vi. 1-5. _In the year that King Uzziah died I saw, &c._[1]
+I. Earthly powers fade and perish, but the Eternal Power that uses
them all lives on+ (ver. 1). Comfort here, when a great king or
statesman is taken away from the head of a nation; when a great
leader of an arduous reformatory movement, such as Luther, is laid
low; when an eloquent preacher or wise pastor is summoned to his
rest; or even when the head of a household is cut off just when his
family most need his care. He who has wrought by their
instrumentality can work without it (Ps. lxviii. 5, &c.) +II. In
God's temples there is room only for God.+ "His train filled the
Temple." Ahaz could build in the courts of the Lord's house an altar
to the god of Damascus (2 Kings xvi. 10-16), but he could not worship
two gods there, for the only living and true God departed when His
sanctuary was thus profaned. God will have all, or none (Isa.
xlii. 8). All His earthly temples must be counterparts of the one
heavenly temple, where He reigns alone. In no church will God divide
His empire with the State or with popular opinion: we _must_ choose
between Him and all other authorities. In no heart will He reign
along with any other principle or passion (Matt. vi. 24). +III. Until
we reach the land where there is no temple, we cannot see God as He
is.+[2] To Isaiah a vision of God was granted, and yet it was but a
symbolic vision. He saw a throne, and on it seated a Being of
indescribable majesty; but who imagines that he saw God as He is?
Does God sit on a throne, after the fashion of kings such as Uzziah,
who fade and die? The vision was a condescension to the human
faculties of the seer, and served its purpose, that of impressing
upon him the majesty and holiness of the Most High. And he tells us
more of the ministers who surround the throne than of its Occupant!
Him no words can describe; of Him no absolute disclosure is now
possible; He can but give us revelations--visions--administrations of
Himself. And this He has done. 1. _In nature._ The purpose of the
manifold and wondrous universe is not accomplished if we look only at
the creation, and do not discern in it veils not thickly hiding, but
helping to reveal the Creator (Rom. i. 19, 20).[3] 2. _In
Providence._ The manner in which the world is governed is, to the man
who studies it comprehensively, earnestly, and reverently, a
revelation of the character of the Ruler. 3. _In His Word._ That man
miserably mistakes, who studies the Bible as anything less than a
many-sided disclosure of God. 4. _In Christ:_[4] a familiar thought
this, yet how seldom do we enter into its depths! We do not worship
an unknown God, yet we cannot see Him as He is until we have entered
into that light which is inaccessible and which no mortal can
approach unto, until we have been ourselves transformed into
"children of light," and so rendered capable of looking on "the
Father of lights." +IV. Those to whom He reveals Himself most fully
are most humble, and those whom He most exalts are most ready to
serve.+ We have both these truths illustrated in the seraphim and in
Isaiah.