chosen to proclaim His truth. If I did not feel led of God to preach the truth of His gospel and to preach what He has led me to preach, I would not be fit to fill any pulpit in America, especially this one. The Bible also makes it clear that God can and will communicate through dreams and vision. In fact, there is a promise in Scripture that God will use this method of communication in a special way in the last days. The second chapter of Acts records Peter quoting Joel on the Day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came in the form of cloven tongues of fire upon the church,

“But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: ‘And it shall come to pass in the last
days, says God, that I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh: and your sons and your
daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, you old men shall dream
dreams…’” (Acts 2:16-17)

God revealing Himself, His ways, His future, and His glory through visions and dreams is seen in both the Old and the New Testament. This was especially true when God chose to reveal His glory as God and the glory of His heavenly abode. Whatever we know about heaven, we know because God has given us a glimpse, a partial vision of what it is like. I say partial, because heaven is so glorious, our minds in our fallen and limited state cannot every fully grasp the glory that will one day be our heavenly home. This morning, I want to begin a series of sermons that will focus on the occasions that God chose through dreams and visions to reveal the glory of heaven to His chosen servants. I feel lead to preach this series of messages because, in these last days when the glory of men and what men can achieve begins to fade and fail, we need to keep our eyes on the things of God, on the hope we have of a home in heaven. The title of my sermon series is, “Visions of Heaven.” The title of my message this morning is, “A Vision of the Heavenly Throne.”

1. A VISION OF THE MAJESTY OF GOD – Isaiah was given a vision of God in great majesty, sitting upon a glorious throne. This vision was intended to instill awe, fear, and submission to the one who is Sovereign Ruler over all His creation.

Verse 1 – “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple.”

2. A VISION OF THE WORSHIP OF GOD – Isaiah was given a vision of a special group of angelic host – the seraphim – leading heaven in the worship and praise of God. Surely this is an example, a pattern, that we all should follow.

Verses 2-3 – “Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one cried to another and said: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!’”

3. A VISION OF THE HOLINESS OF GOD – Isaiah was given a vision of the holiness of God and immediately became aware of his own sinful state and his unworthiness to stand before God’s throne.

Verses 4-5 – “And the posts of the door where shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke. So I 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 my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.”

4. A VISION OF THE GRACE OF GOD – In response to His cry of unworthiness, Isaiah is given a vision of God’s grace through the action of one of the seraphim in “taking away” his iniquity and “purging” his sin.

Verses 6-7 – “Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth with it, and said: ‘Behold, this has touched your lips; your iniquity is taken away, and your sin purged.’”

Quotation from The Expositor’s Study Bible – “The living coal from off the Altar of Burnt Offering, symbolizing the fire of the Wrath of God and the Blood of the Lamb of God, when brought in contact with his ‘unclean lips,’ removed his iniquity and expiated his sin. The ‘Altar’ represented Calvary, to which sinful man [must] be exposed before he can be cleansed and saved. The essence of true conviction is a deep overwhelming concern over what I am, not so much what I have done or not done. It is more important what a man is than what he has done, and man is a sinner. Genuine moral cleansing must be carried out in the heart of the sinner in order to saved, and that must be accomplished by Faith in the shed blood of Christ, of which this was a symbol. [Rom. 3:24-25; Heb. 9:22; 1 Peter 1:18-23; 1 Jn. 1:7-9]” (The Expositor’s Study Bible, Jimmy Swaggart Ministries, 2005, p. 1110-1111.)

5. A VISION OF MISSION OF GOD – After the guilt of his sin is purged, Isaiah is given a vision of the call to mission, and volunteers to be the one sent. Again, this should set an example for all of us to follow. We are saved to serve. We are saved to minister. We are saved to witness and to preach.

Verse 8 – “Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?’ Then I said, ‘Here am I! Send me.’”