Uzziah had a promising beginning as Judah’s king. He would become Judah’s longest tenured king. As the years went on, however, his heart was lifted up with pride and he attempted to do what only the priests were qualified to do. The Lord struck him with leprosy. He eventually died, isolated and alone as a leper (2 Chr. 26:16-23).
The prophet Isaiah was most likely a relative to King Uzziah. In the year that Uzziah died, Isaiah had a vision of the Lord. God’s presence began to fill the Temple. This was not an ordinary event. The very presence that could heal, and restore was resting upon the mercy seat. The prophet was experiencing the very glory that would fill the Tabernacle and Temple when the blood was shed and applied for atonement.
Isaiah had seen the Lord high and lifted up, sitting upon an everlasting throne that had never been unoccupied. Judah’s throne was briefly empty and the people’s hearts were empty because the longest reigning king in their history was dead.
Isaiah heard the seraphim crying “holy, holy, holy.” God’s holiness was more radiant than the gold which lined the Temple. God’s train filled the Temple, but God’s holiness filled the praise of the angelic beings. The awesomeness of God’s holiness overwhelmed Isaiah. As Isaiah wiped the smoke from his dried out eyes, his vision was no longer upon the Lord but upon himself.
As Isaiah’s vision shifted to himself, he cried out as a leper would “Woe is me! I am undone, I am lost, because I am unclean!” Isaiah recognized his sinful and broken nature. Unlike Uzziah’s prideful heart, that the Lord rejected, Isaiah’s heart was contrite and broken over his sin, and the Lord healed him.
In this day and hour we need a heavenly vision of God’s holiness. Our holiness should not be measured against other people’s holiness. Rather, our holiness should be measured by God’s standard of holiness. If we were to catch a vision of God’s holiness and glory, we would recognize how sinful and broken we truly are. Thankfully, God will not leave us in that poor condition, but He will touch and cleanse us.