“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times” (Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities)
“People are God’s method. The church is looking for better methods. God is looking for better people” (E.M. Bounds, The Power of Prayer).
Part 1 – Vision
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. 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. And they were calling to one another:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”
– Isaiah 6:1-3
What is the source of one of the world’s greatest rivers – the Amazon? It is an interesting study. That mighty river’s headwaters are many but while “streams and tributaries coalesce from many directions” a cliffside spring atop Nevado Mismi volcano high in the Peruvian Andes forms the farthest source of its uninterrupted flow to the Atlantic thousands of miles away.[1]
Without headwaters there would be no Amazon or any of the great rivers that benefit all of creation. What is the high source from which God’s mission and the Christian movement we call the “church” flow? With that question in mind, I want to take us to Isaiah’s vision recorded in chapter 6 of his prophecy.
The context of the vision is important. “In the year that King Uzziah died,” the prophet tells us, “I saw Adonai” (the Lord). The vision that Isaiah saw occurred at the time of Uzziah, king of Judah’s death. Uzziah was for most of his life a successful leader who was faithful to God. But, later in life he overstepped his authority, contracted leprosy and spent his final years living in isolation with his son Jotham as his regent. And under Uzziah’s leadership, the people still turned away from God.[2] When he died there was a need to reorient God’s ancient people’s compass toward “true north.” “Who is king anyway?” was a question that everyone would have been asking.
This question has implications for us as God’s people today, particularly in America where I live. As I drive down the street, I see a presidential candidate’s name displayed on the same sign as Jesus’ name, but the candidate’s name gets top billing. I see an American flag with a cross embossed on the field of stars, smaller than the rest of the flag. What does this say about us as Christians? Who is really our king? Isaiah was allowed to see through the veil to the real answer. “My eyes have seen the King,” Isaiah exclaims. “The Lord (Yahweh) almighty!” I believe that what Isaiah saw was the pre-incarnate son of God (c.f. John 12:41).
The call of Isaiah, starting with his vision of the Lord, is being held up as a model for us who may have lost our connection to the true source of God’s mission and therefore have become weak as a church. Whenever God’s people prostitute themselves to some other god or some other leader other than Jesus, they step out of the mighty river of the Christian movement into a brackish backwater. Only the vision of the true King will keep us in the flow of God’s Holy Spirit, free from worldly power mongers or nationalistic egotism. Let us keep our eyes and hearts set on the One whose glory fills the whole earth! Let’s listen to Jesus and do what he says.
Next: “Awe – the missing sense in the church’s ministry.”
[1]“The flying rivers”, National Geographic, (Vol. 246, Nr. 04, October 2014), 33.
[2]Read Isaiah chapters 1-5.
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