Lecture Notes on Isaiah 6
David
H. Linden University Presbyterian Church, Las Cruces, New Mexico revised January, 2019
The Call of Isaiah to the Ministry of
Speaking the Word of God Before giving
the occasion of his call to become a prophet of God, Isaiah showed how dark the
situation was for Judah and Israel. They were under the judgment of God
(chapter 5). Isaiah did not prophesy the words of chapters 1-5 before he was
commissioned to do so. After showing the environment of his time with its darkness
and danger, he then reported his call to speak for the Lord. The sin all around
was sin in him too. The Lord’s salvation was brought to this man as an
individual, who then spoke of salvation and judgment to his people. Chapters
1-5 were the background. He saw what few have seen, yet what he saw was a
vision. He did not see God directly nor his glory in its fullness. That is
something no man may see and live. “No man has ever seen God…” (John 1:18). (See
also Exodus 33:18-20.) Even holy angels, higher beings than humans, cover their
faces in the presence of the Lord (6:2). This chapter opens with a dead king
and ends with a dead tree. Isaiah 6 has the personal salvation of Isaiah, his
commission to speak and his encounter with the Presence of the Lord. Chapter 12
reiterates the personal salvation which becomes corporate, with the saved group
proclaiming the Lord who is present among them.
This shows that chapters 6-12 are a unit.
6:1 No other prophet dated his call to
service by the death of a king. You would expect, “… in the 52nd
year of Uzziah’s reign.” That king was a son of David. Isaiah did not know at
that moment of his vision that the majestic Lord he was seeing would, in seven
centuries time, become a man in the line of David. After his death, Jesus the
Son of David would live forever, without any successor to replace him. The
death of Uzziah from leprosy was the judgment of God (2 Chronicles 26). Because
of his sin in the Temple he was struck with some disease and excluded from it
for the rest of his life (2 Chronicles 26:21). Now facing that same Temple and
before that same holy God, Isaiah stood. He too was a sinner who would be
forbidden access.
This vision did not happen inside the
6:2,3 The word seraph means a
flame (note Hebrews 1:7). Fire indicates God’s wrath in 1:31; 29:6; 66:24;
Numbers 11:1-3; Genesis 3:24; Exodus 3:2-6; 19:18-25; and three times in
Deuteronomy 4. To this we may add the multiple ways the Lord Jesus and his
apostles spoke of fire as an instrument of wrath. Thus the seraphs were agents of God in
reacting to sin. His holiness made them cover their faces but not the ears by
which they received God’s instruction. With feet we go our own way (53:6). They
covered theirs in subjection to the Lord.
Holy is the
Bible’s most frequent description of God. In fact it is used more than all
other descriptions combined. The Hebrew language emphasizes by repetition. Only
here do we find holy, holy, holy, a
triple description of God. God’s holiness is what he is in himself, and his
glory is the manifestation of it to us. The seraphs were repeating this feature
of God to each other, perhaps to prevent it from fading in their own consciousness.
Because of the holiness of the Lord, they would be called upon to strike to consume
whatever is contrary to God’s moral character. The earth that is full of sin is
also full of the glory of God. It is always his earth (Psalm 24:1). The Lord is going to lay waste the earth
(Isaiah 24:1), so his Spirit of judgment cleanses in retribution and cleanses his
people in purification (4:4). It is the glory of God to punish the wicked. It
is also the glory of God to redeem in his glorious grace (Ephesians 1:6). As
holy angels delighted in an earth full of God’s glory, so we should enjoy with
gratitude his creation, both old and new.
When the angels said “holy, holy, holy”
they added that the whole earth is full
of his glory. This is truly
amazing when we realize from chapter one that the land of Judah was overrun by
those who would strip it bare, that murder was in the city, and that they had
forsaken the Lord. How does this show his glory? God in justice reacts to sin. If
sin had no divine reaction, the angels could not say the earth was full of his
glory. The earth being full of God’s glory in this respect, does not preclude his
saving grace, with the result that the earth will be full of the knowledge of
the Lord as the waters cover the sea (11:9). Then it will be equally true that
the whole earth is full of the glory of the Lord. Israel’s rampant sin does not
frustrate God from keeping his promises to Abraham.
