Isaiah Chapter 6
GOD COMMISSIONS ISAIAH
Isaiah is a great book to give us a complete picture of God. As we proceed through this study we will see many aspects of the Holy One in Heaven. We see, among other things, His power, sovereignty, majesty, and justice.
For instance, in chapter one we saw God as the One who reasons with us to call us to repentance and offers forgiveness. In chapter two we saw God as the One who gives us His Word and who teaches us His ways. We heard His warning that if we persist in our pride and in worshiping idols, we will be humbled and the idols destroyed. Chapters three, four, and five focused on God as One who sees the oppression of His people and who will judge the rich and the proud who have reveled in drunkenness and dishonesty and oppressed the poor and humble.
We will also find that this book also has a lot of parallels to what is taking place in the USA today. The test of obedience for God’s people in the time of Isaiah, as it is today, is not outward religiosity, not just going to church on Sunday, but what you do on Monday through Saturday as well.
God is concerned about the contradiction between the outward religious actions of His people and their real lives, about the masks they wear and their real selves.
As we see who God is and how He deals with people, we can feel hope. In today’s study we find one of the central promises of Scripture. We will also see how two men had encounters with God and how each of them reacted. So let’s get right into chapters 6 and 7, starting with chapter 6.
Isaiah 6:1-13 NRSV:
1 In the year King Uzziah died (739 BC)[fn], I saw the Lord. He was sitting on a lofty throne, and the train of his robe filled the Temple. 2 Hovering around him were mighty seraphim, each with six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with the remaining two they flew.
3 In a great chorus they sang, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty! The whole earth is filled with his glory!”
4 The glorious singing shook the Temple to its foundations, and the entire sanctuary was filled with smoke.
5 Then I said, “My destruction is sealed, for I am a sinful man and a member of a sinful race. Yet I have seen the King, the Lord Almighty!”
6 Then one of the seraphim flew over to the altar, and he picked up a burning coal with a pair of tongs.
7 He touched my lips with it and said, “See, this coal has touched your lips. Now your guilt is removed, and your sins are forgiven.”
8 Then I heard the Lord asking, “Whom should I send as a messenger to my people? Who will go for us?” And I said, “Lord, I’ll go! Send me.”
9 And he said, “Yes, go. But tell my people this: ‘You will hear my words, but you will not understand. You will see what I do, but you will not perceive its meaning.’
10 Harden the hearts of these people. Close their ears, and shut their eyes. That way, they will not see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn to me for healing.”
11 Then I said, “Lord, how long must I do this?” And he replied, “Until their cities are destroyed, with no one left in them. Until their houses are deserted and the whole country is an utter wasteland.
12 Do not stop until the Lord has sent everyone away to distant lands and the entire land of Israel lies deserted.
13 Even if only a tenth—a remnant—survive, it will be invaded again and burned. Israel will remain a stump, like a tree that is cut down, but the stump will be a holy seed that will grow again.”
Isaiah speaks here of his encounter with the Holy God. He tells us how he was brought into the knowledge of being cleansed from sin, and how he heard and responded to the call of God to be His messenger to a rebellious people.
The year Uzziah died, 739 BC, was the beginning of Isaiah’s prophetic ministry. Isaiah is transported to the throne room of Heaven by a vision and sees the Lord upon His throne. The Seraphim give praise to the Triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, whose glory is made evident in all creation. “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of His glory.” The singing makes the whole Temple shake as if there were an earthquake. Isaiah is terrified and is sure he is going to die. The experience of someone actually seeing God would undoubtedly be a totally unsettling one and would undoubtedly make them acutely aware of their own unworthiness. It is difficult to say for certain exactly what Isaiah saw, but it is most likely that He saw Jesus on the throne because no one has seen God face to face (John 1:18; 1 Timothy 6:16). When Isaiah saw himself in the light of the holiness of the Triune God, he was immediately overcome with his sinful nature.
In response to Isaiah’s confession of sin in verse 5, one of the Seraphim took a burning coal from the altar of sacrifice and touched Isaiah’s lips with it saying that his sins were forgiven. If one’s lips are unclean, so is the heart. Some scholars believe this message is revealing that purification from sin and salvation comes through Him who would one day be the one offering for all sin throughout all of time. In other words that this scene represents that Jesus Christ is the One who will be the atoning sacrifice for sin when He goes to the cross. I like that kind of symbolism but I don’t know that I would go that far in interpreting that message here. This vision of God’s holiness vividly reminded Isaiah of his own unworthiness which deserved judgment. Isaiah’s vision made him painfully aware of his sin and probably drove him to his knees in complete repentance. In this way God prepared him for his cleansing and commission as a prophet.
I believe this scene represents a picture of forgiveness and salvation. The hot coal taken from the altar of incense is representative of God’s purifying work. It would seem that these verses are revealing to Isaiah that his sins are being forgiven, that he is being spiritually cleansed for special service to God, and that such forgiveness can only come as a gift from the Lord. Foretelling Jesus, the Messiah, as the only way to receive that gift will come soon enough in this book.
In verses 9-13 we see that Isaiah was commissioned to take this message to the people even though they would pay no attention either to him or his message. This message of truth would have no other effect on them but to harden them against it. Is God saying that He deliberately blinds people and condemns them? No, not at all. What He is saying is that the Word of God has this hardening and blinding effect on sinners who will not listen and yield to Him. Because of pride or stubbornness or both the truth found in the Bible makes unbelievers even more resistant. The sun that melts the ice also hardens the clay.
Christ Himself referred to Isaiah’s words here. Let’s read John 12:37-41, NIV:
37 Even after Jesus had done all these miraculous signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him.
38 This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet: "Lord, who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?"
39 For this reason they could not believe, because, as Isaiah says elsewhere:
40 "He has blinded their eyes and deadened their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor turn-- and I would heal them."
41 Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus' glory and spoke about him.
Note the downward steps: They would not believe in verse 37; therefore, they could not believe according to verse 39.
I know how Isaiah must have felt because that’s the feeling I have when I invite people to come and learn what God has to say through the Bible and they give me all kinds of reasons they don’t want to. None of which by the way make much sense.
But Isaiah was simply told to carry the message and like all of God’s servants, to know that the results of the mission must be left with God. Paul spoke of this when he spoke of being a sweet savor of Christ to God both in those who are saved and in those who perish (2 Corinthians 2:15). God is honored when His truth is preached, no matter what attitude the hearers take toward it, and that Word will not return void, but will accomplish the divine purpose as we’ll see later in Isaiah 55:10,11.
Faced with the solemn responsibility of proclaiming so unpopular a message, Isaiah asked the Lord how long he would have to do this. It takes special faith and obedience to continue to preach to a hostile audience who are only hardened by the Word instead of being softened by it. And the Lord told Isaiah to preach the message until there were none left to hear it.
“The stump” in verse 13 refers to the remnant of the people of Israel that are left. It might amount to only 10% or less. But this stump or remnant will produce the “Holy Seed,” which will one day produce the Messiah, Jesus Christ. Now let’s observe the second person who had an encounter with the Holy God.
