True spiritual growth and satisfaction come from a deeper, ongoing pursuit of knowing God, rather than a singular, climactic revelation. It uses biblical examples like Jacob, Moses, and Philip's request to Jesus, "Show us the Father," to illustrate humanity's desire for a glimpse of the divine. The core lesson is that genuine friendship with God, cultivated through prayer and consistent engagement with His Word, leads to continuous growth and a stable perspective that transcends earthly crises. The message concludes by emphasizing that seeing beyond the temporal to the eternal realm of God's glory, as Isaiah did, provides the foundation for making life's decisions and serving God effectively, whether in missionary work or business.
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If you come tomorrow night, the door will be shut. I know many of you have traveled to different parts of the world, and I'm sure a great number of you over the years have had the privilege of visiting Jerusalem. Jerusalem is still a city that fascinates people all around the world, and visitors, tourists, and those who consider themselves pilgrims, they make that journey to Jerusalem. And if you went to Jerusalem, I know you went down to the wailing wall. And as you stood there, there's one section for the women, one section for the men. And I have stood there on different occasions and watched respectfully those who are in the process of praying to God.
Some of them pray, and there's a rhythm to the prayer, and the rhythm is reflected in the motion of the body. I've watched them sometimes for a long time and they're not doing this lightly. This is something very sincere and they stand there in what is considered today to be the most holy synagogue in the whole world and they're pouring their hearts out to God. Now at the wall, if you look to the left, there is an archway and you can follow the foundation of the Temple Mount. If you go into that archway, And I went in one day just quietly, and inside I found a long tunnel filled with tables, some simple bookcases, Bibles and other religious books were there.
And inside I saw again men, sometimes in a corner, sometimes in groups, and they were pouring their hearts out to God in prayer. Now I will not be dogmatic, but I believe that some of them have a very real belief that if they pray enough and they study the Bible enough and they do this over and over, perhaps in this lifetime, they will have a vision of God. I know this was true two thousand years ago. Two thousand years ago, the same thing happened and I sometimes think of Paul who was one of the most religious individuals in the world, the Jewish world of two thousand years ago.
And I've often wondered, outside of Damascus, when that other worldly light shone down on that man, and he's down in the ground, looking up into this light and there is a person there, I wonder if his first reaction was, I have received the blessing. That's why men studied the Bible and they prayed and prayed. They wanted to have now, before eternity, just a glimpse of the glory of God. We can't be dogmatic about Paul, but Paul and all of the disciples, they were all familiar with the stories of the Old Testament.
They knew this had happened in the past. You may remember the story of Manoa, the father of Samson and his wife. And an angel appeared to them, announcing the birth of this boy. And you read, And he, the angel of the Lord, did a wondrous thing while Manoa and his wife looked on. It happened as the flame went up toward heaven from the altar, the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame from the altar. When Manoa and his wife saw this, they fell on their faces to the ground. When the angel of the Lord appeared no more to Manoa and his wife, then Manoa knew that he was the angel of the Lord.
And this is what he said to his wife. We shall surely die because we have seen God. You may remember the story of Jacob, and Jacob was not a great spiritual person at this time. He was in the process of development. He was at a place called Peniel, and it says, It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared. So in both cases, you have a vision of God, And then there's a sense of awe. We have not died.
We are still alive. In another way, slightly different, you read about Moses. Then the Lord came down in the cloud and stood there with Moses and proclaimed his name, the Lord. And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming the Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger. abounding in love and faithfulness. When you read those words, it might be well to balance them with the other thing that said about God and Moses, that God spoke to Moses face to face as a man speaks to his friend.
And when that happens, you read, Moses bowed to the ground at once and worshiped. Now in New Testament times and still in the Jewish community today amongst the Orthodox Jews, they know the stories. They know that in the past there was revelations from gone and men believed that they had seen gone. Now Philip, he knew those stories. He was one of the disciples of the Lord Jesus. He had heard all the teachings of the Lord Jesus. He'd marveled at them. Through stories, the Lord Jesus brought heaven right down and he shared with people in things they could understand, the wonders of heaven.
