Isaiah Meets God - Isaiah 6

Copyright January 23, 2022 by Rev. Bruce Goettsche

It is always inspiring to hear the testimony of someone’s conversion to Christ. It is similarly interesting to hear Pastors, missionaries and other ministry leaders share about how they were “called” by God into ministry. The Bible contains a number of these accounts. We read about the call of Abraham, Moses, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Amos.

My call from God was nothing dramatic. When I turned to the Lord at the age of 13 it was not long after that that I just “knew” I was supposed to be a Pastor. It is hard to explain. There were no visions, but God did arrange the circumstances of my life to confirm what I was feeling in my heart.

This morning we read about the call of Isaiah. A prophet of God did not DECIDE to be a prophet. They were selected by God for the job. Before we get into Isaiah’s call, we need to establish the historical context.

It was in the year King Uzziah died that I saw the Lord.

You can read the story of King Uzziah in 2 Chronicles 26. Let me give you the capsule summary. Uzziah was a good King . He sought the Lord and followed Him under the prophetic leadership of Zechariah. He was King for 52 years in Judah, the southern Kingdom of Israel at the time. Israel was at peace and it was a prosperous time. Things were good in Judah. He led successful military campaigns, built towers and strengthened the walls of the city, he dug deep cisterns for water and expanded the agriculture of the land.

However, Uzziah became arrogant and went into the sanctuary of the Lord’s temple and offered his own incense. This task was given to the priests alone, but Uzziah didn’t care! When the priests rebuked him he turned on the priests. As he did, leprosy appeared on his forehead. He was hurried out of the temple before the leprosy stopped spreading and lived in isolation the rest of his life. Uzziah ended his rule sharing leadership with his son Jotham.

Jotham was the King for 16 years and part of that time (we don’t know how much of that time) he reigned with his dad.

It was during this time of mourning for Uzziah that Isaiah “saw the Lord.” Isaiah saw a vision that brought him into the presence of God.

GOD’S GLORY

He [GOD] was sitting on a lofty throne, and the train of his robe filled the Temple. 2 Attending him were mighty seraphim, each having six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. 3 They were calling out to each other,

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies!

The whole earth is filled with his glory!”

4 Their voices shook the Temple to its foundations, and the entire building was filled with smoke.

Isaiah does not describe God Himself (God is Spirit). He tried to describe the majesty of God he experienced. His throne was above all others. The word “train” can also mean “hem.”

Do you remember one of the Royal Weddings in England? The most impressive part of the wedding gowns was the ridiculously long train on the dress (Princess Diana’s was 25 feet long!) It was a symbol of royalty or status. Here, just the train of God, or just the hem of his garment filled the temple. It is a picture of the incredible majesty and power of God.

Surrounding the majesty of God are seraphim (the word means “burning ones”). These were angelic attendants to the Lord. In Biblical times, the appearance of angels did not make anyone say, “Aww, how cute!” The appearance of an angel made a person wet their pants! Note these impressive beings adopted a posture of humility before the LORD. They had wings to cover their face and feet (virtually covering themselves) which denotes again the superior greatness of God.

The cry, “Holy, Holy, Holy” doesn’t mean much to us. The word “Holy” means “set apart” or “distinct”. It is as much about character as being. God is set apart from us! That doesn’t mean He is hiding, it means He is qualitatively superior to us. There is a purity and excellence in Him that is much bigger than we can imagine. This is why the term is repeated 3 times. This was the way of emphasis at that time. In fact it still is. We might say, something is “really, really” big.

Whenever Jesus says, “Truly, Truly I say to you” or “Verily, Verily I say to you.” You should pay close attention to what he says. When the prophets begin a prophecy with more than 0ne “woe” you know it is a significant (and devastating) judgment. Holiness then would be God’s primary or superior characteristic because it is the only One that is repeated three times. And it is not just repeated three times here; “Holy, Holy, Holy,” is also repeated by the “living beings” who are around the throne of God.

Isaiah’s Response

5 Then I said, “It’s all over! I am doomed, for I am a sinful man. I have filthy lips, and I live among a people with filthy lips. Yet I have seen the King, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.”

6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal he had taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. 7 He touched my lips with it and said, “See, this coal has touched your lips. Now your guilt is removed, and your sins are forgiven.”

