Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-04-27

The prosperity OF UZZlah' reign
and the contemporaneous prosperity
of Israel under Jeroboam II brought
with it, as usual, spiritual decadence.
Never had the people Of Judah been
more worshipful-they were most
punctilious in their observance of
every feast day and fast; they kept
the new moons and the Sabbaths;
they offered sacrifices just as they
had been prescribed; they left no re-
ligious duty unfulfilled. But with
all that they oppressed the poor;
they bribed the judges; they were
grafters and land grabbers; they
were giving their lives to frivolity,
to wine-drinking and to social
amusements. Their women were
bold and deceiving; they were law
ish in characterization and luxurious
in their dress. (Read chapter 1916
26 for Isaiah's description of the
women of his day-it is marvelously
up to date) In fact, the nations
greatest sin was that they had left
that their righteousness became a
stencil in Gods nostrils. Wicked
and worshipful-these words de-
scribe the nation amidst. which
Isaiah grew up to manhood.
The Call to Service
You will remember that the great
prosperity which had been Uzziah's
had turned his head; you will re-
member his sin of presumption as
the result of it, and his Punishment
to lazar-house for the lingering
death of the king, and Sin the year
that King Uzziah died" a vision
came to him while he unused in the
temple that fixed him in his determi-
nation to do what he could to bring
his nation back to God.
It was In the year that King w.
ziah died that Isaiah got his call to
service, and responded gladly.
he was fearless and I'M
dismayed, and persistent in his mes
sages for half century, until final
ly he was sawn asunder Heb.
11:30 by the order Of the wicked
King Manasseh because his prophe-
cy offended him. We are to study
that call today, because it contains
the elements which every servant Of
God must have if he would be worth
while to God.
VISION OF zoo
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. Around it
stood the seraphimus: each one had
six wings; with twain he covered his
face, with twain he covered his feet
and with twain he did fly. And one
cried to another an said, Holy,
holy, holy is Jehovah sabaoth; the
fullness of the whole earth is his
glory! And the foundations of the
house moved at the voice of him
that cried, and the house was filled
with smoke"
Isaiah was a mystic. To him the
truth was presented in pictures,
rather than by the carefully thought
out and more prolonged expression
Of it to which our western minds
are accustomed. To translate his
ecstatic vision into western terms Is
our task. Briefly it was this: He
saw God, all holy and all powerful
So holy is He that the angelic be-
ings nowhere else mentioned in the
Bible use two-thirds of their wings
to cover themselves in His presence
while the other pair are. ready for
His service. So holy is He that one
set of them sing the thrice holy
name of the Lord of the heavenly
hosts, while the others add antiph
onally that it takes the fullness OF
the whole earth to show forth His
glory. So holy is He that when the
manifestation of His holiness
touches the earth the house is fill
ed with spaoke-like the steam that
fills the room when a white hot
iron is plunged into cold water.
And so powerful is the God o!
Isaiah's vision that He sits upon the
throne high and lifted up; so pow
erful is He that His train fills the
temple; so powerful is He that the
very foundation of the temple is
shaken even at the voice of one OF
His creatures.
Vision of Himself
That vision of God as all holy ano
all powerful brought to Isaiah an
other vision. In the light of Gods
holiness Me had a vision of himself
as he really was-utterly weak ano
absolutely unholy, just the opposite
of God. "Woe is me-" he said, for
I am undone. l am a man OF un
clean life and I dwell in the midst Of
a people of unclean lips; for mine
eyes have seen the king, Jehovat
Sabaoth." 1t was the vision Of Goo
which made him see himself and his
people as they really were.
1t is a great day for man Wher
he gets that vision of God and 81
himself, particularly when he real
ICES his own nothingness and his
own sinfulness. Then God can pre-
pare him and use him, and not uni
then in the largest way. The pure
praise of the seraphim made Isaiah
see how sinful and meaningless was
the service he and his people were
giving God with their lips. Nor was
this merely lip-service; our words
their best-and we give him credi
for having served with his best
are but the concrete expression O.
orr characters. What we say ant
what we are may be two entirely diff
ferent things for while, but in thi