Beholding the Glory of Christ

The goal of this series is to behold God, to behave godly for the glory of God. By examining select passages in the gospel according to Isaiah, we will focus on beholding God to cultivate a desire that leads to godly behavior, ultimately glorifying Him.

To put this in perspective, consider the most significant difference between someone who merely talks about God and someone awestruck by God. This difference lies in their understanding of God's glory. William G.T. Shedd, in his sermon "The Supreme Excellence of God," said:

God alone therefore is worthy to receive all the glory and all the extolling and all the magnifying that belongs to his excellence. The really good man or angel refers his character to God and is filled with abhorrence at the thought of glorifying himself or of being glorified for it. And there is no sin that so grieves him as his propensity to a detestable self-idolatry.

Isaiah 6 teaches three ways beholding God causes us to behave godly for His glory, beginning with beholding Christ upon His throne in the temple.

The Glory of God Beheld by Angels

In the year King Uzziah died, Isaiah saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, with the train of His robe filling the temple.

Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!"

Uzziah's story underscores the point. When strong, he grew proud to his destruction. He entered the temple to burn incense, a role reserved for priests. Azariah and 80 priests confronted him:

"It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord, but for the priests, the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense. Go out of the sanctuary, for you have done wrong and it will bring you no honor from the Lord God."

The Lord touched the king, afflicting him with leprosy until his death. Uzziah sought his own glory; Isaiah beheld God's.

Beholding God is not osmosis but a focused attitude coram Deo—in the presence of God—understanding who He is and who we are. The Lord is high and lifted up, His glory filling the temple. John 12:37–41 connects this to Christ: Isaiah saw Jesus' glory, the second person of the Trinity, ruling magnificently even as Israel's king died.

Seraphim—"burning ones"—fly above Him. They are majestic angelic beings, not cute cherubs. We examine their behavior in God's presence, not their magnificence, which underscores God's worthiness.

Each has six wings: two for flight, two covering their face, two covering their feet. Sinless creatures cover their faces before holy God, showing reverence. Even restrained, His glory may overwhelm. They cover their feet out of awe and deference.

These actions are imperfect tenses—constant, never satisfied with their reverence. They shout to one another:

"Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!"

This trisagion is the super-superlative of holiness. Shedd noted God's holiness makes heaven impure by comparison. They worship ceaselessly, as in Revelation 4:8. Their worship's quality and duration reflect their grasp of God's worth. If eternity worshiping seems boring, we have not truly beheld Him.

The Glory of God Beheld by Anguish

The foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said: "Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!"

True, doctrinally saturated worship shakes creation. It terrifies Isaiah. "Woe" (oi) expresses dread. "Lost" means annihilated, undone—pierced through, silenced in death. He confesses in perfect tense: it is done. No plea for mercy; he accepts it as just.

He is unclean personally and by association. Yet he declares the privilege: "My eyes have seen the King." Is seeing God worth dying for? Like Moses begging for glory, where God's glory surpasses life itself.

This echoes Gideon (Judges 6:22–23) and Manoah (Judges 13:22), fearing death after seeing God. Paul at life's end called himself chief of sinners (1 Timothy 1:15), seeing sin's heinousness more clearly. Growing godliness means beholding God reveals sin's depth—a profitable danger.

The Glory of God Beheld by Atonement

Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: "Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for."

A seraph takes glowing coal from the never-extinguishing altar fire (Leviticus 6:12–13), sears Isaiah's lips. At that moment, guilt and punishment vanish, sin propitiated—wrath appeased. The coal symbolizes God's perpetual wrath, now transferred, satisfying justice.

Isaiah's judge and savior sit on the throne. What he confessed is cleansed, as in 1 John 1:9. Beholding glory exposes sin; the lost avoid light lest deeds be exposed, convicted, corrected (John 3:20).

Isaiah's godly responses: confession, then commission.

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

He volunteers without knowing the hard task: hardening hearts (verses 9–13), cited by Jesus for His parables. God saves whom He wills; our evangelism glorifies Him, not just wins souls. Every life area—marriage, work—exists for God's glory, not ours.

Uzziah and Isaiah both entered the temple; one sought self-glory, the other God's. Enter Scripture, sermons, fellowship resolved to behold God's glory, behave godly, live for His glory alone.