Marching Orders
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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 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: 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.
Confession
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
O Wretched man
24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
Purge himself from these...
21 If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work.
The commission of the prophet.
The commission of the prophet.
God calls and Isaiah responds.
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.
Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us? God looked for someone to send. He wanted someone to go.
i. How strange it is for God to ask a question at all! What does God wonder about? What questions would He have? What does God not know? But God was asking for a person because God wants to reach the world, and He wants to reach it through willing people. It isn’t that God doesn’t know who these people are. It is that God is waiting for ready hearts to reveal themselves.
ii. How strange it is that this God of majesty, sovereignty, and power asks for volunteers! He could easily create robots to do His work or command angels to carry out His will. But God wants willing, surrendered servants. Have you been waiting for God to force you to serve Him? He looks for volunteers.
b. Whom shall I send: This means that the missionary, the Christian worker, the witness of Jesus Christ, is sent. This is a divine commission. Who will go for Us means that the missionary, the Christian worker, the witness of Jesus Christ, has decided to go. God’s divine will to send and the human will to go are in perfect cooperation.
i. Here we see another subtle reference to the Trinity. Who is sending? I or Us? “The change of the number, I and us, is very remarkable; and both being meant of one and the same Lord, do sufficiently intimate a plurality of the persons in the Godhead.”
c. Here am I! Send me: Isaiah emphatically answered God’s call. He did not hesitate. Isaiah wanted to be the answer to God’s question.
i. What created this kind of heart in Isaiah? First, he had a heart that had been in the presence of God. He had a heart that knew its own sinfulness. He had a heart that knew the need among the people, the need for God’s word. He had a heart that had been touched by God’s cleansing fire. And he had a heart that heard God’s heart to reach the nations.
d. Send me: This meant Isaiah was submitted to the LORD in all his service. He didn’t even say, “Here I am, I will go.” Isaiah would not go at all unless he knew he was sent by the LORD. Many are quick to say, “Here I am, I will go” but never wait for the LORD to send them.
His mission described.
9 And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. 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.
a. And He said, “Go”: When we say, “Here am I! Send me” to the LORD, we should expect that He will say “Go.” He may say, “Go and serve Me here” or “Go and serve me there” or “Go and be prepared for future service,” but God always has a “Go” for us.
b. Go and tell these people, “Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing but do not perceive”: God told Isaiah to go and preach to a people who wouldn’t respond so that their guilt would be certain. As Trapp wrote, Isaiah would “Preach them to hell.”
c. Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and shut their eyes: This is an unsatisfying audience and ministry for any preacher. Isaiah might not be satisfied with this ministry. The people might not be satisfied with it. But God would be satisfied with it.
d. And understand with their heart, and return and be healed: This shows what the word of God can accomplish when it is received with open eyes, open ears, and an open heart. It brings understanding to our hearts, it makes us return, and it brings healing to our lives. If you are under the word of God and these things aren’t happening to you, ask God to work with your eyes, ears, and heart.
Isaiah is told how long he must prophesy this way.
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, 12 And the Lord have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land. 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.
a. Lord, how long? This is a logical question from anyone who is given such a difficult commission. “Do I have to preach to those who won’t hear, and their rejection of my message will ultimately seal their doom? How long will I have to serve in that kind of ministry?”
b. Until the cities are laid waste and without inhabitant: This answered the question of how long Isaiah was to preach. He should preach until destruction comes. He should preach in hope of the restoration of a remnant (yet a tenth will be in it, and will return). Even though Isaiah’s ministry was difficult, it was not without hope.
c. And be for consuming: The remnant will indeed return, but even the remnant will eventually be judged.
i. We would expect this dramatic call of Isaiah to open the book. But the Bible clearly states that the message is more important than the messenger. Isaiah’s message was more important than Isaiah the messenger.
ii. When Isaiah saw the LORD, who did he see? He saw God in the Second Person of the Trinity, he saw Jesus before He added humanity to His deity. We know this because the Apostle John quotes Isaiah 6:10, and under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, adds: These things Isaiah said when he saw His glory and spoke of Him (John 12:41).
14 Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place. 15 For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: 16 To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things?
