Isaiah 6:1–8
1 In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of His robe filled the temple. 2 Above Him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!”
4 And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. 5 And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”
8 And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.”
Isaiah was given just the smallest glimpse of the glory and holiness of God, and it changed his life.
When we learn to submit to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, we will experience the same radical changes in our lives.
But it all begins with seeing God in a whole new way, just like Isaiah did. When we have some idea of His glory and holiness, we are humbled and filled with shame as we come to terms with how sin has ruined our lives, yet when we experience the mercy of forgiveness in Christ, we will find ourselves drawn to God, willing to do whatever He asks, willing to follow Him no matter how much it costs.
Isaiah watched in stunned silence as the Lord appeared on His throne, encircled by the awesome sight of seraphs, these angelic beings, who cried aloud to one another, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!”
This three-fold repetition of God’s holy character was often used in ancient Hebrew to draw attention to what they were saying. And in the Bible, the only attribute of God which is lifted to such a superlative degree is His holiness.
The main tool for creating emphasis in Hebrew poetry is the element of repetition. In the same way that we might underline or italicise a word, or put it in bold type, the Jewish writers often repeated a word for good measure. To repeat it three times indicated that the writer was elevating that word to its highest level of importance.
There is an important detail in the first verse of Isaiah 6. We’re told that Isaiah was given this vision in the year that King Uzziah died. That was in 739BC, and Uzziah had ruled over the kingdom of Judah since 790BC, so they had had 50 years of relative peace and stability. They were about to begin a new era of political and military upheaval. The outlook for the Jews in the short term at least, was very bleak, and this is when God gave the prophet Isaiah a timely reminder. We need that same assurance today. The world is stumbling around in the dark, and it feels like we’re on a knife-edge, so we need to remember that God is in control.
In Isaiah’s day the throne in Judah was empty, and God was showing Isaiah that the throne in heaven was full.
Uzziah had been shown to be mortal, but the heavenly King was immortal. One king had died - as all kings do - but there is one King lives forever as no other king can.
God appears to us through the pages of His Word to remind us that He is on the throne. We have nothing to fear, because God is in control.
There are many lessons we can learn from Isaiah’s story, and probably the most important is his initial reaction to the holiness of God.
As soon as Isaiah saw this awesome display of God’s holiness, he was filled with fear, as he cried out, “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”
When Isaiah saw the Lord in His holiness, he saw himself in his sinfulness. He saw himself for who he really was.
If we were able to ask the people in Isaiah’s time what they thought about him, they’d have told us that he was a man of unquestioned integrity and moral righteousness, a man of personal holiness and virtue.
And I’m sure that Isaiah – before his encounter with God, at least – would’ve been much like us. We all know we’re not perfect, but we do try to do the right thing and we would like to regard ourselves as good people.
But after just one glance at the holiness of God, however, Isaiah soon saw the true picture. It took deity to reveal his sin, the sin of the people around him, and how it had destroyed his life. It took God to reveal his guilt.
And it will always be the same with us.
But there is good news. God has the answer to sin.
Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”
This all points us to the Cross of Christ, a place where the awful cost of our sin and all the righteous wrath of God was poured out on Jesus. He has paid the price of our atonement, and in so doing He has freed us to love and serve God once more.
Like Isaiah, we know it will hurt at some level to have the hot coals of God’s holiness singe away the tough exterior of our pride, but it will result in the incomparable gift of a new, redeemed and forgiven heart.
God calls to us to be holy as He is holy. The reason this is necessary, is that in order to be effective worshippers and servants of God, we must first be clothed in the righteousness of Christ. We have nothing to offer God, because it has all been tainted by sin. Even the good things we do in our own strength are not good enough.
This is why we need the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Without His atoning death on the cross, we would be lost forever. This is at the very heart of the Gospel.
And so, when God chooses to use us in His service, it’s not because He’s seen something in us that’s worthy of being used for His purposes. It’s not because He needs someone with our credentials working for Him.
What He sees is His own holiness, and the clean vessels that have repented of their sin who are willing to let His love pour into and out of them in obedience to Him.
Until we have lowered the understanding of our own value to the level of nothing more than an earthen vessel, we can be of little or no use to God. But once we have believed what God has revealed to us about who we really are without Him, there is no limit to what He can do through us. A vessel that has been redeemed and cleaned by God’s grace can be put into a place of His choosing and used to His glory.
