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The prophet Isaiah is one of the heroes of the faith of the Old Testament whom everyone knows his name but few know the intimate details of his life. As we will see, there is a reason for that, but let me fill in some of the details of this man whose name we all know.

Isaiah was born to a rich family in Jerusalem with royal ties. His early years of work were spent in service as advisor and court official to the King of Judah, King Uzziah. Sensitivity to God was a trait of the home of Isaiah and his wife is referred to in scripture as a "prophetess" (Isaiah 8:3) His two kids, probably got preached to a lot! His education and writing ability are evident as the book of Isaiah is extremely well written and is 66 chapters long! From his book, we can tell that Isaiah was a steadfast, loyal follower of God who was emotional and passionate about Jehovah God.

Isaiah lived in a time when Israel had turned away from God and was in danger of being taken into captivity by a foreign land. While the prophet Hosea was preaching in the north, Isaiah was preaching in the south and so the situation was similar with many of the people going into idolatry which God would not tolerate. Despite his royal upbringing and lifestyle, Isaiah dressed similar to Elijah and John the Baptist in a rough, hairy, coarse sackcloth which was the national symbol of repentance (Isaiah 20:2). Before he opened his mouth, the people could tell what the main message of Isaiah would be by his outward dress. And "Repent" he preached, although almost universally, his message was rejected. Despite this, Isaiah was faithful to God until the end. Tradition says that he was killed by the evil king Manasseh by being taken outside the city under an old mulberry tree and sawed in half while still alive. The writer of Hebrews, in the New Testament, seems to allude to this when it refers to some of the heroes of the faith who were "sawn asunder" (Hebrews 11:37). Isaiah was, in all meanings of the word, one of the heroes of faith, and therefore someone to study and copy their lifestyle.

Because he was a great hero of faith and example to us, we could preach from anything in Isaiah's life that we've just mentioned, but I want to talk to you about the one event that forever changed Isaiah's life and ministry that we read about in our text. I'm talking about Isaiah chapter 6, the one event in his life that affected everything that was to come. It was a day that afterwards, Isaiah was never the same again. It was the day that Isaiah got a clearer view of God's Glory.

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Some have said that chapter 6 was Isaiah's prophetic call; his call to the ministry, so to speak. But a quick scan of the book reveals that Isaiah was already prophesying throughout the first five chapters. Isaiah was already hearing from God. He was already serving God. He was faithful to God while serving King Uzziah. And he had done all of these things for some reason and so undoubtedly he had been called of God to be a prophet before this time.

But then -- while Isaiah was serving God faithfully -- came the day that forever changed his life. First, the king whom he was serving, King Uzziah, died leaving Isaiah in a position of not knowing what to do next. Then as he was praying for direction, Isaiah was given a vision into the throne room of God. There he saw a throne, and a figure sitting on it whom he knew was "the Lord." The scripture says that "his train filled the temple" indicating that the long flowing robes of the ultimate "Majesty" swirled around the throne until they filled every bit of the floor in the majestic throne room of heaven. It has been said that kings of old would celebrate their victories by adding to their royal "train" or robe a piece of exquisite cloth, and so it would seem that Isaiah was witnessing the King of Kings, the Mighty One whose victories in battle far outweigh the glories of the kings of the earth, so much so that His "victory train" filled every available space through the room!

In the vision, Isaiah saw six-winged angels hovering above the train. With two of the wings, they covered their faces indicating that they too, could not completely behold the glory of Almighty God. Another two wings were used to keep them suspended in the air around the throne, and the remaining two wings covered their feet, an ancient sign of respect before authority indicating that they submitted to this Mighty One before them. These seraphims cried to each other with great emotion and passion, "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of His glory" in alternating fashion. One side would cry "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts" to which the seraphims on the other side would join together and cry back "the whole earth is full of His glory." As a result of their thunderous praise, the beams of the room shook as with a great earthquake and smoke filled the room as if to answer the angel's cry about the omnipresence of God's glory. It's no wonder that this vision forever changed Isaiah's life, because what he describes here is too wonderful so that you get the impression that the words that he is writing is not doing justice to the scene that he witnessed.

