Isaiah 6, and we'll commence our reading there, the first verse. The word of our God. In the year the king Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims, each one had six wings, With twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. At one cried unto another and said, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory. And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. Then said I, woe is me. 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. Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with 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. Also, I heard the voice of the Lord saying, whom shall I send and who will go for us? Then said I, here am I, send me. And he said, go and tell this people, hear ye indeed, but understand not and see indeed, but perceive not. make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes, lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed. Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered. until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate, and the Lord have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land. But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return and shall be eaten, as a teal tree and as an oak, whose substance is in them when they cast their leaves, so the holy seed, shall be the substance thereof. The word of our God, may he bless us under it this evening. We conclude this evening, our time in what undoubtedly is the most familiar episode in the prophecy of Isaiah, this being the temple vision. And our concern as we've taken up these several verses over the past several Lord's days, is to see how this text sets before us the very themes that we've encountered in the preceding chapters. What we find here friend is, yes, it is a vision of glory, but it is a vision of the glorious judge. The Lord God sits upon a throne, his train filling the temple and at either side of him and all around him are the seraphim, the burning ones. And these are those who will execute the judgment that was promised in the preceding chapters. They stand at the ready, at attention to do his bidding. And we've seen already that the prophet recognizes all of this. Friend, what you see here, as we see in the preceding verses of our text, verses six to eight, the prophet confesses himself undone. If he's to be judged, measured by the rigor of the law, he will be found wanting. And so he will be undone. The word there in the original being that for destruction. But then, friend, you notice that the man no longer crying about being undone and unclean. Once, friend, he has the gospel applied wondrously in the symbol that we have in our text. He cries, here am I, send me. When the Lord would have a man go as his delegate, who would be only for the Lord's, not serving another power, not another master, not himself, but would only be for the Lord's, the prophet says, now send me. And our text this evening concerns his commission. And beloved, as you look from the ninth to the 13th verse, you recognize that this commission is indeed one of judgment. This has been from the very start, a scene of impending judgment. And now the Lord sets before his servant, the prophet Isaiah, the reality that he is going to go into a field that will know the tokens of divine wrath. And that he as a prophet will even in a sense, because of the sinfulness of the people, be an instrument of that judgment. This is a scene of judgment. And in our text, as you look from the ninth verse, you find that verses nine and 10 is really a commission. where the Lord says that he sends the prophet out to preach, but rather than conversion, he will see hardening. And after the prophet is told that this is his commission, the 11th verse opens with a question, Lord, how long? And from the second line of that 11th verse to the 13th, the Lord gives answer. He gives an answer that both, friend, presages divine wrath and grace, both destruction and reviving. My friend, as you look at this text in its whole, you'll notice that really, friend, you and I are taken away for the time being from the glory of the preceding verses. And our focus shifts back to that familiar theme that this national church is now to be plunged under judgment. And friend, that certainly is a solemn theme. And our themes this evening are indeed solemn. But I want us to approach the text for the remainder of our time with a question in the back of our mind. And that is to Isaiah and to those who first heard this text, those who were faithful, Friend, what should they have taken from these verses? How should they have responded to this vision and to these scenes of desolation? I submit to you that that's a crucial question, not simply for historical purposes, but because it's so very applicable to our own day. But I trust that as we look at this text and with God's help, we'll see that we're not too far removed. from the themes that we take up tonight. But may it be by God's grace we see what we ought to see. If we were to distill these verses into a single theme, it wouldn't be very easy. If you'd like to do so, I suppose you could say that really this text holds forth that spiritual judgments ruin all but the elect. But it's not easy because really there are two themes that these verses hold forth. the theme of divine judgment and the theme of divine reviving. But let's take that as our main theme, that spiritual judgments ruin all but the elect. And friend, as we do so, I want you to notice that in the ninth verse, we are really treated to a description of what is this spiritual judgment. There you find in the prophet's commission, the Lord saying plainly, he says, go