The King and the Seed

About this sermon

We are in a series we are calling, “In Light of the Cross” where we are looking at how God uses the truth of the Gospel to bring about lasting life change in our lives.    CONTEXT: Jewish tradition tells us that Isaiah’s father Amoz, also a Prophet, was the brother to the previous King Amaziah. So Isaiah was a member of the royal family.   Isaiah lived during a time when the Nation of Judah was in steep decline. If something didn’t change one of Judah’s enemies would likely attack and take 100’s of 1000’s into exile. But there seemed to be a glimmer of hope a young King Uzziah (otherwise known as Azeriah) had become King. This would have been Isaiah’s cousin. We are told in 2 Kings 15:3 (ESV) 3 And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that his father Amaziah had done.   Perhaps there was even hope that this could be the long awaited SEED or Messiah.   You see, since Genesis 3:15 (KJV 1900) 15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. NOTE: This is a prophecy of a male child that will be born that will defeat Satan and set right what went wrong in Eden. In one sense the entire OT is a search for that seed. From Genesis onward, humanity waited and watched for the “Seed” that God would provide that would ultimately crush the head of the enemy. Throughout the Old Testament, we see hopeful prospects- Able, then Seth, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Samuel, David… and now Uzziah. Could this be the one? Could it be Uzziah? Uzziah was the Ronald Regan of his day - He built up the military, Defeated the Enemies, Led a massive Economic Resurgence. It seemed that this may be the seed the people had been waiting on.  2 Chronicles 26:16 (ESV) 16 But when he was strong, he grew proud, to his destruction. For he was unfaithful to the Lord his God and entered the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense.   Now if you remember this was very similar to the sin of Saul. He didn’t follow the prescribed procedure laid out in the Word of God. It was the priest’s place to enter the temple and burn the incense. But Uzziah’s success had gone to his head and he devalued the word of God. God struck Uzziah with leprosy and ultimately he died. The death of Uzziah is the context for our story…   TEXT: Isaiah 6:1 (ESV) 1 In the year that King Uzziah died    It was most likely the year 759BC. Ironically, tradition holds that the very same year two brother established a village across the mediterranean - the village of Rome and the brothers Romulus and Remus.    It must have been devastating to Isaiah and to all of Judah. This King who held so much hope, so much promise was dead.     1 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.   Now we are told in the Gospel of John chapter 12 - that the Lord whom Isaiah saw was Jesus. John 12:41 (ESV) 41 Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him. So this is a pre-incarnate manifestation of Jesus. Theologians call it a theophany.    Note here that while it seems that the whole world is falling apart around Isaiah - Jesus is still on the throne.    Isaiah 6:2 (ESV) 2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.   These seraphim were a race of angel - the root word means, “fiery ones”. We are told that cherubim were on either side of the Arc, but these are Seraphim.    They each had 6 wings - we might assume they were normally be used for rapid flight, but here in the Divine presence they have a different use.    Two are used for face coverings Two are used for feet coverings Two are used for flight   Isaiah 6:3 (ESV) 3 And one called to another    The grammar here is saying, “they kept one crying to one another”   3b. and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!”   Notice the declaration… HOLY, HOLY, HOLY - In the Hebrew language there was no grammatical mark ups for emphasis. For example, when we want to emphasis something we underline, bold, italics, we use exclamation points. None of that was available to the Hebrews. So when they wished to emphasize something they would repeat the word.    Jesus would often say, “verily, verily” or “truly, truly” I say unto you… same effect. In Genesis 14 we read this story where a bunch of Kings got trapped in a tar pit. Well some translations call it a slime pit, others call it an...