For many years King Uzziah ruled with discretion in the land of Judah and Benjamin. Cities were rebuilt and fortified, and the riches of the nations flowed into Jerusalem. Uzziah’s name “spread far abroad; for he was marvelously helped, till he was strong.” 2 Chronicles 26:15.
(SS 161.1)
Outward prosperity, however, was not accompanied by spiritual power. The temple services were continued, and multitudes assembled to worship the living God; but pride and formality took the place of humility and sincerity. Of Uzziah it is written: “When he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction: for he transgressed against the Lord his God.” Verse 16. In violation of a plain command of the Lord, the king entered the sanctuary “to burn incense upon the altar.” Azariah the high priest and his associates remonstrated with him: “Thou hast trespassed,” they urged; “neither shall it be for thine honor.” Verses 16, 18.
(SS 161.2)
Uzziah was filled with wrath that he should be rebuked. But he was not permitted to profane the sanctuary against the united protest of those in authority. While standing there in wrathful rebellion, he was smitten with leprosy. To the day of his death, he remained a leper, a living example of the folly of departing from a plain “Thus saith the Lord.” Neither his position nor his long service could be pleaded as an excuse for the presumptuous sin which brought upon him the judgment of Heaven. God is no respecter of persons. See Numbers 15:30.
(SS 161.3)
Uzziah’s son Jotham succeeded to the throne after his father’s death. “He did that which was right in the sight of the Lord: he did according to all that his father Uzziah had done. Howbeit the high places were not removed.” 2 Kings 15:34, 35.
(SS 162.1)
The reign of Uzziah was drawing to a close when Isaiah, a young man of the royal line, was called to the prophetic mission. He was to witness the invasion of Judah by the armies of Israel and Syria; he was to behold the Assyrian hosts encamped before the chief cities of the kingdom. Samaria was to fall, and the ten tribes were to be scattered among the nations. Judah was to be invaded by Assyrian armies, and Jerusalem suffer a siege that would have resulted in her downfall had not God miraculously interposed. The divine protection was being removed, and Assyrian forces were about to overspread Judah.
(SS 162.2)
But the dangers from without were not so serious as the dangers from within. By their apostasy and rebellion the people who should have been light bearers among the nations were inviting the judgments of God. Many of the evils of the northern kingdom, which had been denounced by Hosea and Amos, were fast corrupting Judah. In their desire for gain, men were adding house to house and field to field. See Isaiah 5:8. Justice was perverted, and no pity was shown the poor. God declared, “The spoil of the poor is in your houses.” Isaiah 3:14. Even magistrates turned a deaf ear to the cries of the poor, the widows, and the fatherless. See Isaiah 10:1, 2.
(SS 162.3)
With wealth came love of display, drunkenness, and revelry. See Isaiah 2:11, 12; 3:16, 18-23; 5:22, 11, 12. And idolatry itself no longer provoked surprise. See Isaiah 2:8, 9. The few who remained true to God were tempted to give way to despair. It seemed as if God’s purpose for Israel was about to fail.
(SS 162.4)
It is not surprising that when Isaiah was called to bear God’s messages of reproof, he shrank from the responsibility. He knew he would encounter resistance. As he thought of the stubbornness and unbelief of the people, his task seemed hopeless. Should he in despair leave Judah undisturbed to their idolatry? Were the gods of Nineveh to rule the earth in defiance of the God of heaven?
(SS 162.5)
Such thoughts as these were crowding through Isaiah’s mind as he stood under the portico of the temple. Suddenly there rose up before him a vision of the Lord sitting on a throne high and lifted up, while the train of His glory filled the temple. On each side of the throne the seraphim united in the solemn invocation, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of His glory,” until pillar and cedar gate seemed shaken with the sound, and the house was filled with praise. Isaiah 6:3.
(SS 163.1)
Isaiah was overwhelmed with a sense of the purity and holiness of God. “Woe is me!” he cried; “for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.” Verse 5. He realized that if left to his own inefficiency, he would be utterly unable to accomplish the mission to which he had been called. But 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.” Then the voice of God was heard saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” and Isaiah responded, “Here am I; send me.” Verses 7, 8.
(SS 163.2)
The prophet’s duty was plain—he was to lift his voice against the prevailing evils. But he dreaded to undertake the work without some assurance of hope. “Lord, how long?” he inquired. Verse 11. Are none of Thy chosen people ever to repent and be healed?
(SS 163.3)
His mission was not to be wholly fruitless, yet the evils that had been multiplying for generations could not be removed in his day. He must be a patient, courageous teacher—a prophet of hope as well as of doom. A remnant should be saved. That this might be brought about, messages of entreaty were to be delivered to the rebellious nation.
(SS 163.4)
The ten tribes of the northern kingdom were soon to be scattered among the nations; the destroying armies of hostile nations were to sweep over the land again and again; even Jerusalem was finally to fall and Judah to be carried away captive; yet the Promised Land was not to remain forsaken forever. The assurance of the heavenly visitant to Isaiah was:
(SS 164.1)
In it shall be a tenth, And it shall return, and shall be eaten: As a teil tree, and as an oak, Whose substance is in them, when they cast their leaves: So the holy seed shall be the substance thereof. Verse 13
(SS 164)
This assurance brought courage to Isaiah. 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.” Verse 3. He had the promise that the messages of Jehovah would be accompanied by the convicting power of the Holy Spirit, and the prophet was nerved for the work before him. Throughout his long, arduous mission he carried the memory of this vision. For sixty years or more he stood as a prophet of hope, predicting the future triumph of the church.
(SS 164.2)