Adult Class
December 2006-May 2007
Isaiah
Lesson 4: The Vision of God
Isaiah used the first five chapters of the book to summarize his prophetic work among the people of Judah. His message was one of judgment and of future grace. But chapter six shows us the call and commission of Isaiah to serve as a prophet to the nation. This takes place in the year that King Uzziah died. The consensus of scholarship is that Uzziah died in 742 B.C. This gives us one of the rare, precise time markers in the Old Testament.
Uzziah had been king for 52 years. It is probable that he had served as regent during the last years of his father, Amaziah’s, reign. It is also clear that his son, Jotham, served as regent during the last years of Uzziah’s reign. However, the very long tenure of Uzziah meant that there were people who had never known another king—nor had their children or even their grandchildren. The stability of the kingdom was shaken when Uzziah died. It is against this backdrop of uncertainty that Isaiah is granted a vision of God and is reminded that there is a King over all the earth, not just Judah.
6:1-4—The Vision
Isaiah saw a vision of the Lord on His throne. Was Isaiah in the Temple when he saw this vision? Or was the vision a vision of God in the Temple? We cannot be certain. Yet Isaiah saw some representation of God as the King on His throne in the Temple, and the train of His robe filled the Temple. One writer noted, “There was not a square inch for a man to stand.”
Above the Lord flew creatures called “seraphs” (seraphim in Hebrew), which means “burning ones.” These creatures are mentioned only here in the Bible. They have six wings each, yet we don’t know how many of these creatures there are. They call back and forth to each other and declare the holiness of God. When they say, “Holy, holy, holy,” they are describing God as “holiest of the holiest.” Whatever these creatures are, the concussion of their voices staggers the foundation of the Temple itself. Smoke boiled just as at Sinai.
It was important for Isaiah, and for us, to remember that there is One who is sovereign over the affairs of men. When our governments change, when we are threatened by enemies, when the stability of our lives is shaken, we must remember that the Lord remains on the throne.
6:5-8—Cleansing and commission
When Isaiah sees the indescribable holiness of God, he is immediately aware of his own shortcoming. He sees not only his own failure, but the contamination of the civilization he inhabits. And he is aware that he has seen the King—the real King, not Uzziah or Jotham, but God.
When Isaiah cries out in his sinfulness, one of the seraphs flies to him with a live coal taken off the altar. This is the altar of burnt offering, where the sacrifices for sin were routinely burned. This coal is as holy as anything could be that was not divine. It was with that coal that Isaiah’s lips were touched, taking away his sin. Isaiah had identified the source of his sin as his mouth, along with the sins of his neighbors. It was to the source of his sin that the cleansing was applied.
When the seraph touches Isaiah’s lips with the coal, he explains the action so that Isaiah is under no confusion concerning what happened. We always need a verbal explanation of a symbolic action so that we can interpret the action correctly and so that the truth can be told. A good example of that is the action of baptism. The symbolism of death, burial and resurrection might be guessed, but the effect of cleansing us of sin would not be known if not for passages that make it clear (Acts 2:38; 22:16 and others).
After Isaiah’s sin is dealt with properly, God speaks for the first time here. He asks a rhetorical question, seeking a messenger. Isaiah responds instantly to volunteer to take on any task God wishes to give him. He knew, as we know, that forgiveness brings commission. If we surrender ourselves to the service of God, He will give us service to perform. Isaiah volunteered, but had no idea how hard an assignment he would receive.
6:9-13—The Mission
God gave Isaiah a message to deliver to “this” people (not “my” people!). The message is that the people will not respond to God’s word. Contact with the word of God will either soften a person (as with Saul of Tarsus) or harden a person (as with Pharaoh). It never leaves a person untouched. Isaiah is given the task of declaring God’s word to a nation that doesn’t want to hear it, that will not repent, and that seems incapable of understanding the words. Jesus had occasion to use these verses to describe the people of His day, as He taught them in parables that many could not or would not understand (Matthew 13:14-15; Mark 4:2; Luke 8:10).
Isaiah asked for the term of his commission. How long should he engage in fruitless declarations of God’s word? God’s answer: until My judgment is fully executed upon these people. God is absolutely just and fair in His dealings with humanity. Nobody would be able to say, “I never heard about it!” They would be judged as they deserved and as they desired. Those who had no interest in hearing God and fulfilling His will would be sent away from His presence forever.
Although Isaiah knew that his message would be largely a failure in turning the hearts of people back to God, he knew that he had an obligation to tell the message anyway. Sometimes we make God’s will known for the sake of our own conscience. We want to be able to face Him in the judgment knowing that we did everything we could to help those around us learn and follow the truth. It can be discouraging to make all that effort and have little or nothing to show for it, but we need to remember two things: 1) We cannot always know how much impact we have, and, 2) We cannot know what God is doing with our faithfulness.
For one, brief, shattering moment, Isaiah had a vision of God. It changed the direction of his life and impacted the whole nation of Judah and the ages ever since. From that day, Isaiah could recognize the voice of the Lord in every other revelation he received.