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 (Isaiah 6:1, New King James Version). This verse shows that:
There is a King called Uzziah
There is a year appointed for him to die. For someone reading this, it may be this year, God helping.
When he dies, you get to see the Lord.
What Is So Special About King Uzziah?
Maybe you had thought that King Uzziah was an enemy that must be removed from your life.
That is so, but there is also a King Uzziah within each of us.
Whenever you lean on your own understanding, you are displaying your King Uzziah.
Who Was The Original King Uzziah? He was one of the most successful kings in Judah. He became king at age 16 and reigned a good long time – 52 years. Read about him in 2 Chronicles 26 when you have some time. Like you, he loved and sought the Lord. As long as he sought the Lord, God made him prosper (2 Chronicles 26:5).He was great and famous; personally, politically, militarily, financially, in all ways. God helped him until he became strong (2 Chronicles 26:15). Nevertheless, his life ended in failure.
What Brought Failure? But when he was strong his heart was lifted up, to his destruction, for he transgressed against the Lord his God by entering the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense (2 Chronicles 26:16). King Uzziah wanted to teach God how God was to be worshiped, burning incense to God, which was not for him to do. Look at the first half of that verse again, But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up. A lifting up of the heart is always followed by downfall, even as Satan, also known as Lucifer, discovered. For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation. On the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High (Is 14:13-14).
Another person whose heart was similarly lifted up was King Nebuchadnezzer; he said in Daniel 4:30 Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for a royal dwelling by my mighty power and for the honor of my majesty? These three all have something in common – pride, self-importance. His heart was lifted up and King Uzziah started to think he was wiser than God, to do what God had not commanded, to offer his own form of worship, rather than the one God ordained.
Whenever God helps us to become strong, there is the danger that our hearts will be lifted up. Because we now have wealth and power, we stop trusting God and start to lean on our understanding. We start to think: “I know God; I know what He would like and although I cannot find chapter and verse, I know God would like that. So I am going to do it.” Uzziah thought he was wiser than God. So, great though he was, Uzzaih died a leper.
Contrast that with King David, So David inquired of the Lord, saying, “Shall I pursue this troop? Shall I overtake them?” And He answered him, “Pursue, for you shall surely overtake them and without fail recover all (1 Samuel 30:8). Although the King was experienced in war, he did not presume on God’s favor. He checked with God before going out to war.
When King Uzziah (self-importance) dies in our lives, like prophet Isaiah, we can see God clearly.
Just Why Do We Need To See God?
So that we can become champions; This is how Jesus puts it, Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner (John 5:19). Jesus recognizes God as His coach. Any sportsman who cannot see what his coach is doing is not likely to become a champion.
So that we will behold His Goodness; unless you see the Lord, you will not know that He is good. Psalm 34:8 says Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good.
We will see His awesomeness: Job had been hearing pastors preach but one day he saw God. Then all his pride, his self-importance ended. He knew the majesty of God, leading him to repent in dust and ashes, I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, But now my eye sees You. Therefore I abhor myself, And repent in dust and ashes (Job 42:5-6).
So that we will experience His Holiness; once Isaiah saw God in His holiness, he could only declare, Woe is me, for I am a man of unclean lips, (Is 6:5).
And this unveiling of God's Holiness marked Isaiah's anointing for embarking upon his ministry, And He said, “Go, and tell this people: ‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; Keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’ (Is 6:9). And what a ministry it was! Isaiah had more prophecies about the Messiah than any other prophet before or since.
How Is God When You See Him?
High and lifted up, His train fills the Temple
He is seated in heaven, with the earth as His footstool.
He is far above anything that can bother you, Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come (Eph 1:20-21).
May we receive the grace for humility, to always check with God, so that nothing will blur our vision of God, High and Lifted Up. Amen.