Reading: Isaiah chapter 6 verses 1-8.
• The Hebrew word translated "prophet" is navi (pronounced nah-vEE),
• It is a term that means literally "one who has been called."
Ill:
• Abraham was the first person in the Old Testament;
• To bear the title of prophet (Genesis chapter 20 verse 7),
• Back in Genesis chapter 11 verses 1-3;
• God called him to leave his father's household and serve him.
Ill:
• According to Jesus (Matthew chapter 12 verse 13;
• John the Baptist was the last Old Testament prophet.
Between those two men:
• The Bible contains many, many numerous accounts;
• Of people being called to serve God as prophets.
• In each case the man became a prophet not by human preference;
• But through divine choice.
• True prophecy is a vocation (which means "calling"),
• Not a profession (which depends on human initiative).
Since Isaiah was a genuine prophet (Isa. 37:2; 38:1; 39:3-4):
• You would therefore expect him to give us the story of his call,
• And he has not disappointed us.
• In fact, the sixth chapter of his prophecy,
• We have an outstanding example of a "call" narrative.
• It describes the basic elements;
• Of what a person can expect to happen when he or she is called by God to serve him.
Quote Ravenhill:
“If you have a vision without a task, you’ll be a visionary,
if you have a task without a vision, it’s drudgery.
But if you get a task wedded to a vision, you’ll be a missionary”.
• Isaiah was a missionary;
• And we 5 find principles in this story.
5 RELEVANT PRINCIPLES FROM AN ANCIENT PROPHET
Principle 1: God Uses Circumstances to Make Us Aware of His Presence.
Verse 1:
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple
• In reading these verses it is easy to become so impressed with the vision;
• That we pass over the circumstance that brought it about.
• If I understand this correctly, it was a time of loss,
• An experience of grief for Isaiah as his friend had died.
• The Living Bible links the vision with the grief:
• "The year King Uzziah died I saw the Lord!"
His earthly circumstances turned his eyes upwards.
• Uzziah and Isaiah had been friends, maybe even related,
• But Uzziah’s death had left Isaiah feeling shocked and hopeless.
• Everything in Isaiah’s world was in confusion,
• His king was dead, his nation was in peril, and he could do nothing to change them!
Notice this is when he “saw the Lord”
• Question: What was the Lord doing? Was He frowning or pacing back and forth?
• Answer: No.
• Question: Was He anxious or puzzled or angry?
• Answer: No.
• In fact the Lord was sitting down! Calmly seated on His throne.
• When you read of Jehovah's position, you think of majestic sovereignty.
God was totally in charge.
• He was not wringing His hands, wondering what will he do now Uzziah’s gone,
• Not worried about who will rule over the people, He is not phased at all by the situation.
Notice:
• He was "lofty and exalted."
• With height comes perspective.
• And His exalted role speaks of authority.
• Isaiah saw no confused or anxious deity,
• But One who sat in sovereign, calm control with full perspective;
• And in absolute authority.
When Isaiah entered the temple he was taken up fully with Uzziah & his circumstances:
• But from now on the death of Uzziah is not mentioned again.
• From now he would be taken up with God himself;
• Isaiah was overwhelmed by what he saw:
• God’s presence was everywhere, it was "filling the temple."
Principle 2: God Reveals His Character to Make Us See Our Need.
Isaiah also saw a group of multiple-winged creatures called "seraphim"
• Quote: One Old Testament scholar refers to them as "flaming angels".
• These seraphim were also present in Isaiah's vision.
• They formed an an-ti-phonal choir,
• Chanting and repeating in alternating voice:
"Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts,
the whole earth is full of His glory."
• It must have been an incredible sight!
• In Unger's Bible Dictionary we read,
"From their antiphonal chant. . . we may conceive them to have been ranged in opposite rows on each side of the throne. "
• One group would cry out;
• And the other group would answer.
• And as Isaiah stared in silence, dumbfounded by the vision he saw,
• The cry would sound out again and again and again.
Quote:
“Small wonder the foundations of the temple trembled.
Those voices sounded like deafening thunderclaps roaring over the hillside. It was awesome!”
God Reveals His Character to Make Us See Our Need (notice: the contrast):
• Verse 3: "Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts"
• Verse 5: "I am ruined!... I am a man of unclean lips. . . ."
Suddenly, Isaiah is no longer viewing this vision from a safe distance,
• The whole scene literally comes to life as one of those seraphs;
• Steps out of the vision and flies towards him.
• Without announcement, the winged creature sweeps into the prophet's presence;
• And does something most unusual
verses 6-7:
Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 With it he touched my mouth and said, "See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for."
The flaming angel touches Isaiah with a hot coal.
• Question: Did you notice where he touched the prophet?
• Answer: On his lips. I suggest there is significance in that act.
• Isaiah had just admitted he was "a foul-mouthed sinner" (TLB).
• It shouldn't shock us, therefore, to take his confession literally.
• He no doubt struggled with profanity.
• Maybe he was using as an excuse to disqualify himself from God's service.
Ill:
• Many people have come up with similar excuses:
• "I'm not physically well. I'm not strong enough. "
• "I've got this temper problem."
• "I can't speak very well in public."
• "I don't have a lot of education."
• "My past is too raunchy”
• "I have a prison record."
• "I've been on drugs."
Quote:
“Whatever our excuses God is bigger than any of those reasons. He specializes in taking bruised, soiled, broken, guilty, and miserable vessels and making them whole, forgiven, and useful again”.
