SERMON XXXV.

ISAIAII'S VISION OF CHRIST'S GLORY.

BY THE REV. J. J. BONAR, GREENOCK.

"In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did Hy. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory. And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. 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. Then flew one of the seraphims 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 my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away. and thy sin purged. Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I, send me. And he said, Go and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their cars heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed. Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate, and the Lord have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land. But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten: as a teil-tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them, when they cast their leaves, so the holy secd shall be the substance thereof.”— ISAIAH vi. 1-13.

THE king under whom Isaiah has hitherto prophesied is dead (v. 1), and, in all likelihood, he is cast down by that event. In this frame he repairs to "the temple" (v. 1), that he may pour out his laden soul, and takes his place (v. 6) hard by “the altar." But the temple is Christthe altar Christ-the blood Christ-the very ashes are Christ; and as Christ thus meets his view, in all his sufferings and in all his love, peace would visit the afflicted saint again. O there is no relief for an anxious soul, no balm for a wounded soul, no light for a sad and gloomy soul, but Jesus!

Thus revived, Isaiah might now be thinking, Ah! how precious is such consolation! This is all I needed-let me be going. Jesus, however, knew better what his servant must require for his pilgrimage and mission; and ere, therefore, he suffers him to depart, he vouchsafes to him a special vision, and intrusts him with a special message. "It is good, then, to draw near unto God" with all our complaints, for he not only will take off our burdens-he loads us with tender mercies. Even though at his footstool, we may not know what to ask for; we can only, it may be, groan, and lie prostrate, like Isaiah. But our case is not hid from cur God, and the measure of his grace will be according to the extent of our need.

No. 36.-SER. 35.

The prophet is at "the altar," but from "the altar" he looks, we imagine, with an earnest, farewell glance, before he quits the temple, towards the veil that shuts in the mercy-seat. Suddenly the veil is drawn aside, and the holy of holies disclosed. Isaiah still is in the flesh-he still leans against the altar. Yet, in a moment, as there he stands-a mortal man -a guilty man-he is introduced amid all the glories of heaven. . He saw a throne! the very seat from which the laws of the universe are issued and its interests administered. He "saw the throne" "so glorious and high from the beginning," and that is "set above all the stars of God." He saw the throne" at which devils heard their sentence, and before which quick and dead shall yet assemble. He "saw the throne" of heaven-the throne of God. It was high and lifted up!—"high" beyond all conception-" lifted up" above the seats of angels. Immeasurably was it elevated, alike in its dazzling holiness, and majestic grandeur, and resistless sway. In a vision, strictly parallel, of John, (Revelation iv.) it is added, there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald! the emblem, then, of the Mediatorial Covenant-the symbol of redeeming peace. "The rainbow" encircled the throne; and among its vivid colours it was "the emerald"—the laurel green of victory-that shone with intensest splendour, to let the universe know that this was the throne of a Conqueror as well as of a King-of a conqueror, too, who had returned from all his fields, and sat down to rule the empire he had won. Above it stood the seraphim! not angels merely; for in the equivalent vision of the Apocalypse (iv.) these beings with "the six wings," who sing so rapturously of a holy God, are the representatives of the ransomed Church. Yet, along with these glorious "existences," stand all the hosts of God, pure, brilliant, and unwearied, as flames of light.

But

O what a throne! Its position glorious-heaven itself; its elevation glorious beyond all height; its armorial bearings glorious-the symbols of conquest; its retinue glorious-all bright and holy ones! "the throne" was occupied, and He who occupied it is sitting! He exhibits the attitude of calm repose, and transcendent superiority, and unassailed omnipotence. He "sits" as a Warrior to rest, as a Monarch to survey, as a Judge to rule and govern. From his shoulders hung a robe magnificently wrought, for the skirts of it filled the temple! And though we are not told what its texture and appearance were, doubtless it was a robe of unsullied purity and amazing lustre—a robe, also, that made Him who wore it conspicuous to all around, and raised their ideas of his exalted perfection. But, as thus the hosts of heaven looked upon the throne, and Him who "sat" on it, they made haste and worshipped. As they gazed upon the bright throne, and its still brighter occupant,

they raised "their wings before their face" (v. 2), and seraph sang to seraph (v. 3) until heaven is one surge of melodious praise. God now enters upon the scene, and the prophet knows that He who "sits upon the throne" is Jehovah, Scarce have "the seraphim" begun their halleluiahs, when the heavens are rent at the presence of the Lord; the gates of the temple (v. 4) are shaken to make way for the Everlasting; and, in a moment, the house is filled with smoke (v. 4)—the symbol and assurance that God is there.

66

66

He who "sat upon the throne" Isaiah saw, is accordingly none other than God himself. But in his Gospel (xii. 41) John tells us, these things said Esaias when he saw Christ's glory and spake of HIM." He, therefore, whom Isaiah beheld in his vision was just the Church's head -the believer's surety-the sinner's friend! None other was he than "the man of sorrows"-the weeper in Gethsemane-the thirster on the cross-Jesus of Nazareth! Return, then, to the vision, and mark the glory it sheds upon Emanuel. Look again at "the throne" Isaiah gazed on; it is the throne of Jesus. 'High is it, and lifted up," because Jesus is "gone far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come." It is adorned with "the emerald"-wreath of victory,-for Jesus has "spoiled principalities and powers, and made a show of them openly, triumphing over them." "He is sitting," inasmuch as "this Man, after he had offered the one sacrifice for sins, for ever sat down at the right hand of God, from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool." All the hosts of God keep guard around him, for "when he bringeth his first-begotten into the word, he saith, Let all the angels worship him." He is "clothed, too, with a vesture dipped in blood; whilst he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS." And, finally, behold how every knee is homage-every lip is praise-where Jesus sits, for "every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb, for ever and ever!"

