Isaiah 6:1–13

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Dean, School of Christian Studies, University of Mobile

DO YOU VOLUNTEER TO SERVE?
Isaiah 6:1–13
“The year of Uzziah’s death” was not just a convenient way of dating Isaiah’s prophecy but marked a time of great national crisis.

Uzziah’s strong leadership of the west against mighty Assyria had come (or was coming) to an end. The king was dead or dying, his effectiveness in his last years gutted by dreaded leprosy.

During the first year of the reign of his son Ahaz, Jerusalem and Judah were threatened with the loss of independence. Ahaz wanted nothing to do with a western coalition against the Assyrian emperor, Tiglath-pileser III (often called simply Pul).

Israel and Syria attacked Judah to add it to the coalition by force. To save his throne, Ahaz offered to become a vassal state to Pul and pay him heavy tribute. It was at the beginning of this series of events that Isaiah received his call and commission.

Who Is the Lord? (1–4)
Uzziah might die but Isaiah knew there was a King who never dies — the living God. In a vision, Isaiah saw the Lord enthroned in His heavenly temple with winged seraphim (“burning ones”) both serving and praising Him.

The words of the seraphim magnified God as holy (God is wholly other than mankind, i.e. different from men, and is morally perfect) and recognized that the glory of God (i.e. God’s revelation of Himself) filled the whole of creation.

There were the usual things that accompany divine appearances: a shaking of the foundations, an opaqueness as of smoke (that kept the prophet from seeing the person of the Lord directly) and the sound of a great voice.

What Has the Lord Done for Me? (5–7)
When he saw the holy majesty of God, the prophet was struck by a devastating sense of his sins and the sinfulness of his countrymen.

The evil he saw in others he saw also in himself. As always, confession of sin led to forgiveness and cleansing. As soon as he confessed, the wings of a seraph were set in motion. The angelic being flew to him with a live coal from the altar and with it, touched Isaiah’s lips.

The result was that his iniquity (i.e. moral crookedness) was taken away and his sin (i.e. failure to hit the mark set by God) covered.

What Does the Lord Need Me to Do? (8–13)
Only then were the prophet’s ears open to hear the voice of the Lord asking, “Whom shall I send and who will go for us?”

Immediately Isaiah offered himself. He volunteered before he even knew the nature of the mission. In effect, he just made himself available. Availability counts more than ability. God accepted and appointed him: “Go and tell these people.”

Those to whom he was sent would reject his message. So far as is known, Isaiah never preached the exact words found in 6:9–10. Surely God did not want to prevent His people from understanding, repenting and being healed. Rather these words seem to anticipate the response Isaiah would receive. The language is that of biting sarcasm and irony.

When all was said and done, the prophet might as well preface and conclude every message with these words, “Go ahead and be stubborn! I know you will pay no attention at all to anything I say!” Jesus quoted these words in situations when people refused to hear and take heed of His messages (Matt. 13:14–15).

When the prophet asked God how long he must carry out his thankless mission, God replied, “Until the land has been laid waste and the people sent into exile.”

Even if a 10th of the population remained, it would suffer again and become little more than the stump of a felled tree. But that remnant would be the holy seed, true Israel, refined and purified by God.