The Sunday this sermon was preached at Merry Oaks we saw a miracle of love in our church family. There was a need that we had earlier seen no way clear to remedy. We agreed to trust God to provide. In our evening service we were praparing for our next week's bank deposit. There was an unexpected amount that was discovered which equaled the required amount needed to provide for our church family. We were triumphant because we allowed God...
Triumphant
Isaiah 6:1 “aIn the year that king bUzziah died cI saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and ||his train filled the temple.” [1]
I. Lost
A. Hope
B. Help
II. Lord
A. Honor
B. Honesty
III. Lifted
A. Holy
B. Hope
Introduction: Many, probably most who are alive today have no recollection of November 22, 1963. Parts of that day are not clear in my mind either but other parts of that day are as clear as if they happened today. John F. Kennedy was assassinated that day in Dallas Texas.
We were back in the house in Takoma Park Maryland outside of Washington preparing the old house for sale. My brother was there. For a time we would stay with him until things were settled so that we could finally move here.
My parents weren’t noticeably shaken by the news of the assassination at least in my recollection. I was devastated! My brother Jack was somewhat cynical. We were all very concerned but each had different reactions.
A thirteen year old boy who had two heroes of his life there with him expected my big brother and my dad to think about loss of our president in the same way that I thought about it. Besides we had spent my formative years living in the nation’s capital. Instead my twenty-five year old brother, who was eligible for the draft and had a family of his own; Jack took the news much differently. Jack had different ideas because he had a different perspective than mine.
John Kennedy earlier in his presidency decided to attempt a coup against Castro to eject the communist regime out from Cuba. The Bay of Pigs turned out to be a disaster and people died. Castro stayed in power with more resolve to defeat the Americans. The Cuban missile crisis was one of the results. Jack was draft ready if the nation so desired to draft him.
My dad was a long time Democrat but he was confused as to why the Kennedy family was so against Castro. He knew that the Kennedy family made their fortune during the prohibition of alcohol in this country. Cuba was a place where liquor flowed freely and the casinos were raking in money; American money. Daddy was once a hard drinker but had quit drinking. He didn’t want to be around anybody drinking. Daddy was confused in his politics.
Surely everyone who lived during that time had different perspectives on what was actually right and wrong. None the less, our president was dead. The man who most agreed as the most powerful person in the world had been taken down while he was riding in a motorcade designed to protect him. Nobody knew where to look for stability.
When Uzziah was only sixteen years old his father, King Amaziah died. We know a little about Uzziah’s Grandfather King Joash. We have the Joash box here at Merry Oaks which is used as our building fund to remind us. We know that Joash at least did one good thing.
Amaziah was named king after his father Joash died. He was not nearly as popular with the people. When Amaziah died and they named Uzziah king at sixteen years old, the nation accepted him and he was very popular but he died too.
The nation was in mourning. Isaiah had served as prophet to several leaders in Uzziah’s family while they were in power. No doubt Isaiah was mourning for this man who he had shared life with. I would equate Isaiah’s relationship with the nation’s leaders perhaps with Billy Graham and his time with our several presidents.
Scripture: The scripture today is Isaiah 6:1. Please stand for the reading of God’s word.
Message: The several prophets have parallels and similarity of lessons for us in their writings. Before we expound the context of today’s text turn to Jeremiah 17:5-8, “5 Thus saith the Lord; Cursed be nthe man that trusteth in man, and omaketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord. 6 For he shall pbe like the qheath in the desert, and rshall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in sa salt land and tnot inhabited. 7 uBlessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose vhope the Lord is. 8 For whe shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but xher leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of ||drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.[2]
Here from Jeremiah is a contrast between trusting in man and depending on God. Cursed is the person who believes with his/her life everything that another person says is right to do. Cursed is the person who takes his/her strength from what they understand to be of human origin while forgetting that everything comes from God. That person will be like someone stripped naked in the desert or on a beach without protection from the sun.
On the other hand, blessed is the person who trusts God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit who is living in expectation of Jesus coming to take him/her home to glory. Unlike the other person, this person will be rooted in nutritious, well-watered soil where he/she will thrive and never be dried out. That person will yield souls which will be with him/her and God eternally.
Turn now to Isaiah and see what he was witnessing when a great earthly leader had died. Isaiah 6:1 “aIn the year that king bUzziah died cI saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and ||his train filled the temple. 2 Above it stood the seraphims: each one had dsix wings; ewith twain he covered his face, and fwith twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. 3 And †one cried unto another, and said,
gHoly, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts:
†hiThe whole earth is full of his glory.” [3]
Those old enough to remember the events and the thoughts associated with the assassination of a president had many different thoughts and perceptions of what happened. Here in Isaiah’s prophecy we see Isaiah understood the anguish of the world at large over the death of a great earthly leader yet Isaiah’s attention was not only on earthly concerns but also to a higher level.
When Kennedy died many lost hope in the future. There didn’t seem to be any safe place to look towards for help. When King Uzziah died it was probably the same in Judah. They had been through many kings and had seen their nation split apart by opposing forces. Now what!