Isaiah’s humiliated pride and the shame he felt as the real Isaiah was revealed to him was not the end of his story. And it doesn’t have to be the end of our stories too. A colleague of mine told me years ago that one of the most important tasks of a preacher is to make it clear to the congregation that we’re all a bunch of miserable sinners. So, just in case you haven’t heard it before, we are all a bunch of miserable sinners…
But then he told me that in the same breath, people need to be pointed to the Gospel of Christ. The good news is that God did not leave Isaiah in his state of misery, but He lifted him up as Isaiah experienced the grace and mercy of God.
We have that same hope. Miserable sinners who deserve condemnation, but who through repentance and faith in Jesus, are lifted up by the grace and mercy of God.
God’s loving, merciful desire is to bring His people to where He can equip and use us. So when we come to the end of ourselves, we arrive at a whole new beginning, because after the confession comes the cleansing, and after the cleansing comes the calling.
I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.”
“Here I am.”
Not, ‘there he is, send him.’ Not, ‘here I am, but send the minister or the missionary.’ Not even ‘here I am, but please send anyone else but me.’
The call to take God’s message of hope and peace into the world is the call of every Christian.
As Christians we understand that because we are clothed in the righteousness of Christ, and because we are called to reflect His glory and holiness in all we say or do, there is no such thing as a secular part to our lives. It’s all holy. Someone once said that you can even wash the dishes to God’s glory…
The Lord Jesus Christ is our king. We are His subjects. His desire is always to do what is best for His Kingdom. That is why each day of our lives we must crown Him King. When we do, we become Kingdom-minded. If we don’t crown Him daily, we will quickly usurp His authority over us and put ourselves back on the throne of our lives.
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!”
The glory of God is the manifestation of His holiness. ‘God is glorious’ means that His holiness has gone public. His glory is the open revelation of who He is.
Just like Isaiah, we all reach a point where we understand that we have offended our Holy God by our sin, but because of His immeasurable love for us, He sent Jesus to die for those very sins which separate us from Him. As we grow in grace with Him, we find He not only calls us to be holy as He is, but that He calls and equips us to Christian service and ministry.
The choice to refuse to respond to His call will always remain ours, but without Him, our lives will always be empty.
1 In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of His robe filled the temple. 2 Above Him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!”
4 And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. 5 And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”
8 And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.”
Isaiah was given just the smallest glimpse of the glory and holiness of God, and it changed his life.
When we learn to submit to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, we will experience the same radical changes in our lives.
But it all begins with seeing God in a whole new way, just like Isaiah did. When we have some idea of His glory and holiness, we are humbled and filled with shame as we come to terms with how sin has ruined our lives, yet when we experience the mercy of forgiveness in Christ, we will find ourselves drawn to God, willing to do whatever He asks, willing to follow Him no matter how much it costs.
Isaiah watched in stunned silence as the Lord appeared on His throne, encircled by the awesome sight of seraphs, these angelic beings, who cried aloud to one another, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!”
This three-fold repetition of God’s holy character was often used in ancient Hebrew to draw attention to what they were saying. And in the Bible, the only attribute of God which is lifted to such a superlative degree is His holiness.
The main tool for creating emphasis in Hebrew poetry is the element of repetition. In the same way that we might underline or italicise a word, or put it in bold type, the Jewish writers often repeated a word for good measure. To repeat it three times indicated that the writer was elevating that word to its highest level of importance.
There is an important detail in the first verse of Isaiah 6. We’re told that Isaiah was given this vision in the year that King Uzziah died. That was in 739BC, and Uzziah had ruled over the kingdom of Judah since 790BC, so they had had 50 years of relative peace and stability. They were about to begin a new era of political and military upheaval. The outlook for the Jews in the short term at least, was very bleak, and this is when God gave the prophet Isaiah a timely reminder. We need that same assurance today. The world is stumbling around in the dark, and it feels like we’re on a knife-edge, so we need to remember that God is in control.
In Isaiah’s day the throne in Judah was empty, and God was showing Isaiah that the throne in heaven was full.
Uzziah had been shown to be mortal, but the heavenly King was immortal. One king had died - as all kings do - but there is one King lives forever as no other king can.
God appears to us through the pages of His Word to remind us that He is on the throne. We have nothing to fear, because God is in control.
There are many lessons we can learn from Isaiah’s story, and probably the most important is his initial reaction to the holiness of God.