He'd also witnessed the miracles. It still staggers the imagination just to be there and see a man who had never been able to see and the Lord opened his eyes and he would see the blue of the sky, the beautiful color of flowers, the green trees and grass. It would be a beautiful thing to see. A man who never walked could begin to jump and run and walk. Even more marvelous would be to join that funeral procession with a mother with a broken heart, going to the cemetery where their son and the Lord Jesus stopped and put his hand on the coffin and brought the young man back to life.
He'd seen all of these things. but Philip is not satisfied. And that's why he said to the Lord Jesus, Lord, show us the Father and it is sufficient for us. A modern translation, Lord, show us the Father and we will be satisfied. He wanted a glimpse of the divine glory and he openly shared that with the Lord Jesus. I think of Paul, and we mentioned his conversion But think of Paul as a mature Christian. Like many of you in this audience tonight, he's not resting.
In his heart there is a passionate quest. He wants to know more and more about the Lord Jesus. And so he writes to his good friends in Philippi and he says that I may know him. Now you know that he knew the Lord Jesus. He's simply telling us the more you know about Him, the more you want to know about Him. There was a good bishop who lived many years ago in Nisa. He was born around three hundred and thirty-five and he died around three hundred and ninety-four. And this man who was a bishop in Cappadocia, he wrote these words, This truly is the vision of God, never to be satisfied in the desire to see Him.
But one must always, by looking at what he can see, rekindle his desire to see more. I think he picks up the thoughts of Paul in that beautiful phrase, that I may know him. And you have these men in New Testament times, and in the centuries that followed, that quest for a greater knowledge of the glory and the person of God. Now I'm going to ask the question tonight, how do we personally feel about that? If you look back over, let's say the last five years, the last ten years of our lives, and if you were just quietly in your own home thinking about this, how much have you grown during that time?
What do you know about the Lord Jesus today, not just in theory but in practice? that you didn't know five or ten years ago. One of the sad things is to become stagnant, static. There is no growth. There is no development. May I qualify what I'm trying to say? I'm not talking just about Bible information. And may I gently say to all of you this evening, the Bible is not a jigsaw puzzle. It's not that finally you can put all the pieces together and say, now I understand the Bible. That's not the purpose of the Bible. It is a living word and it speaks to us directly and it always brings us closer to God so that we can grow.
You remember what Peter said that we might grow in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. So I'm going to suggest to you again gently that this genuine spiritual growth is a development of friendship with God. Please don't forget that Abraham was God's friend. And the Lord Jesus said to his own, I'm not going to call you servants, you are my friends. And when there's a real genuine friendship, there is growth in the development of that friendship. One last comment before we go to our portion this evening.
I may have told some of you in other places that some years ago when we were over in Scotland, Grace and I on a beautiful summer day, it was a free day, and we drove down from Motherwell down to the Tweed River, down to Pebbles, and it was a rather warm day, and the place was filled with tourists. We'd walk through the park which was quieter. Then we came up to the main street. And I said to Grace, down at the end of the street, look at that beautiful church building, the Church of Scotland. I said, let's go down into the church building. It'll probably be cooler in there. And we walked down, climbed the stairs and went in, and it was cooler and quiet.
There were just a few people in the church. There was a display of paintings depicting Bible stories, and we walked around the sanctuary, and we looked at each one and quietly made our comments. And when we finished, we spent about half an hour there, we came down to the main entrance to walk out. And I noticed on the left-hand side, there was a case, a glass case, illuminated, and inside there looked to be a poem. And I bent over and I read it. I asked Grace, for paper and pencil and I wrote it down. It's not signed.
