The Material Fleeting: the Spiritual Enduring
Isaiah 6:1-13
In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the LORD sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.…


I spent a little time in the old castle at Stifling, and in one of the rooms of the tower were two curiosities which riveted my attention. In one corner of the room was an old time worn pulpit. It was John Knox's pulpit, the pulpit from which he used to proclaim so faithfully the message of the King: In the opposite corner were a few long spears, much corrupted by rust, found on the field of Banncokburn, which lies just beyond the castle walls. John Knox's pulpit on the one hand, the spears of Bannockburn on the other! One the type of material forces, forces of earth and time; the other the type of spiritual forces, forces of eternity and heaven. The spears, representative of King Uzziah; the pulpit, representative of the Lord. Which symbolises the eternal? The force and influence which radiated from that pulpit will enrich and fashion Scottish character when Bannockburn has become an uninfluential memory, standing, vague and indefinite, on the horizon of a far distant time.

(J. H. Jowett, M. A.)



Parallel Verses
KJV: 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.

WEB: In the year that king Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up; and his train filled the temple.




The Making of a Prophet
Top of Page
Top of Page