The vision of God through our prophetic eyes
Job Anbalagan
Let us perceive the vision of God through the prophetic eyes of Isaiah in verses 1 to 8 of the chapter 6 of Isaiah.
Isaiah said that He saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up with His train filling the Temple in the year that king Uzziah died. His vision of the throne of the Lord followed the death of Uzziah. Uzziah (Azariah) was one of the kings in Israel. He began to reign in Israel when he was 16 years old. He did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father Amaziah had done. But the high places were not removed during his reign with the result that the people of God sacrificed and burnt incense still on these high places. The Lord judged him and smote the king so that he was a leper unto the day of his death. (2 Kings 15:1-5). Prophetically speaking, there is a religious system in our midst wherein there is a reign of Christian leaders and ministers in the Body of Christ. They do wonderful works in the Name of Christ and thus do which is right in the sight of the Lord. But they do not remove the high places that they have inherited from their spiritual leaders or spiritual fathers who had mentored them in the Word. These high places continue to remain even today. Many denominational churches have been taking birth every century since the birth of the Body of Christ on the day of Pentecost. The men-made traditions of the Roman Catholic Church that had crept into the Church were not removed completely when the great transformation through Martin Luther had taken place.
The Levitical priesthood is still entrenched in the Body of Christ with the result that the people of God are tempted to sacrifice in these high places. Christ Jesus is the Lamb of God sacrificed by God on the Altar of Calvary. He was sacrificed so that the children of God could become the priests. The priesthood was passed on to those who have accepted the sacrificial Lamb of God. Once the curtain in the Temple of God was rendered in twain when Jesus died on the Cross, those who accept the sacrificial Lamb of God become the priests of God beholding the glory of God. There should not be any high place in the Temple. But the religious system likened to the reign of Uzziah has left such high places in the Kingdom of God. Those who call themselves pastors or ministers of God do covet the sacrifices of these children of God who are themselves priests in the sight of the Lord. The Mammon of unrighteousness is the greatest idol in these high places. Jeremiah cries that the people of God have committed two evils. They have forsaken the Christ of the gospels, the fountain of living waters and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water (Jer: 2:13). The false teachers and the false prophets to suit the customs and traditions of men have hewed many cisterns out of the Word of God. They give a message palatable to the sheep under their care, throwing to wind the words of Jesus Christ. Their messages do not bring about conviction of sin, a revelation of the righteousness of God and His judgment. They simply give a message of peace saying that we can live in the same manner as the children of the world live in this world because of the grace.
Today the children of God are not able to see the Lord sitting upon the throne of the Lord high and lifted up because the Uzziahs are standing in the way of these children of God beholding the glory of God. Instead, the children of God behold the glory of men in place of the glory of God.
If the Uzziah is dead in your life, you can also behold the Lord sitting upon the throne.
If you behold the Lord on the throne high and lifted up, you will find the kingdom of the devil, the earthly and political kingdoms, the religious kingdoms, the economic kingdoms, seated below the Lord’s throne. The devil or any ruler in this world cannot touch you because you are seated with Christ in the heavenly places. Today you cannot behold the Lord’s throne high and lifted up above the devil’s kingdom because you want an earthly mediator between you and the Lord. You always seek the prayers of these mediators or intercessors for you. You do not use the God given authority against the devil but seek the intervention of your pastor or any other evangelist to cast out the demons. Please note that the devil and his kingdom have already been stripped of their powers.
You need not do anything to remove the Uzziah in your life. The Uzziahs stand already judged by God. God smote Uzziah and he became a leper.
Seraphims
Above the throne of the Lord the Seraphims stood. The Seraphims are angelic beings without any names. They are not known by their names unlike their counterparts like Gabriel, etc. who are ministering angels for the children of God. Lucifer who had a name had since fallen from the heavenly places. Prophetically speaking, those people of God likened to the Seraphims are seated above the throne of the Lord. What a great privilege for those who die to their fame or popularity in the Christian world and serve God like the Seraphims!