I do not know who wrote these words, but it goes as follows. I never started to pray because I was told to, and I never continued to pray because I thought I ought to. I now pray out of enjoyment and need. Over the years, through prayer, I have become friendly with God. You only make a friendship with any being, animal, human, divine, by talking to them and sitting down with them in silence. It has taken me a lifetime to trust these meetings.
It didn't come easily. But I think it's the testimony of a man who found that through prayer and fellowship with God, he was growing in that friendship. Our portion tonight is found in Isaiah, and it's one of those great portions of the Old Testament, and it begins with a vision of God. Isaiah chapter six, we'll read from verse one. Isaiah chapter six and verse one. In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of his robe filled the temple.
Above it stood Seraphim. Each one had six wings. With two he covered his face. With two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 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 were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke. Farther down in the chapter, it is reconfirmed, and you read these words, My eyes have seen the king, the Lord of hosts. Now we're talking about a young man.
He is not a senior citizen. We can't be sure about his exact age, but he is a young person. And he has this tremendous vision of the temple, and the Lord seated on a throne high and lifted up. He is the King, the Lord of hosts. And this man, Isaiah, he saw him. Now, I can't tell you this evening if this literally happened in the temple. If it did, then one would think that there would be many people who experienced this vision. If that was true, there is nothing in the ancient literature that would suggest that.
That does not mean that he was not in the temple and that in the temple the Lord gave him that vision. It could mean that in his home, in quietness and in meditation, he saw the temple in his mind. He'd been there many times. and he saw it as it should be, filled with the glory of God. It might have happened as he took a stroll alongside the riverbank or through some little area of hills in quietness in his mind and heart, he saw the vision. How it happened is not that important, that it happened is very important.
May I just make one brief comment about this vision? And I'm speaking from my own experience, there is always a danger in trying to over-analyze every detail in a vision like this. What you have is something that's really otherworldly and is brought down to a human being, and it's explained in terms that we can understand. But there is one thing that is certain. This man, a young man, says very dogmatically and clearly, I saw the Lord.
My eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. Now, as you think about the heavenly scene, there are not many times in the Bible that the veil is moved and you can have a glimpse into that great eternal scene. There is a portion in Daniel, I'll read it to you, and this is what it says, I watched till thrones were put in place, and the ancient of days was seated, and thousand thousands ministered to him, ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him, the court was seated, and the books were opened.
Now I want to read a modern translation because this modern translation picks up our Spanish translation. And it goes like this. I watched as thrones were put in place and the ancient one sat down to judge. Millions of angels ministered to him and a hundred millions stood to attend him. Then the court began its session and the books were opened. Now it staggers the imagination. Probably the thought is an innumerable number of angels surround the throne of God.
In that celestial environment, references made to seraphim and cherubim. Isaiah speaks of seraphim, and then Ezekiel speaks of cherubim. Again, we don't know that much about these great mysterious beings, but in a new translation you read, hovering around him, the portion of Isaiah six, hovering around him were mighty seraphim. Now some would suggest that this is the plural form. Seraph is the singular form. Now we have seraphim the plural form.
And what it means basically is burning ones, shining ones. They are very bright beings. Now please note, glorious, bright, and shining in their own right, according to the sovereign will of God, these seraphim, in the presence of God, his glorious, unique presence, with their wings they cover their face and they cover their feet all the shining brightness glory that belongs to these celestial beings it pales in significance when you look at the glory and the majesty of God they sense that and they cover their face and they cover their feet but they are very powerful powerful beings one has suggested And I'm going to read his words to you because in Revelation you have no specific reference made to seraphim or cherubim in chapters four and five.
But one has said the four living creatures should be linked with Isaiah seraphim and Ezekiel's cherubim. They, like the elders and angels, are heavenly creatures of the highest order and they are involved in the worship and the government of God. Well, we tread lightly, for we know very little about that heavenly scene, but we've had a glimpse here. And the seraphim, they chant back and forth one to another. And this is their message. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts.