When Isaiah saw this tremendous scene with all of the glory of God and the train and the angels and the smoke, he cried out "woe is me, for I am undone." In modern English, he was basically saying "Oh no, I'm going to die." Isaiah knew of the scripture that told that no man could see the glory of God and live. He knew of the story of Moses desiring to see God's glory and God having to cover his eyes and then only reveal a part of His glory to Moses lest Moses die. As he stared at this magnificent vision, his first thought, "I'm going to die" was followed by the next thought: "I'm a sinner and I live in a land full of sinners!"

And as he is pondering such thoughts, an angel swoops to an altar that is standing to one side of the throne and that is glowing with red-hot coals and with some tongs that were there, the angel picked up one of the coals and touched it to Isaiah's lips and told him "your sin is gone and has been purged!" And then God began to call Isaiah to a higher level of commitment. God asks the angels "who shall go for us?" and Isaiah answered "here am I, Lord, send me." God then told the prophet that he would prophesy and preach the message of God and yet the people would not hear him and most of them would not receive him. And so Isaiah continued to prophesy but with a fresh anointing and a changed viewpoint.

This vision of God and experience of God forever changed Isaiah's life. You can read the entire book and see references back to it throughout the work. He lived with this vision of God in mind. Despite almost never having someone receive his message and respond positively to what he had to say, Isaiah was faithful to the end and kept preaching. How? Because he had received a clearer view of God's glory and so a higher calling governed his life. Understand that Isaiah was not lost before this experience. He had participated in the annual Day of Atonement and had blood applied to his sin already. To use modern terms, before this experience, he was saved, living for God, faithful, and even a preacher, but yet this experience catapulted him into a new level and a new anointing. And this experience was no unique to Isaiah, because we find similar experiences in the lives of Moses, Ezekiel, Peter, James, John, James the brother of Jesus, and the Apostle Paul. In their course of living for God all had to have an experience where they received a "clearer view of God's glory." They had to have an experience that went beyond salvation that inundated their lives with a holy call and a purpose above just living and dying.

I'm preaching to people tonight that have been bought with the blood of Jesus and have had that blood applied to your life through the waters of baptism. You have the Holy Ghost and thus a special anointing on your life. You are living for God and many of you have been used to tell somebody about Jesus and His Word. And yet there are some frustrations and some things in your life that you are struggling with. There are some things that still weight you down and are keeping you from fulfilling your God-given role in this church and in His kingdom. There are still some things that you are inhibited by and that it seems that you can't overcome and that you still struggle at times to have the liberty that you need to make it and to walk "by faith" in every area. Like Isaiah, some of you have reached a stage in your life where you need direction and some clear cut instruction. Like Isaiah, you seem to be meeting resistance in every area that you strive to grow in God.

But I have the answer for you today! There is a higher calling and a greater level of God that He is calling the members of this church into. You need the same experience that Isaiah had in Isaiah chapter 6. You need to experience a clearer view of God's glory! You need to get a fresh look at who He really is! You need a life changing, impacting, supernatural encounter with God Almighty! You need a view into His throne room. You need a glance into His presence. When you get God in His proper place and a revelation of who He really is and how great He really is then everything, including your purpose and direction, will fall into place.

I might add that in our other text, the gospel of John quotes Isaiah chapter 6 and says that just as it was prophesied that most of the people of his day would not receive his message, so would most of the people in Jesus' time not receive His message. But in verse 41, John makes a tremendous statement:

Referring to the experience Isaiah had and quoting from it, John says that Isaiah saw "Jesus' glory" and spake of "Jesus!" How can that be when Isaiah saw A throne and a manifestation of Jehovah God upon it? Most of you already know the answer. That Jehovah God whose glory that Isaiah got a glimpse of in our text, was the SAME God who would come in flesh and die for your sins and mine! Therefore Jesus is Jehovah God and it is proper to say that Isaiah saw Jesus when he saw a manifestation of Jehovah God! You and I know that Jesus is Jehovah God.

