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CommissionedIsaiah 6

Commissioned Introduction

Commissioned Introduction

• We are at a stressful time in the history of Israel and Judah.

• King Uzziah has died after a long a prosperous reign.

• His son Jotham was now fully in charge.

• The Assyrians to the northeast were gaining power.

Commissioned Introduction

• Isaiah goes to the Temple to pray.

• God appears in all his glory to Isaiah.

• He finds himself at the intersection of heaven and earth.

Commissioned Introduction

• Isaiah is overwhelmed by God’s holiness.

• He is almost equally stunned by his own sin.

• In the end, Isaiah receives his commission as a prophet.

Commissioned Isaiah 6

Commissioned Isaiah 6:1

Commissioned Isaiah 6:1

• This is about 740 BC – the year King Uzziah died.

• Uzziah’s reign was long and prosperous, but prosperity rarely leads to spiritual depth.

• The future is now uncertain and insecure.

Commissioned Isaiah 6:1

• Isaiah may have been in the Temple seeking the Lord on behalf the nation.

• God appears and reminds Isaiah who truly rules.

Commissioned Isaiah 6:1

• A Lesson for Us:

• When the nation’s future is in question and its government is unstable remember that God always rules.

Commissioned Isaiah 6:2

Commissioned Isaiah 6:2

• The term “seraph” only appears here in the Bible.

• It comes from a Hebrew word meaning “to burn.”

• Similar creatures appear in both Ezekiel and Revelation, but it is hard to say if either of them are the same.

Commissioned Isaiah 6:2

[They are] as flashing with splendour, as full of swift energy, like a flame of fire, as glowing with fervid love, as blazing with enthusiasm. That is the type of the highest creatural being, which stands closest to God. There is no ice in his presence, and the nearer we get to Him in truth, the more we shall glow and burn.

– Alexander Maclaren (1826 – 1910)

Commissioned Isaiah 6:2

• There is no boredom, no drudgery, no apathy in the presence of God.

Commissioned Isaiah 6:3

Commissioned Isaiah 6:3

• Holy, holy, holy!

• When God discloses his holiness, it appears as glory – heavy with substance and shining brighter than the sun.

• Holiness is the inward quality of the revealed glory of God.

Commissioned Isaiah 6:3

Holiness in the Old Testament is not an ethical quality, but the essence of God’s nature as separate and utterly removed from the profane. Holiness, the “glory of his majesty,” strikes terror in the unholy and proud (Isa. 2:19), but to his attendants awe and reverence.

– Brevard Childs (1923 – 2007),Biblical Theologian

Commissioned Isaiah 6:3

• Holy, holy, holy!

• The seraph repeats the word to emphasize the truth of it.

• God is not simply or merely holy.

• He is holy in a superlative – in untouchable or unmatched terms.

Commissioned Isaiah 6:3

• Holy, holy, holy!

• He is holiness multiplied to an infinite degree.

• The seraphim meditate on God’s holiness and this leads them to worship.

Commissioned Isaiah 6:4-5

Commissioned Isaiah 6:4-5

• In the presence of God, Isaiah sees his true state.

• He is not especially sinful, as sinners go.

• He is mortal in the presence of immortality, a flawed, imperfect man in the presence of holiness that is absolute.

Commissioned Isaiah 6:4-5

• Peter in Luke 5:8, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”

• John, upon seeing the glorified Jesus, “fell at his feet as though dead” in Revelation 1:17.

• We would respond in about the same way.

Commissioned Isaiah 6:4-5

• Isaiah sees himself in the context of a sinful nation and he realizes that he has much more in common with his rebellious people than he has with a holy God.

• Once we see ourselves like this, we are very nearly ready to serve God.

Commissioned Isaiah 6:4-5

God’s holiness confronts Isaiah’s sinfulness, and the man confesses his unworthiness, whereupon the holy God forgives.

– Paul R. House

Commissioned Isaiah 6:6-7

Commissioned Isaiah 6:6-7

• Isaiah is cleansed by fire.

• The point of contact is the lips, the place he saw was most in need of cleansing.

• Now he is ready to speak to others for God.

Commissioned Isaiah 6:6-7

• God’s holiness has the power to fully cleanse.

• Lepers were not allowed to touch others, lest they made them unclean.

• Jesus reached out and touched the leper. The leper was cleansed in an instant.

