TOPIC:“The Value of a Life-Changing Vision”
by Rev. Dr. Reg Dunlap
TEXT:Isaiah 6:1-8
“I saw also the Lord” (Isaiah 6:1)
Isaiah, the greatest of all the Old Testament prophets, had a ministry that spanned the reigns of five Kings of Judah. The vision Isaiah beheld in the Bible verses before us became an amazing dynamic to the ministry of this ancient prophet of God and divinely motivated him for the next fifty years.
This life-changing vision Isaiah received is without doubt the most profound and productive in all of the Old Testament as it faithfully and graphically pictures a revelation that is threefold: A vision of a divine Sovereign, a vision of a desperate servant, and a vision of a dedicated service. Let us now consider the value of this life-changing vision both to Isaiah and to us as well.
I.
Think, to begin with, that Isaiah had a life-changing vision of the DIVINE SOVEREIGN. Notice his words in verse 1: “I saw the Lord.” Uzziah has a glorious reign as King of Judah. There had been no King like Uzziah since the days of Solomon. Fifty years of royalty. He was a mighty monarch and now he was dead. But in the removal of this earthly king whom Isaiah loved he received a vision of the King of Kings. Oh that each one of us could have a fresh vision of Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, the faithful One, reigning from His Throne.
Let me now briefly mention some of the magnificent features of the majestic God that were unveiled to Isaiah and left an everlasting impression upon him. There are six in number, I believe, that stand out in Isaiah's revelation of God. Consider what he saw.
Isaiah saw the ETERNALNESS of God. Notice his words in verse 1: “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord.” Where Uzziah is dead God lives. In the 90th Psalm verse 2 Moses declared: “From everlasting to everlasting, Thou art God.” The New Living Translation renders those words: “You are God, without beginning or end.” He was the living God when this universe came into existence and He will continue to be living twenty trillion ages from now and more. He always was and He always will be. This God that Isaiah saw is eternal.
Isaiah saw the AUTHORATIVENESS of God. He continues to describe his vision of God: “I saw the Lord sitting upon a Throne” (v. 1). God sits on a Throne and has absolute control over the universe and all human beings. It is within His right to rule over us, to command what we are to do, and to punish for violations. God is totally in control of all . . .