A Kingdom Vision Overview
Isaiah’s book is a vision in that it reveals, through symbols and reasoned thought, a God-centered way of seeing and living. It offers everyone the true alternative to the false appearances of this world.
Overview
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 1 - Isaiah 6:1-8 — Worship
In the year. Around 740 B.C. King Uzziah died, marking the end of a lengthy era of national prosperity (see 2 Chronicles 26). Uzziah had contracted leprosy for flouting God’s holiness, and his son Jotham had been his co-regent for about 10 years (2 Chron. 26:16–21). I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne. The undying King holds court above. The words high and lifted up appear elsewhere in Isaiah (Isa. 52:13; 57:15) and seem to be part of his distinctive style (see Introduction: Date). John 12:38–41 brings two of these together, implying that John saw the servant of Isa. 52:13–53:12 as not only messianic, but divine. The temple in Jerusalem modeled the temple in heaven (cf. Heb. 9:24; Rev. 4:1–4).
Thoughts:
1 Kings 22:19
Commentary on Isaiah 6
The throne sat at the top of a series of steps (“high and lifted up,” rām wĕniśśāʾ) and the enormous size of the edge of his royal garment
The picture Isaiah paints strikes awe and terror into one’s heart; a person gets the idea that the observer has come a little too close to the majesty of the glory and has seen something that is beyond the human sphere of experience and understanding.
The repetition of a word is a way of expressing a superlative idea in the Hebrew language (2 Kgs 25:15 “gold gold”).
God’s absolute holiness reveals how separate, different, or totally other he is in comparison to all other aspects of the created world
“The design of all the work of God is that His holiness should become universally manifest … that His glory should become the fullness of the whole earth.
Since there is no verb in the seraphs’ short statements of praise, one needs to be supplied by the translator. NIV and most translations supply “is” but it might be better to assume “will be” based on the Psalms parallel passage.
Thus the seraphs are prophetically praising God for what he will do when his holy eschatological kingdom is established and he dwells with his people on earth (cf. 2:2–4; 4:2–6). Then the whole earth will be filled with his glory.
The smoke or cloud (Exod 19:16–18; 1 Kgs 8:10–11) is traditionally associated with God’s appearance and serves the function of concealing the awesome majesty of God from human eyes
In the presence of God’s holiness Isaiah was not struck by his humanity or mortality, but by (a) his own impurity; (b) the uncleanness of the nation of Judah; and (c) the sight of the King, the Lord Almighty.
More surprising is Isaiah’s reference to the fact that he was living among unclean people in Judah. One might expect Isaiah to recognize his own sinfulness, but Isaiah’s pastoral heart cannot separate his own condition from the state of the people he loves. Like parents facing the threat of death, who are just as concerned about saving their children as they are about saving themselves, Isaiah is not totally self-absorbed; he is ministry-absorbed.
The necessary first step before any true confession of sin is having an understanding of the glory and holiness of the Almighty God who rules the heavens and the earth.
The shocking, life changing aspect of this vision was that Isaiah himself experienced a vivid and powerful personal meeting with God that allowed him to have a firsthand glimpse of the supernatural realm. Cultural imagery and religious platitudes about God were suddenly overpowered by the reality of the overwhelming experience of his awesome presence.
It is more likely to view these as coals from under the throne of God, the same coals that Ezekiel saw in his second vision (Ezek 10:2). These were not magical coals (neither are people baptized in magical water), rather they figuratively represent the miraculous accomplishment of God’s gracious purification and forgiveness.
Atonement
When the seraph symbolically touched Isaiah’s lips, it announced that God “removed” (sār) Isaiah’s guilt (an active verb) and that his sin “was atoned” (tĕkuppār) by God (a passive verb). God did not want Isaiah to misunderstand what was happening, so a clear explanation was provided to interpret the symbolic action. The removal of guilt indicates that the consequent punishment will not be exacted from Isaiah. This guilt can no longer keep Isaiah from God’s presence. The atonement means that God’s wrath and the sin that motivated it were satisfied and taken away, making renewed fellowship possible. Sin no longer separated God and Isaiah (cf. 59:1–2).
Isaiah’s experience illustrates how any believer can identify sin (have a clear vision of the holiness of God), how everyone should respond when sin is recognized (admit it), and how God deals with confessed sin (he removes it).
People who presume upon God’s mercy because of their supposed goodness will fail to receive his forgiveness, but those who perceive the holiness of God will quickly acknowledge their great guilt and experience his atoning love.
The remedy of grace is personally applied. God’s holiness and glory now redemptively enter Isaiah’s experience. atoned for. Through the sacrifice on the altar, according to the Levitical ordinances (e.g., Lev. 1:4). Through his seraph (the singular form of seraphim, plural; see note on Isa. 6:2), God declares the remedy for Isaiah’s sin to be sufficient and instantly effective. Now Isaiah is qualified to proclaim the only hope of the world—the overruling grace of God.
Who will go for us?
In God’s question, “Who will go for us?” (6:8), the “us” may represent the members of the divine council, though some see “us” as similar to the royal “we,” a plural of majesty, or a hint of the Trinity.218
Send me
From this example one might propose the theological principle that the clarity and reality of a person’s vision of the holiness and glory of the majestic King of Kings is directly related to the clarity of a person’s sense of call and their willingness to humbly submit and serve God in whatever capacity he desires.
