October, 1939
TH E K I N G ’S B U S I N E S S
374
The Vindication of the Righteousness Of God "The Vision of the Glory" By JAMES R. GRAHAM, Jr. Philadelphia, Pa. G OD wondrously revealed His righteousness in making the cross of Christ the basis of for
Illustrations by Ransom D. Marvin prophetic ministry extended from the last year of the reign of Uzziah (circa B. C. 740) through practically the whole of the reign of Hezekiah who died in B. C. 699. Persistent tradition has it that Isaiah died a martyr’s death dur ing the reaction to idolatry under Man- asseh, Justin Martyr upbraids the Jews with having “sawed asunder with a wooden saw” the prophet Isaiah. It is believed that the vision of Isaiah 6 was the prophet’s inaugural vision, and after the first five chapters of his book recapitulates his own spiritual ex perience. Having pronounced “woes” upon his people for their sins, he goes back and tells of the day when he first pronounced the “woe” upon him self. God forbid that we should ever presume to pronounce woes on others or to warn them of ap proaching judgment until we have faced squarely the proposition that we are hell-deserving sinners our selves and would be the just vic tims of divine Wrath but for the abounding grace of God in Christ Isaiah was just such a young man as many another through all the ages including our own. His modem counterpart is the young man or woman who is a regular churchgoer and Sunday-school at tendant and is “active” in every part of the church’s program and as a result is extremely well pleased with himself or ’herself. There is one drawback about it all. With all his religiousness, Isaiah had never had a vision of the glory of God, and in the pres ence of that radiant holiness had never seen himself as a lost silkier, had never cried aloud to God for mercy, and had never received the divine as surance of forgiveness and cleansing. Many of the churches of our day are attended by charming young folks—at tractive, lovable, but—unsaved. When Men Saw the Glory of God As Isaiah went into the temple that day, the Lord Jehovah graciously gave him a vision of the glory, the preincar nate glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.
There is no doubt about whose glory he beheld, because the Apostle John makes it very plain in chapter 12 of his Gos pel. After he has been telling of the words and miracles of Jesus, John then makes one quotation from Isaiah 53 and next quotes from chapter 6. He goes on to summarize: “These things said Esaias, when he saw his glory, and spake of him” ! (v. 41). It was the Man on the throne of glory that Ezekiel saw and. that caused him to fall upon his face (Ezek. 1:26, 28). It was the Man that Daniel saw, the beauty of whose holiness caused that great and godly man to declare, “My comeliness was turned in me into corruption,” and
giveness for sin, as seen in Romans 3. He further shows His righteousness in providing for the proclamation of His Word. What Is the central and pri mary purpose of God’s commission to His earthly representatives? This ques tion brings us to an important aspect of His righteousness. A careful perusal of Isaiah 6:9, 10; 'Jeremiah 1:9, 10, 17, 18, and Ezekiel 3:4-12 will prepare our hearts and minds for this study. We will find that Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel were definitely and directly commissioned by the living God to be His representatives and am bassadors. There is no mistake about that. They were in no sense messen gers who ran without being sent, and yet the Lord does not hold out any hopes to them of visible success in their ministry. It is interesting to note that the rather strange commission that was de livered to Isaiah is quoted in all four of the Gospels (Matt. 13:13-15; Mk. 4:12; Lk. 8-10; John 12:39-41)- and also in the Book of Acts (28:25-28). Christ is recorded in each of the Gospels as having quoted it; and in the last chap ter of Acts, Paul quoted this same Old Testament p a s s a g e at considerable length. Isaiah 6 is referred to frequently and often is preached from, and the quota tion “Here am I; send me” is very fam iliar. Yet the content and implication of the commission that follows Isaiah’s full surrender is sadly neglected. Let us note briefly order of events recorded in the chapter. Isaiah is a re ligious young Jew, probably between twenty and thirty years of age. His [The author of this article is a mis sionary, evangelist and Bible teacher, and has ministered the Word exten sively in America the last three years. He planned to join the faculty of Wheaton College as special lecturer in Bible in September, but hopes to return to Qhina within a year .-— E ditor .]
to turn his face toward the ground (Dan. 10:5-9). The beloved disciple John had lain upon the very bosom of the Son of God in the days of His flesh while He was divested temporarily of the lineaments of His heavenly glory, but when on Pat- mos he beheld the glorified Christ (practically the same vision which Dan iel had seen over six hundred years be fore), he fell at His feet as dead (Rev. 1:12-17). The great Apostle Paul be held the glory of the same Christ,
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