What all of this means is that what we need is a clearer view of Jesus' glory! Someone needs to get a fresh image of Jesus Christ as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Someone needs to have another supernatural encounter with Jesus tonight! It will be a life-changing experience! It will be something that will forever alter the way you live for Him! God is calling you tonight to a clearer view of His glory! And we need such a view change in our lives!

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"That's great preacher, I want a fresh and clearer view of the glory and majesty of God, but how do I get it?" I'm glad you asked. You get it the same way that Isaiah received it. You will experience it in much the same way as the vision of that prophet from old. Learning from our text, let me attempt to preach you into a clearer view of Jesus' glory!

It wasn't until King Uzziah, whom Isaiah served faithfully, died that he was able to get a glimpse into God's throne room. It was almost like God was telling him "you've served this earthly king, but now I want you to serve me, the Heavenly King, with that same fervor and passion." The timing of the vision was no coincidence and so we learn the most potent point that some Christians never learn: to have a clearer vision of God's glory, first the fleshly king to which I am subject to must die.

I'm not preaching to sinners, I'm preaching to saints. It's possible to be full of the Holy Ghost and baptized in the name of Jesus and yet serve and faithfully attend to an earthly king. I sound like a broken record, but I'm going to keep preaching it until some of us change some things: if the job, family, entertainment, or anything has more priority in your life than church, prayer, winning a soul, and the things of God in your life, then you are serving an earthly king that is not Jesus Christ. You will also never be able to have a clearer view of His Glory, because He will not share His Glory with another. If you must make an excuse as to why something else is priority, then you have identified your Uzziah.

I did a little study on King Uzziah. He did some good things during his lifetime. He kept the water system running good and trade and commerce going. He maintained the kingdom well and defended it against invaders. To live under Uzziah was to have a peaceful existence and raise your family and go about your pursuits with little worry and so Uzziah was a popular king in that the quality of life was good during his reign. But Uzziah's downside was that he was not the most spiritual person that ever reigned. He wasn't really passionate or "on fire" for God. He knew nothing about personal sacrifice and did not desire such a relationship with God.

King Uzziah died because he decided that there was nothing to this "called of God" thing with men of God in his life. After all he was king, right, so he should be able to go into the temple as well as any priest and offer incense before God. With the priests of God begging him not to do this, Uzziah entered into the temple with pride wanting to be a "deified" God and offered incense to God despite not being a priest. God struck him with leprosy and he lived his last days in a separate house all alone outside the city before the leprosy finally claimed his life. He died at odds with God.

The fleshly king in our lives that says "take your ease and live your life and as long as everything's alright at work and in your family and peaceful there is no need to get too excited about God and really all of that stuff isn't all that important," that king has to die in our lives if we are to get a clearer view of the throne room of God. The king of flesh that says "I don't need a man of God in my life after all I'm capable of doing everything that they do for me" and decides to be your own pastor and your own spiritual authority must die in our lives if we are to see Jesus for whom He really is. Our vision of Him begins when the fleshly king dies within! God is calling this church to a higher calling and vision but first Uzziah must go!

When I first got married I loved my wife and I told her so, but I didn't really know her. I told her that I loved her and showed her affection because of the goosebumps and sweet "love" feelings that came when we were together. I loved her just as much as she loved me, but we were still in the infatuation stage. I loved her as much as I could of what I knew of her. But now we are celebrating our seven year anniversary in just a few weeks and I still tell her I love her, but now it's more than just puppy love. We've had a few spats. We've gone through some hard times. We've buried each other's loved ones. We've had to face some things. Now when I buy her flowers or put my arms around her it means more to both of us because now it's not just for the "lovey feelings" but there is some substance to the relationship and know I'm starting to know her fully.

