Seeing the unseen

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. ² Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: with two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. ³ And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”⁴ At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.

⁵ “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”

⁶ Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. ⁷ With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”

⁸ Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”

Isaiah 6:1-8

Do you ever think how wonderful it must be to have a vision of God, or to witness a miracle or some other supernatural event? Yes? Well, be careful! If that were to happen, it might not be quite what you expected.

Four such visions in the Bible spring immediately to my mind. There’s Moses at the burning bush (Exodus 3), where Moses “hid his face because he was afraid to look at God”. There’s Peter, James and John on the mountain of transfiguration (Matthew 17), where “they fell face down to the ground, terrified”. And then there’s John on the island of Patmos (Revelation 1), where he “fell at the feet” of the risen Christ, “as though dead”.

And then, of course, there’s the passage above, where the prophet Isaiah “saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne” – and where he seems to have been reduced to a quivering wreck.

Perhaps our feeling about having a vision of God begins to take on a new complexion…? Perhaps the bread-and-butter nature of the ordinary  Christian life suddenly seems not so unattractive after all?

Focussing particularly on Isaiah 6, certain things particularly strike me…

First, such experiences in the Bible are actually quite rare, so it would be unrealistic to wish for them in our day-to-day lives. They mustn’t be ruled out, of course, not at all; there is no limit to what God might do. But Paul tells us, after all, that “we walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7).

Some Christians imagine that every day of the week they should be experiencing high-octane excitement – if not visions or miracles, then at least remarkable answers to prayer. Reading the Bible fairly superficially can indeed give the impression that that’s the norm – drama on every other page! - but of course the biblical writers wouldn’t have felt any need to record the run-of-the-mill stuff.

The fact is that for most Christians most of the time life was – and is - probably pretty ordinary, with God’s presence being discerned largely through the eye of faith. One day, according to John, we shall “see Jesus as he is" (1 John 3:2), so most of us must simply be content to wait until that day comes, and not chafe for too much too soon.

Second, it seems that such experiences generally were quite frightening. Moses, aware that he was standing “on holy ground”, “hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God”. Isaiah, made acutely conscious of his sinfulness, let out a cry of sorrow – “I am ruined, for I am a man of unclean lips…” John, lying in a heap on the ground, didn’t know what to do with himself. These were experiences where that much over-used word “awesome” might well be used.

Any notion that a vision of God might be simply comforting would seem well wide of the mark. After all… to see some representation of the one holy and perfect God himself is no small matter.

It’s true that to both John on Patmos and the disciples on the mountain Jesus did indeed speak precious words of comfort, “Don’t be afraid”; and to Isaiah in the temple was given the forgiveness of his sins. But let no-one remotely imagine that these were cosy chats. Anything but! As I said at the beginning, if you allow yourself to hanker after such an experience, well, let’s just say that you might end up getting more than you bargained for…

Third, in three of the examples we find that the encounter ends with a new commission: God gives the individuals concerned a new job to do.

Moses is to lead the people of Israel out of slavery in Egypt, a truly momentous task (Exodus 3:10). Isaiah is to preach a message of what is at first bad news, before he gets to the good news (Isaiah 6:9-13). John is to write letters to the seven neighbouring churches, and they contain some messages that will not be at all popular (Revelation 1:10-11).

So if we ever feel that we would like to “enjoy” a vision of God, perhaps we need to ask ourselves what new job we might be willing like to take on. The Lord asked Isaiah, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” To which Isaiah responded, “Here am I. Send me”. A wonderful willingness! But would we be so willing?

If these visionary experiences are written down for us to learn from, what exactly might the lessons be? If not to whet our appetites for remarkable spiritual “highs” – then why?

If nothing else, the answer must surely be to remind us of the purity, power and awesomeness of our God. We live in times when the “fashion” in worship is often very casual and informal – our language, our dress, our manner. I don’t say there’s necessarily anything wrong with that. But it must also be right to bow humbly before him, if only metaphorically.

We have seen how John on Patmos “fell at Jesus’ feet as though dead”. And how did Jesus reply? We are told “he placed his right hand on me and said: ‘Do not be afraid…’” The various visions may inspire, challenge and nourish us for years to come; but ultimately those gentle, loving words of the risen Christ are what we most need to hear.

Loving Father, my faith is feeble, and my grasp of your majesty and holiness falls far short of your true greatness. Please help me to see you day by day with the eye of childlike faith, and to anticipate that day when I will see Jesus in all his glory. Amen.