Isaiah 6

Isaiah’s Cleansing and Call

16 Itwas in the year King Uzziah died* that I saw the LORD. He was sitting ona lofty throne, and the train of his robe filled the Temple. 2Attending 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.

3They were calling out to each other,“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of Heaven’s Armies!The whole earth is filled with his glory!”

4Their voices shook the Temple to its foundations, and the entire building was filled with smoke. 5Then said, 6It’s all over! lam doomed, for 7ama sinful man. I have filthy lips, and I live 6: 9:3-8: 51:57 among a people with filthy lips. Yet I have seen the King, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.” Luke sa 8Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal he had taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. 7He touched my lips with it and said, “See, this coal has touched your 87 a2 lips. Now your guilt is removed, and your sins are forgiven.” jer a

5:26-30 This passage describes what God would do if thepeople disobeyed him (Deuteronomy 28). Assyria began totorment Israel during the reign of Ahaz (735-715 B.C.). Thispowerful aggressor destroyed the northern kingdom in 722 B.C.and scattered the people throughout its own empire. Sin hasconsequences. Although this judgment was not immediate,eventually Israel was punished.6:1 The year that King Uzziah died was approximately 740 B.C.He remained leprous until he died because he tried to take overthe high priest’s duties (2 Chronicles 26:18-21). Although Uzziahwas generally a good king with a long and prosperous reign,many of his people turned away from God.6:1ff Isaiah’s vision was his commission to be God’s messengerto his people. Isaiah was given a difficult mission. He had to tellpeople who believed they were blessed by God that God wasgoing to destroy them because of their disobedience.6:1ff Isaiah’s lofty view of God in 6:1-4 gives us a sense of God'sgreatness, mystery, and power. Isaiah’s example of recognizinghis sinfulness before God encourages us to confess our sin. Hispicture of forgiveness reminds us that we, too, are forgiven. Whenwe recognize how great our God is, how sinful we are, and theextent of God's forgiveness, we receive power to do his work. Howdoes your concept of the greatness of God measure up to Isaiah's?6:1-3 The throne, the attending seraphim (angels), and thethreefold holy all stressed God’s holiness. Seraphim were a typeof ange! whose name is derived from the word for “burn,” pet-haps indicating their purity as God's ministers. In a time whenmoral and spiritual decay had peaked, it was important for Isaiahto see God in his holiness. Holiness means “morally perfect, pure,and set apart from all sin.

9We also need to discover God's holi-ness. Our daily frustrations, society's pressures, and our short-comings narrow our view of God. We need the Bible's view ofGod as high and titted up to empower us to deal with aur prob-iems and concerns, God's moral perfection, properly seen, willpurify us from sin, cleanse our mind of our problems, and enableus to worship and to serve.6:5-8 Seeing the LORD and listening to the praise of the angels,Isaiah realized that he was sinful before God, with no hope ofmeasuring up to God's standard of holiness. When Isaiah’s lipswere touched with a live burning coal, however, he was told thathis sins were forgiven. It wasn’t the coal that cleansed him, butGod. In response, Isaiah submitted himself entirely to God’sservice. No matter how difficutt his task would be, he said,

11Here1am. Send me.” The painful cleansing process was necessarybefore Isaiah could fulfill the task to which God was calling him.Before we accept God’s call to speak for him to those around us,we must be cleansed as Isaiah was, confessing our sins and