*Isaiah 6:1-13
Isaiah 6 describes Isaiah’s calling as a prophet after a vision of God’s holiness and majesty.
- Vision of the Lord’s Glory:
- The passage begins with Isaiah recounting a vision he had in the year King Uzziah died, where he saw the Lord seated on a lofty throne, high and exalted.
- He describes the Lord’s appearance, with His robe filling the temple and seraphim hovering above Him, each with six wings, calling out “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of His glory.”
- Isaiah’s Response and Cleansing:
- Isaiah reacts with awe and fear at the sight of the Lord’s glory, feeling unworthy and acknowledging his own sinfulness and that of his people.
- One of the seraphim takes a live coal from the altar with tongs and touches Isaiah’s lips with it, symbolizing the purification of his sin and the forgiveness of his guilt.
- Commissioning of Isaiah:
- Upon being cleansed, Isaiah hears the voice of the Lord asking, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” to which Isaiah responds, “Here am I. Send me!”
- The Lord commissions Isaiah to go and speak to the people of Israel, warning them of impending judgment and exile due to their hardness of heart and refusal to listen.
- The Hardening of Hearts:
- Isaiah is given the daunting task of prophesying to a people whose hearts have become calloused and their ears dull of hearing, foretelling that they will not understand or respond to his message.
- He is instructed to continue prophesying until the land lies desolate and its cities are destroyed, with only a remnant left to carry on the message of hope.
- Promise of Restoration:
- Despite the coming judgment, Isaiah is given a glimmer of hope as he is told that a holy seed will remain in the land, indicating that God’s covenant promises will ultimately be fulfilled.
- The vision concludes with a declaration of the enduring nature of God’s sovereignty and the certainty of His plans, even in the face of human rebellion and disobedience.
6:1 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.
6:2 Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.
6:3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.
6:4 And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.
6:5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.
6:6 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: 6:7 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.
6:8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.
6:9 And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.
6:10 Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.
6:11 Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate, 6:12 And the LORD have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land.
6:13 But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten: as a teil tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them, when they cast their leaves: so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof.