THE KING’S BUSINESS
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“Holy One of Israel.” A certain school of critics would have us believe that Isaiah did not write the latter chapters of the book of Isaiah. They tell us that they were written by some unknown prophet whom they choose to call “Deutero-Isa- i a h n o t that they mean that this was "really his name, but he is a sort of second Isaiah and so they manufactured this name to call him by. But we find in these lat ter chapters which the critics refuse to believe were by Isaiah, this same name for Jehovah, the “Holy One of Israel,” and this is one of the many proofs that the theories of this school of critics are utterly untenable and that the last division of Isaiah as well as the first was written by Isaiah. The thrice-repeated “holy” is one of the many hints in the Old Testa ment of the Trinity in the unity of the Godhead. It was the great “Jehovah of Hosts,” God three in one, whom Isaiah saw. In the first verse of the chapter all this is said to have occurred when “Isaiah saw the Lord." In John 12:41 we are told that it occurred when Isaiah saw the glory of Jesus and spoke of Him. In Acts 28:25 the speaker in verses 9 and 10 is said to have been the Holy Ghost. Putting all these facts together it is evident Isaiah saw the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Another thing that we see in this verse is that the seraphim as well as Isaiah were occupied with the glory of the Triune God (cf. Isa. 40:5; Num. 14:21; Ps. 72:19). “The whole earth is full of His glory;” “His glory shines from sun to star” (cf. Ps. 19:1). His glory is seen in every flower and blade of grass, in the dust of the butterfly’s wing, in the minutest forms of being that are discernible by the most powerful microscope; the whole earth is full of it. There is. a glad day coming when His glory shall be more clearly manifested and more universally recognized than now (Hab. 2:14). v. 4. "And the posts of the door ( foun dations■of the thresholds were ) moved at the voice of Him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke." The vision of
Jehovah was overwhelming, even the building itself shook at the voice of the speaker and the house was filled with smoke in token of the awfulness of Jeho vah’s visible presence. v. 5. ; "Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King the LORD of Hosts.” The first step in Isaiah’s preparation was that He got a view of the Lord, the second step was that he got a view of himself. There is no place to get a true vision of one’s self except in the presence of God (Job 42:5, 6; John 10:6-8; Luke 5:8; Rev. 1:17). -A man may think highly* of him self till he comes to meet God, but face to face with the Holy One, the purest man sees himself as utterly vile. Not until a man thus sees himself as he really is, as he is revealed in the presence of God Himself, is a man fit for service. Isaiah was doubtless one of the holiest men of his day, but when he came to See himself in the presence of God, he cried out, “I am a man of unclean lips.” (Not only that, he recognizes that his dwelling is “in the midst of a people of unclean lips.” The reason he cries thus is because his eyes had seen the King, the Lord of Hosts, and seeing God he saw men in their true char acter and at their real worth. The one who entertains high opinions of men, never has seen God, and especially the one who entertains a high opinion of himself, has never seen God (cf. Job 42:5, 6). 1 vs. 6,. 7. "Then flew one of the Sera phims ( seraphim ) unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar; and he laid it upon ( touched ) my mouth, and said, Lo; this hath touched thy lips; and thine ini quity is taken away, and thy sin purged." The first step in Isaiah’s preparation was that he got a view of the Lord, the second step was that he got a view of himself, and here we have the third step, he was cleansed from sin. God can make the vilest clean, but it is only after He has
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