Isaiah 6:1-13
6:1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple.
Though the Lord sits on his heavenly throne, yet He is also present in His temple - filling His temple with the hem of His robe.
6:2 Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew.
Though the seraphs were in attendance they could not look on God or touch even His temple with their feet – so they were flying with wings covering their faces and feet! Contrast this to Isaiah who had an unhindered view of God and appears to be standing in the temple! Here is the privilege of the human servants of God – to be present with God, face to face, in His temple!
6:3 And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.”
In the constant presence of God, the seraphs had the only response possible – praise! They called out to each other the true nature of God.
6:4 The pivots on the threshold shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke.
Such was the power in the truth of the seraphs praise that it shook the threshold of the temple and the temple was filled with smoke – all signs of God’s very real presence; the whole earth trembles and smoke. To sing out the truth of who and what God is is to call on his very real presence to manifest itself.
6:5 And I said: “Woe to me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”
Any person entering into the intimate presence of God quickly becomes aware of God’s glory and then, their own sin and the fact that they live in a sinful world, an unholy, unclean world. And to see God in that state is to be afraid – afraid of the power of His holiness to destroy all sinfulness and therefore potentially destroy you!
6:6 Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs.
The coal, a piece of the fire of offering, the fire on which the sacrificial lamb was burnt. A live coal from that fire is like the emblems of communion – this is my body broken to pay for your sin, this is my blood poured out for you for the cleansing of sin.
6:7 The seraph touched my mouth with it and said: “Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.”
God uses the fire from this sacrificial fire, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and the fire of His holiness, to burn away our sin and guilt, to make us holy like him. The mouth was seen as a significant gateway to holiness or sin. Eating unclean things or saying unclean things took a person into sin and refraining from these things kept a person holy. The coal that is the fire of Jesus’ sacrificed holiness cleanses and removes both the sin and the guilt associated with it. It is a picture of the completeness of the efficacy of Jesus’ sacrifice in dealing with sin. And a picture of the grace of God in giving that sacrifice, that solution to His people, freely. A picture of the real meaning of communion.
6:8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I; send me!”
Once he was free from sin and guilt Isa hear the voice of the Lord. Unresolved guilt or sin will prevent us from hearing God’s voice, yet it is only in the real presence of God that we can truly experience our healing from sin and guilt! And the natural result of that healing is not only that we will now clearly hear God’s voice, but that He will begin to share his heart and His plans with us and invite us to become involved in His work. And our natural response to that will be to cry from the heart, “Here am I, send me!”
6:9 And He said, “Go and say to this people: ’Keep listening, but do not comprehend; keep looking, but do not understand.’
The ’this people’ are God’s people! We as Christians can listen to all the world and all that is in it, including God’s word, but only God can provide the information needed for us to truly comprehend any part of it.
We as Christians can look at all the world and all that is in it, including God’s word, but only God can provide the information needed for us to truly understand any part of it. As long as we are avoiding God’s presence or rejecting God right to direct our lives, we will look and listen, but never see or understand the truth.
6:10 Make the mind of this people dull, and stop their ears, and shut their eyes, so that they may not look with their eyes, and listen with their ears, and comprehend with their minds, and turn and be healed.”
Without God’s help, our minds will become dull, our ears deaf to his voice, our eyes blind to his truth, and our minds unable to see much less comprehend the truth that we need to turn away from ourselves and our sin and seek God and his presence for healing – particularly healing of the ears, eyes and mind so that we can see Him, hear Him and understand Him and his will.
6:11-12 Then I said, “How long, O Lord?” And he said: “Until cities lie waste without inhabitant, and houses without people, and the land is utterly desolate; until the Lord sends everyone far away, and vast is the emptiness in the midst of the land.
How long will God allow his people to remain deaf and blind and uncomprehending?Until all that we have built with our own hands, our own plans (not His) is laid waste. Until all that we have created that is outside His will and His kingdom is empty and destroyed. This will mean parts of me, my life, my thinking, my habits, my work, and even my church involvement may have to go if they were not part of God’s plan, but built for my or other’s glory. All that was is not part of God’s real kingdom must be destroyed. God will even send his own people away from what they have created without Him so that it is lifeless and empty.
6:13 Even if a tenth part remain in it, it will be burned again, like a terebinth or an oak, whose stump remains standing when it is felled. The holy seed is the stump.”
Not even a tenth part of what has been accomplished without God can remain. All that was made without God must be totally destroyed until only the holy seed, the the life of Christ in me, from which God will build his kingdom, is left.
There must be a total cleansing, a thorough removal of everything that is not of God from God’s people so that God’s kingdom can be built in His power, His holiness, His love, and His grace through the work of Jesus Christ.
This is the process which is going on in both individual Christians and the Christian church. All that is not of God will be laid waste. Then as the holy seed is free to grow, they will begin to hear God’s voice, see Him, and comprehend his will for them. This is what the roads of testing, the trials and tribulations are for. Not to punish us for sin, but to remove from us all that was built by our rejection of God, all that had sin as it’s foundation. And this process will continue till all that is left is the life of Christ in us. And when that holy seed is free and unhindered from our sin, it will be the foundation of the kingdom of God in us.
THEN will our ears hear and comprehend the world of God
THEN will our eyes see and understand God
THEN we will turn to him and be healed!
Notice that while the seraphim had to cover their eyes and feet in God’s presence, Isaiah did not. Isa was free to stand and face God, able to avail himself of immediate cleansing for sin, and then able to hear God’s voice and more than willing to do God’s will. This is the life of a mature child of God, a mature Christian, an overcomer; one who has learned by experience the power of overcoming sin through Jesus Christ.
