#966 Isaiah 6 Part 4 Here Am I

 

In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called to another and said:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;

the whole earth is full of his glory!”

4 And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. 5 And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”

6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”

Isaiah's Commission from the Lord

8 And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” 9 And he said, “Go, and say to this people:

“‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand;

keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’

10 Make the heart of this people dull,

and their ears heavy,

and blind their eyes;

lest they see with their eyes,

and hear with their ears,

and understand with their hearts,

and turn and be healed.”

11 Then I said, “How long, O Lord?”

And he said:

“Until cities lie waste

without inhabitant,

and houses without people,

and the land is a desolate waste,

12 and the Lord removes people far away,

and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.

13 And though a tenth remain in it,

it will be burned again,

like a terebinth or an oak,

whose stump remains

when it is felled.”

The holy seed is its stump. Isaiah 6 ESV

Isaiah 6: 8-13 The Commission

…10 The axe lies ready at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. 11 I baptize you with water for repentance, but after me will come One more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. 12 His winnowing fork is in His hand to clear His threshing floor and to gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”… Matthew 3: 10-12

8-9. And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" - The thrice holy Lord, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. There are two truths running together throughout this, God's supreme apartness, sacred deity, emphasized by the Trisagion in verse 3, but also the doctrine of the Trinity, "who will go for us".  Note that a real encounter with God, true conversion, started with humility; "woe is me". Then came the confession of unclean lips, the wonderful, healing fire, that not only cleansed but made alive, zealous unto God's service.

The blessed Spirit works as fire, Mt. 3:11 . The seraph, being himself kindled with a divine fire, put life into the prophet, to make him also zealously affected; for the way to purge the lips from the uncleanness of sin is to fire the soul with the love of God. This live coal was taken from off the altar, either the altar of incense or that of burnt-offerings, for they had both of them fire burning on them continually. Nothing is powerful to cleanse and comfort the soul but what is taken from Christ’s satisfaction and the intercession he ever lives to make in the virtue of that satisfaction. It must be a coal from his altar that must put life into us and be our peace; it will not be done with strange fire. 2. An explication of this sign: "Lo, this has touched thy lips, to assure thee of this, that thy iniquity is taken away and thy sin purged. The guilt of thy sin is removed by pardoning mercy, the guilt of thy tongue-sins. Thy corrupt disposition to sin is removed by renewing grace; and therefore nothing can hinder thee from being accepted with God as a worshipper, in concert with the holy angels, or from being employed for God as a messenger to the children of men.’’ Those only who are thus purged from an evil conscience are prepared to serve the living God, Heb. 9:14 . - Matthew Henry

Then I said, "here I am, send me" - These should be the most difficult words for the untouched lips to muster. There is a call here to holiness that in these days is so often ignored, but even in Isaiah's time. Many would love to be the voice of God, to have a "ministry", as they would so imagine it, as orators, adored, esteemed by men with titles and greetings in the market place, but read on.

And He said, "go and say to this people: - He has been set apart, made clean, his sins atoned for; he is prepared. 

…18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”… Matthew 28: 18-20

"Keep on hearing, but do not understand, keep on seeing, but do not perceive" - I was fishing with a friend of mine once, and he was telling me of his time in the military, but ended with why he got out. He said, "I saw there were tensions in the world, and I didn't want to go to war, I didn't sign up for that. I just wanted to see some different places and have college paid for." Isaiah has received the call before knowing the mission, but it doesn't matter, for as many who think they are called, yet Isaiah has been chosen. He has seen a vision of God's glory, the eternal King upon His throne, high and lifted up, nothing will ever be the same. Isaiah is in good company, Elijah was called the "troubler of Israel", hunted like an animal, but God sustained him and revealed to him His glory and sovereignty in that still small voice. 

’’ Isaiah must preach to them, and they will hear him indeed, but that is all; they will not heed him; they will not understand him; they will not take any pains, nor use that application of mind which is necessary to the understanding of him; they are prejudiced against that which is the true intent and meaning of what he says, and therefore they will not understand him, or pretend they do not. They see indeed (for the vision is made plain on tables, so that he who runs may read it); but they perceive not their own concern in it; it is to them as a tale that is told. - Matthew Henry

10-13. Isaiah is not on an errand of reform, he is not going to be a beloved revival evangelist; his is a message of judgment in general. There are beautiful promises at the end, and oh what he will get to unveil. There are many reasons Isaiah 53 is called the 5th gospel, but the same could be said of the whole; it is glorious!

Then I said, "how long, O Lord" - That would probably be in my top 2 questions after what has preceded. I believe it was Hudson Taylor who was a missionary to China, and though he spent his life's work there he never saw the first convert, but by translating the Bible into their language he sewed the seeds that someone else would later harvest. To every thing there is a season, God's timing is perfectly in accordance to His plan.

And the Lord removes people far away - Jerusalem will be destroyed and the people taken captive into Babylon more than 100 years from his prophecy. I am sure this was a feel good sermon, everyone wanted to lift up on their shoulders after that.

Though a tenth remain in it, it will be burned again - God will hold a remnant each time, setting them apart like those who refused to bow the knee to Baal. They will come back and rebuild the temple, not to the same outward magnificence of Solomon's temple, and in 70 A.D. it will be destroyed again under Roman rule.

The Holy seed is it's stump - The Father calls from eternity past, the Son justifies and the Spirit sanctifies all those who are predestined to be saints.