Biblical Essays
THE THRONE AND THE ALTAR
Isaiah 6:1-8
In this sublime passage of Scripture we notice two prominent objects: the throne and the altar; and, further, we perceive the action of these two objects on the soul of the prophet. The entire scene is full of interest and instruction.
“In the year that king Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple.” This was a solemn and soul-subduing sight. It is a serious matter for a sinner to find himself standing before the throne of God with the unanswered claims of that throne bearing down on his conscience. Isaiah found it to be so. The light of the throne revealed his true condition to him. And what was that light? It was the moral glory of Christ, as we read in the Gospel of John, “These things said Esaias, when he saw His glory, and spake of Him” (Is. 12:41). Christ is the perfect standard by which everyone must be measured. It matters not what we may think of ourselves, nor yet what others may think about us: the question is, who we are as viewed in the presence of Christ? The law may tell us what we ought to be; conscience may tell us we are not that; but it is only when the bright beams of Christ’s moral glory pour themselves around us that we are enabled to form a just estimate of what we are. Only when the hidden chambers of the heart are laid open will the secret springs of action be revealed, the real condition laid bare.
But perhaps one may ask, “What is meant by the statement: the moral glory of Christ?” We mean the light that shone forth from Him in all His ways when He was in this dark world. It was this light that detected man, disclosing what he was, and bringing to light all that was in him. It was impossible for anyone to escape the action of that light. It was a blaze of divine purity, in view of which the seraphim could only cry out, “Holy, holy, holy!”
Should we marvel that when Isaiah saw himself in the light of that glory he cried out, “Woe is me! for I am undone”? No; this was the proper utterance of one whose heart had been penetrated to its very center by a light that makes all things manifest.
We have no reason to suppose that Isaiah was worse than his neighbors. We are not told that the catalogue of his sins was heavier or darker than that of thousands around him. To human appearance, he may have been like others. But let us keep in mind where the prophet stood when he exclaimed, “Woe is me!” It was not at the foot of the burning mount when “the ministration of death and condemnation” was given amid thundering and lightning, blackness, darkness, and tempest. It was not there he stood, though even there a Moses had to say, “I exceedingly fear and quake”; but it was in the presence of the glory of Christ, the Lord God of Israel, that our prophet stood when he saw himself to be “unclean” and “undone.” Such was his condition when seen in the light that reveals men and things exactly as they are.
“I am undone.” He does not say, “Woe is me! I am not what I ought to be.” No; he saw deeper than this. He stood revealed in the power of a light that reaches to the most profound depths of the soul and discloses “the thoughts and intents of the heart.”
Isaiah had never seen himself in such a light; had never measured himself by such a rule, or weighed himself in such a balance. He now saw himself standing in the presence of Jehovah’s throne without any ability whatsoever to meet the claims of that throne. He “saw Jehovah sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up.” He saw himself a helpless, ruined, guilty sinner at an immeasurable distance from that throne and from the blessed One who sat thereon. He heard the cry of the seraphim, “Holy, holy, holy”; and the only response he could send back from the depths of a broken heart was, “Unclean, unclean, unclean.” He beheld a gulf of guilt and uncleanness separating him from Jehovah that no effort of his could ever bridge.
Thus it was with him in that solemn moment when he gave that cry of a truly convicted soul, “Woe is me!” He was wholly engrossed with one thought: his own utter ruin. He felt himself a lost man. He did not think of comparing himself with others, or of seeking out some fellow-sinner worse than he. No; a divinely-convicted soul never thinks of such things. There is one grand, all-pervading idea embodied in the words, “I am undone.”
It needs to be carefully noted that when under the convicting light of the throne, the prophet is not occupied with what he had done or left undone. The question before his soul was not pertaining to the evil he had done or the good he had left undone. No; it was something far deeper. He was not occupied with his acts but with his condition. He says, “I am” – I am defective in many things; far behind in my duty; deplorably short of what I ought to be? No; these and like confessions could never embody the experience of a heart on which the bright beams of Jehovah's throne had fallen in convicting power.
True, “we have done that which we ought not to have done, and left undone that which we ought to have done.” But all this is merely the fruit of a radically corrupt nature, and when divine light breaks in on us it will always lead us to the root. It will not merely conduct us from leaf to leaf or from branch to branch, but passing down along the trunk it will lay bare the hidden roots of that nature we inherit by birth from our first parents. It causes us to see that the whole thing is irremediably ruined. It is then we are constrained to cry out, “Woe is me!” Not because our conduct has been defective, but our nature is undone.
