23 minute read

A Vision of Christ

By Lance Lambert

We turn to Isaiah and chapter six, the sixth chapter of Isaiah.

The Central Lesson: Mine Eyes Have Seen the King

I just want to from this passage, this well known passage in Isaiah chapter 6, to underline one great and I think all important lesson. I think it's summed up in the last part of verse five: Mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. Mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. Could there be a better word for going into 1972? Mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.

Isaiah's Year of Crisis

For Isaiah, that particular year was a year of crisis. King Uzziah was a good man. And the Lord knows there were few enough of them. In the history of God's people, everything seemed to depend upon the king—the kind of man he was, the kind of character that he had. All power was in his hands, the whole reign. The character of the nation took, as it were, everything from the character of the king.

Now, Uzziah, as we know, made mistakes. But basically King Uzziah was a godly man. He loved the Lord. If he made a terrible mistake at the end of his life, it was just because he was so devoted to the house of God that he wanted to serve the Lord as a priest. And he was smitten with leprosy because of disorder. However, that's by the way. Basically he was a good man. He longed for the things of God to have their place. He cut down the high places with all their sin and evil and darkness. He caused the Word of God to be known and taught from end to end of the nation.

The Pattern of Godly and Godless Generations

Now, a godly father doesn't necessarily produce a godly son. And perhaps one of the most terrible things, one of the most terrible lessons that we learn in the Word of God from this period is that sometimes the most godly father had the most godless son. You think of godly King Hezekiah and the wicked son that he had, and the wicked father he had.

Doesn't that have something to say for all who are parents to pray for their children? Pray. Don't think that just because you're a child of God automatically the children are going to become children of God. Only God can do that work. And He will do it in answer to a real work in your heart and a real concern.

But that's by the way, for a moment. What we are saying is this. It was a year of crisis. The godly King Uzziah was dead. Now a new reign was beginning. What did that reign hold? What did it mean for the people of God? What did it mean for the house of God? Would the house of God be closed? Would idols be set up in the courts of the house of the Lord? Would the high places be restored? Would the worship of Baal come back into the nation? What was going to happen?

Isaiah's Response to Crisis

It was a year of crisis. And Isaiah did the wisest thing that any child of God could do. He got himself into the courts of the Lord's house. He sought the Lord. And that's the very best place to be at any time of crisis, to get into the courts of the Lord. To be found, as it were, with our hearts towards the Lord seeking His face.

Our Year of Crisis

We too have entered a year of crisis. Of course, it may seem a rather well worn phrase to speak of crisis. In the last 10 years we've done nothing but talk about years of crisis. But then, what else could we do? Every year has been a year of crisis. And some people would like to, just as it were, put it out of mind. But the fact of the matter is this, that things that we saw years ago are now coming out into the open. We are entering a year of crisis.

The Lord's coming may be much nearer than we think. All we know is that things are speeding up on all sides.

What Does This Year Hold?

What does this year hold? What does it hold for each one of us personally? Some of us will not be here next year. We may be in the presence of the Lord. Others of us here in this room may have fallen away in this year. Others of us at the end of the year may have just a form of outward service, but the heart of the matter's gone. Others of us may have entered into something more of the Lord, full of the Spirit, full of faith, full of wisdom. Others of us may have a deeper knowledge of the Lord because we passed through trials in this year and have found that the Word of the Lord is true: Yea, though thou passest through the valley of the shadow of death, I am with thee.

What does the year hold for us personally? It is a good thing none of us know.

The Necessity of Seeking the Lord

What shall we do as we enter into this year personally? What shall we do? The safest thing to do is what Isaiah did. Seek the Lord. Don't be careless. If there should be anyone who in one year's time has fallen away from the Lord, I will tell you what is the cause of it: carelessness. No fear of the Lord. If in a year's time we have just a façade and the inside is gone, carelessness because we just thought that things were all right and we could drift along, that spiritual things just sort of take care of themselves.