The whole earth is full of His glory. Now take the first part. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. This highlights the overwhelming, indescribable nature of God. One has rightly written, what God is lies beyond the ordinary range of human perception. No wonder Paul says we know in part We know what God in His grace has revealed to us, but we do not know all about the majesty, the glory, and the power of God.
It lies beyond human perception. But on the other hand, you read, the whole earth is full of His glory. That confirms that the transcendent, eternal God does not stand aloof. He comes down and he dwells among human beings and he has relationships with them. So you have, first of all, God's supremacy. He is far above and beyond us. And then you have God's presence. He is with us here in the world and the two concepts are not incompatible. That is one of the beauties of our Christian faith, that that eternal transcendent God comes down And when you know His Son, you can talk to Him and you can call Him Abba Father, which speaks of nearness.
It speaks of intimacy. It speaks of a beautiful relationship. There's reverence, but there's also intimacy. And we say Abba Father. Now there are positive results at the very beginning of this vision when you think of Isaiah as he sees the Lord and his glory in the temple. Notice that Uzziah was the king. Now I'm not sure that the king had died. The Bible does not say that. It says in the year that King Uzziah died, this young man saw the Lord high and lifted up. There is definitely a contrast King Yusai was a popular king.
He led the southern kingdom to a time of glory unequaled after the times of David and Solomon. In other words, David builds the kingdom. Solomon brings it to its pinnacle of glory. Then you have decline right down to the exile of the northern kingdom and then the southern kingdom. But on that decline, Yusaiya once again brings the country up to a peak of glory it never had after the times of Solomon and David. He was a good man in his time, but during the last years, through disobedience, he was disciplined. He's now a leper, and he sits on the sidelines.
I often wonder what that meant to you, Zion. All young people, we need, and I include myself among them, we need role models. even at my age. I was talking today with our good friend who now lives here with you, and we were going back and remembering people we knew about of a previous generation. I still look up to them, hold them in high regard. Well, here's Isaiah, a young man. This king was a good king. He did many wonderful things. He failed. Now he's on the sidelines. It was in that year that he saw the Lord high and lifted up.
So what do you have? Well, you have a man in a moment of crisis. And sometimes it takes a crisis to make us sit up and look at things seriously. You may remember the story of Hudson Taylor. He's going to China. His heart is set on that. He meets a young woman, then he falls in love. and they form a friendship and he shares with her what he wants to do. She never said yes or no. She just listened. And when the time came that he had to make a decision about marriage and about China, he spoke to her openly and asked her what her decision would be.
And she said to him, well, if you go to China, you're going alone. I'm not going with you. And that devastated Hudson Taylor. That made him sit down and look at the real important issues of life that he never wavered. And as you know, he went to China. If you like a nice romantic Christian story, read John Pollock's Hudson Taylor and Maria, a woman that God brought into his life that went with him and shared that experience for twelve years and she and two of their children died in China. But that man, when that first woman said no, that really devastated him.
We were in England last year in the month of October, that horrible train crash in Paddington Station just outside of London. And I watched on television. You could tell by the faces of the people who appeared Some had lost friends, some had lost relatives, their whole world had come down. It happens in airplane crashes. It happens in other ways, not quite so dramatic. You lose your job and your world just seems to come to a stop. Well, in Isaiah's case, his world fell down when Uzziah the king failed and had to sit on the sidelines.
but in contrast is the stable world of God. God does not change. It was in that year that he saw the Lord high and lifted up. He was seated on a throne and he looked right into eternity. Now you'll find that in the New Testament. You know the verses. Paul speaks about the visible, what you can see, and the invisible, what you can't see. He talks about this age. and the age that is to come. He also speaks about setting your mind on things above, not on things of the earth.
And with all of those phrases, he's telling you there are two worlds. And what brings stability into our lives is to see into that other world and to see the king, the Lord of hosts, to see the king seated high and lifted up. It will govern your life. If you're attached to this world primarily, all of your decisions will be made according to the principles of this world. If you're attached to that other world, that eternal world, then your decisions will be made in accordance with that word. Let me just share with you tonight a story in closing.