Thus it was that Isaiah stood before Jehovah’s throne. And what place for a sinner to stand – no excuses there; no palliating circumstances; no qualifying clauses; no blaming of others or things. There is one object seen there; only one object seen in its guilt, wretchedness and ruin, and that object is self. It is all summed up in that solemn, weighty, suggestive word, “undone.” Yes; self is undone. That is all that can be said about it. Do what we might with it, we cannot make it out to be anything but a hopeless, undone thing; and the more speedily and thoroughly this is understood the better.
Many take a long time to learn this foundation truth. They have not, as it were, stood in the full blaze of the throne, and as a consequence have not been led to cry out, “I am undone,” with sufficient depth, emphasis or intensity. It is the glory that shines from the throne that evokes the cry from the depths of the soul.
All who have stood before that throne have given utterance to the same confession, and it will always be found that just in proportion to our experience of the light of the throne will be our experience of the grace of the altar. The two things invariably go together. In this day of grace, the throne and the altar are connected. In the Day of Judgment “the great white throne” will be seen without any altar. There will be no grace then. At that time, the ruin will be seen without the remedy, and the result will be eternal perdition. What an awful reality. Beware of having to meet the light of the throne without the provision of the altar.
This naturally conducts us to the second object in the interesting scene before us – the altar. The moment Isaiah gave utterance to the deep conviction of what he was he was introduced to the divine provisions of God’s altar. “Then flew one of the seraphim unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: and he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.”
Here we have the rich provisions of Jehovah's altar seen in immediate connection with Jehovah’s throne. The two things are intimately connected in the history and experience of every convicted and converted soul. The guilt detected by the throne is removed by the altar. If in the light of the throne one object is seen, namely, ruined, guilty, undone self; then, in the light of the altar, one object is seen, namely, a full, precious all-sufficient Christ. The remedy reaches to the full extent of the ruin, and the same light that reveals one reveals the other. This gives settled repose to the conscience.
God Himself has provided a remedy for all the ruin that the light of His throne has revealed. “This hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.” Isaiah was brought into personal contact with the sacrifice, and the immediate result was removal of all his iniquity – perfect purgation of all his sin.
Not a single spot remained. He could now stand in the light of that throne which had just detected and exposed his uncleanness and by that self-same light know assuredly that not a speck of uncleanness remained. The same light that manifested his sin also manifested the purging efficacy of the blood.
Such is the precious and beautiful connection between the throne and the altar – a connection that may be easily traced through the Holy Scriptures, from Genesis to Revelation, and through the history of God’s redeemed from Adam down to the present moment. All who have been truly brought to Jesus have experienced the throne’s convicting light and the altar’s peace-giving virtues. All have been made to feel their ruin and cry out, “I am undone!” and all have been brought into personal contact with the sacrifice – their sin purged.
God’s work is perfect. He convicts perfectly, and He purges perfectly. When He carries on His mighty work, there is nothing superficial. The arrow of conviction penetrates to the center of the soul, only to be followed by the divine application of that blood which leaves not a stain on the conscience; and the more deeply we are penetrated by the arrow, the deeper and more settled is our experience of the power of the blood. It is good to be thoroughly searched at the first – good to let the chambers of the heart be fully thrown open to the convicting action of the throne, because then we are sure to get a bolder grasp of that precious atoning blood that speaks peace to believing hearts.
Let us pause here for a moment and consider the peculiar style of the divine action in the case of the prophet.
We all know how much depends on the way a thing is done. A person may do someone a favor, but do it in such a style as to do away with the good of it.
In the scene before us we not only see a marvelous favor conferred, but conferred in such a way as to let us into the secrets of the bosom of God. The divine remedy was not only applied to Isaiah’s felt ruin, but it was applied in such a way as to let him know without doubt that the whole heart of God was in the application – “Then flew one of the seraphim unto me.” The rapidity of the movement speaks volumes. It tells us distinctly of Heaven’s intense desire to tranquillize the convicted conscience, bind up the broken heart and heal the wounded spirit. The energy of divine love gave swiftness to the seraphic messenger as he winged his way down from Jehovah’s throne to where a convicted sinner stood, confessing himself “undone.”
