What Did Isaiah See?
Isaiah 6:1-7 — Easter Sunday, April 5, 2026
Seven hundred and fifty years before Jesus walked the earth, a prophet named Isaiah saw his glory. This morning we explore how the resurrection of Christ — and the vision of Isaiah — are woven together across centuries of redemptive history.
It Is Passover Week
Passover commemorates the night in Exodus when God told Israel: take a lamb, spread its blood on your doorpost, and the destroying angel will pass over you. Those under the blood were led through the waters of death to life — to the foot of Mount Sinai, into the very presence of God.
On Passover Friday, hundreds of lambs were being slaughtered in the Temple, their blood running down the altar — even into the Kidron brook, turning it red. All the while, Jesus, the Lamb of God, was led outside the city, lifted up on a cross, and crucified.
The story of the gospel is God's grace meeting us where we are in order to show us his love.
The Cross: Lifted Up
Isaiah 52–53 Foretold It
The servant "will be high and lifted up" via suffering. He was "despised and rejected by men… pierced for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities." Out of the anguish of his soul, he would make many to be accounted righteous.
The Greatest Anguish
From noon to 3 o'clock, darkness covered the earth — emblematic of God's wrath being poured out. Jesus did not cry out about physical pain, but from the anguish of his soul: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" — the horror of separation from the Father.
Yet no one took his life. In John 10 Jesus said: "I lay it down of my own accord." When every debt of sin and death was paid, he cried, "It is finished," and gave up his spirit.
Three Days: Death, Rest, and Resurrection
1
Friday — Day 1
Jesus crucified and laid in a borrowed tomb. The sun goes down.
2
Saturday — Day 2
The Sabbath. Jesus rests in the tomb. As God rested on the seventh day of creation, Jesus rested — even in death, perfectly keeping the law.
3
Sunday — Day 3
Jewish rabbis taught that on the third day, death is irrevocable and cannot be rolled back. Until Jesus came.
The end of Saturday was not just the end of a week — it was the end of an era of redemptive history. Sunday was the first day of a new week, a new epoch.
He Is Not Here — He Has Risen
"After the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb… the angel said, 'Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said.'" — Matthew 28:1–6
When the stone was rolled back and Jesus walked out of that tomb, the Father declared: Sacrifice accepted. Jesus found worthy. Death is defeated. He becomes the firstborn among many brothers — and all who trust in him are united to his death and his resurrection.
Isaiah Saw His Glory
In John 12:41, the apostle makes an extraordinary statement: "Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him." Isaiah — writing 750 years before Christ — had seen the very glory and form of Jesus.
The historical legitimacy of Isaiah is irrefutable. We have manuscript copies dating back 2,300 years. The Isaiah Scroll discovered at Qumran is real archaeological history. And the book's accuracy was confirmed when archaeologists in Khorsabad, Iraq uncovered a vast 200-room palace — emblazoned with the name Sargon II, the very Assyrian king Isaiah named, who lived 721–705 BC.
Isaiah's Christocentricity
- Isaiah 7:14 — Born of a virgin
- Isaiah 9:6 — A child born, mighty God himself
- Isaiah 9:7 — Of the line of David
- Isaiah 52–53 — The suffering servant
- Isaiah 6 — The glorified, risen Christ
Jesus Applied Isaiah to Himself
In Luke 4:16–20, Jesus entered the synagogue in Nazareth, was handed the Isaiah scroll, and read: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me… to proclaim good news to the poor… liberty to the captives… the year of the Lord's favor."
He sat down — a posture of completion — and with all eyes fixed on him, declared: "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." The Messiah spoken of by Isaiah stood before them. In John 12:32, Jesus also claimed Isaiah 52 for himself: "When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to myself."
Isaiah 6: The Vision of the Throne Room
"In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up… Above him stood the seraphim… And one called to another: 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.' And the foundations of the threshold shook… And I said: 'Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips… for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.'" — Isaiah 6:1–5
The Throne
The Lord seated — high and lifted up — the same phrase used of the suffering servant and of Jesus on the cross. One person, one glory.