It was God whom Isaiah saw-it was God whom all the host of heaven worshipped-it was God who sat upon the throne so lofty, so white, so radiant; but it was God in my nature-God in the flesh of man. And, if it be further asked, to what period of Emanuel's history the vision belongs? we would say, that the prophet saw him at the time when, "having purged our sins, he went on high, and sat down at the right hand of the majesty of God." Once there was a man on earth who had the form of "a servant," and was "without any comeliness for which he

might be desired." That was Jesus! But now he has dipped his ráiment in the sun, "and is clothed with these royal garments down to the feet." Once a mob surrounded a helpless prisoner, and cried, "Crucify, crucify!" That was Jesus! But now, "every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Once they took a man, and plaited a fillet of sharp thorns for his diadem, and pressed it cruelly upon his temples. That was Jesus! But " on his head now are many crowns." Once they hung a man upon a cross, and great was his shame, and awful his agony. That was Jesus! But “ now honour and majesty are before him-strength and beauty are in his sanctuary." Once a man went down, not merely to the grave, "but descended into the lower parts of the earth." That was Jesus! But now he has ascended up, far above all heavens, that he might fill all things." At Isaiah's date, Jesus, it is true, had neither been manifested nor slain -far less exalted. Nevertheless, the vision anticipates all events connected with him; and, conducting us amidst the heavens after that the Son of God has returned thither, shews us the man of grief and conflict now "the only potentate." Our Lord has been to earth--he has been at Bethlehem-in the wilderness in the garden-on the cross! but in the very flesh in which he contended and vanquished, has he entered again within the veil, "to reign before his ancients gloriously!"

What a Saviour, then, is our Saviour! "His visage was so marred more than any man- and his form more than the sons of men ;" but, "behold my servant! he has prospered, and so shall be exalted, and extolled, and be very high." Men and brethren, look and wonder! The green earth, lying under the rays of evening, is beautiful-the still waters, gliding in sweet murmurs to the deep, are pleasant-the stars at midnight are glorious in their very silence. What more bright or more sublime than the sun, when it prepares to run, like a bridegroom, its race? Yet in all these is there no beauty, no sweetness, no lustre, compared to what beams forth from the man Christ Jesus "sitting on his throne!" Most lovely is the world to you-most excellent all the world contains how ever on your lips!-how near your heart! But, Oh! if once the soul has had a view of Christ in his gloriousness, there only will its eye rest. There, in one surpassing beam, blaze all the rays of the infinite, supreme, eternal, holy Godhead; and we cannot help exclaiming with David," O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth who hast set thy glory above the heavens." Let us, however, examine the manner in which they who actually saw the vision we have been describing were affected by it; and this will best shew us at once its consummate splendour and the sentiments it should awaken.

I. It was seen by angels and the "spirits of the just made perfect," in the first place, and how were these affected?

1st, They were astonished.—It is nowhere said that the inhabitants of heaven cannot look upon God. But, speaking of little children, Jesus expressly says, on the contrary, "that their angels do always behold the face of my Father." No sooner, however, is God incarnate seen above -no sooner is "the Lamb as it was slain beheld in the midst of the throne"-than all the heirs of glory "cover" their amazed" faces" (v. 2) and hide their very "feet." "Great, then, must be the mystery of godliness,""God manifest in flesh," "received up into glory,"—when over it even the hosts of heaven do wonder. And though many around can pass it heedlessly by, O let us ever bear on mind that, whatever men on earth may do, all the worshippers before the throne are stooping over this scene, without cessation, as worth an eternity of thought.

2. They were filled with joy. And why? Even because God has manifested himself as "the holy God," in a way the most affecting to the universe, and set means, at the same time, on foot, which are to result (v. 3) in filling this eclipsed and polluted earth once more with his "glory." Oh! never was there such a demonstration given of essential holiness and spotless rectitude, as when God "laid upon his Son our iniquity," and "bruised him" under the terrors of all his wrath. But now that it is made clear, that he is just and pure, even though he takes sinners back, God's mercy has free course alongst this shamed and writhing world; and so deep, so broad is the stream, "that the whole earth (v. 3) is full of it." Love is now the manifested "glory" of Jehovah, even as it always has been his hidden delight. And as thus, in full consistency with every claim of righteousness, love visits, floods the earth, heaven rejoices! Ah! these pure beings think it not enough that God should be gracious. It is because his grace runs in the channel of justice, that they are so prompt to celebrate it. And if any be reckoning on the goodness of God coming by another way-by any way save the blood of a crucified Saviour, their hope shall go out in sudden darkness. Yet it is a glad truth, indeed, that in Jesus "righteousness and peace have met together," and that over all this world, where sinners dwell, there rests the sunshine of holy love.

3. They celebrate it with songs-for "one cried (v. 3) unto another." O what a song-a song, the theme of which is Jesus-a song that is raised by seraphim and saints-a song, the very echoes of which made earth to shake- —a song that is pleasing in his ears who sitteth on the throne! But if in heaven they thus "sing the song of the Lamb," and never weary, shall we, upon the footstool, not catch their spirit, and send back their note? Friend of the Lamb! "remember his love more