Isaiah 6
Vs. 1 & 2 - In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.
Uzziah was a good king. He became a king when he was a teenager and reigned for over 50 years. During his time, he built roads and fortresses and built up the army and did a lot of good things. You can read about him in 2 Chronicles 16. But some of his reforms were religious and he undid a lot of high places.
Ps.121 says “I lift my eyes to the hills…where does my help come from? My help comes from
the Lord.”
What would you see at the top of the hills? You would see shrines and temples. It is kind of like going to Mysore and you see the Bull. You look at a lot of temples to other gods. So the psalmist is saying, “I look at the hills, where does my help come from?” It does not come from anywhere else than from the Lord, who made the heavens and the earth.
If the Bible says, “Lift your eyes,” it does not say lift your eyes to the hills, because your help is coming from the hills. That is not the idea. You lift your eyes toward heaven, because your help is coming from God. So, Uzziah eliminated some of the high places, some of the shrines and reinstituted the worship established by Moses as the standard for the nation. He actually went a bit overboard. He got very zealous and went to burn incense in the temple. It is only the priests who burn the incense. So he takes the incense in. There is the high priest who goes in and he also has other priests with him. You have to keep in mind that the king has an army at his command. If someone has to stand up against the king and say, you cannot do this, it is a very risky thing to do. But it says that they were very brave men and they stood against the king. And the king was really angry that they questioned him. He started to rail at them. He was getting very arrogant and yelling at them. And he had leprosy that began to break out. They could just see it happening. It started on his forehead and it began to spread. Then he saw it on his hands. If you have leprosy you cannot come into the temple even if you are the priest. So the priests rushed him out of the temple and he was quite eager to go himself. From that time on, he had to live in a separate house, because he had leprosy. And his son reigned in his place. And it says that he lived in a separate house and the phrase that comes after that is a bit difficult to understand, but it looks like he says that he didn’t have any official duties with the government, because his son had to take over.
So the end of his career was not very good. But he was a good king, and he really did desire to do according to the Law of God. He wanted to follow the Law of Moses. In a sense, his strength became his weakness. He was so zealous in religion, that he actually went against the teachings of Moses and went inside the temple himself and did things he should not have done as a king.
Uzziah died. His son did not follow his father’s footsteps when it comes to righteousness. His son was an unrighteous king and didn’t do nearly as good a job. It looks like everyone knew that this was going to happen. So in the year that King Uzziah died, you have a good and a godly government that is being replaced by a reprobate government.
How will a prophet of God feel and as a citizen of nation if you really desire to see God glorified? You are likely to be depressed wondering what is going to happen now? And it says, “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord high and lifted up and the train of his glory filled the temple.” The temple is a model of the throne room of God. So where would the throne be? The throne would be in the holy of holies. So the idea is that He is sitting there where His throne would be in the holy of holies.
The train of His glory filled the temple. So it must have been quite a vision he had. And he has these big living creatures that are described in Ezekiel on either side of the throne. They have their wings that are covering their eyes. The idea is that they are respecting God. They are in the presence of God. And they also have wings to cover their feet and wings with which they fly.
Vs. 3: And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”
The connection here is Isaiah realizes that Kingdom could be on its way down, but in his vision he sees that God is actually the One, Who is on the throne. He is on the throne of heaven and earth.
It may seem from the circumstances, when we look around ourselves, or across the street, it might seem like God is not in control, but like evil is in control. But the truth is that is a limited, temporal perspective. God really is in control! So a person who is following God can go to sleep without worrying about whether things are going to be alright, because God really is in control.
We see that Isaiah was stressed out at the beginning of the chapter – that is what is assumed and is not explicitly stated. It is the year that King Uzzaiah died! How terrible! But he sees God, high and lifted up and the train of His glory filling the temple. He gets a heavenly perspective concerning God’s kingdom, which is eternal. It is much better than what we necessarily see with our eyes.
