The Gospel of Isaiah: Highlights of Chapter Six
The Gospel of Isaiah: Highlights of Chapter Six.
WANTED: An imaginative scribe who can write exquisite poetry. A faithful, articulate believer in Yahweh who can switch from one extreme to another at the Lord’s command… from a sublime vision of God’s glory, to a ridiculous demonstration of shameful nakedness; from confronting the people over their sinfulness, to comforting people with hopefulness; from being an outspoken messenger one minute, to a living object lesson the next; from having one foot in the immediate surroundings one minute, to one foot in the future messianic realm the next. Must be adaptable, thick-skinned, and extraordinarily brave. Person who answers, “Here I am. Send me!” will be especially considered. (from The Jerusalem Post, 740 BC).
- “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the Temple. Above it stood seraphim, each one had six wings, with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one cried to another and said, ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!’ The voices of the angels shook the Temple to its foundations, and the entire building was filled with smoke.” (Isaiah 6:1-4).
Theophany in the Temple. The heavenly powers are included in this song of Paradise chanted around the throne, glorifying almighty God. Only the Lord is worthy to be praised endlessly, eternally, around the clock where there is no clock. And what are all the powers of heaven singing, pausing only to catch a breath? A prayer that has been repeated by Christian churches and individual believers ever since, Isaiah 6:3. Isaiah’s mind-boggling vision of heaven’s throne room, the Lord on His throne, “high and exalted,” surrounded by choirs of angels adoring the King of creation, acknowledging His holiness and purity, set apart for special worship. The Lord’s glory, the light of His presence, permeates everything on earth. All of nature is full of His glory. This vision shaped Isaiah’s view of God and effected his prophetic ministry his whole life. It’s no wonder that Isaiah’s favorite term for God was the Holy One. Isaiah saw that God’s throne is surrounded by angels in full song, and by singing it here on earth, we are able to participate in that heavenly praise. The fact is we never pray alone. We are always accompanied by a cloud of witnesses that includes rank upon rank of heavenly angels. Whenever we glorify God in humble adoration, we are welcomed into the choirs of heaven gathered around the throne. When we adore the Lord, we are placing ourselves in the heavenlies and we place our hearts in the throne room. “Strictly speaking, there is no such thing as ‘private prayer’ in the Christian life. Our prayer to God is always sustained by the angelic presence.” (Reardon, Christ in the Psalms).
Holy = Hebrew, Kadosh; to be set apart; to be separated from the profane; to be distinctive in life purpose from the ordinary; to be sacred and dedicated for a special purpose; to be different in purity and character from the common.
Franz Schubert – Sanctus from German Mass
The Holy = When we read “the Holy One” in Isaiah, the literal translation is “The Holy,” and the “One” is assumed. Yahweh God, the Lord of the universe, is The Holy. It’s not that God is merely in another category by Himself, it’s that God can’t be categorized. There is no comparison to God in this world, there are no parallels. The Lord is utterly distinctive, set apart in every imaginable way, and then some. Because God is Wholly Other, He is worthy to receive one-of-a-kind honor, respect, reverence, and adoration. He is completely separate from any taint of sin, any meager hint of evil, and He has perfect freedom from anything that would compromise His character. God is Truth dwelling in his sacred Spirit. He is comprised of uncreated light. God is high and lifted up, above and beyond comprehension and imagination. Yahweh God has no personal shape or form, and yet remains a Person, Someone in whose image we are all made. God is the source of whatever holiness exists in the world, so God is the only Being for whom the word holy truly applies. When Isaiah 6:3 is recited in the Jewish daily liturgy, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of power and might! Heaven and earth are full of your glory!“, it is customary for the worshippers to stand on their tiptoes and stretch upwards three times. This is a wonderful picture of our rising up to grasp at the unreachable holiness of God. (Arthur Green). In the universe, on the one hand there is The Holy, and then on the other hand there is everything else. To describe the indescribable Holy One is like a slug attempting to explain how a human brain functions.
- “’Holy, Holy, Holy is Yahweh-sabaoth, the Lord of the Angel Armies!’ the seraphim cried one to another. ‘The whole earth is filled with His glory!’ At the sound of that cry, the frame of the Temple door shook and the sanctuary was filled with smoke. Then I said, ‘Woe is me! I am doomed! Ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips! And my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts!’ Then one of the seraphim flew to me, holding a burning coal which he had taken with tongs from the Temple altar of sacrifice. He touched my mouth with it and said, “Look! Now that this has touched your mouth, your guilt is removed and your sin has been cleansed and purged away!” (Isaiah 6:3-7).
