Experiencing God's Presence #342

I saw the Lord. He was sitting on a lofty throne, and the train of his robe filled the Temple.

Isaiah 6:1

Use your holy imagination for a moment and picture this: awesome, terrifying, winged creatures shouting in voices loud enough to shake the foundations of a massive stone temple. A loud chorus booming across the heavens, compelled to cry out in amazement that this infinite Being is completely different from any other being, indescribable in radical perfection and power. Hollywood’s best special effects pale in comparison. This scene plays out on the largest of screens: the sky.

This is what Isaiah saw for a moment in time. As he worshiped in the Temple, the curtains were pulled back on this heavenly vista, and the prophet was overwhelmed with the majesty of it all. In Presence so intense, it’s impossible to get deep enough into the floor; Isaiah the prophet cried, “Woe is me” (v. 5, NKJV), desperately craved cleansing, and volunteered to do anything this God wanted. In such a moment, he surely understood why Scripture suggests that no one can see God and live. Yet Isaiah lived, as Moses had and other prophets like Daniel and Ezekiel soon would. Still, the vision was enough to overload human senses.

Though Isaiah saw this scene for a brief moment in time, it’s occurring at this very moment. The seraphs are even now shouting about God’s otherness, He’s still on His throne, and the universe is still charged with His glory. It’s important to hold such scenes in our minds as we worship; we don’t want to be out of sync with the heartbeat of creation. And we can know that Isaiah’s deep humility and desperate desire to serve this God are always an appropriate response. The Presence provokes radical, self-sacrificing allegiance. Envision what is truly happening around God’s throne, and worship the One you see.

Lord God, You are holy—far beyond what I’m able to imagine. But I can still sense the awesome majesty of Your Presence and the thunderous shouts of amazing creatures. May such scenes draw me into true worship.

From the book