6. Isaiah Chapter Six

Isaiah Chapter 6 This chapter is closely connected with chapter five. The sad condition of things described in that chapter existed in Uzziah’s reign, and now in the year of his death (a jubilee year, which began on the evening of the Day of Atonement-that was the fourteenth jubilee since Israel occupied Canaan) Isaiah is given a vision of the Lord’s glory, in contrast to the nation’s shame. The glory was about to depart from the earthly Temple. It has never returned nationally since. In this connection it is significant that shortly after Uzziah’s death Rome was founded, the power that was destined to consummate the devastation of Jerusalem and the scattering of the Jews. The vision was of "the Lord [Adonai, sovereign or absolute Lord] sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up" (Isaiah 6:1). The apostle John makes it known that the glory seen by the prophet was that of Christ Himself (John 12:41). "High and lifted up" almost certainly refers to the Throne. Some would regard it as descriptive of the Lord. The word rendered "train" means the hem or fringe of His robe, as in Exodus 28:33-34. His garment consists of light (Psalms 104:1-35) and fills the heavenly temple, just as the cloud filled the tabernacle (Exodus 40:35). That the seraphim stood "above" (Isaiah 6:2) signifies that they were in attendance (not in a superior position). They differ from the cherubim. They are the fiery guardians of the holiness of the Lord, and are possessed of certain human features. With two wings they covered their faces, in awe that dared not gaze at the glory. With two they covered their feet, in acknowledgment of the lowliness of their glorious service. With twain they were flying, or hovering. The verbs are in the imperfect tense, describing what they were doing continually.

"One cried unto another" (Isaiah 6:3). This suggests that their utterances were antiphonal, though not in song. There is no record in Scripture of angels singing. The worship offered is thus expressed: "Holy, holy, holy, is Jehovah of hosts: the whole earth is full of His glory" (or rather, His glory is the fullness of the whole earth). Possibly the first part was said by the seraphim on one side, the second part by those on the other. As to the threefold utterance of the word "holy," three is the number of unity expanded or developed. There is more than mere emphasis here. What is suggested is probably the realization of the character of the Tri-unity, the Three in the one Godhead, their attribute in its purity and perfection, rather than three different modes of Their dealings. The determinate counsel of God is not only that the earth "shall be filled with His glory" (Numbers 14:21) but that "the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord" (Isaiah 11:9 and Habakkuk 2:14). His glory stands for His character and actings, and all this is to be manifested and is to receive worldwide recognition and acknowledgment (Jeremiah 31:34; cp. Php 2:11).

"And the foundations of the thresholds [r.v.] were moved at the voice of him [a collective pronoun, signifying "them," the company of the seraphim] that cried, and the house was filled with smoke" (Isaiah 6:4). The smoke, the outcome of the worship of the seraphim, arose from the altar of incense. It was therefore connected with the fire on the altar (Isaiah 6:6) and was indicative of the acceptance of Isaiah himself (Isaiah 6:7) and the preparation for his testimony (Isaiah 6:8). This completes the vision of the glory of the Lord as set in contrast to the dishonor done to Him by the ways and doings of His people. The effect upon Isaiah was to bring him down before the Lord in the realization of his own natural state and in acknowledgment of his identification with his nation in their evil condition (Isaiah 6:5). So should it ever be with us. The more we apprehend the facts and character of the atoning sacrifice of Christ and the glories of His Person the more deeply we realize our own sinfulness. The nearer we are to the Lord the greater the sense of our utter unworthiness. Further, in this our own rightful attitude before Him we learn to identify ourselves with the condition of those fellow members of the Body of Christ who have proved unfaithful and lapsed into evil ways, and to confess their sins, as ours. Only so can we really be prepared to give an effectual testimony. It is one thing to condemn the saints, it is quite another to take upon ourselves the confession of their sins as ours. It is that which causes the Holy Spirit to use us for real blessing amidst them. The fire on the altar of incense did for Isaiah all that was necessary. The vision of the glory caused him to exclaim, "Woe is me! for I am undone [or, cut off], because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, Jehovah of hosts" (Isaiah 6:5). Uzziah had been cut off, and had to cover his lip and cry "Unclean, unclean" (Leviticus 13:45). Now Isaiah feels himself in the like condition spiritually. No man could see God without suffering death (Exodus 33:20). His vision of the glory had reduced him, in his own estimate, to the level of his guilty and defiled nation. For such a contrite heart there was immediate mercy (see Isaiah 57:15). A seraph became a ministering spirit, in the vision. He brought in his hand a burning coal taken from the incense altar by the tongs of the sanctuary (Isaiah 6:6). A seraph could not touch the sacrifice or that which arose from it, he brought the effects of it. With the coals he touched the prophet’s mouth, that member the uncleanness of which he had deplored (cp. Jeremiah 1:9). His iniquity was removed, and his sin expiated (Isaiah 6:7). The whole vision and the divine dealings were the appointed preparation for the solemn testimony he was to deliver. This was not the beginning of his witness, the occasion was a special one. If we are to engage in any particular service for the Lord, we can render it effectively only as we freshly appropriate to ourselves the efficacy of the atoning sacrifice of Christ for the cleansing of our hearts from sin. For each occasion we must come to the Throne by way of the Cross. We must come to the Mercy-Seat (Christ Himself) "that we may obtain mercy."