Week 2
A Hardening Message
Similarly, God warns Isaiah that there will be no positive results in the hearts of many who will listen to what Isaiah says. Instead of bringing conviction, humility, and confession of sins, Isaiah’s divine messages will have the primary effect of hardening people or confirming their hardened unwillingness to respond positively to God
Similarly, God warns Isaiah that there will be no positive results in the hearts of many who will listen to what Isaiah says. Instead of bringing conviction, humility, and confession of sins, Isaiah’s divine messages will have the primary effect of hardening people or confirming their hardened unwillingness to respond positively to God
Hearing God’s word from Isaiah will make their hearts calloused (lit. “fat” hašmēn, 6:10), their ears dull (lit. “heavy” hakbēd), and their eyes closed to the truth.
For most of them it is past the time of repentance; the time of judgment is at hand. Now is not the time for them to see, understand, and be healed—that opportunity was offered but is now passed. Now judgment will happen.
Those who think of God as one who offers only grace and mercy may have trouble accepting this image of God.
But this is not the case; God is judging them for their sin. The people had many opportunities to repent in the past when repentance was possible, so God is not unjust in punishing them at this point.
These changes were attempts to remove the difficulty of God hardening the hearts of the people of Judah, but this is exactly what God did.
The prophet is exhorted with three imperatives to “make fat” (hašmēn) their hearts, “make heavy” (hăkbēd) their ears, and “make closed” (hāšaʾ) their eyes. God laments this hardness of heart and unresponsiveness, but this is the path that the nation has chosen
Isaiah’s preaching will not prohibit the few repentant people from responding positively (Hezekiah), but for the vast majority it will only lead to further hardening and opposition to God’s ways.
At some point these hardened people who refuse to hear God’s words will pass the time of repentance. Eventually God will give them over to destruction. What is abundantly clear is that God has already decided to judge his people now. There is no opportunity to reverse the plan of God once it is set in place.
Now the fearful justice of God is about to establish divine justice on earth. Indeed, it is a fearful thing for any person to be under God’s wrath with no hope on judgment day. Why would anyone choose such a hopeless predicament if they were given the opportunity to avoid the wrath of God?
NT use of Hardening Message
The NT quotes this text to explain why some reject the good news of the gospel
Hope? — The Holy Stump (Seed)
It is best to prefer the Masoretic reading (not Qumran or the Old Greek) and conclude that a message of hope is included, though it is a very small ray of hope. It appears that less than a tenth (presumably of people) will survive in the land, for after the forest is cut (the destruction of the land) it will be burned again (6:12–13a).
Hayes and Irvine argue that 6:12–13 uses the analogy of cutting down trees to refer to the destruction of Israel and to the fact that “the stump from which new life will grow is the house of David, the holy seed.”
J. A. Motyer goes even further out on a limb to connect the holy seed from the stump in 6:13 to the shoot from the stump of Jesse (the Messiah) that is described in 11:1.
God’s discipline will leave only a remnant of his people—the holy seed—like a single stump left after a forest has been burned over. The remaining believers are set apart for God by the same grace that saved Isaiah. They are the heirs of God’s promises to Abraham, and thus the only hope for the whole world (see 10:20–23; 11:1–10).
The holy seed, the remnant, are those in Israel who remain faithful to God. Ultimately none is completely faithful except Christ, who is the final remnant (11:1; Gal. 3:16; see note on Isa. 1:9).
Seraphim
Isaiah calls some of those hosts “seraphs” (śĕrāpîm, lit. “burning ones”) who were either “standing” (ʿōmdîm, omitted in NIV) higher than God or flying above the throne.
The term “seraph” can refer to serpents (Num 21:8; Deut 8:15: Isa 14:29; 30:6), so K. R Joines maintains that these beings were something like the Egyptian winged cobra or uraeus that guarded the throne of the king of Egypt.
Theological Application (commentary)
From this passage one can conclude that the servants of the Holy King may be called upon to (a) worship God and praise him with the heavenly hosts; (b) repent of daily sins in order to enter the presence of a holy God; (c) serve the king; (d) speak the message God gives regardless of its popularity or severity; (e) cause some to harden themselves for destruction; or (f) give a ray of hope in times of disaster and hopelessness. Although some of Isaiah’s responsibilities might not seem very inviting, personal preferences and fear fade into the background when a person has had the privilege of seeing the glory of the Holy King.
At times it may be hard for the believer to follow God, but life will be far harder for those who harden their hearts and refuse to listen to God’s voice.
In the parable of the sower Jesus repeatedly encourages those with ears to hear to respond positively, yet the parable makes it clear that sometimes the Word of God falls on the soil of hard hearts and it will not sprout or produce fruit (Mk 4). In these cases the parables that Jesus taught only furthered the hardness of the audience and confirmed their rejection of God. His warning to all who are exposed to God’s Word is that they should be careful what they hear and accept because more of what you accept will be given (Mk 4:23–25). The path of hardening usually leads to more hardening, so it is wise not to start down that path.