As soon as Isaiah saw this awesome display of God’s holiness, he was filled with fear, as he cried out, “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”
When Isaiah saw the Lord in His holiness, he saw himself in his sinfulness. He saw himself for who he really was.
If we were able to ask the people in Isaiah’s time what they thought about him, they’d have told us that he was a man of unquestioned integrity and moral righteousness, a man of personal holiness and virtue.
And I’m sure that Isaiah – before his encounter with God, at least – would’ve been much like us. We all know we’re not perfect, but we do try to do the right thing and we would like to regard ourselves as good people.
But after just one glance at the holiness of God, however, Isaiah soon saw the true picture. It took deity to reveal his sin, the sin of the people around him, and how it had destroyed his life. It took God to reveal his guilt.
And it will always be the same with us.
But there is good news. God has the answer to sin.
Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”
This all points us to the Cross of Christ, a place where the awful cost of our sin and all the righteous wrath of God was poured out on Jesus. He has paid the price of our atonement, and in so doing He has freed us to love and serve God once more.
Like Isaiah, we know it will hurt at some level to have the hot coals of God’s holiness singe away the tough exterior of our pride, but it will result in the incomparable gift of a new, redeemed and forgiven heart.
God calls to us to be holy as He is holy. The reason this is necessary, is that in order to be effective worshippers and servants of God, we must first be clothed in the righteousness of Christ. We have nothing to offer God, because it has all been tainted by sin. Even the good things we do in our own strength are not good enough.
This is why we need the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Without His atoning death on the cross, we would be lost forever. This is at the very heart of the Gospel.
And so, when God chooses to use us in His service, it’s not because He’s seen something in us that’s worthy of being used for His purposes. It’s not because He needs someone with our credentials working for Him.
What He sees is His own holiness, and the clean vessels that have repented of their sin who are willing to let His love pour into and out of them in obedience to Him.
Until we have lowered the understanding of our own value to the level of nothing more than an earthen vessel, we can be of little or no use to God. But once we have believed what God has revealed to us about who we really are without Him, there is no limit to what He can do through us. A vessel that has been redeemed and cleaned by God’s grace can be put into a place of His choosing and used to His glory.
Isaiah’s humiliated pride and the shame he felt as the real Isaiah was revealed to him was not the end of his story. And it doesn’t have to be the end of our stories too. A colleague of mine told me years ago that one of the most important tasks of a preacher is to make it clear to the congregation that we’re all a bunch of miserable sinners. So, just in case you haven’t heard it before, we are all a bunch of miserable sinners…
But then he told me that in the same breath, people need to be pointed to the Gospel of Christ. The good news is that God did not leave Isaiah in his state of misery, but He lifted him up as Isaiah experienced the grace and mercy of God.
We have that same hope. Miserable sinners who deserve condemnation, but who through repentance and faith in Jesus, are lifted up by the grace and mercy of God.
God’s loving, merciful desire is to bring His people to where He can equip and use us. So when we come to the end of ourselves, we arrive at a whole new beginning, because after the confession comes the cleansing, and after the cleansing comes the calling.
I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.”
“Here I am.”
Not, ‘there he is, send him.’ Not, ‘here I am, but send the minister or the missionary.’ Not even ‘here I am, but please send anyone else but me.’
The call to take God’s message of hope and peace into the world is the call of every Christian.
As Christians we understand that because we are clothed in the righteousness of Christ, and because we are called to reflect His glory and holiness in all we say or do, there is no such thing as a secular part to our lives. It’s all holy. Someone once said that you can even wash the dishes to God’s glory…
The Lord Jesus Christ is our king. We are His subjects. His desire is always to do what is best for His Kingdom. That is why each day of our lives we must crown Him King. When we do, we become Kingdom-minded. If we don’t crown Him daily, we will quickly usurp His authority over us and put ourselves back on the throne of our lives.
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!”
The glory of God is the manifestation of His holiness. ‘God is glorious’ means that His holiness has gone public. His glory is the open revelation of who He is.
Just like Isaiah, we all reach a point where we understand that we have offended our Holy God by our sin, but because of His immeasurable love for us, He sent Jesus to die for those very sins which separate us from Him. As we grow in grace with Him, we find He not only calls us to be holy as He is, but that He calls and equips us to Christian service and ministry.
The choice to refuse to respond to His call will always remain ours, but without Him, our lives will always be empty.