The Seraphim
Burning ones of overwhelming power — two wings to fly, two to cover their face before God's glory, two to cover their feet in humility. Crying antiphonally: Holy, holy, holy.
The Threefold Holy
The only place in all of Scripture where an attribute of God is trebled — Kadosh, kadosh, kadosh. Utterly separate, transcendent, pure, perfect. Likely a reference to the Trinity.
Isaiah's Response
"Woe is me, for I am lost." In the light of God's holiness, our sin is exposed. We are laid bare before his majesty.
The Altar and the Atonement
The Coal from the Altar
A seraph flew to Isaiah with a burning coal taken with tongs from the altar — the angel unworthy to touch it directly. He touched Isaiah's lips: "Your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for."
This is the altar of burnt offering — where the lamb was sacrificed, the blood spilled, the wrath of God fully consumed the offering. The coals still burned hot, meaning the sacrifice's power had not dimmed. Whatever was offered here fully and finally atoned — otherwise Isaiah could not stand before God.
Earthly sacrifices had to be repeated year after year. This sacrifice was different. It atoned completely, granting access to the very presence of God.
The Answer: Hebrews 9
"When Christ appeared as high priest… he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves, but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption." — Hebrews 9:11–12
After the crucifixion and resurrection, Jesus — fully human via the virgin birth, fully divine — entered not the earthly temple but the heavenly throne room itself. With hands, feet, and side pierced, he stood before his Father and placed his offering on the altar of heaven.
"Christ has entered… into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf." — Hebrews 9:24
And the Father declared: Sacrifice accepted. That altar smolders for all eternity — the only thing that atones, the only thing that grants access to God. "He always lives to make intercession." (Hebrews 7:25)
What Isaiah Actually Saw
Isaiah did not merely see a suffering servant. He saw the end of the story — a living, resurrected, victorious Christ seated on the throne, high and lifted up, with heaven's altar still burning with the power of his completed sacrifice.
He Saw the Cross
Isaiah 52–53: the servant lifted up, despised, pierced, crushed — bearing our iniquities.
He Saw the Resurrection
Hebrews 10:12 — "When Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God." Isaiah saw him seated, alive, victorious.
He Saw the Eternal Intercession
The smoldering altar — Christ's sacrifice burning for all eternity as continuous intercession for all who believe.
Stabilized and Propelled
Why God Gave Isaiah the Vision
King Uzziah had died. Geopolitical uncertainty loomed. Isaiah — an educated courtier and ambassador — sensed the angst of an unknown future. Sound familiar?
God said: Isaiah, I'm going to show you the end. I'm going to show you the victory. The one who is to come will not stay dead — he will be living.
And Isaiah left that vision stabilized and propelled: "Lord, I will go — because I've seen that my Savior lives, that my God is undefeated."
The Same Vision Propels Us
A vision of the resurrection — from 750 years before Christ — propels the church forward today. Because of the cross, because of the empty tomb:
- Because he lives, I can face tomorrow
- That sacrifice forever smolders with power for all eternity
- United to his death, our sins are paid for
- United to his resurrection, we shall live forevermore
"By a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified." — Hebrews 10:14
Where Are You With God?
A young man had the courage to say: "I am an atheist and I don't believe what you're saying. Please pray for me." Praise God for his honesty. What about you?
Atonement is granted to those who cry out — in the majesty of God — "I am undone. I am a sinner in need of a Savior. I bring nothing. I cast myself upon him." If you answer the question "How are you made right with God?" in the first person — because I had faith, because I go to church, because I am a good person — you have missed it.
Our only hope in standing before God is not in ourselves, but outside of ourselves — in what Jesus has done.
If you have not yet trusted in Christ, come forward. Let us pray with you and share from God's Word how you might be saved. Because one day Jesus is coming again — do not wait.