Isaiah was a highly literate, well-educated scribe in the royal palace of Jerusalem around 750 BC. His life would take an unexpected turn that would change his life, one of the most dramatic calls in Scripture. In a vision, he witnessed Yahweh God, high and lifted up on His throne, attended by flaming angels shouting out their praises, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of the Angel Armies! The whole earth is full of His glory!” One translation put it this way… “You are more holy than the holiest holiness!” These angelic voices were so loud that the temple in his vision shook to its foundations and the sanctuary was completely filled with smoke, the traditional sign of God’s presence. This unforgettable scene brought Isaiah to his knees as he was overwhelmed with the Lord’s holiness. In his book, one of Isaiah’s favorite names for God was “Holy One of Israel,” in honor of this vision of God’s holiness. Isaiah was shaken to his core as he witnessed God’s power and purity and glory. He could only recognize his own sinfulness and impurity in the presence of God and His angels.
Glory: the weighty splendor of God’s personal presence. God dwells in glory, He is comprised of glory, and so when God makes an appearance on earth, glory is revealed. The sheer weight of God’s presence, His spiritual girth, outweighs the world; His splendor and His majestic presence is more substantive and heavier than the universe.
Unclean Lips. After listening to the pure praise of the angel-seraphim around the throne, Isaiah could only compare his own speech with that of the worshipping angels. He understood well that he was unworthy to be a mouthpiece of God, a prophetic presence who would clearly speak the words of the Lord. So with his “unclean lips” confession, Isaiah was saying that his words are tainted and corrupt. He admitted that his lips were covered in filth compared to the angels’ choir. He repented that his speech was unclean, impure, ready to be used to harm others, downright sinful, and thus he was not even qualified to appear before God’s presence in the Temple. Isaiah confessed before God on His throne that he didn’t even come close to meeting the purification standards of the Hebrew faith.
Immediate Grace. Isaiah thought he was doomed because of the biblical tradition that one couldn’t see God and survive the experience. Even Moses only saw God’s backside (Ex. 34). But the Lord had a different plan for Isaiah. God’s grace rushed to Isaiah after his confession, to forgive him and purify him and prepare him for prophetic ministry. So, one of those angelic messengers was sent by the Lord to take a pair of tongs, select a red-hot burning coal from the altar of burnt sacrifice, swoop to Isaiah, and touch his mouth with that glowing ember. Fire is a biblical symbol of purification, and this was even more so since the coal was taken directly from the priestly altar. This was the Lord’s impromptu purification process for Isaiah, and the angel declared to Isaiah that his guilt was removed and his sins were forgiven. One rightly wonders if this was a painful experience, being burned on the lips like that. We won’t know until we ask Isaiah in Paradise. At any rate, God’s holiness and grace overwhelmed Isaiah, and those two qualities of God dominated his preaching for the rest of his life.
- “Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?’ Then I said, ‘Here am I. Send me!’” (Isaiah 6:8).
Hineni (Hebrew word, literal meaning, “Behold, I am!” but is generally translated in Bible as “Here I am.”) In Scripture it is a response of someone to someone else asking for attention. It could be a response to God, to an angel, a response of a child to a parent, or a servant to a master. Sometimes it is even a loving response of a parent to a child. The Biblical Here I am means you have my full attention; I am at your service; I am completely available to you; whatever you want, I am all in; I am in total readiness to hear and obey you; I have no hesitation in responding to you. Most of the time in Scripture the person saying Here I am doesn’t yet know what the caller wants from him. So hineni can essentially be a statement of faith. When someone in authority initiates Here I am, such as God, it is a declaration of presence and readiness to speak or act. Generally, hineni is often stated in a pivotal moment of that person’s life. Here I am can just be a casual response to a caller, but it often is an important moment in the life of the person responding.
Here I Am! Send Me! After cleansing Isaiah, Yahweh said something very interesting, seemingly to no one in particular but actually perhaps meant for everyone to hear… “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” That was quite the challenge. And what did the Lord mean by “us?” Was He referring to the Holy Trinity? Isaiah, cleansed and prepared, immediately responded to the Lord’s call. “Here I am! Send me!” This readiness to minister for God was quite the statement of faith, because at this point Isaiah didn’t know what the Lord was calling him to do. God only gave instructions to Isaiah after he accepted the call.
Isaiah’s Mission. Much like so many of the other prophets, the people refused to take his words to heart. They wouldn’t listen to Isaiah’s messages from God. He would announce God’s judgment only to be ignored. But Isaiah was adaptable. He would both confront the people and comfort the people. Sometimes he was harsh and condemning, and sometimes he was soothing and hopeful. His encouraging words were based on God’s promise of a future Messiah who would redeem and heal them, and save them from permanent judgment. So Isaiah spoke of God’s justice one minute and God’s mercy the next. He spoke more about the coming Messiah than any other prophet in the Hebrew Bible. His poetry painted a picture of both woe and hope, and is probably the finest in all of Scripture, so the reader has to be adaptable as well and get ready for metaphor, simile, analogy, exaggeration, symbol, and imagery.
A Suitable and Glorious End. Jewish tradition has Isaiah dying a martyr’s death, executed under the reign of the wicked king Manasseh. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the last thing Isaiah saw in his life was the very first thing he witnessed all those years before… Yahweh in all His glory, high and lifted up in His heavenly throne room, fiery angels attending Him, shouting praises to the King in His element. That would truly be a sight for sore eyes.