God’s Care for His Work
671
I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have
seen the King, the Lord of hosts.” But a seraph came to him to fit him
for his great mission. A living coal from the altar was laid upon his
lips with the words: “Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity
is taken away, and thy sin purged.” And when the voice of God was
heard saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Isaiah
with holy confidence responded, “Here am I; send me.”
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What though earthly powers should be arrayed against Judah?
What though Isaiah should meet with opposition and resistance in his
mission? He had seen the King, the Lord of hosts; he had heard the
song of the seraphim, “The whole earth is full of His glory;” and the
prophet was nerved for the work before him. The memory of this
vision was carried with him throughout his long and arduous mission.
Ezekiel, the mourning exile prophet, in the land of the Chaldeans,
was given a vision teaching the same lesson of faith in the mighty God
of Israel. As he was upon the banks of the river Chebar, a whirlwind
seemed to come from the north, “a great cloud, and a fire infolding
itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof
as the color of amber.” A number of wheels of strange appearance,
intersecting one another, were moved by four living creatures. High
above all these was “the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a
sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness
as the appearance of a man above upon it.” “As for the likeness of
the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire,
and like the appearance of lamps: it went up and down among the
living creatures; and the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth
lightning.” “And there appeared in the cherubims the form of a man’s
hand under their wings.”
There were wheels within wheels in an arrangement so compli-
cated that at first sight they appeared to Ezekiel to be all in confusion.
But when they moved, it was with beautiful exactness and in perfect
harmony. Heavenly beings were impelling these wheels, and, above
all, upon the glorious sapphire throne, was the Eternal One; while
round about the throne was the encircling rainbow, emblem of grace
and love. Overpowered by the terrible glory of the scene, Ezekiel fell
upon his face, when a voice bade him arise and hear the word of the
Lord. Then there was given him a message of warning for Israel.
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