“The only way to recoup our spiritual losses is to go back to the cause of them and make such corrections as the truth warrants. The decline of the knowledge of the holy has brought on our troubles. A rediscovery of the majesty of God will go a long way toward curing them” (A. W. Tozer).
The Southern Kingdom of Judea was in spiritual decline in the days of Isaiah. Then King Uzziah died and the nation was in turmoil. God decided to prepare a man who would preach His word in an uncompromising fashion. What did He do? He gave Isaiah a sight or vision of His holiness and glory. This is exactly what ministers need in order to be properly prepared to preach the Word of God and this is what the Church needs in order to be declaring the excellencies of God as it was created to do. The Church as a whole must seek the glory of God in order for the decline in the knowledge of the holy to be reversed. But can it do that in its own strength? No, that is why it is a desperate need for it to understand its downward slide and begin crying out to God to give it the heart to seek Him.
“In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. 2 Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called out to another and said, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory.” 4 And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke. 5 Then I said, “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts” (Isa 6:1-5).
Whether Isaiah saw a vision or was in some way transported to a temple in heaven is not clear. However, the real issue is that Isaiah saw the holiness and glory of God that completely changed the way he viewed reality. This, I think, in some way is what people need to see if they are going to rediscover the majesty of God. Isaiah saw the Lord sitting on His throne. While the Lord may not send visions like this to His people in these days, He can open man’s spiritual eyes and give man a sight of Himself. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God” (Mat 5:8). One must be born from above to even see the kingdom of God (John 3:3), so in those souls that have spiritual sight God can give them a sight and taste of His glory. Ephesians 3:16-21 describes one way that God does this, so this is something that can happen in the modern day.
Isaiah saw the Seraphim singing holy is the LORD and that the whole earth is full of His glory. To see the Lord on His throne is to see His holiness and His glory. In fact, in some way the holiness of God is the love He has for His own name and to set Himself apart from all other purposes to glorify His name in all things. For Isaiah to see the holiness of God was for him to understand and see that the glory of God shone throughout the whole earth and not just Judah. The beauty of the character and nature of God shines in all that there is and all that happens. If man has eyes to see and the spiritual strength to exercise those eyes, he can see God’s glory in and through all things. The Church must wake up to the fact that God’s holiness is so majestic that it is shining in all places. What the Church must do is humble itself before God in order to be humbled so that it may begin to seek Him in truth. The Church must realize as it goes into the world that it is simply pointing out the glory of God that already shines in all places.
Isaiah also saw himself. God opened his eyes so that he saw his righteousness in the light of majesty and holiness. This is probably the foundation of Isaiah 64:6 where Isaiah wrote that even our acts of righteousness are as filthy rags. Let us be blunt. The real term in that text is menstrual cloth. The issue of blood made a person ceremonially unclean and apart from God. Isaiah is telling us that our very best works that come from us are as menstrual cloths that make us unclean in the sight of God. God does not want our menstrual cloths, He wants a true righteousness that only comes from Him and is worked in and through humble hearts that see His glory. One sign within the Church that the majesty of God is beginning to return is when members of the churches begin to see and feel the weight and heinousness of sin. When people begin to cry out about the uncleanness of their hearts and see themselves as dirty in His sight, this is a sign that God is moving. It is true that one can fake this or have it in an intellectual way, yet when God begins to move His people who see His glory clearly loathe themselves for their sin (Ezekiel 20:43; 36:31). Indeed, the return of the holiness and majesty of God can be painful and costly. I fear that there are but few today who want to pay the price of pain in the heart to seek His return.
God Loves... Himself 
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