The Foundation of the Church

     Conviction is when a sinful man is declared guilty of an offense against God. With conviction man is without excuse as evidenced from the creation  (Rom 1:20). Essentially disbelief is not excusable because the evidence of God is seen in the complexity and beauty of the creation. Not only did God create the heaven and the earth (Gen 1:1) but Hell is thought to be in the Third Heaven separated from Paradise by a chasm. Paradise was seen. Mankind was there! It's easier to believe in Heaven because it once existed on earth and was seen by at least two people. Hell is in the region of things unseen. Because Heaven and Hell share the same region, as Heaven is for real, so is Hell! 

Secrets of Enoch 10:1 And those two men (angels) led me up on to the Northern side, and showed me there a very terrible place, and (there were) all manner of tortures in that place: cruel darkness and unillumined gloom, and there is no light there, but murky fire constantly flaming aloft, and (there is) a fiery river coming forth, and that whole place is everywhere fire, and everywhere (there is) frost and ice, thirst and shivering, while the bonds are very cruel, and the angels (spirits) fearful and merciless, bearing angry weapons, merciless torture, and I said: 2 Woe, woe, how very terrible is this place.

     The sacred writings correspond with Scripture:

Luke 16:22 And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; 23 And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom... 26 And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.

     Hell is for real! Conviction is that one is guilty of crimes against God and man, and deserves death (Rom 1:32). Hell is the prison in which those who deserve death are locked up and tormented. Scripture refers to Hell as where mankind perishes or spiritually dies (John 3:16). Unfortunately, perishing is an eternal process because the soul never dies; it is either rewarded or punished forever!     Fear of the Lord sentencing after conviction leads to repentance. Of course, repentance is not efficacious unless it results from contrition. Thus, sorrow makes repentance sufficient.  The following verse demonstrates God's grace on Isaiah:

Isa 6:5 Then said I (Isaiah), Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean Se lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. 6 Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: 7 And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.

     Isaiah was guilty and felt it. "Woe is me!" Isaiah expressed sorrow for his unclean lips. A glimpse of Jesus, "the King" in Scripture (above) brought Isaiah to repentance. He saw Jesus before Jesus was ever born!  The seraphim who sing "Holy, Holy, Holy" one brought a live coal from off the altar. That angelic chorus is called "the Trisagion". "Holy" thrice represents the Holy Trinity! Isaiah was confronted by the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - Jehovah, the Lord of Hosts (of the angelic armies).
     Hot coals represent destroying the evil of which punishment is due and replacing it with righteousness. The altar represents the Cross. The seraphim removed Isaiah's sins with tong's, it is supposed, so as not to desecrate God's grace since only God can destroy sin!
     The prophets were part of the foundation of the Christian Church. Here we find Isaiah established as part of the Church and the King the Cornerstone:

Ephes 2:19 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; 20 And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; 21 In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord...

     The "fellow citizens" are Christians in the Kingdom of God (the household). Christians are stones laid upon  the prophets of whom Isaiah was the foremost, and the apostles. The King (Jesus) being the chief Cornerstone of the Church. Together we are the "holy temple of the Lord" or the Church!
     Isaiah chapter 6 is the foundation being laid with the conversion of Isaiah. Talk about a "Plan". God planned the Church and Isaiah was poured early on, even before the apostles!