• Remember what the angel said to Isaiah when he touched his lips?
• ". . . your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for"
• The one thing Isaiah had been hiding behind,
• Too ashamed to admit it and totally unable to conquer it,
• But notice: God dealt with.
• God cleansed Isaiah and made him fit for service.
Principle 3: God Gives Us Hope to Make Us Know We Are Useful.
Verse 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!"
• God could have reached the people anyway he wanted to;
• Yet he chooses to use ordinary people like Isaiah…….and you and me.
• First he touches us, changes us, gives us hope;
• Then he sends us.
Ill:
• Oliver Cromwell was Lord Protector of England.
• During his battles with Charles 1st a problem occurred.
• They had run out of silver.
• Cromwell ordered a search throughout the land for silver.
• When his soldiers reported back; the news they gave him was bad;
• The only silver to be found is in the statues in the churches.
• Cromwell replied;
• “In that case we will melt down the saints and put them into circulation”.
Quote:
• 97% of the world has heard of coke-a-cola
• 72% of the world has seen a can of coke-a-cola
• 51% of the world has tasted a can of coke-a-cola
• Coke has only been around 80 years (1984).
• If God had given the task of world evangelisation to the Coke company;
• It would probably be done by now.
God could have reached the people anyway he wanted to;
• Yet he chooses to use ordinary people like Isaiah…….and you and me.
• First he touches us, changes us, gives us hope; then he sends us out.
Principle 4: God Expands Our Vision to Make Us Evaluate Our Availability.
• Did you notice God asked “Who will go?”
• God is sovereign but he is not a bully.
Ill:
• Prayer meeting before the gospel service.
• One brother prayed: “Lord kick the door open and enter in!”
God is sovereign but he is not a bully.
• He knocks hard at the door of our hearts and minds,
• But he will not kick it open.
• He always wants willing volunteers;
• Not forced conscripts.
• He says
• “This is where I am going, will you come with me?”
Isaiah responds “Yes!”
• Not out of blind obligation or religious duty;
• But because he was now looking at life through God’s lens,
Quote:
• When Hudson Taylor was director of the China Inland Mission,
• He often interviewed candidates for the mission field.
• On one occasion,
• He met with a group of applicants to determine their motivations for service.
• "And why do you wish to go as a foreign missionary?" he asked one.
• He replied "I want to go because Christ has commanded us to go into all the world…”
• Another said, "I want to go because millions are perishing without Christ."
• Others gave different answers.
Then Hudson Taylor said,
"All of these motives, however good, will fail you in times of testings, trials, tribulations, and possible death. There is but one motive that will sustain you in trial and testing; namely, the love of Christ".
Isaiah responds “Yes I will go!”
• Not out of blind obligation or religious duty;
• But because he was now looking at life through God’s lens, feeling through God’s heart!
Principle 5: God Tells Us the Truth to Make Us Focus On Reality.
• Most of us would say;
• Who wouldn’t enlist after seeing a vision like that?”
• But consider Isaiah’s assignment.
• Verses 9-12:
He said, "Go and tell this people:
" 'Be ever hearing, but never understanding;
be ever seeing, but never perceiving.'
10 Make the heart of this people calloused;
make their ears dull
and close their eyes. [1]
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts,
and turn and be healed."
11 Then I said, "For how long, O Lord?"
And he answered:
"Until the cities lie ruined
and without inhabitant,
until the houses are left deserted
and the fields ruined and ravaged,
12 until the LORD has sent everyone far away
and the land is utterly forsaken.
What a job description:
• Go to a people who will refuse to listen,
• And by the way; I’ll be bringing destruction on the nations soon.
Notice:
• Isaiah’s “going”
• Isaiah’s ministry would actually make things worse;
• e.g. Those who could see would become more blind.
• e.g. Those who could hear would become deaf,
• e.g. And hearts would be more calloused;
• And that is all because of Isaiah’s ministry!
God’s plan never guarantees his messengers success:
• He does not paint for Isaiah a rosy picture of instant, or even long term revival,
• He is honest and upfront and tells both Isaiah & us, us the real situation.
Notice:
• God told Isaiah that his ministry might seem like failure;
• With the land lying in ruins and the people taken off to exile.
• But God says a remnant would survive,
• And they would continue to hold onto the truth and demonstrate faith.
Summary:
Three simple words outline this chapter:
• Verse 5: “Woe”
• Verse 7 “Lo” (N.I.V. “see”)
• Verse 9: Go”
• The first is the word of a man.
• The second is the word of seraphim.
• The third is the word of God.
• The first word is a word of confession “Woe is me”
• The second word is a word of cleansing; “Lo, this has touched my lips”.
• The third word is a word of commission, “Go”.
Isaiah has a threefold vision:
• It was a vision of deity - He saw the Lord.
• It was a vision depravity - He saw himself.
• It was a vision of duty - He saw a lost world.
And finally..
Question: what did Isaiah see?
Answer: “I saw the Lord”
Ill:
• In the Gospel of John (chapter 12 verse 41),
• We are told that Isaiah actually saw Jesus.
• After quoting several prophesies concerning the unbelief of the people;
• They refused to believe in Jesus despite the evidence of his miracles, John writes
“Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus’ glory and spoke about him”
• Isaiah was given access to the throne room of heaven;
• And as he entered it,
• He experienced the presence of the second Person of the Trinity,
• Christ the Lord, the holy one of Israel!