The Seraphims convey great truths. Each Seraphim had six wings. With two wings, he covers his face. In God’s holy presence, he does not want to reveal his face to the world outside. He does not want his face to be manifested as he is seated in the heavenly places. Secondly, he covers his feet with two wings. The feet represent the evangelical ministry of a saint. No saint should glory in his ministry, save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Thirdly, he flies with two wings. He does not stay on the ground the moment he finishes his evangelical work. He immediately disappears after preaching the gospel and baptizing the Ethiopian like the evangelist Philip in the 8thchapter of Acts. No saint should find himself/herself entangled in the affairs of this world. The children of this world should see the exalted saint in the heavenly places. What happens today? The servants of the Most High are found seeking favors of the earthly rulers or the businessmen for their heavenly ministries. The Seraphims are expressive of the divine holiness, which demands that the sinner shall have access to the divine presence only through a sacrifice, which really vindicates the righteousness of God (Rom.3: 24-26). Only through the Blood of the Cross, we partake of the holiness of God. No man can take a sinner to the Throne of God except the Lamb of God. A sinner cannot save himself by repeating a prayer. He has to look unto the Lamb of God, the crucified Christ, and to repent of his sins before approaching the Throne of the Lord. A complete and total transformation of the sinner takes place at the Altar with the result that the sinner makes a restitution of what he had coveted from his neighbor or a restitution of his strained relations with others.
The Seraphims cried unto one another and said, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of His glory”. The Seraphims convey a very simple message revealing God to the fallen human race. The Seraphims do not convey different messages to this world. We find the Seraphims as a single unit here. Today we find a plethora of prophecies in the Name of Jesus Christ, a host of television programmes, a host of seminars and revival meetings. All these tools convey different messages, different revelations but do not convey the message of holiness of God and of His glory. The word “holy” is repeated thrice to show the holiness of the triune God. The Law and the Prophets reveal the holiness of God under the Old Covenant whereas the gospels reveal the holiness of the same God under the New Covenant. In Christ Jesus, we have the revelation of the Lord of hosts. The book of Revelation reveals the Lord of hosts in the Lamb of God. There is not a space in this earth that is not filled with the glory of the Lord of hosts. If you know this truth, the truth will set you free. Today we confess that the devil is present wherever we go and that he places hindrances on our paths. Why cannot we proclaim the truth, “The whole earth is full of the Lord’s glory”?
We need not drive away the devil from the places we tread on. We have to just confess through our mouths that this whole earth is full of God’s glory. There is no glory of the devil or the glory of any powerful ruler in this earth. Holiness and omnipresence of the Lord of hosts manifests His power. If you have the revelation of His holiness through the Seraphims today, you will never hesitate to forsake any unholy alliance in this world. Be holy as the Lord is holy. We cannot separate the holiness from the omnipresence because both these traits are interwoven and intertwined in God. Holiness emanates from righteousness. Sin emanates from unrighteousness. Anything that is unrighteous is sinful (1 John 5:17). We do not need any moral code to tell us what unrighteousness is. A child of God redeemed through the Blood of the Lamb knows what is unrighteous because God has written the Law on his/her heart.
The posts of the door moved at the voice of the Seraphim that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. If the true revival has to take place today in our midst, we need to listen to the voice of the Seraphim about the holiness and omnipresence of the Lord of hosts.
Today, we do not find the House of God filled with smoke. God’s glory is missing but man’s glory is there. In many churches, the children of God shout at the top of their voices, “The Lord’s presence is here.” They live under a great deception today because their lives are not holy and are not different from the lives of the children of the world. You cannot bring about the Lord’s presence by shouting “Hallelujah”.
Effect of the vision
Prophet Isaiah who had prophesied on the birth, life, ministry, death and resurrection of the Messiah wails here after seeing the vision of the Lord’s throne. He points his fingers towards himself and moans, “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 mine yes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts”. He does not say, “Woe unto you!” A child of God who gets the true revelation of God repents in sackcloth and cries out saying, “Woe is me!”
A holy prophet who had prophesied on the holy things cries out looking at his own spiritual condition. You may prophesy in Jesus’ Name but you have to examine your own life in the presence of the holy God. How could a prophet who had prophesied on the whole life of the Messiah call himself a man of unclean lips! Can you and I justify us in the holy presence of God today?
“I am undone”, cries out the prophet in desperation on seeing the majesty of the Lord on the throne. The prophet trembles in the holy presence of God, fearing His judgment. Today we argue through our unclean lips in His presence justifying our unjust and unrighteous acts, quoting some Scriptures, knowing well that our acts are unrighteous and unjust. We have no fear of God. God cannot tolerate iniquity and sin in our lives. Our lips become unclean when we commit iniquity and sin.
The prophet says that he dwells in the midst of a people of unclean lips. The prophet prophesies to the people of God. But God perceives his company with His chosen people as nothing but dwelling in the midst of a people of unclean lips. Today the lives of the chosen people of God are no different from the children of the world except for their church attendance. We can recognize the Christians in our midst because they go to churches on Sundays. A people of unclean lips! This is the testimony of God concerning His chosen people. In our life-style, we follow the actors and actresses of the Hollywood in divorcing our spouses and then in remarrying other persons. Christian mothers kill the babes in their wombs. Christian parents allow their unmarried children to enjoy pre-marital sex. But on Sundays we make debuts in our churches and worship God through our unclean lips. God abhors our hypocrisies.
