LESSON 5
ISAIAH 6
Isaiah 6 is one of the most interesting and awesome experiences in Holy Scripture. Isaiah is a prophet of God by the call and will of God and not because he chose to be a prophet. It is interesting that he opens his book with an overall outline in chapter one and then gives a prophetic message in chapters 2-5 covering the early part of his ministry. Probably around 740 B. C., Uzziah died following a fifty-two year reign. Uzziah in many ways was a good king and Judah to this day has never regained its position among the prosperous nations of the world. Uzziah allowed success to go to his head and in pride suffered a tragic downfall in II Chronicles 26:16 when he went into the temple and performed a priestly function. God struck him down with leprosy, and he spent the last years of his life in isolation living in a home built just for him. Uzziah’s son reigned as regent prince for twelve years before his father’s death. Uzziah is now dead, and the nation was in a state of spiritual and moral decay. Isaiah does what all of us should do when faced with overwhelming sense of doom. He goes to the temple and comes face to face with the Lord of creation.
Isaiah must have entered the temple with the right attitude, which is humility and a deep sense of his own unworthiness. God chooses to meet him and commissions him as a prophet in a very dynamic manner. To the careful student of God’s Word, this is not something new. Abraham on the plains of Mamre had an encounter with God in (Genesis 18:1-3). Jacob wrestled with God in a form of a man in Genesis 32:24-30. Moses saw the Lord in the burning bush in Exodus 3:4. In Philippians 2:7, God manifested Himself in Christ. In fact, John 10:30 declares, “I and my Father are one.” It would seem that Isaiah’s vision is so profound that the Lord in His majesty sits in the heavenly temple which encompasses and fills the whole earth. Isaiah sees seraphims, an order of angels whose name carries the meaning of fiery angels. The cherubims referred to in Scripture protected God’s holiness and seem to be passive. The seraphims served God and executed His will in an active manner. They cried, “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of host: the whole earth is full of His glory.” Smoke and fire on many occasions signified the presence of God as at Mount Sinai.
The effect on Isaiah is one we should consider with great care in our day when reverence and respect has reached an all time low. What many call “worship” does not fit into this scene. Isaiah was one of the Godliest men of his time, chosen by God to be a prophet. When we truly see God, we too will cry out, “Woe is me.” Isaiah explains the reason why he felt this way, because of his own sin and his people’s sinfulness. The second reason given is, “Mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of host.” No one can stand in God’s presence without an awareness of his/her sinfulness. To see the Lord is the most humbling experience we can have as human beings.
As Isaiah confesses his own sinfulness, one of the seraphims takes a live coal from the alter and touches the lips of Isaiah. The alter of sacrifice looked forward to the cross as judgment burned itself out on the offering. Christ once and for all offered Himself as our sacrifice for sin. As the coals touched Isaiah’s lips, he heard those words, “Thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin is purged.” The response from Isaiah was immediate when he heard the voice of God saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Notice carefully the word us, for this refers to the trinity of God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. Isaiah cries out, “Here am I, send me.” The key here is those who follow the call of God must do so voluntarily. I challenge you to willingly serve God, for He accepts no one but those who serve from a willing heart.
The prophet’s commission is found in Isaiah verse 9-10. Isaiah had a heart breaking task ahead of him as he knew they would hear but would not understand. They would not respond to God’s message and thus would find themselves spiritual blind and deaf. When a person or nation turns their back on God, the heart becomes callous and hard to the point where there is no return or cure. In Genesis 6:3 we read, “The Lord said, “my spirit shall not always strive with man.” This is not a message the people of Isaiah’s day wanted to hear and not one that is preached in our generation. The result of turning away is callousness, and leads to the land being devastated and the people being removed. The penalty of sin is total devastation to a person individually and a nation collectively.
This chapter ends on a note of hope, “the Holy seed is her substance.” In the mist of gloom and disaster as the result of sin, God always has a people. In this instance, “a tenth” will return and become seed for future glory. This doctrine of the “Holy Seed” is at the very heart of Isaiah’s message. Out of all the trouble will come a faithful remnant. Out of this Holy Seed came the means by which our wonderful Lord Jesus Christ would come to earth as a baby, and in His position as Immanuel give His life for all of mankind. As a
result of the Holy Seed, Israel has a great future when the Messiah shall sit on the throne of David and rule over the whole earth as King. For at the end of this book, we shall see the message, “and I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying,” (Isaiah 65:19). The August 29, 2003 issue of Jerusalem Post shows ultra-orthodox Jews weeping with the caption, “Why the Children?” The massacre of the innocent will one day come to an end when sin is repented of and the nation of Israel turns back to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The Messiah will once more reign from Jerusalem.