Isaiah responds with an acute awareness of His sinfulness. He is overwhelmed by the power, stature, and holiness of God. But it is not an unusual response to seeing a glimpse of God’s Holiness. We see this response throughout the Bible. When someone saw a flash of the power and excellence of God, their own sinfulness stood in stark contrast. We are fine when we are comparing ourselves to each other. We feel pretty good about our lives. However, when we measure ourselves against absolute holiness, the contrast is stark and terrifying.

Isaiah, perhaps because he had he had been teaching about the Lord, is drawn to how unclean his lips were. He is aware that even the seemingly good words he spoke were tainted with sin-filled motives and an extreme lack of reverence before such a Holy God. Isaiah understands that sin is not just “doing bad things” it is a rebellious tongue or a mind that resists submission to the Lord. It is not just what we do or not do, it is WHY we do or don’t do those things.

What happens next, seems strange. The seraph took a burning coal from the fire (fire was used to purify) and basically cauterizes his lips.

Notice God does not say, “O, it’s all right, you are doing fine!” The Lord treated Isaiah’s awareness seriously. God does not overlook our sin, He addressed it by sending Christ to the cross! Our sin is not insignificant, it is a much bigger deal than we can see right now. When we stand before our perfect Lord , we will see the true horror of our sinfulness and, like Isaiah, will be undone. We will understand how much we deserve the judgment of God and that will make the grace of God stand out in much sharper contrast.

Isaiah’s Commission

8 Then I heard the Lord asking, “Whom should I send as a messenger to this people? Who will go for us?”

I said, “Here I am. Send me.”

This is an interesting dialogue. Who is the Lord talking to? Was He talking to the other members of the godhead (i.e. the Son and the Spirit?) Was God asking the angelic host that surrounded Him? Or was the question directed at Isaiah? Isaiah, who understands the forgiveness that was extended to Him says, “Here I am. Send me.”

I think this is the way everyone who has come to understand the true blessing of our forgiveness will respond. After seeing the astounding and so undeserved love and grace of God, we are eager to serve Him in whatever capacity He desires. We will sweep streets, head to foreign lands, serve in the Nursery, or preach to others. It doesn’t matter, we will be eager to serve Him as a way of expressing our sincere gratitude to Him.

There is an important caution however, when we agree to serve the Lord. We see it in the next verses,

9 And he said, “Yes, go, and say to this people,

‘Listen carefully, but do not understand.

Watch closely, but learn nothing.’

10 Harden the hearts of these people.

Plug their ears and shut their eyes.

That way, they will not see with their eyes,

nor hear with their ears,

nor understand with their hearts

and turn to me for healing.”

11 Then I said, “Lord, how long will this go on?”

And he replied,

“Until their towns are empty,

their houses are deserted,

and the whole country is a wasteland;

12 until the Lord has sent everyone away,

and the entire land of Israel lies deserted.

13 If even a tenth—a remnant—survive,

it will be invaded again and burned.

But as a terebinth or oak tree leaves a stump when it is cut down,

so Israel’s stump will be a holy seed.”

Do you think Isaiah might be re-thinking his job right now? What kind of job is this? He is supposed to preach to the people and tell them to harden themselves to everything God tells him to say??? What kind of a job is that?

Let’s think about what God is really telling Isaiah to do. He is telling him to preach the truth to the people, and when they rebel (which they will) he is to tell them to go ahead and keep hardening their hearts (do we see a hint of sarcasm from the Almighty?) because the Lord knows who they are, and judgment is coming their way. In other words, Isaiah’s job is to help these people see that God’s judgment is just. Their refusal to listen to Isaiah will leave them without excuse when they stand before the Lord.

Isaiah certainly could have found a way to make the Word of the Lord more acceptable to the crowd. But that wasn’t his job! All he had to do was soften the rhetoric a little and people would come flocking to him. If Isaiah had hung out with the false prophets and preached a message of affirmation and encouragement, rather than talk about the sin of the people, he may have gotten converts. He may have built a good congregation and been eagerly welcomed into the various communities around Israel. He might have been in demand as a conference speaker. But the superficial “conversions” would have only led people further into their delusion of being faithful to God.

In the temptation of Jesus, Satan took Jesus to a high place and offered to given Him all the kingdoms of the world. All Jesus needed to be “successful” was to bow down to Satan. Jesus said , “Worship the LORD our God and serve Him ONLY. Here’s the lesson: When we serve the Lord, our task is not to be “successful,” it is to be “faithful.” My job and your job is not to “build a big church” our job to proclaim the Word of the Lord. When we do that, some people will be offended. Others may become outright antagonistic to us. Some will come running. When our goal is to be “successful” (in the world’s eyes) we will cut corners, compromise, or avoid difficult truths. We will substitute “happy talk” for the straightforward (and sometimes painful) Word of the Lord. When our goal is success, we are no longer serving God, we are serving ourselves! And though the world will applaud us and call us successful, we will have caused more harm than good.