Commissioned Isaiah 6:8

Commissioned Isaiah 6:8

• Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?

• In context, this doesn’t have to refer to the Trinity.

• The “us” could be a plural of majesty, like the “royal we” of the English monarchs.

• But what about the “I” who sends?

Commissioned Isaiah 6:8

• Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?

• The Trinity makes sense, even in the Old Testament.

Commissioned Isaiah 6:8

God then speaks, calling Isaiah to ministry. It is worth noting that this call is not issued at random. Isaiah was already someone who went to the temple in a time of crisis. He was listening to hear what God had to say and was concerned for his people. Thus when he hears God speak of a need, his immediate response is Here am I. Send me.

– Edouard Kitoko Nsiku, South African Theological Seminary

Commissioned Isaiah 6:8

• Here I am! Send me.

• Isaiah has seen his sin and experienced its cleansing.

• He is now ready for service.

Commissioned Isaiah 6:8

• Let’s take moment to recall the process:1. Isaiah sees God and this forces him to see his sin.2. Sin, once recognized, has to be burned away.3. The cleansed sinner is now ready to serve.

Commissioned Isaiah 6:9-10

Commissioned Isaiah 6:9-10

• This is Isaiah’s commission.

• The condition of his people is such that his preaching of the truth will only harden them in their sin.

Commissioned Isaiah 6:9-10

• This passage is key to the New Testament• Matt 13:14–15• Mark 4:12• Luke 8:10• John 12:40• Acts 28:26–27• Rom 11:8

Commissioned Isaiah 6:9-10

• We may wonder if this is still true today.

• The same sun that softens wax, hardens clay.

• God’s word will open some hearts and close others when they hear it.

Commissioned Isaiah 6:9-10

Matthew 13:14-15 (ESV)14 Indeed, in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says:“‘“You will indeed hear but never understand,

and you will indeed see but never perceive.”15 For this people's heart has grown dull,

and with their ears they can barely hear,and their eyes they have closed,

lest they should see with their eyesand hear with their ears

and understand with their heartand turn, and I would heal them.’

Commissioned Isaiah 6:9-10

Matthew 13:16-17 (ESV)16 But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. 17 For truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.

Commissioned Isaiah 6:11-13

Commissioned Isaiah 6:11-13

• Isaiah wonders how long the hardening will be in effect.

• God says it will last until the cities are destroyed and the people are taken into captivity.

• But there will be a holy seed that God will one day use.

Commissioned Isaiah 6:11-13

Isaiah 6:11-13 (NLT) 11 Then I said, “Lord, how long will this go on?” And he replied, “Until their towns are empty,

their houses are deserted,and the whole country is a wasteland;

12 until the LORD has sent everyone away,and the entire land of Israel lies deserted.

13 If even a tenth—a remnant—survive,it will be invaded again and burned.

But as a terebinth or oak tree leaves a stump when it is cut down,so Israel’s stump will be a holy seed.”

Commissioned Isaiah 6:11-13

• The people rebel.

• God responds in judgment.

• He leaves a remnant through which he will restore the nation.

Commissioned Conclusions

Commissioned Conclusions

• Isaiah and his people were in the midst of stressful times.

• He was one of those who sought the Lord.

Commissioned Conclusions

• Isaiah went to the Temple where God gave Isaiah a vision of his absolute holiness.

• Isaiah also saw his own sin.

• God cleansed him and commissioned him as a powerful prophet.

Commissioned Conclusions

• Let’s take moment to recall the process:1. Isaiah sees God and this forces him to see his sin.2. Sin, once recognized, has to be burned away.3. The cleansed sinner is now ready to serve.

Commissioned Conclusions

• How would that process look for us?1. When we see God this will force us to see our sin.2. Sin, once recognized, has to be burned away.3. As cleansed sinners, we are now ready to serve.

Commissioned Conclusions

We may be made clean if we trust in Him, and forsake our sins. Blessed are they that have seen the vision; blessed they that have felt it disclosing their own sins; blessed they whose hearts have been purged.

– Alexander Maclaren (1826 – 1910)

Commissioned Conclusions

Blessed most of all they, who educated and trained through these experiences, have taken this as the motto of their lives ‘Here I am; send me.’

– Alexander Maclaren (1826 – 1910)

Commissioned Isaiah 6:9-10

John 20:19-22 (ESV) … Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 20 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” 22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.