Vs. 4 & 5: At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”
Even in Exodus the Bible says that nobody can see the face of God and live. So he is seeing God, assuming that he is seeing the train of His glory. He sees God high and lifted up. But he is just expecting that since he saw God, he is probably going to die! And even if he didn’t die, he feels like he should. Maybe he actually wants to. Everywhere in the Bible, when someone meets with God they have this kind of response.
Have you heard of Patsy Cline? From the 1950’s there was that song – I fall to pieces – that is what this literally means. I am undone! I am falling apart. So he came into the presence of God, and you do not see him boasting about it or strutting around.
I have seen some of the television programs (I have not watched for quite some time now) where there is one preacher who claims to have talked to God before he came to the stage. So he is, “…and God told me, you better just stamp the devil under your foot.” You know – that kind of haughty, arrogant sort of attitude. And I cannot help it but think that this man has not had an encounter with God, because if you’ve really had an encounter with God, it is a really humbling experience. It is not something that makes you arrogant and stuffy, and full of yourself and strutting yourself out. Instead it changes your attitude. It creates humility in you. Isaiah was very humbled by the experience. He felt he was going to fall apart.
Remember when Jesus calmed the storm, it says that the disciples worshipped Him. Worship means falling on your face. So they are on the boat and they fall on their faces, because they
realized who they are with.
Jesus tells Peter to launch out. He is preaching in the boat for a while, and then He says, “Go out and you are going to catch some fish.” And Peter says, “I do not think it is really going to happen.” And Jesus says, “Trust Me, go out there, throw down your net and you are going to catch a good catch.” So he went out and they caught so much and the nets were breaking and they could not bring the fish in. Peter comes to Jesus and falls on His face. He says, “Depart from me Lord, because I am a sinful man.” When you come into contact with God, it is not something that builds you up – you do not get this kind of self-esteem, you get a healthy God-esteem from the experience. And you get a realistic perspective concerning yourself. You are humbled by it. So he falls on the ground as dead. He cried out. He’s been saying, “Woe unto you,” in the previous chapter, but what does he say here? “Woe is me – I am ruined – I am undone.”
Vs. 5 - “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”
This has been on my mind lately for some reason. We have a TV for watching videos once in a while so we can control what we are seeing. But there is so much garbage. The other day there was something that was on, and we watched it, and after that I prayed with the family before we went to bed. And I said, “Lord, please forgive us. Clean out this garbage.” I felt guilty when I prayed to God, and I asked God to take out the garbage. It is bad enough when I ask my son to take out the garbage. But to ask God to take out the garbage! There is so much of it on the TV and we fill our minds with it. When you come into the Presence of God, it seems like you have so much garbage – on the mind and in your heart and you are aware of it, because of His holiness. He is so pure, so good, and so clean, so much of light that everything in us seems like darkness. And Isaiah had a genuine experience of the Presence of God. And this was his response.
God responds to his response.
Vs. 6-13:
This is a very sobering and an important prophecy. It is recorded by every one of the Gospel writers. Matthew and Mark both quoted it. It is interesting, Jesus is talking to His disciples, and when He is out talking to all other people, He is talking in parables. He tells about the parable of the sower and the seed. Some fell on the road, and some fell in a shallow area and some of it fell on the good land. That which was on the road, there were birds. They came at it and picked it right away. Some that fell on the shallow ground, it sprout up quite quickly. But because it did not have the root, it died. Then it was in another area, but before it bore fruit there were weeds that grew up around it and choked it out. But there were some seed that fell on good soil. And that seed grew up and bore 30, 60 and 100 fold. So you plant one seed, and you get fruit, and that bears seed.
You can count the number of seeds in an apple, but how many apples are there in each seed?
