Isaiah's Vision

"In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs, 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." At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty." Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, "See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for." Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!" (Isaiah 6: 1-8 NIV)

This passage of scripture could easily be titled - "Isaiah's three-fold vision." It was one vision but it had three parts. Jesus referred to this vision of Isaiah, saying it was a time when he "saw the glory of Jehovah" and spake of Christ. (John 12: 41)

The first thing that Isaiah "saw" in his "vision" was the face of God, or the "glory" of God. Next he "sees" himself as he is in the eyes of God and of his law. Finally, he "sees" his duty and obligation to God, his "vision" of "service."

This three step visionary process is also operative in the regeneration and rebirth of sinners, in their coming to be saved and converted by the gospel and Spirit of God. The first thing to happen in the conversion experience of sinners is that they receive a vision of the Lord Jesus Christ, coming to see him as he is, as the Son of God and Savior of the world.

"And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day." (John 6: 40 KJV)

"For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." (II Corinthians 4: 5, 6 KJV)

"O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?" (Galatians 3: 1 KJV)

These verses demonstrate that the salvation and conversion experience involves a person coming to "see" certain things as true about Christ. Such a person is given vision of him, and of his glory and perfections, and of his suitability to save them. They see his "face" by faith and with the "eyes" of their "understanding."

"Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls." (I Peter 1: 8, 9 KJV)

Salvation is not in beholding the bodily appearance of Christ for many saw him with their physical eyes who never saw him with their spiritual eyes, nor recognized nor believed in who he was really.

"And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do." (Acts 9: 3-6 KJV)

Saul, the great persecutor of the church, and who later became a great apostle in the church, was saved and converted in this three-fold manner. Notice how he is first given vision of the risen Christ. Then he sees himself as a sinner, one who was guilty of murdering the saints. Finally, he sees his vision of duty, for he cries out to the Lord and asks - "what will you have me to do?"

Jesus gives him a commission to go preach the gospel "to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me." (Acts 26: 18 KJV)

Now that HIS eyes have been opened to see Christ in his true person, and to see himself as lost without Christ, and as saved only for his sake, and to see his duty to Christ, he is sent forth to be an instrument in bringing others to experience this same visionary experience of salvation.

"When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity, thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth: surely every man is vanity. Selah." (Psalm 39: 11 KJV)

"O Lord, rebuke me not in thy wrath: neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure. For thine arrows stick fast in me, and thy hand presseth me sore. There is no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger; neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sin. For mine iniquities are gone over mine head: as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me. My wounds stink and are corrupt because of my foolishness. I am troubled; I am bowed down greatly; I go mourning all the day long. For my loins are filled with a loathsome disease: and there is no soundness in my flesh. I am feeble and sore broken: I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart." (Psalm 38: 1-8 KJV)

"I acknowledge my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah. For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found: surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him. Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah." (Psalm 32: 5 KJV)

These verses describe the same experience in salvation that Isaiah experienced. No one can "see" the Lord and not at the same time see themselves as wholly corrupt and unworthy before him. A man under deep conviction for his sins has had some kind of vision of Christ, has seen him crucified and risen, has seen him as Savior and Lord, and such a vision and revelation produces deep godly sorrow and repentance that leads to faith.

A person who claims or thinks that he has truly SEEN Christ and yet who does not see himself as a wretched filthy sinner in the sight of God, and who does not see his duty to God, is mistaken, for he has not truly seen the Lord. Jesus connected "seeing" the Son of God with "believing" on him.

Friend, have you seen Christ for who he truly is? Have you seen yourself as the filthy sinner you are in his sight? Have you seen how salvation is in him by simply believing in him and trusting in his atoning death on the cross? Have you seen your duty to him?