God gave the same message to Jeremiah and Ezekiel. Listen to these words from Ezekiel 2,

“I am sending you to the nation of Israel, a rebellious nation that has rebelled against me. They and their ancestors have been rebelling against me to this very day. 4 They are a stubborn and hard-hearted people. But I am sending you to say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lordsays!’ 5 And whether they listen or refuse to listen—for remember, they are rebels—at least they will know they have had a prophet among them.

6 “Son of man, do not fear them or their words. Don’t be afraid even though their threats surround you like nettles and briers and stinging scorpions. Do not be dismayed by their dark scowls, even though they are rebels. 7 You must give them my messages whether they listen or not. But they won’t listen, for they are completely rebellious! 8 Son of man, listen to what I say to you. Do not join them in their rebellion. Open your mouth, and eat what I give you.”

This doesn’t mean we should be mean and obnoxious when talking to people about the gospel. We should try to tell the TRUTH as effectively as possible. We should build relationships and love the people around us. We don’t have to be boring! What we do have to do is tell the truth and we must tell people ALL of the truth.

To this end, we must talk about sin, judgment, suffering, and God’s sovereignty. We must maintain God’s definition of right and wrong even though it means standing against a culture that is moving away from these standards. God doesn’t tell us to try to get everyone to like us. He calls us to walk with Him. Some people will see Christ in us and be drawn to Him in us. Others will see God in us and treat us with the same hostility with which they treated Him. Jesus said the way they treat the teacher is the way they will also treat the students. Jesus was loved by some and hated by others.

We must study carefully to make sure we are correct in the message rather than reading our message into the Bible. We do this so we can humbly and accurately present the truth remaining teachable and soft before the Lord. We do this in a humble and loving way trying to communicate that message in any way possible. But . . . we must not compromise, soften, edit or otherwise be selective in only giving part of the message to others. He wants us to be FAITHFUL rather than successful or popular. We are to focus on making disciples not getting “likes!” We are to build the Kingdom rather than erecting monuments to ourselves.

Isaiah asked one more question: How long will I have to do this? The answer was: until the judgment takes place. Jesus tells us to proclaim and demonstrate the message of the gospel until the Lord calls us home or returns in judgment and victory.

We must not become weary! We must develop endurance. We do this by developing a steady walk with God. This is not a sprint, it is a marathon. Sometimes ministry to others will be difficult. At times people will seem ungrateful; they make take your for granted. You may feel like you are not making any difference at all through your service. The message is simple, remind yourself that you are not serving anyone or anything but the Lord. Our job is to serve Him faithfully and serve others loving, regardless of the results.

If you are discouraged today, spend some more time pondering this passage in the Word of God. Our service is supposed to and for Him. It is not to gain something for ourselves! If you need motivation, go back to the cross and see how God addressed our wounds and our sin through Christ. We should be glad to be used by Him in ANY capacity.

APPLICATIONS

I hope we have seen two basic things today: First, we desperately need to expand our view of God. We tend to think of God as “out there” somewhere. We often see Him as more of a peer than the Holy, Holy, Holy and majestic God who, if we were to see Him would leave us terrified by the awareness of our sin before His absolute holiness.

We have lost our sense of wonder. When was the last time that you gasped the greatness of God? Until we restore the wonder of the glory of God, we will never fully appreciate the magnitude of what Jesus has done for us. Until we catch a sense of the sinfulness of our own hearts (compared to His purity) we will tend to take our forgiveness and new life for granted.

Second, we are reminded that God wants faithfulness from us. We cannot measure faithfulness by earthly measurements. Success is not the goal. Our faithfulness in ministry is not defined by titles, numbers, or feelings. It is defined by how well we did what He gave us to do. It is defined by our willingness to follow and proclaim the truth that He has given us in His Word. He has not called us to edit His Word but to obey it. The person who does so will be honored by the Lord. And I have a strong suspicion that those who will be honored will surprise to us. They won’t be the people on the billboards or television shows. They will be those who are devoted to the Lord and faithfully serve Him in all they do. They will be seeking only one “reward” the only thing they will want; the only thing I hope all of us want, is Him. Nothing could, or would, be greater.