What does this year mean for us as the people of God? We don't know. We don't know the pressures that might come upon us. We don't know things that will happen in the unseen. But what can we do? We can seek the Lord. Because the Word of God says, When ye see these things beginning to come to pass, lift up your heads. Look up. Lift up your heads. Your redemption draweth nigh.

The Response of Faith

We have absolutely no need to be afraid, no need to be downcast, no need to be depressed. You know, some people are frightened to look at things as they really are. Their attitude is, don't look at them. Don't look at them. Don't look at the things, like the ostrich burying its head in the sand. But real faith is the kind of thing that can look at reality and give the glory to God, becoming strong in faith.

In other words, we can take a hard, long stare at the whole situation and see exactly what the possibilities are. And then know that because we're with the Lord, He's going to take us on. We're going to be absolutely safe. Not a hoof or a horn left in Egypt. When the Lord comes, we shall go. Not a hoof or a horn left behind, completely redeemed to the last hair of your head.

The Vision: More Than Understanding

But it's not just seeking the Lord that's the answer. Mine eyes have seen the King in His beauty. You know, Isaiah might have said, Now, Lord, Lord, I want to know exactly what You are going to do now that Uzziah is dead. Now give me a revelation, Lord. Give me some little understanding. I want to know it exactly. What's the new reign going to be, Lord? Is the new reign going to be evil or is it going to be good? I want to know it.

But you know what the Lord did with Isaiah. He gave him a vision. He gave him a revelation. He gave him a vision of the Lord Jesus Himself. And that's what always God does in years of crisis. He doesn't just hold up in front of us terrible spectres of darkness that frighten us. He doesn't just drive us into the ground with some kind of minute and detailed understanding of what's going to come to pass. What the Lord does is He unveils Himself in His majesty and His infinite power and glory so that our hearts and our eyes are filled with Him.

The Transformative Vision

There he was, bowed down in the courts of the temple, praying or worshipping, I don't know what, when suddenly as he lifted up his eyes, he saw neither house nor court. The whole thing was enveloped in something strange, unusual. He looked around. What was it? Cloud? What was it? He looked up and up and up and up. And he saw a throne. And on the throne he saw the Lord. And suddenly he realised that what he'd been looking at was the train of His garment. The whole house of God enveloped and hidden in the greatness of God.

You and I need such a vision. Nothing else will take us through these days that lie ahead. Nothing else will keep our hearts in love with the Lord Jesus. Nothing else will, as it were, give us the ability and the power to lay down our lives for God and for one another. Only if we see the Lord.

Four Aspects of the Vision

Now, very briefly, it seems to me there are many other points, but it seems to me there are four things that Isaiah saw, very briefly.

The Enthroned Christ

And the first thing is this: he saw the enthroned Christ. You see what it says in verse one? I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up.

Oh, for a vision of the Lord like that. Not some theory. Jesus is at the right hand of God from whence He shall come and judge the living and the dead. Not just a kind of theory, not something I can just confess with the lips. But I've seen the enthroned Christ far above all, far above all. The reign might be evil. The worship of Baal may come back. There may be dark days ahead. But high and lifted up, there is a throne, and upon the throne God's Christ.

Don't we need to see that? Isn't that just how the Lord starts in that book of Revelation, before ever He shows us those visions of darkness, of dragons, of serpents, of evil, of beasts coming up out of the sea and out of the earth. The first thing He shows us is the Lord Jesus Christ, Ruler of the kings of the earth, the One Who became dead and is alive for evermore, and "I have the keys of death and hell". Before we see death and hell in all its fury, in all its power, we see the One Who's got the keys of death and hell in His own hands.

The Present Lordship of Christ

We need to see the Lord as we enter into 1972, as the One Who is high and lifted up, a throne. And on the throne, the Lord Jesus Christ. The enthroned Christ. Not limited, not frustrated, not taken by surprise. Sovereign Lord of all.

