Where Are You, God?
Isaiah 6:1-2, 5
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying.
Isaiah is ushered into God's throne room when the one dearest to him died who was considered Israel's spiritual advisor, leader, and Isaiah's close friend. He spots the Lord immediately and sees something else too. The text points out the seraphim above the throne. The word seraphim may be singular indicating an audience of only one. Thus, these angels' created purpose is to be messengers of God. They are doing three very specific actions. The hiding their feet signifies hiding the divine assignment, or the message given the seraphim to bear. Isaiah 52:7 mentions the "beautiful on the mountains" feet of those "who proclaim salvation." Christ, also being a messenger of the gospel, was crucified and resurrected with nail prints in his hands and feet. By covering the feet, they cover God's divine purpose and mission for those created beings. Two wings covered their face because no man can see the face of God and live due to the light of his glory. This same glory is reflected on the face of those nearest him as seen in Exodus 34:29 when Moses face shone with the glory of God. The angels in the vision covered their faces because they did not want Isaiah to focus on them but rather on the presence of God. The angels were not the objects of worship, but rather the God who created them. With two wings they flew showing swiftness to fulfill God's divine purpose. The flying wings represent mastery over the winds of the earth. The Father is the master of the these winds; he "makes his angels spirits" and his ministers a "flame of fire" in Hebrews 1:7.
Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty."
Isaiah, a living man, could not see the face of God since "no man can see God and live" per Exodus 33:20. He only beheld his glory here in the vision and through it saw God. Isaiah sees God then seated on his throne. In Revelation 2:1 God now walks among the candlesticks representing the seven churches before the altar of God. When Revelation 22:2 is done and the tribulations endured, God can be found by the river running through the new garden where the trees bearing fruit grow for the healing of the nations. Before the tree of the eternal life he now stands unlike that angel guarding the tree in the cursed garden long ago. He alone is "the way, the truth, and the life" according to John 14:6. The reason for guarding the tree of eternal life was to cause his creation to seek himself rather than chase after that thing itself. In the end when the church joins Christ, they will be joining the source of eternal life - the very thing that was once denied. For then, the church will no longer seek either eternal life or the knowledge of good and evil but rather Christ himself. In the seeking and in the finding of him, they gain both Heaven and earth.