Isaiah knew what. Isaiah knew that hope was where He had always been. Isaiah also saw the Lord high and lifted up. The one who lorded over the nation of Judah (lord with a small lowercase “l”) was not Isaiah’s Lord with a capital “L.” Whoever you decide to lord over you must, in your mind at least, be worthy of that honor. If you have considered anyone to be worthy to lord over you then you must at some time have considered their honesty also to be worthy of your trust. It is a pitiful thing when you trust in someone with all your faith to only lose that trust because they proved themselves later to be no more worthy of trust than you are. We want someone with more power than us to rule over us or else what’s the use of giving over our freedom to another person that is no more worthy than we are?
Uzziah had once been placed above the nation of Judah on his throne but now he was taken down to the grave as any other person. Hope for most was gone again. Isaiah however looked up and saw God still sitting on His throne. High and lifted up! The train of His robe filled the temple. What a majestic sight! God The Father is there. The heavenly beings each have three pairs of wings. Two cover the face, two cover the feet. With the other two they fly and they are singing that song we mimic in our hymnal. Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of the hosts. The Lord of the heavenly hosts!
God is Holy! God is above reproach. When all that life has fails and pales in comparison to Him it doesn’t affect God. Sin doesn’t affect God. He doesn’t permit anything to affect His holiness. When life has proven that there is no hope in hanging on to whatever you are hanging onto in this life, God remains our One and Only Hope. Yes there is that one remaining truth; the earth is full of His glory. His glory is not only present in heaven but also here on earth. Do you see it? Do you see Him? There He is, high and lifted up.
Prayer: Let us pray.
Invitation: Are you troubled? That thing you thought you could trust in with all your heart has let you down. You’re not alone. If all you have to look forward to is to continue to search for that thing that fits your idea for what is right, what is wrong, it’s not here on earth!
This world is troubled but if you’re a Christian you are TRIUMPHANT. If you lose heart and decide to turn back, the devil laughs. Isaiah too was troubled when Uzziah died. He had ministered to that king and others before him. Yet Isaiah’s eyes were set on that which does not disappoint and that is why Isaiah remained triumphant in a time when the world felt lost.
The day Kennedy died I thought the world was in a worse mess than I had ever seen. I was a child. My brother was cynical because he wasn’t a child but had seen the world for what it was. Jack was searching for something that he could trust in that particular day and it wasn't a president. Years later my brother Jack recognized the One high and lifted up. Though I wasn’t ready for Jack to go, when his time came he was triumphant. There he is too! He is kneeling there with the others. They are listening and joining with the seraphim singing Holy, Holy, Holy.
The world is proving more every day that there is nothing left here to hang your faith on. God is still high and lifted up. This pastor’s prayer is that we let nothing dissuade us from being the family that God intends Merry Oaks Baptist Church to be. Do you want that? If you have something against a family member here in your church I pray that like Isaiah you will look up and see God high and lifted up. The altar is open to you. I pray you don’t wait for everything and everybody to fit into your specification of worthiness. If you don’t look up and see God high and lifted up you are never going to be triumphant. Consider as we sing.
a About B. C. 758: 2 Kin. 15:7.
b ch. 1:1. 2 Chr. 26:22.
c John 12:41. See 1 Kin. 22:19.
|| Or, the skirts thereof. Jer. 13:22, 26. Lam. 1:9. Nahum 3:5. See Ex. 28:33.
[1] The Holy Bible: King James Version (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., Is 6). (2009). Logos Research Systems, Inc.
n See Ps. 146:3.
o 2 Chr. 32:8. Comp. Isai. 31:3.
p So ch. 48:6.
q Ps. 102:17 (Heb.). So ch. 48:6. Comp. Job 8:12.
r Ps. 34:12. ch. 29:32 (Heb.). See Job 20:17. & Eccles. 2:1.
s See Deut. 29:23. & Job. 39:6.
t ch. 50:13, 39.
u See Ps. 2:12. & 25:2.
v See Ps. 71:5. So ver. 13.
w See Ps. 1:3. So Job 8:16.
x Prov. 11:28.
|| Or, restraint. ch. 14:1.
[2] The Holy Bible: King James Version (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., Je 17:5–8). (2009). Logos Research Systems, Inc.
a About B. C. 758: 2 Kin. 15:7.
b ch. 1:1. 2 Chr. 26:22.
c John 12:41. See 1 Kin. 22:19.
|| Or, the skirts thereof. Jer. 13:22, 26. Lam. 1:9. Nahum 3:5. See Ex. 28:33.
d Rev. 4:8.
e Comp. 2 Esdr. 8:21.
f So Ezek. 1:11.
† Heb. this cried to this. So Ex. 14:20 (Heb.).
g Rev. 4:8. Comp. John 17:1.
† Heb. his glory is h the fulness of the whole earth.
h ch. 8:8. & 31:4 (Heb.).
i See Ps. 72:19. Comp. Wisd. 1:7.
[3] The Holy Bible: King James Version (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., Is 6). (2009). Logos Research Systems, Inc.