and then make the heart of this people fat. their ears heavy, their eyes blinded so that they cannot see. And friend, what you notice here is that this is something that is new. He is not describing what is the current condition of Judah. He is describing in this moment something that is to come. And we need to hold on to that for a moment because then in the very next line, you notice this. You notice that the Lord says he is commissioned thus, lest they see, lest they understand. I suppose as we look at this text, you might have the question, well, are they not already a faithless generation? Are they not already a people devoid of spiritual life, already a people who fail to repent? And so of course are not a people who are looking to the Lord Jesus Christ by faith. Are they not already a people blind in their sin? And the answer inevitably and indubitably is yes. They are a people impenitent. And we saw that in the preceding chapters. So what of this text? Why the language of the text that indicates something that is yet to come? One of our forebears, I think very helpfully puts it this way. Here the prophet is told that just as They were just as they were unwilling to understand or to perceive anything that might do them good. So now they will be as unable to understand or to perceive the same. In other words, friend, what this text holds forth is that though they were already darkened, there was greater darkness to come. Though they are already lacked, already lacked a spiritual understanding of these things, even a cultural sense of biblical religion would be lost. That natural light, that natural capacity that they might have had up to this point, the Lord says in this text, even that, that will go. What you see here, beloved, of course, is the reality that in God's wrath, he does remove light. from a nation under judgment, from a people under judgment. Hosea describes this quite poignantly. He says that the great things of my law, the Lord speaking through him, they were counted as a strange thing, as something foreign, as something that they could not understand, as though in a language utterly foreign to themselves. That's the plight of the people who perhaps once possessed light, but in God's wrath, friend, that light was removed. That understanding that they might have once possessed, even in a natural sense, that too is diminished so that they do not know in the things of God, their right hand from their left. That's what the prophet is being told here. you are going to set before them the truth. And increasingly, you will find a people that lack more and more understanding. Whatever natural capacity they had by God's common grace, it will be diminished. Friend, what you and I are told here then is that there is a national church in our text. that will be brought to a point where people will not know the first principles of religion. They might've had godly parents, godly grandparents, but friend, whatever understanding they might've had as natural men, the Lord says that his spiritual judgments will even leave them bereft of that. I said to you, I suppose, just a few moments ago, that this text seems quite contemporary. And friend, I don't think I'm the only one who can see our own society in these lines. We were once known as a people of the book. And at one stage, even the plowman could put to shame some of the theologians on the continent. And now, friend, how few know their right hand from their left. Even those who, beloved, had godly grandparents, how little understanding remains among us. Beloved, it would be wrong for us not to see that as spiritual judgment. But I want you to notice that not only does this text give us a description of what is spiritual judgment, you also notice here that in the 11th verse, a question is posed by the prophet, and that is how long? How long will this continue? And I suppose there is a temptation for us to read in these lines, these three words, really just the prophet's sense of grief. his sense of love for his fellow neighbor and a real longing that they might be saved. All of which I think you and I can expect and even assume of a godly man. But friend, we needn't read the prophet's emotional life into the text to understand the question. Because the prophet at the end of the day, he's not saying how terrible, he's asking how long. And those are two very distinct things. In fact, as you look at the question, you notice that really, the question isn't even about the prophet's commission. How long will I be engaged in this work? That's not his question at all. Friend, the answer that is given to the prophet in the verses that follow indicate that in fact, the question is not how long will I be employed in the work? He's not asking how long will my commission last, but rather he is asking how long will this judgment linger? How long will it be that this people will be plunged into greater and greater darkness? How long? What you notice in the following verses is the Lord describes for the prophet, things that the prophet will not see. In fact, even things that the prophet and the generations that follow the prophet, they will not see. The question is important because behind the question is a friend, it's a presupposition that these things cannot and they will not always be. I think we could lose that as we read the text, but we mustn't. After hearing that these people will be plunged into greater and greater confusion, will be under greater and greater hardening. The prophet knows that there is a limit. How long? How long? What you find in the answer that follows is the Lord saying that the first answer is it will last until temporal judgments