Some people seem to think that the Lord Jesus has a title, King of kings and Lord of lords, which will only come into its own one day. I don't think that at all. He is King of kings and Lord of lords now. He is far above all now. He has been made head over all things to the Church now. Don't we need to see that?

The Testimony of Scripture

What did God say concerning the Lord Jesus? Listen to these wonderful words in that Messianic Psalm 110:

Isn't that exactly what Isaiah saw? The rod of strength out of Zion. The Lord on a throne, high and lifted up. That's not speaking of eternity to come. That's speaking of the present ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. The enthroned Christ ruling in the midst of His enemies.

The Significance of Christ Seated

The enthroned Christ. I saw the Lord. I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne. Oh, if Isaiah had seen the Lord standing before the throne. But he saw the Lord sitting upon the throne. That is, it's finished. That's the place of all authority, all power. I saw the Lord.

Oh, for a vision of the Lord Jesus like that. Is your Christ King of kings and Lord of lords? Is He Ruler of the kings of the earth? What about your circumstances? What about the situations you have found in? What about the problems you are meeting? Can you see Him as bigger than the problem, bigger than the circumstances? Can't you take your eyes off the things around and look up and see a throne? And on the throne, the Lord sitting, the enthroned Christ.

Is He Lord in your life? Is He Lord in my life? It's one thing for Him to be Lord, but what is He doing in my life? Has the throne come to my life? The enthroned Christ?

The Compassionate Christ

The second thing I would like just very simply to touch upon is: Mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts, the compassionate Christ, the compassionate Christ, not the sentimental Christ, the compassionate.

If you read this whole chapter, you will find out that the people that the Lord wants to send someone to are people who, in hearing do not hear, and in seeing do not see. But there is a heart in heaven that aches for them, that yearns for them. There is the compassionate Christ.

The Unchanging Character of Christ

Some people seem to think that the Lord Jesus, Who when He walked on earth was touched with the feeling of our infirmities, Who never let a need escape His notice, Who never rejected a request, is quite different since His ascension. A steeliness has entered into His heart. A kind of somehow something ethereal, something ascetic, something sort of beyond the human has come to Him. He's different.

But the Word of God says, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and for ever. He has the same character as we find in this book. Compassion.

The Call to Share Christ's Compassion

Oh, dear children of God, as we enter into 1972 we need to see the compassion of Christ. There are some strange teachings floating around the country, kind of thing that just means that we just satisfy ourselves, enjoy ourselves, have nice little get-togethers where we just glory in the Lord and worship the Lord. No one seems to hear the cry from the heart of Christ. Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?

He has not changed. He Who wept over Jerusalem, broken-hearted by its rejection of Him. He's the same. He's not changed. The human Christ can still know human tears.

I say that there will be a fatal weakness in our whole way this coming year if we do not see the compassionate Christ. We can see the enthroned Christ and a kind of steeliness can come into us unless we see the compassionate Christ.

The Infinite Christ

But I must hasten on. I think we need to see the infinite Christ, the infinite Christ. His train filled the temple. Not some small individual. Infinite in power, infinite in glory, infinite in every way. The infinite Christ, fullness, fullness.

Oh, to see the fullness of Christ, the infinite Christ. Fullness of everything. Fullness of love, fullness of faith, fullness of wisdom, fullness of power, fullness of grace. Fullness. The unsearchable riches of Christ.

The Inexhaustibility of Christ

Have you started on that? Some people seem to think that when they've had an experience or two, they've got it. But no experience that is genuine can ever make a child of God think they've got it. Every real experience of the Spirit of God makes us realise how little we are and how great He is.

See what He did to Isaiah? He fell down. He was nothing. I'm unclean. God had put him on his feet. When John saw the Lord, he fell down as one dead and had to be lifted up. When Ezekiel saw the Lord, he fell down as one dead and had to be lifted up. When Daniel saw the Lord, he fell down as one dead, had to be lifted up. It's always the same.

