Uzziah Must Not Die!

UZZIAH MUST NOT DIE!

By Ezekiel Kimosop

Must Uzziah die? I guess someone may quickly say Yes, Uzziah must die!

Here is the truth....

Contrary to popular teaching, Isaiah 6:1 does not teach that Uzziah stood in the way of the calling of prophet Isaiah and that God had to strike him dead in order for Isaiah to receive his calling to ministry!

Uzziah's death was merely a coincidence of sorts. Most Jewish readers of Isaiah's day knew exactly  when King Uzziah died and could therefore identify precisely when Isaiah was called to ministry. This may not make sense to secondary readers of Scripture like us who are reading the Scripture nearly 2,700 years later!

The calling of Isaiah was the main idea here. The passage of Isaiah 6:1-6 goes on to describe the majesty of God's glory that was revealed to the prophet as he ministered in the temple. No attention is paid to Uzziah in the passage.

God's message to Isaiah was candid: He was looking for someone to speak on His behalf among the disobedient and sinful people of which Isaiah was part (Isaiah 6:5).

Isaiah offered to take that role and God graciously granted it to him. God therefore cleansed his sinful lips so that His word would be effectual through this human vessel (cf 2 Timothy 2:15-21).

Are you willing to speak the mind of God in our generation? The solution is to submit to God's cleansing so that you may discern the mind of God and speak His message plainly.

Isaiah rightfully discerned the divine distance between a holy, righteous God and a sinful and rebellious people. He sought to bridge the gap. He was passionate for righteousness.

We too can emulate this great prophet even though, as Scripture rightly says, "we are all as an unclean thing and our righteousnesses are as filthy rags" (Isaiah 64:6).

Without the atonement that we have in Christ, our message of the cross would be ineffectual, a religion devoid of power.

Glory be to God for He has redeemed us in Christ by granting us legal justification in the presence of God and entrusting the gospel message to us.

This gives us the confidence in proclaiming Christ in a wicked world, having ourselves experienced His divine grace at Calvary.

Yes, Uzziah must not die...but die, he did... The death of a mortal does not obviate or circumvent the purposes of God, neither does it hinder His voice...

Now watch this....

Just consider someone saying that they were born the same year that Kenya attained Independence from Britain. The idea here is to know that they were born in 1963....

My view is that to teach that Uzziah must die is to misrepresent biblical truth and to mishandle the passage of Isaiah 6:1-6.

Once again, my view is that King Uzziah did not have to die so that Isaiah could receive his calling to ministry. The King did die in God's appointed time, just as we would, as Christ shall tarry.

To his credit, Uzziah was a righteous king who served the LORD with diligence though, like us, he made some mistakes and failed God's divine standards.

The LORD dealt with him for his excesses but ultimately counted him righteous, just as He did for King David despite his many failings (Acts 13:22).

The truth is that God NEVER treats us as our sins deserve! He is exceeding gracious and His compassions fail not (Lamentations 3:22).

Scripture declares in 2 Chronicles 26:3-5 that Uzziah did that which was right in the eyes of the LORD. This was a statement that surmarized God's view of the life of this faithful monarch.

We should therefore not contradict the word of God in an effort to get a "nice" and captivating sermon topic!

Let the Scriptures speak in context and in whole.

Uzziah must not die!