What a scene – one of those seraphim that with veiled face stood above Jehovah’s throne crying, “Holy, holy, holy,” passes from that throne to the altar, and from the altar down to the depths of a convicted sinner’s heart, there to apply the balmy virtues of a divine sacrifice. No sooner had the arrow from the throne wounded the heart than the seraph from the altar “flew” to heal the wound. No sooner had the throne poured forth its flood of living light to reveal to the prophet the blackness of his guilt than a tide of love rolled down on him from the altar and on its bosom bore away every trace of that guilt. Such is the style – such is the manner of the love of God to sinners. Who would not trust Him?
Desiring the welfare of our immortal souls, we pray that we all may earnestly ask the question: have we experienced the action of the throne and the altar? Have we retired from that false light the enemy flings around in order to prevent us from getting a true insight into our total ruin? Have we ever stood where Isaiah found himself when he cried out, “Woe is me! for I am undone”? Have we ever been brought to confess, “I have sinned”? (Job 33) Have we ever repented; have we been baptized for the remission of our sins? (Acts 2:38) If so, it is our privilege to enter into the rich enjoyment of all that Christ has done for us on the cross.
We do not need to see a vision. We do not need to see a throne, an altar, a flying seraph. We have the Word of God to assure us that “Christ suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God” (1 Pet. 3:18). That same Word, spoken by Jesus Himself, also assures us that “He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved” (Mark 16:16; NASB).
This is far better than many visions or many seraphim. Isaiah believed that when the angelic messenger told him so, his “iniquity was taken away, and his sin purged.” Likewise, should we not believe that Jesus died for us when the Word of God tells us so?
But perhaps one might say, “How can I know that Jesus died for me?” The answer is: in the way that anyone may know it – simply by the Word of God. There is no other way to know it. But one might still object, “I do not see my name in the Word of God.” No; and even if our names were mentioned it would not be sufficient, because there might be hundreds bearing our particular name. But we do see our state, character, and condition. With divine precision, we see our photograph flung on the page of inspiration by the action of that light which reveals all things.
Are we not sinners – deep-dyed and ruined sinners? If so, the death of Christ applies itself as perfectly to us as the “live coal” did to Isaiah when the seraph declared to him, “This hath touched thy lips.” The word is, “If any say I have sinned” – What then? I will send him to hell? No; but “he will deliver him.” When we take our true place crying out, “Undone!” and then obeying the Gospel, all that Christ has done, and all that He is becomes ours now and forever. Do we need to not make any effort to improve our own condition? No; our only requirement is to follow those blessed words of Jesus Christ: “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.” As this verse in Mark 16:16 points out, there are two things required to please the Lord, i.e.,believe and be baptized; but only one to bring about His disapproval, i.e.,not to believe.
To attempt a single effort at improvement other than what Jesus Christ has required is evidence that one does not know how incurably bad we are. We are “undone,” and, as such, we have to stand still and see the salvation of God – the foundation of which was wrought through the cross of Christ. A salvation the Holy Spirit reveals through the authority of that Word forever settled in Heaven, which God “has exalted according to all His name.” May the blessed Spirit lead us to put trust in the Words of Jesus Christ, that “iniquity is taken away, and your sin purged.”
We have seen the sinners complete ruin; we have seen the remedy in Christ; let us now consider the result, exhibited in whole-hearted consecration to the service of God. Isaiah had nothing to do for salvation, but he had plenty to do for his Savior. He had nothing to do in the purging of his sins, but plenty to do for the One who purged them. He gave the willing, ready expression of obedience to God when, on hearing that a messenger was needed, he exclaimed, “Here am I; send me.” This puts works in their proper place. The order is perfect. No one can do good works until he has, in some degree, experienced the action of the “throne” and the “altar.” The light of the former must show him what he is, and the provisions of the latter must show him what Christ is before he can say, “Here am I; send me.”
This is a settled, universal truth, established in Holy Scripture, and illustrated in the biography of the saints of God and servants of Christ in every age, in every condition. All have been brought to see their ruin in the light of the throne, to see the remedy in the provisions of the altar before they exhibit the result in a life of practical devotedness. All this is from God the Father, through God the Son, by God the Holy Spirit – to whom be all glory, world without end! Amen and Amen!