have brought general desolation. You see that as you look again at the 11th verse, you notice here that the Lord describes what is to come. After this great period of hardening, he says that then will come temporal judgments that will lead to the desolation of the nation. That's the first part of the Lord's answer. There's a second, and we'll take that up in a minute, but I want us to linger here at the first part. The first answer the Lord provides is that this spiritual judgment described in verses nine and 10 presages temporal. When you see a nation plunged so, friend, the scriptures bear out that ordinarily that nation will then encounter great desolation, even annihilation. The scriptures hold this out to us not only in the example of Israel. You remember in Genesis 15, there the divine historian Moses tells us that the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full. And so therefore the Lord did not destroy them. But I want you to notice the language. He's saying, it was not yet as bad as it had become, but the Lord would leave them. They would continue in sin. until they were ripe, and then annihilation would follow. Note, friend, the order. They would continue and they would increase in sinning until the time of their annihilation. This is not only, friend, found in cases of nations. You see this in the scriptures with regard to individuals. You see this, I suppose, most poignantly, most directly in the case of Pharaoh. In Exodus 14, which is quite significant, he says, the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he pursued after the children of Israel to his demise. It's a very simple illustration, but one that certainly holds with our text. Pharaoh's spiritual hardening presaged and preceded his temporal ruin. And beloved, the scriptures hold this out to us in so many ways, but perhaps one of the ways that's most illustrative is that of the idea of a cup, a cup of wrath that is being filled. And friend, one of the ways in which that is filled is as a people are made hardened. And then when that cup is at its fullness, as we find with the Amorites, as the apostle even describes with regard to his own nation, the Jews. He says, when that comes, then the expectation is ruined. Friend, what you and I see in this text again is something solemn. What the church then was told is certainly something that you and I already hear as well. When you find such judgment, when you find such tokens of wrath, If the Lord does not prevent with great reviving, and you are to take those spiritual hardenings as so many harbingers of a coming temporal ruin. That's exactly how the church was supposed to read it then. But that's only the first answer that the Lord provides for the prophet. The second answer, and we close with this, that which you have in the 13th verse. Now, friend, the scene has already been set for us. The Lord says that you will encounter a people whose eyes will be shut, whose ears will be heavy, who will not hear. And then as they continue in that darkness, they will then meet general desolation. But he says in verse 13, yet in it shall be a tenth and it shall return and shall be eaten. As a teal tree and as an oak whose substance is in them when they cast their leaves, so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof." Now, the language of this here is quite graphic. It's very illustrative. The language, first of all, is supposed to evoke the image of a great tree. In fact, the word translated in our text, a teal tree, is simply the word in the Hebrew, atha, which is a great tree. You're supposed to imagine a tree whose branches span great distances, whose leaves form an incredible canopy, a tree that has lasted, as it were, for hundreds of years, who survived many winters, stood withstood great gales. She stood and she stood as a fixture on the horizon, a fixture in the sky, and then all of a sudden she's cut down. Her limbs no longer can be seen. A great canopy no longer provide shade. In a moment, this great, this great tree that once stood, it's utterly reduced, brought to a stump. A friend that, That, says the prophet, or the Lord rather, is precisely what will happen to Judah. This once great national church will be reduced to a stump. But, he says, a 10th will remain. To continue, friend, the illustration, the idea is that then, as you watch the stump, you notice that over time, you see a shoot. And that sprout grows into a sapling. But it's a sapling that is only a 10th of the former glory that the tree once was. And then he says, and that shall be. And that shall be. The very last line, It calls us not to the great tree that has been cut down. It calls us not to the sapling that has been eaten, but it calls us to a single seed. Just looking at the language that's deployed here, you recognize, friend, the language is indicating a great diminishing. Step by step, the tree is reduced till finally all that you have of it is a seed. but the holy seed shall remain. Therein is the substance, therein is the life of the tree to be found." Now friend, this happened historically. It happened just well over a century after this moment or thereabouts. Whenever you have Babylon's first incursion into Judah, there you have the great tree taken down. And then after the return from exile, you have the sapling grow up once again, not even as we read from Haggai 2, not to its former glory, as symbolized in the second temple. But friend, even that was cut down, wasn't it? Whenever the church underage, the church of the Jews rejected the Messiah, she has made a nation no more. But the promise here is that there would be a seed. My friend, what is the significance of a seed? The