When King Uzziah died, Israel was faced with an empty throne - but in Isaiah 6 the prophet's famous words told a different story: "In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted." The throne that matters most is not the one inhabited by Prime Ministers, Presidents, Kings, Queens, Emperors, Corporate Interests, or Billionaire power players. It is the one occupied by the one who is Holy, Holy, Holy.
That vision of God enthroned defined the way Isaiah saw the world, the Empire, his people and the future. This is the God who contradicts the impossible, who transforms weapons into horticultural implements, who invites the nations to walk in ways of justice and will one day judge between the nations. War, enmity, hatred, oppression, power without restraint - these are not the final reality. That ultimacy belongs to God.
Soon we will hear again the Advent words of Isaiah, but they are not just for Christmas: "The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned...For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Isaiah is a good companion on a day like this. "Swords into ploughshares, nations walking in the light of the Lord, the rule of the Prince of Peace...Comfort, comfort my people...and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all humanity will see it together...They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength...they shall mount up on wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint...you shall go out with joy, and be led forth in peace." Amen to words so subversive of despair with the way the world is.
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