When you come to God, worship and praise should come as a natural byproduct of your new relationship with God. It should come forth spontaneously. Usually people who have just received the Holy Ghost and had their sins washed away in the waters of baptism usually are "gung-ho" about praising God because they have something recently that God has done for which to praise Him for. But the human tendency is after a while the newness wears off and the praise and the worship begins to calm down and the fire of passion starts to dwindle. They can go a service or two or more without touching Him and it doesn't bother them anymore. They're no longer passionate for His presence. Why is that? Because some people never get past the initial stage of praising God for "what He's done for me lately." And so if there is no "goose bumps" or great miracle this week, their praise dwindles. To put it into the language of Isaiah's vision, they only praise God for the train of His victories in their life.

But the seraphims -- catch this, now -- the seraphims worshipped "above" the train of God. They were not just worshipping Him for the victories that He had won or what He had done for them, but they cried "Holy, Holy, Holy." They were worshipping God for His perfect ness, His Holiness, for who He is and not just what He's done! They worshipped Him continually because they realized that He is worthy! Their level of worship got beyond just celebration of the actions of God and got into the relationship level. And it was partly this view of a "higher level of worship" that caused Isaiah to cry out "I'm a man of unclean lips and among a people that are the same way." In other words he was saying, "I've just been praising God for what He's done for me, but I've now witnessed a higher level of worship!"

You need to praise God for what He's done. When He has moved miraculously in your life you need to share your testimony and be thankful. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that; I'm not preaching against attitudes of gratitude. But your praise should not be dependent upon just whether or not God has done something for you lately! We need to get to a higher level of worship where we praise Him because He is worthy! Where we praise Him because He is Holy. Where we praise Him because of who He is and because of our revelation of Him! If you know who Jesus Christ is and understand what He's done for you, then even on a bad day or a week where it seems that you can't feel Him, you can still praise Him because you know that He's still on the throne and He's great. How many times does He bless us and keep us and protect us and work things out and we never notice or it's not obvious to us!? And even on the bad days, He's still worthy and He's still in control. Isaiah needed a higher level of worship and so do we. We need to get to where we are able to offer heart-felt thanksgiving in the good times and the bad. But you can only get do that when you stop praising Him just for what it seems that He's done for you lately and you begin to praise Him for who He is!

And by the way, if you need a little help in this area, then remember that "His train fills the temple." God has won so many victories and done so much for us that if He never blessed us again, He'd still be worthy to be praised for what He's done! If you never received another blessing, you could still say "His train fills my temple!" There is not a person under the sound of my voice, no matter what the spiritual level, that has an excuse not to praise and worship God!

And when you begin to praise God on the higher level of worshipping Him for who He really is, then notice in the vision what happens: The posts of the doors shook and smoke filled the room. Literally, the foundations to the entrances into the presence of God were affected by the higher level of worship, and when the doors were shaken then God's Spirit began to move in a visible manifestation in the "Shekina cloud" of the Old Testament. If you want doors to open for you in the Spirit, then get a revelation of worshipping God for who He really is and not just what He's done. If you want to see God's Spirit moving in the temple of your body and know that God is actively working in your life, get this revelation of higher praise! With it comes a fresh glimpse of God's glory and an open door in the Spirit! I'm preaching about what it takes to get a clearer view of His glory!

When Isaiah realized that he had seen God's glory in a clearer way, he knew what the scripture had said and he immediately states "woe is me." God had told Moses:

There would be some that would say "well, Isaiah saw the glory of God and didn't die." But that's not true: he did die. Not physically but there were things that died that day in Isaiah's life. There was a dependence on himself that died that day. There was a perceived purpose for his life that died that day. There were priorities that changed that day. There were goals and dreams that died that day to be replaced by God's goals and dreams for his life. There was personal glory that died that day. God said "I will not share my glory with another" and so when Isaiah's desire for personal glory died, then God's glory could take over in his life. Not only had his fleshly king died, but Isaiah became a dead man to his will and paths that contradicted God's will. In that sense, Isaiah became a dead man.

