“Behold Your God!”
203
In the vision that came to Isaiah in the temple court, he was given
a clear view of the character of the God of Israel. “The high and
lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy,” had appeared
before him in great majesty; yet the prophet was made to understand
the compassionate nature of his Lord. He who dwells “in the high
and holy place” dwells “with him also that is of a contrite and humble
spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the
contrite ones.”
Isaiah 57:15
. The angel commissioned to touch Isaiah’s
lips had brought to him the message, “Thine iniquity is taken away,
and thy sin purged.”
Isaiah 6:7
.
In beholding his God, the prophet, like Saul of Tarsus at the gate of
Damascus, had not only been given a view of his own unworthiness;
there had come to his humbled heart the assurance of forgiveness, full
and free; and he had arisen a changed man. He had seen his Lord.
He had caught a glimpse of the loveliness of the divine character. He
could testify of the transformation wrought through beholding Infinite
Love. Henceforth he was inspired with longing desire to see erring
Israel set free from the burden and penalty of sin. “Why should ye
be stricken any more?” the prophet inquired. “Come now, and let us
reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they
[315]
shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall
be as wool.” “Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your
doings from before Mine eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do well.”
Isaiah 1:5, 18, 16, 17
.
The God whom they had been claiming to serve, but whose charac-
ter they had misunderstood, was set before them as the great Healer of
spiritual disease. What though the whole head was sick and the whole
heart faint? what though from the sole of the foot even unto the crown
of the head there was no soundness, but wounds, and bruises, and
putrifying sores? See
Isaiah 1:6
. He who had been walking frowardly
in the way of his heart might find healing by turning to the Lord. “I
have seen his ways,” the Lord declared, “and will heal him: I will lead
him also, and restore comforts unto him.... Peace, peace to him that
is far off, and to him that is near, saith the Lord; and I will heal him.”
Isaiah 57:18, 19
.
The prophet exalted God as Creator of all. His message to the
cities of Judah was, “Behold your God!”
Isaiah 40:9
. “Thus saith God
the Lord, He that created the heavens, and stretched them out; He that