Do we see the holy Lord of hosts enthroned in our churches on Sundays as we worship Him? Do we have the prophetic vision of Isaiah when we come to His presence on Sundays?
Let us not say, “The Lord’s presence is here. I see the glory of God”. If we dare to invoke His presence in our midst, we should be prepared to face Him who is a consuming fire. Grace does not mean that we can enter His holy presence with our unclean lips. Every one of us should cry out, “I am undone…for mine yes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts” We are made worthy to enter His holy presence only through the sacrifice of the Lamb of God.
Ministry of the Seraphim
One of the Seraphims flew towards the prophet, having a life coal in his hand, that he had taken with the tongs from off the altar. Then he laid it upon the mouth of the prophet and said, “Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged”The Seraphims are angelic beings constantly dwelling above the Lord’s throne. They are in God’s presence while ministering. One of them now ministers to the great prophet. A nameless Seraphim ministers prophetically to a popular prophet! Today we are not able to perceive the saints of God in our midst who are like this Seraphim ministering to the popular ministers of God.
You can minister as a Seraphim even to any "great" minister of God in the Kingdom of Christ if you do not covet God's glory hiding your face and your feet. If you are always in God's presence, you can carry a life coal with the tongs from the God's altar and touch the lips of any minister of God for convicting him or her of the secret sins. You become a prophet of God to that servant of God.
This incident reveals another great truth to us. It is not a long message that brings about conviction of sin in the hearts of the people. The Seraphim from the presence of God goes to the altar and takes a live coal in his hand. Under the New Covenant, we have the only Altar on which the Lamb of God was sacrificed for the whole world. The live coal is the Holy Spirit that emanates from this Altar. Today, we can find many deceiving spirits that imitate the Holy Spirit in working of miracles. But they do not emanate from the Calvary but from the different men-made altars. There are many churches in our midst that present “another Jesus” and not the Jesus of the gospels. This “another Jesus” is confined to the four walls of their churches. This “another Jesus” is confined to the stage performance of the popular evangelist concerned. God sent a great revival in India through John Hyde, a Presbyterian minister from America, known as Praying Hyde of India during the early 20th century. In a convention held in Sialkot, Punjab state, John Hyde spent much time in prayers for the convention. He did not deliver a long sermon during the convention. When he uttered the words, “Oh, Heavenly Father” (in Urdu language, meaning “Aa Hasmanih Bagh”) before delivering his message, the Holy Spirit swept the meeting and people repented confessing their sins. The secret is that John Hyde brought the live coal from the Altar of Calvary. He did not present “another” Jesus to the people.
Today we are not able to win multitudes for Christ because we do not preach the Christ crucified but “another Jesus” whom we create through our churches and ministries.
Prophet Isaiah is a prophetic sign to us. The gospel messages we hear today do not transform the lives of the multitudes who throng our gospel crusades or who hear the gospel messages through the television channels. Though we present wonderful stories and illustrations, yet the multitudes return home empty-handed because the live coal from the altar has not touched their lips. Oh, my dearly beloved, let us escape this great deception. Let us return to the old paths. Let us return to the Altar of Calvary and bring the live coal from there to minister to the multitudes.
The multitudes hear our wonderful messages but their iniquity is not taken away and their sin not purged. They just receive some miracles or healings in their bodies. But their lives do not get transformed. They feel elated and emotionally happy but their inner men are not born again.
The great commission
After the cleansing fire through the Seraphim, the prophet now hears the voice of the Lord, saying, whom shall I send and who will go for us?” Then the prophet says, “Here am I; send me"
Many people want to serve in God’s vineyard without being sanctified through the live coal of the Seraphim. It is the Lord who sanctifies and puts us in His ministry. Everyone is called to serve in His vineyard. But the lips need to be touched through the Holy Spirit that comes from the Altar of Calvary before going to His vineyard. Your life needs to be transformed completely through the Holy Spirit that comes from the Calvary. You should have the experience of Paul in identifying yourself with the crucified Christ. “I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me…” (Gal.2: 20). If you are hearing His call today, then you have to simply say, “Here am I; send me”. You should be prepared to go to any part of this world to serve Him. You have no choice to make. It is His ministry. It is His vineyard. You have to do that particular assignment for which that you are ordained of Him and you should not build your own kingdom through His Name. Amen.