We suddenly realise how little we've got and how much there is—the unsearchable riches of Christ. Why, when you've spent eighty years searching, they're still unsearchable. If you could live to be as old as Methuselah, there'd still be unsearchable the unsearchable riches of Christ. Unsearchable riches, unfathomable grace, inexhaustible resources—all yours.

The Determined Christ

Finally, may I say, if we are to see the Lord and we need to as we enter into 1972, then we need to see the determined Christ. Now I love this. I thought for a while, how shall I put it? Well, I've said the determined Christ. Perhaps it falls short of really what I want to say, but it's this. The Christ on the throne has a purpose, an aim, an objective.

The determined Christ. There are those who tell us that that's all over. That's not scriptural.

The Completion of the Church

The last chapters of the book say that the bride hath made herself ready, come what may, right in the midst of all those visions and darkness and evil iron-cast systems, Antichrist. We find that the church is completed. The top stone is brought forth with shouts of grace, grace unto it.

Dear child of God, of course you'll be depressed if your centre is your home, if your centre is money, if your centre is your career, if your centre are the things of earth, if your centre is just the things that are material things that are seen. Of course you're going to be depressed by 1972. You can't possibly look at the possibility of darker things. But if your treasure is in heaven, then look up, lift up your head, your redemption draweth nigh. The determined Christ.

He's going to have a people. He's going to have an inheritance from every tongue, from every nation, from every kindred, they're coming. The Holy Spirit is drawing them out. All sides of the world.

The Finality of God's Purpose

We need to see Christ like that as we enter 1972, to see the Christ Who is absolutely determined to finish. And is it not wonderful that when we come to the book of Revelation, He is not only called Alpha, the first letter of the Greek alphabet, but He is called Omega, the last. And in one of those words to the churches, to the church of Philadelphia, He is called the Amen. The beginning and the ending, Alpha and Omega. The Amen. The determined Christ.

God's plan for the Lord Jesus Christ is going to be fulfilled, thank God. The world may break up, systems may come and go. All things may be given over, even to the enemy. But finally, praise the Lord Jesus, He is going to have what the Father has given to Him.

Prayer

Lord, Isaiah said, many, many years ago, in a year of crisis, Mine eyes have seen the King. The Lord of hosts, grant unto us, beloved Father, that our eyes, the eyes of our hearts, might be enlightened, that we may see the King. Father, grant this as we enter into this year of 1972. Grant that our vision shall be filled not with things, nor even with teachings, but with Thy Son, the Lord Jesus Himself. O grant that, Father. And in seeing Him may we be brought, Lord, into something of what Thou hast provided for us in Him.

Lord, do it, we pray. May we be a people in touch with the throne. May we be a people in whose hearts His love is shed abroad by the Holy Spirit. May we be a people who have something of that holy determination and faith to see this thing through to its completion. May we be a people who enjoy all that is ours in Him. We ask it in His name. Amen.

About Lance Lambert

Lance Lambert was one of the most distinguished Bible scholars and speakers in Israel in our day. He had an itinerant teaching ministry worldwide.

Born in 1931, Lance grew up in Richmond, Surrey and came to know the Lord at twelve years of age. In the early 1950's Lance served in the Royal Air Force in Egypt and later fellowshipped with the assembly at Halford House Christian Fellowship in Richmond, England.

Later in life, Lance discovered his Jewish ancestry—his father and many members of his family had died in the Holocaust. This discovery led him to become an Israeli citizen in 1980, and he made his home next to the Old City of Jerusalem.

Lance became noted for his eschatological views, which placed him in the tradition of Watchman Nee and T. Austin-Sparks. From his base in Israel, he produced a widely appreciated quarterly audio recording called the Middle East Update, which gave his unique perspective on current events in the Middle East in the light of God's Word. He wrote numerous books and was the presenter of the video production, Jerusalem, the Covenant City.