THE MISSION OF ISAIAH.
(1). Context: Isaiah 6:1-8.
In Jerusalem, the prophet Isaiah was in the Temple, the place where the LORD God had set His tabernacle amongst His people. Here heaven and earth met, and the Temple below merged with the Temple above - of which it was a type and symbol. It was an awesome event. Isaiah saw the LORD, enthroned in heaven, “high and lifted up” (Isaiah 6:1), and His train filled the Temple.
The word “seraph” (Isaiah 6:2) comes from the Hebrew verb for burning. Burning was a sign of divine holiness, as had been seen at Mount Sinai. One of the seraphim sang the praises of the thrice holy God (Isaiah 6:3). To be “holy” is to be separate: the LORD is totally Other.
“Glory” speaks of heaviness: He ‘carries weight’ in the world. “The earth is full of His glory” - and at the cry of the voice the posts of the door moved, and the house filled with smoke (Isaiah 6:4). Manifestations of God’s ‘glory’ is evidence of His presence.
Isaiah’s awareness of his own sin, and that of his nation, set him apart from his unrepentant contemporaries. Against a background of ‘woes’ (Isaiah 5:8; Isaiah 5:11; Isaiah 5:18; Isaiah 5:20-22), his “Woe!” is a confession of being “undone” - lost, utterly ruined. Isaiah sees two reasons for his ruin:
(a) “Unclean lips.” The ‘lips’ stands for the whole person, but ‘unclean’ lips is set against the background of King Uzziah’s leprosy. Isaiah stands as a representative of his people.
(b) Isaiah has seen the LORD. The LORD had told Moses, ‘there shall no man see me, and live’ (Exodus 33:20). Now Isaiah pronounces “woe” upon himself, because he has “seen God” (Isaiah 6:5).
No sooner had Isaiah confessed his sin and sinfulness, than one of the seraphim took a “live coal” from the altar with a pair of tongs (Isaiah 6:6). A coal too hot for even a fiery seraph to handle!
The “live coal” had the effect of:
(a) Cleansing Isaiah. No mere man, no angel, no seraph could hope to cleanse a man of the leprosy of sin. This was from beginning to end an act of God’s grace.
(b) Preparing his “lips” to speak for God (Isaiah 6:7).
An attitude of gratitude gives rise to a willingness to serve (Isaiah 6:8). Isaiah recognised the gift within him, and responded to God’s call. In the temple of our experience, where the LORD makes His dwelling amongst men, the cry still goes forth: “Whom shall I send?” What will be the response of our hearts to the call of God?
(2). Text: Isaiah 6:9-13.
The mission of Isaiah was to go to a people who were proudly short-sighted, stubbornly deaf, and willfully ignorant of the word of God (Isaiah 6:9; cf. Matthew 13:13-15). The prophet’s message was to be one which confirmed them in their preferred blindness, deafness, and ignorance; their pride, their carnality, and their prejudice (Isaiah 6:10; cf. John 12:40). This was the real reason Jesus spoke in parables: not to give nice homey illustrations in order to convert the unwilling, but to sift out those who were genuinely interested and responsive to His message (cf. Matthew 13:10-12).
In the face of such a commission, the plaintive cry of many a Psalmist, prophet and preacher has often been, “How long, LORD?” (Isaiah 6:11). The answer of the LORD to Isaiah was, effectively, “Until” (Isaiah 6:11). Until when? Until the job is done (Isaiah 6:11-12).
Jesus healed a man born blind (John 9:11), and also brought him to faith (John 9:35-38). And Jesus said, ‘For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and they which see might be made blind’ (John 9:39). Some of the Pharisees asked, ‘Are we blind also?’ To whom Jesus replied, ‘If you were blind, you should have no sin: but now you say, We see; therefore your sin remains’ (John 9:40-41).
This is a hard message to preach, but sometimes we must bring people to the brink in order to have any hope of healing them of the malady of sin and indifference. And even then, we might fail. We must preach the gospel as it is, faithfully and without compromise, regardless of our fear of failure. Words sown now may yet yield fruit.
Which brings us to the final verse of the chapter. Isaiah prophesied exile, but also that “a tenth” (a tithe) might return. But even then, the sifting and pruning would not be finished (Isaiah 6:13). Israel is left as just a stump - but out of that stump comes Messiah Jesus (Isaiah 11:1-2; Romans 11:26).
After the exile, and even into the Christian era, there remained a hardening of the heart of Israel (Romans 11:25) - just as there is a hardening of the heart of all mankind against the gospel to this very day. But still we are encouraged to look to Jesus, the holy seed, even yet producing new branches (Romans 11:12), showing life from the dead (Romans 11:15).
