Engagement of Danielo Stegen & Agnes Klassen
Isaiah 6
1 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.
2 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.
3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.
4 And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.
5 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.
Isaiah was a scribe in the court of king Uzziah.
Uzziah was a very good king but when he became old he became proud and thought he could perform the duties of the priests. He thought that because he was king he could do anything. So God struck him with leprosy. He died a leper. It’s a tragedy when someone starts off well but ends badly. No, stay true till death.
So when king Uzziah died Isaiah saw this vision. He saw God on His throne. His throne wasn’t empty.
We read that the Lord’s train filled the temple, not just partially, but completely.
When Isaiah saw the Lord he realised his own iniquity and cried out because of it. So when the angel touched his lips with the burning coal his iniquity was forgiven. When Isaiah saw the Lord he also mentioned the iniquity of his nation, but he first saw his own sinfulness.
Revival starts with you personally and then others are touched.
Moses experienced the burning bush in the wilderness. That’s where He met God, saw his own sinfulness and unworthiness and where his ministry started.
Have you ever met the Lord in His holiness? When you experience God’s holiness it will shake you to the very core of your being.
When you are still full of criticism and slander it just shows that you have never met God in His holiness. You might be baptised, sing in the choir, partake of the Lord’s supper, but you have never met God in His holiness and you’re still lost.
You can speak to a person and try to convince him but unless he meets God in His holiness it will all be in vain.
Many parents pray that their children repent, but at the same time they justify their children when they do wrong. They do not recognise and admit that they are lost and on their way to hell.
Your engaged time should be holy, holy, holy as the seraphims cried out. Some criticise this holy way of getting engaged and married saying it is Zulu tradition, but they miss the point completely. They say that there are many ways to get engaged. Yes, there are other ways which lead to hell, but there’s only one way to heaven – there is only one way of holiness.
There are many ways in which young people flirt with each other but that is not the way of God, but of the world, of the heathen to get engaged and married in their lusts.
1 Thessalonians 4
4 That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour;
5 Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God:
So when young people get engaged it should be in a holy way that the seraphims can cry out “holy, holy, holy”, otherwise it is defiled and to be thrown into the fire.
We need true holiness. Those young people that want their way say that they only kiss or hold hands or write letters etc. but do not go further. No, that’s the way of the world. It must be three-times holy.
There’s nothing like the way of holiness where the bride and groom can stand before the altar knowing they have been cleansed by the Blood of the Lord Jesus and have led a pure life – that they are pure internally and externally, where nothing of the world clings to them.
Revelation 1
4 John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne.
Revelation 4
7 And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle.
8 And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.
9 And when those beasts give glory and honour and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever,
10 The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne.
What do these living creatures represent?
The early church fathers said that the four living creatures represent the four gospels.
The four gospels come together to give us a complete picture of who the Lord Jesus Christ really is. He is 100% man and 100% God.
Matthew refers to the Lord Jesus as the Lion, the king. In Matthew 56 times it refers to the kingdom and Lordship of the Lord Jesus.
Mark expresses the Lord Jesus as a calf or ox that carries our burdens and plows our hearts. It’s so symbolic of our Lord Jesus who carried our iniquities and burdens.
Luke refers to the Lord Jesus as the Son of man. 79 times the Lord Jesus is referred to as the son of man by dr Luke.
John refers to Jesus as an eagle coming down from Heaven, the Son of God. 52 times it refers to the Divine nature of Jesus that He is the “I am”.
These four creatures introduce us to Who the Lord Jesus is – so that we don’t get a watered down Gospel, but a complete picture of Who He really is. That we don’t only take one facet, His love, and make that out as Who God is.
Does your life proclaim this message of Who the Lord Jesus is? Does your life proclaim all the facets of the Lord? Does your life proclaim all His holiness?
Isaiah wasn’t just an ordinary prophet but what really made him great was that he met with the Lord. Have you met Him in His fullness and holiness?