Is this not what Paul talked about? He wrote years later:

When did this death happen Paul? At the time that he got a fresh and clearer view of God's glory. "Who art thou Lord" he asked and the answer came back "I am Jesus whom thou persecutest." Much of that Pharisee's dreams died that day. All of his personal agenda died that day. He later would write:

What do you mean Paul? "Everyday I go back to that revelation of Jesus Christ that forever changed my life." Paul never lived a day without being affected by that vision. Isaiah didn't either. Both learned tremendous insight into the will of God not only for them but for the entire nation. Why? Because they were walking dead men. They got a revelation of God's glory that was so clear that everything else faded in view of it. How can you not get discouraged, Isaiah, preaching for forty years, not having one person respond positively to your message and yet you stay faithful? The answer is simple: "dead men don't get discouraged." When I get discouraged is when I view things through my flesh and through my understanding and I get my eyes off of Him. If you want the cure for discouragement, then it is to get such a clear view of God's glory that your flesh dies in submission to Him! How could you combat people out to hurt you and even other preachers that had personal agendas against you, Paul and not get offended and quit? The answer is simple: "dead men don't get offended and quit!" How could the humanity of Jesus Christ that didn't want to die any more than your flesh would have like the cross not respond to the humiliation, the shame, and the taunting and even pray a prayer of forgiveness? That's easy. Even though his flesh didn't actually breathe it's last breath until on the cross, Jesus' human will had died back in the Garden of Gethsemane when He cried "nevertheless not my will but thine be done." Dead men don't retaliate. Dead men don't take matters in their own hands. Dead men don't sin. Therefore dead men are the perfect medium for God's glory to shine through! We need to get a revelation of God's glory so that we will die out to some things!

There's a reason that most of don't know the personal life details of Isaiah, because his book majors on a revelation of Jesus Christ and is not in any way self promoting! But most of us know Isaiah 7:14 which foretold that the Messiah would be born of a virgin. Most of us know Isaiah 9:6 which foretold the identity of this child that would be born as "the Mighty God" and "the Everlasting Father." Isaiah is known as the "Messianic Prophet" because he foretold so much of the life of Jesus Christ. That experience forever changed Isaiah to the point that his own history is completely intermingled and overshadowed by Jesus and Calvary!

We need to die out until our lives are overshadowed by Jesus! Isaiah was changed to the point that he was forever known as the "man who knew about Jesus Christ!"

Finally, to get a clearer view of His Glory:

Isaiah's response was the natural human response to those who truly get a revelation of God's greatness and worth: "I am unclean and so are all those around me." He was really just giving an excuse. Isaiah had been faithful to God's plan for his time and had participated in the Day of Atonement and had the blood of the sacrifice remit his sins for the year, so why would he need this experience here? In the Hebrew, the word for "sin" here is singular as in referring to "one" sin. His sin was his excuse. He was a blood-washed child of this king whom he was viewing and yet was giving excuses as to why he couldn't do everything that God wanted him to do. That was, he was giving excuses until his lips were touched by a coal from the altar of heaven!

Never underestimate the value and power of an altar in your life. The altar is your friend and your ally. It is a place where God can change you into what you need to be in His kingdom. It is a sin for a Christian that has been washed with the purest, cleansing blood of Jesus Christ to constantly give excuses as to why you can't be used of God. What you need is to be touched by a red hot altar, and not just go through the motions of praying, but pray until you have been touched by the cleansing power from heaven, and God has removed your excuses! We need to be touched by the coals of the altar of heaven! We don't need an ordinary altar service but one that results from a clearer view of His glory and that brings our life into submission with Him and erases all of our excuses!

And notice the change in Isaiah. Before the coal touched his lips, all he had was excuses but now after the coal has touched him, when God says "who shall we send?" now Isaiah is replying eagerly: "here am I, Lord, send me!" It doesn't matter the task. It doesn't matter the cost. It doesn't matter what you want. Here I am! I'll do it. "Do what, Isaiah, God hasn't even told you what He wants, yet." It doesn't matter, I've got a fresh view of His glory, my fleshly king has died, and I've died out to my own will; God has taken away my excuses in a red hot altar session and now I'm ready to do ANYTHING that God has for me to do. That's the attitude of someone about to experience the powerful hand of God in their life. That's the attitude of someone who has gotten a clearer view of His glory!