Jesus was alone with His disciples, and His disciples said, “Lord, could you explain to us this parable. This is kind of mysterious. And they asked Him why do you speak in parables? Then Jesus says, “If you do not understand this, how will you understand any parable? I speak to them in parables, so that seeing they see but they do not understand. Hearing they hear, but they do not have ears and they cannot hear, lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and turn and I will heal them.”
It is a judgment. I am sure all of us have heard preachers saying that Jesus was speaking in parables, because He wanted to explain to people things that they did not understand. If they weren’t paying attention, you talk to them in parables, tell them a story, and then they pay attention and they will get the point. But Jesus taught in parables, to hide the meaning of what He was saying, because if they understood what He was saying, they might repent. And judgment had been pronounced against them, because they had already hardened their hearts. So the principle again – we are back to the same principle. We talked about it in Exodus. Do you remember about Pharaoh? It says that Pharaoh hardened his heart. Now in Acts, Stephen talks about Pharaoh, and it says, “God hardened Pharaoh’s heart.” He says, for this reason I have called you, I have set you up and gave you power, so that I could bring glory to My Name.” But you go back to Exodus and it gives us the principle of God hardening somebody’s heart. No less than ten times, it says that Pharaoh hardened his heart. And then finally after that it says, God hardened Pharaoh’s heart. So there is a process. There is such a thing as a hardening of punishment, where we keep hardening our hearts, and finally, God will help us to fulfill that decision that we’ve made to harden our hearts.
There are two different words employed in Exodus when it says that Pharaoh hardened his heart. It means he made it harder. When it says God hardened Pharaoh’s heart, it actually could be translated, “strengthened.” He strengthened Pharaoh in the decision that he made. He helped him reject God. God helped Pharaoh reject God. Now it is only after Pharaoh hardened his heart over and over again, finally God helps him and strengthens him. So there is some help from God that we may not want. I do not know about you, but I do not want God to help me that way. But I do want God’s help to soften my heart. By nature we can see suffering and then go on with our daily business. Maybe that is a strength that we can get a job done without getting distracted. But it is also a weakness, spiritually speaking. It takes strength to have compassion on those who are suffering, and to identify with them. It is a strength most of us do not have. For me, I have to cry out and ask God, “Lord help me to have compassion,” because by nature I do not have any. By nature, I am cold and not concerned about people. My nature is not like that. I need an infusion of God’s nature. I need a softening of the heart. I need Him to pour oil and wine on my stony heart. I actually need a heart transplant. I need Him to take the heart of stone and replace it with a heart of flesh, heart that can be moved with compassion.
So here it is saying that God is actually hardening the people of Israel. And He tells Isaiah, to go and tell them, “Be ever hearing, but never understanding. Seeing, but not perceiving.” Make the heart of these people calloused, harden their hearts. “Lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be turned.” God help us.
So Isaiah says, how long should I give this message? God gives a message. If God told me to give a message, I would have said, okay. I would give a message and I am finished. Then I would go and do something else, maybe have a snack and some coffee or something. But Isaiah says, “Okay, you want me to give this message? How long?” So Isaiah is assuming that he has got to give this message over and over again.
And so God’s answer is really disconcerting. God answers, “Until the cities are ruined and without inhabitant.” So looks like God is saying, they are not going to listen to you.
God literally says that to Jeremiah. It comes later than Isaiah. He says, “Go and tell them to repent. But they are not going to. Go and tell them to listen, but they will not listen. Go and tell them to turn to Me, but they are not going to turn to Me.” So Jeremiah was commanded to go on a mission that right at the beginning God said would not be successful. You get the idea right? He was given a commandment to do something, knowing that he would not receive co-operation. His message would be rejected.
So how would you feel if you are a messenger? You are told to give a message. And you are also told the people you are going to give the message to will not listen. So, go on. Go give your message. I would not want that job as a prophet. When I look at the Biblical prophets, I think “Here I am, send somebody else,” because this is not a very pleasant job. Prophets are rejected throughout the Bible. Jesus also was rejected. It is not the job I want.