All was now clear for the prophet to deliver his solemn message. He hears the voice of the Lord (Adonai, as twice elsewhere in this chapter, Isaiah 6:1 and Isaiah 6:11, the supreme Ruler and Judge), saying "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" (Isaiah 6:8). The plural is suggestive of the Tri-unity of Persons in the Godhead. This was not a question of mere deliberation, it was directed to the heart of Isaiah himself, whom the Lord had already prepared for the purpose. The response was immediate. Isaiah was standing in unhindered communion with his Master. "Here am I; send me," he says. There was no questioning or reasoning. No burden would be too cumbersome, if the Lord committed it to him.

There is no task laid upon us by the Lord which we shall not have power from Him to fulfill, when everything that would hinder our communion with Him has been removed.

Nothing could be more solemn than the message he was commissioned to give: "Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed [or hear ye still], but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not" (Isaiah 6:9). They were "this people," not "My people" (cp., e.g., Exodus 32:9, Exodus 32:21, Exodus 32:31; Numbers 11:11-14), and thus frequently in subsequent chapters of Isaiah. They were "a people of unclean lips." The message was not only for immediate purposes, it pointed on to the time when Christ Himself, in the days of His flesh, pronounced this very doom upon the apostate nation (Matthew 13:14-15). The commands in Isaiah 6:10, to make the heart of the people fat, to make their ears heavy, and to shut their eyes, involved the punitive measures which God Himself would carry out. Isaiah’s message would be God’s own instrument in doing it. Prophets were often said to do themselves by their messages what God actually did through them (see, e.g., Jeremiah 1:10; Jeremiah 31:28; Ezekiel 43:3; Hosea 6:5).

What follows is in the inverse order of what has just preceded; "lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart." This inverted parallelism is called Chiasm, from the shape of the Greek letter Chi (X). It lends vigor and emphasis in the handling of a subject. For a simple example see Matthew 12:22. The people had so persistently perverted their ways that they had gone beyond the possibility of conversion and healing. A man may so harden himself in evil as to render his condition irremediable, and this by God’s retributive judgment upon him. The prophet, while willing and obedient, was so weighed down by the nature of his message, that he cried, "Lord, how long?" For Isaiah knew that He would not cast off His people forever (cp. Exodus 32:9-14). The Lord responds by foretelling the wasted, depopulated condition of the cities, the uninhabited state of the houses, the utter desolation of the land, the removal of the people far away, and a multitude of forsaken places in the very heart of the country (Isaiah 6:11-12).

There is always a "remnant" of faithful ones in the nation and God shows His mercy to it in and through such. Accordingly He now says, "But in it shall be a tenth, and it shall again be eaten up." Even so this remnant will come through a time of trouble. It will be "eaten" (or "burnt"), i.e., by a purifying fire (see Malachi 3:3). This was the case with those who returned from captivity by the decree of Cyrus, as recorded in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. So in the coming day, in "the time of Jacob’s trouble" under the Antichrist (Jeremiah 30:7).

It will be "as a terebinth and as an oak, whose stock remaineth, when they are felled [or when the branches are cut off and only a stump remains]; so the holy seed is the stock thereof" (Isaiah 6:13). The stump has life in it after the cutting off of the branches; it can shoot out into verdure again. All this describes, in a twofold application, the circumstances of the remnant both after the return from captivity and hereafter in the great tribulation. The nation, consisting of the remnant, will, under the hand of their Messiah-Deliverer, revive and be glorified (see Isaiah 11:1).