Behind the Curtain

Media > Advent > Behind the Curtain

November 28, 2021

Isaiah is given a backstage pass to see the throne of God, and it terrifies him. He realises he is in trouble, but God intervenes to fix his problem and promises that he will come himself in the future.

Tim Suffield

Listen

View Main Site

Isaiah 6 (Listen)

Isaiah’s Vision of the Lord

6:1 In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train1 of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said:

  “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts;
  the whole earth is full of his glory!”2

And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for 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!”

Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”

Isaiah’s Commission from the Lord

And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” And he said, “Go, and say to this people:

  “‘Keep on hearing,3 but do not understand;
  keep on seeing,4 but do not perceive.’
10   Make the heart of this people dull,5
    and their ears heavy,
    and blind their eyes;
  lest they see with their eyes,
    and hear with their ears,
  and understand with their hearts,
    and turn and be healed.”
11   Then I said, “How long, O Lord?”
  And he said:
  “Until cities lie waste
    without inhabitant,
  and houses without people,
    and the land is a desolate waste,
12   and the LORD removes people far away,
    and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.
13   And though a tenth remain in it,
    it will be burned6 again,
  like a terebinth or an oak,
    whose stump remains
    when it is felled.”
  The holy seed7 is its stump.

Footnotes

[1] 6:1 Or hem
[2] 6:3 Or may his glory fill the whole earth
[3] 6:9 Or Hear indeed
[4] 6:9 Or see indeed
[5] 6:10 Hebrew fat
[6] 6:13 Or purged
[7] 6:13 Or offspring

(ESV)

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Text provided by the Crossway Bibles Web Service.

Visit us

If you’d like to visit us the best way to start is by joining us on a Sunday at 10:30, at Harborne Academy.

This is a newly refurbished school and there is plenty of parking available.

If you’d like to get in touch, visit us or if you’ve got any questions about our church then we’d love to hear from you.

07528 924420
hello@kingschurchbirmingham.org

King's Church Birmingham was planted by & has an ongoing relationship with Grace Church Nottingham and is a member of the Evangelical Alliance.