significance of a seed is not in its size, obviously. The significance in a seed is its germinating potential. The significance of a seed is that it will turn into something else. And so it's legitimate, friend, to ask even of this text, what becomes of the seed? A friend, if you think back to our communion season just a few weeks ago, that one of the texts that answers that was that which we took up. Hosea 14. We're told that the church then shall cast forth his roots as Lebanon, his branches shall spread. And they that dwell under his shadow shall return. They shall revive as the corn and grow as the vine. She will not always be so small. Now friend, we can discuss, I suppose, at another time, how we're supposed to understand the seed. Some commentators take this to be the election that is still for the Church of the Jews. The promises that still belong that she will one day be re-engrafted. We could even perhaps talk as other exegetes do of a believing remnant, a small, almost unnoticeable remnant among the Jews that had turned to the Lord Jesus Christ. We can take either, But for our purposes this evening, friend, I want you just to notice, I want you to notice the pattern that's in the text. The church that received this first of all, the prophet who was to preach this first of all was told that there will be darkness, and then there will be greater darkness, and then there will be a reduction, and then there will be a greater reduction. And then all that is left is infinitesimal in comparison with what had gone before. But it will live. And friend, the sense of this text, and it will revive. Beloved, as you read through the Scriptures, you recognize that this is indeed how God often deals with His own. Beloved, As you read throughout the scriptures, how many examples could you reduce to show this very thing? That the Lord intervenes and creates a great reviving, a great growth for his people only after it seems as though it is darker than recovery. It is harder, nigh impossible to imagine any kind of reviving or return. But that's precisely what the church under age was told in this text. Yes, expect a great reduction, a great darkness, but preservation will remain. And beloved as we read from Hosea 14, and even great growth thereafter. Friend, as we close our time this evening, I want you to notice that this text is a text of judgment, but is a text of comfort for the people of God. It is a comfort for us as a corporate body. Beloved, you and I, we look around us and we do see darkness on every side, especially as we consider what the Lord has wrought in these lands even centuries before. Beloved, remember this text and remember the congregation who heard it first. Though there indeed would be great darkness, a great reduction, God would intervene so as to demonstrate that all the glory belongs to him. It is his ordinary way of dealing with the church. So that all would know that his hand and his hand alone has rescued his people. Beloved, a reviving will come, we're promised, the nations will come. But beloved, it will come in such a way as only to magnify the omnipotence, the wisdom and the grace of God. And so there is no cause for despair that we see these very things in our land. But not only for us corporately, for us as individual believers, beloved, we ought to recognize that the Lord deals with national churches in very much an analogous way as he deals with individuals. I suppose it almost would seem beyond the need to mention, but the apostle himself says this. In words that are well known to us, my strength, Christ says to him, is made perfect in weakness. Beloved, it is the ordinary way of God's dealing with his people to bring them into a lower and lower place so that his redemption would be magnified. And so friend, as you look at that 13th verse and you see reduction and you see diminishing, oh beloved, remember the text, remember what is given to the apostle Paul, that it is the Lord's strength that is made perfect in such cases. in the case of his church collectively, in the case of the lives of individual believers. I don't know if you're being reduced at the minute. I don't know if you feel like yourself under a great trial or a great affliction that is bringing you far less than what you once were. But beloved, I know even from this text, this is how the Lord deals with his own, so that he receives all glory. The exhortation then from this text, and that which certainly belongs to the church who first heard and to us who hear it now, is we are to mourn when we see these tokens of spiritual judgment in a nation. Westminster Larger Catechism makes it very plain. To be insensible under judgment is an aggravated sin. So we mustn't be insensible when we see these very things around us. We're to mourn for them. Ezra, is brought to a point where he's speechless as he mourns over the guilt, the national guilt of his people. And so should we. But beloved, our text also reminds us that our mourning must never be that of despair. God's cause and so his church will prevail. No matter how great the reduction, friends, she will prevail. Our calling then, as it was for the prophet Isaiah, as it was for the congregation who heard this text initially, was to be those who keep their garments clean in a declining day, who seek to study faithfulness, who seek to be faithful even as they see these things around them. Beloved, may it be that that indeed is our aim, that we mourn, but we do not despair. that we labor, and we labor as well to be faithful in this place to which God has called us. And beloved, may we do so, knowing indeed that the victory has already been secured in Christ. Amen.