We Must Have a High View of God

Isaiah 6 records Isaiah’s life-transforming vision of God and subsequent call to prophetic ministry. It is arguably one of the most well-known passages in Isaiah’s prophecy. And rightfully so, for it contains the dramatic testimony of a sinful man who had a violent encounter with God and lived to tell it. Isaiah’s gaze was lifted above and beyond his physical surroundings. And he received a vision of God that changed his life immediately, completely, and permanently.

God moved Isaiah to record his testimony in Scripture as a spiritually profitable lesson. Isaiah’s vision calls us to a high view of God. Though we should not expect to experience Isaiah’s supernatural vision, we desperately need the exalted view of God that resulted from Isaiah’s vision. We need a high view of God. A. W. Tozer wrote, “The greatest need of the moment is
that lighthearted, superficial religionists be struck down with a vision of God high and lifted up, with his train filling the temple.”[1]

To worship is to ascribe worth. The legitimacy of worship is based on the worthiness of the object. You do not get worship right by focusing on worship. Proper worship requires divine revelation. You must see God as He truly is to worship Him as He deserves and demands. Your view of God is everything!

Jeremiah wrote:

Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.” (Jer. 9:23–24)

Without a proper view of God, you have nothing. Only when you see God properly will everything else be brought into focus.

Your view of God is everything!

Isaiah testified, “In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple” (Isa. 6:1). Isaiah’s timestamp is critical to the vision. Uzziah was the tenth king of Judah. He took the throne at the age of sixteen and reigned for fifty-two years. King Uzziah was “marvelously helped” by God (2 Chron. 26:15), which led to political, military, and economic success. But when he became strong, he became proud. His pride led to his downfall. God struck the rebellious king with leprosy, and he died quarantined from the nation he built (2 Chron. 26:21).

In the year Uzziah died, Isaiah saw the Lord sitting on a throne. One way or another, every king, prime minister, president, and dictator will give up power. And when the parade of dethroned rulers is over, God will be where He has always been: sitting on His throne, high and lifted up, with His train filling the temple.

[1] A. W. Tozer, Keys to the Deeper Life, rev. and expanded (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1957, 1984), 87–88.