6:4-6 The presence of God made the entrance
into the
In God’s kindness Isaiah was made to realize
this. Made aware of his sin, his famous Woe
is me was a proper reaction. What else can a sinner say when exposed to God’s
holiness? Those unaware of their sin have no sense of God’s holiness. Let all
who hope in their own righteousness for acceptance by God repent and tremble
before him. The man clothed in his own righteousness is naked! He has no cover;
no atonement for sin. We need forgiveness and perfect righteousness; in the
gospel both are a gift to the one who believes in Christ (Ephesians 1:7; Romans
5:15-19). Isaiah’s woe meant he knew he deserved judgment. In chapter 5, a woe is a prelude to death deserved. The
man, who as a prophet would pronounce God’s woes on others, first pronounced it
on himself.
Then Isaiah the sinner saw a seraph
approaching!! Isaiah had heard what the
seraphs said of God’s holiness. What they praised was what Isaiah feared. God’s
holiness is a mortal danger to sinners.
6:5-7 Isaiah’s first sense of sin was the sin
of his lips, yet it was those very lips he would use to speak as a prophet of
God. He confessed that he was just like his people who also had unclean lips.
Poor King Uzziah received his leprosy for entering the temple in contempt of
God’s law; he died with the uncleanness of this disease still upon him (2
Chronicles 26:16-23). Faced with God’s holiness, Isaiah pronounced himself unclean.
The Lord did not contradict his confession. Isaiah’s guilt was not removed by confession,
for confession is not atonement. Sinners in hell can say, “I’m sorry” forever
(they won’t, according to Revelation 9:20,21 & 16:9,11), but words cannot
atone.
God had an answer. The angelic sin-hater
/ holiness-lover carried a coal from the altar to Isaiah’s sinful lips. On that
altar a substitutionary sacrifice had been offered. It was by sacrifice for sin
(not confession) that his guilt was removed. This fits Isaiah’s call to be a
prophet and the message of salvation he would later give, one consistent in all
of Scripture, “without the shedding of
blood there is no forgiveness” (Hebrews 9:22). Isaiah too was saved by an
atoning sacrifice. Isaiah and his people needed the same thing. The angel did
not act on his own, for these living flames of fire were servants who act only
on God’s orders (Psalm 104:4). Note the message is not forgiveness by God
dropping charges against him. It was forgiveness because of atonement. When we
believe we are forgiven because of the blood of Christ. Faith is the means, and
his blood is the basis. God has accepted Jesus’ offering as our punishment and
as his reason to forgive us. Your anger is
turned away (12:1) by the action of God, so that God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid (12:2).
Three Identical Markers in Isaiah
6 The Hebrew for “and I said” is
the same in verses 5, 8, & 11. The translators of the King James Version
use the same translation each time, repeating “then said I” in each place. It
helps to follow Isaiah’s deliberate repetitions. If we must choose between
readability and clarity, clarity is primary. Each “and I said” was a response
to something Isaiah heard:
1.
Hearing holy, holy, holy → And I said, “Woe is me… ”
2.
Hearing God’s desire of someone to speak for him →
And I said, “Here am I, send me”.
3.
Hearing of the terrible rejection of his message →
And I said, “How long, O Lord?”
6:8 Isaiah the sinner was barred from entering
the
Isaiah overheard the divine Persons talking,
and so he volunteered to serve. Of course his commissioning was God’s plan. He
did not appoint himself (Hebrews 5:4). That his response seems so unilateral
does not preclude that it was the Lord calling him. We should not take our
observations as if they might be the entire picture. God had a willing servant,
cleansed from sin, to speak of the salvation of the Lord to a nation in need.
6:9-10 The
tough assignment In my fallible
memory, I have heard only one sermon on Isaiah 6 that did not divide the
passage inappropriately. The central theme of Isaiah 6 is Isaiah’s call to the
ministry. That commission included God’s revelation that his message would be
rejected. Why do preachers omit it? Had it said, “I send you to proclaim my
love to sinners and my eagerness to have a relationship with them, and my
longing that they should return” – if Isaiah
6 had said that, the words would be written on the walls of many churches and
fill a million sermons. My blunt assessment is that these words are omitted
because we do not like what they say. It is idolatry to prefer a revised God above
the Lord who has revealed himself as he is in the Bible, and so this word of
God is widely ignored.
This simply shows how far we may stray
from a Biblical emphasis. Except for similarities in the vision found in
Revelation 4 & 5, the only New Testament reference to the early verses of Isaiah 6 is in John 12. However,
the strong words of Isaiah 6:9,10 are quoted in all four gospels and the Book
of Acts (Matthew 13:14,15; Mark 4:12; Luke 8:10; 19:42, an allusion; John
12:40; Acts 28:26,27). These verses are a divine commentary on the rejection of
the gospel by covenant people. Using Isaiah 6, the Lord Jesus showed that the
rejection of him in his day on earth came from the same kind of hardness of
heart that Isaiah encountered. The heathen Ninevites repented at the preaching
of Jonah, a prophet who did not even care for them! (Jonah 3 & 4) It is
painful to see that in every case in the NT above, it was the covenant people
of God who had been hardened by hearing and rejecting the Word that alone can
save them! This mystery should receive
proper attention (Romans 11:25).
