“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. Above it stood the
seraphims: each one had six wings; with two he covered his face, and
with two he covered his feet, and with two he did fly. And one
cried to another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the
whole earth is full of His glory. And the posts of the door
moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with
smoke. Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because 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. Then
flew one of the seraphims to me, having a live coal in his hand, which
he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: And he laid it
upon my mouth and said, Lo, this has touched your lips; and your
iniquity is taken away, and your sin purged. Also I heard the
voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?
Then said I, Here am I; send me. And He said, Go, and tell this
people, Hear you indeed, but understand not; and see you indeed, but
perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their
ears heavy, and shut their eyes; less they see with their eyes, and hear
with their ears, and understand with their heart, and covert, and be
healed. Then said I, Lord, how long? And He answered, Until the
cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the
land be utterly desolate, And the Lord have removed men far away,
and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land. But yet
in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten: as a
teil (elm) tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them, when
they cast their leaves: so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof”
Isaiah 6:1-13.
A careful study of king Uzziah and the prophet Isaiah is
helpful in developing an intimate relationship with God. And although
this article does not elaborate on each verse individually, the entire
chapter sheds light on the lives of king Uzziah, Isaiah, and the
believer committed to obeying the voice of God. In fact, this chapter
unveils an important backdrop: the end of one situation, trial,
or promise is the beginning of another situation, trial, or
promise. For example, the creek or lake flows into the river; the river
into the sea; and the sea into the ocean. The end of one is the
beginning of the other.
The end of king Uzziah’s life was the beginning of Isaiah’s ministry.
His death prompted Isaiah to respond to, with a life-changing sense of
urgency, his difficult mission. He had to tell the people who believed
they were blessed by God that God was going to destroy them because of
their disobedience. And Isaiah’s mission was begun after he
experienced God in His majestic glory and holiness. It is impossible,
however, to phantom the person God has predestined you to be without
first intimately knowing God Himself. Only after experiencing the
holiness of God did Isaiah realize that he and the people of Judah were
of unclean lips. Each of us is hidden in God: Know God and we know
ourselves!
However, king Uzziah had been tremendously blessed by God. During his
fifty-two year reign he had been successful militarily, commercially,
and in all manner of enterprise, but he did not at any time give God
credit for his success. And whenever God is not recognized as being the
source of one’s supply, it is only a matter of time before
self-exaltation results in a haughty fall. Uzziah, overcome by
self-righteousness and presumptuous pride, acted in disobedience and
attempted to take the priests’ job, burned incense upon the altar of
incense in the temple, was afflicted with leprosy and eventually died.
Beware! We are closest to failure during our greatest successes.
Furthermore, never assume you can do anything for the glory of God that
He has not anointed and commissioned you to do. It is especially
dangerous if He has forbidden you to ministry in that office or
capacity. Also understand that the king Uzziahs in your life
must die before you can see God for yourself. It is not uncommon to
allow people or things to usurp God in our lives. In II Corinthians
5:17, we are told, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new
creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become
new.” The new birth is the end of the old man and the
beginning of the new man in which all things are become and remain
new as we walk in the now presence of God.
A caterpillar, for example, does not envision becoming a butterfly and
it is unlikely that you can envision becoming the person God sees in you
while cocooned in a web of carnality. Nonetheless, as you grow from
faith to faith and from glory to glory, the past’s endings are
the new birth’s beginnings. And while the butterfly does not
remember being a caterpillar, neither does the caterpillar know it will
become a butterfly. And, an oak tree is in the acorn and there is a
chicken in the egg, though neither resembles that from which it came.
But here’s the good news: The end of flesh’s domination is the
beginning of spiritual empowerment and the end of
spiritual death is the beginning of spiritual life. The end
of spiritual ignorance is the beginning of Truth and the end
of natural life is the beginning of eternity. Moreover, the
end of the Church age of grace ushers in the Rapture and the
Rapture is the beginning of the Tribulation Period. The end
of the Tribulation Period is the beginning of the Millennium
and the end of the Millennium is the beginning of the
Great White Throne Judgment of the wicked dead. And, the end of
the Great White Throne Judgment is the renovation of the earth and
the creation of the new heavens - the beginning of eternity, the
endless age of holiness.
And although Judah was indeed destroyed, a remnant was left that did not
go into Babylonian captivity and a remnant returned from Babylon to
rebuild the country. In other words, a remnant remained faithful to
God. Everyone, even now, is not going to obey God, but make sure, be
very sure, that you are part of the remnant that does.
The end of your hurts and disappointments, your trials and
tribulations, your sicknesses and diseases, is the beginning of
the fulfillment of the blessed promises of God. But if you grudgingly
hold onto the end of the past, you will be unable to embrace the
new beginning that is enfolded in now faith.
Copyright
© 08.29.10 Rufus Rawls
The
End of the Beginning