I knew half of this story here in North America, but last year in the United Kingdom, I heard the other half. And one of your radio commentators usually finishes program by saying, now you know the whole story or now you know the end of the story. Duncan Reed in my country, he married a young lady from the Campbell family in Ayrshire. Peter Horn, who came from Aberdeen, he married another sister in that family. Maima was her name. The reeds went to the Dominican Republic, the horns went to Bolivia, and that's where they spent their lives in the service of God.
Only once in all of the years were they ever back in Scotland at the same time. And when they were about to go back to their fields of service, there was a farewell meeting, and it was to honor both of these couples, and they were present, and one other person. He belonged to the family of Maimahorn and to the family of Mary Reid. He was a Campbell and his name was George. He also left Scotland, but he went to South Africa. He became a prosperous businessman, always maintained his Christian profession, and he was back in the old country, as we say, on business.
And so they invited him to be present at the meeting. I think it was Peter Horn who spoke first, and then Duncan Reed, and then George Campbell, the businessman. And after his brief comments, he said about these two men who belonged to his family through marriage, they chose the better part. I'm sure many people that night said amen, as some of you have said this evening. It was T. Ernest Wilson that told me the other side of the story. They were in Africa, and one of their sons was near death. And the doctor said, the only way you'll save him is to get back to Scotland.
Now, from where they were, that was a long journey. First of all, down to South Africa, then to find a ship to get back to the United Kingdom. But they got down to South Africa, They even had a ticket to go on a ship. The war had started, and when they got to the port, they found out that the ship had been sunk. T. Ernest Wilson was devastated and wondered what he would do. He was a father who loved his son. And walking back from the shipping office down one of the main streets of that port city, he saw coming in the opposite direction, Mr. George Campbell.
and George was surprised to see him and he said, Mr. Wilson, what brings you here? And Mr. Wilson shared the story. And George Campbell said, Mr. Wilson, if it's possible, could you pass by my office tomorrow morning? And Mr. Wilson said, yes, I'll do that. He went home and shared the news with his wife. They were despondent, they were in prayer. But next morning he went to Mr. Campbell's office And when he went in, he sat down and Mr. Campbell said, Mr. Wilson, I've done a lot of research and investigation and I found a ship for you that will take you back to the United Kingdom. And it's sailing next week.
Well, Mr. Wilson had in his hands the paid tickets for the ship that had sunk. He probably wondered where the money would come to buy new tickets. But as he got up to leave, Mr. Campbell just moved across the desk, an envelope, and he said, Mr. Wilson, this is for you. And he took it, and when he opened it, there were the funnest to buy the ticket to get his son back to Scotland. Now, I tell you the story because respectfully, I think Mr. Campbell maybe was wrong in what he said, that Duncan and Peter had chosen the better part. This was a man who had not been called of God to go overseas, but that did not mean that in his business life he was not serving God.
And in the moment of crisis he was there and he stepped in. In other words, the three men and their wives in the service of God, one a businessman, two were missionaries that really made no difference. They both had had a vision of the Lord. They both had seen beyond time and history and space that eternal realm, and the principles of God and His kingdom governed the lives of all of those people. And I would like to honor Mr. Campbell just as much tonight as I would honor Mr. Reed and Mr. Horn. I emphasize once more they had seen the Lord in all His glory.
As we close our service this evening, let's take our hymn books and we'll sing just a verse or two of hymn number twenty-two. Hymn number twenty-two. O worship the king, all glorious above, O gratefully sing his power and his love. our shield and defender, the ancient of days, pavilion in splendor, and girded with praise. Number twenty-two, and if you're able to stand, let's stand and we'll sing the last two verses of number twenty-two. To him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly, above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to him be glory in the church,