As John 6:60 would show us, Isaiah
6:9,10 may be referred to as a ‘hard saying’. The Holy Spirit may use strong
language. The message is sobering. The
Word of God gives life, (James 1:18; 1 Peter 1:23). Yet the same message of the
gospel is to one the smell of death and to another the fragrance of life! (2
Corinthians 2:16). There is such a thing as God rewarding sin by making people
hard and blind to his truth (Romans 11:7-10, 25). Pharaoh abused
The Lord Jesus used parables to illustrate
truth to those with eyes to see and ears to hear. At the same time he used the
same parables to blind those who willfully rejected truth. Those who receive
the Word of God will receive more, but those who willfully reject will have
taken from them even what they have (Matthew 13:10-17). In Matthew 21:45,46 it
is clear that parables were only being understood in some way, which was really
misunderstanding. The result was that Christ was rejected by increasingly hard
hearts. We are to give the gospel to all people, but God has the right to open
eyes and hearts as he wills and to blind the reprobate. He simply leaves some
to their sinful choices. This is up to him. Not all will believe; those who do,
have God to thank for their faith. God does not give sight to all; to rejecters
he gives blindness. Some will become harder through hearing the same message of
truth that brings life to his neighbor. This is part of the message of the
parables in Matthew 13 and Mark 4, which the Lord Jesus linked to Isaiah 6. "For
judgment [Christ] came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and
those who see may become blind" (John 9:39).
Isaiah was not sent out on a mission
that would be judged successful by the world. Many today think if the church is
full, then God is blessing. Yet faithful preaching of the word might affect the
unregenerate so much that attendance would drop off! That could be an indicator
that the ministry is relevant. We must not judge by mere appearances (John
7:24). Some day all ministries will be
put to the fire to see what quality it really was. A lot will go up in flames,
but only what was built on the foundation of Christ will survive (1 Corinthians
3:5-15).
6:11-13 How long? Isaiah knew when he began that he would not
have the pleasure of people welcoming his message. How many would hear? The revelation was in terms of time and then
numbers. Though the question was about time, God did not reveal a number of
years. Remember that God in divine privacy almost always withholds dates from
us. Isaiah learned that
I am not sure if the nine tenths is the
reduction from the Assyrian invasion and then even that number is cut down
further under
Appendix: Whose Glory Did Isaiah See?
Isaiah
said, “I saw the Lord,” v.1, and in v.5 “the King, the LORD Almighty.” Verse 5
uses Yahweh ( LORD) and vv. 1 &
11 use Adonai (Lord). We never doubt
that when we read of the LORD, that it has reference to the Father. But we must
remember that the LORD is the common Name of all persons of the Trinity
(Matthew 28:19). In Isaiah 8:13 and 45:21-25 the Name LORD is taken by New
Testament writers and applied to Christ in 1 Peter 3:14,15 and Philippians
2:9-11.
Christ is God Who became man. He is as
much God as the Father and the Holy Spirit. In John 1 and Colossians 1, the New
Testament insists on his divine participation in creation. Everything was made
by him and for him! Here in John 12 is another strong affirmation of Christ as
Yahweh:
For
this reason they could not believe, because, as Isaiah says elsewhere: "He
has blinded their eyes and deadened their hearts, so they can neither see with
their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor turn – and I would heal
them." Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus' glory and spoke about
him (John
12:39-41).
We must not miss how explicit John 12
is. In quoting Isaiah 6:9,10, the Apostle John tells us that Isaiah saw his
glory.[1] We
should read Isaiah 6 this way and conclude that Isaiah saw the glory of Jesus
that day above the temple centuries before his incarnation. The seraphs covered their faces and feet in
the presence of Christ and cried out “holy, holy, holy”. The Lord God Who sent Isaiah was also Christ,
the One sent by the Father to come here, and he in turn has assigned his
servants their work (John 20:21), even as he commissioned Isaiah to his years
before. To add to the glory of all this, we note that according to Acts
28:25-27 the LORD Who spoke to Isaiah in 6:9,10 was the Lord the Holy Spirit!
The three Persons all share the divine essence and live in indivisible unity.
[1] In
the Greek text John 12:41uses a pronoun, “…he saw his glory…” but there is no one else
in the context of John 12 that the pronoun could refer to but Jesus.