How the Sovereign Lord Prepares His Servants
By: Allen Ross
Introduction
Isaiah 6 records the “call” of the young prophet to the difficult task of preaching a message of judgment to the nation. This incident focused his ministry and prepared him for it. It may be best to say that the elaborate material recorded here actually looks at how the sovereign LORD inspired the young prophet for service. The revelation of the glory of the LORD was the foundation; it led to a response of confession, which brought cleansing, which in turn enabled him to hear the Word of God, which carried a commission to preach the message.
A few notes of caution are in order, because this passage is so widely used today. First, Isaiah already was a prophet, so this is not actually a “call” to become a prophet, but a call to a new direction in service. We shall have to be careful how we use that word, or how we define it. It is a call to a new and more difficult task that had to be performed.
Second, very few people have seen in this life what Isaiah saw—the pre-incarnate Christ (cf. John 12:41) in glory. We work with passages in God’s revelation that describe this heavenly scene with now the risen Christ in glory. That will be the foundation and inspiration of ministry and service today. Passages like 2 Corinthians 3 and 4, and Revelation 1, then, become rather significant in our correlation with the New Testament.
There must be a supernatural basis for ministry, or we shall not endure the suffering, opposition, discouragement, and hardship that follows. Paul says that he kept his focus on eternal things, things heavenly and spiritual—the eternal weight of glory. But if you try to apply this passage to say we must see this exact vision, even if you use the words figuratively and rhetorically without defining them, you will make an impossible barrier.
Third, the substance of the message is the negative or dark side of the good news. Perhaps this is why speakers usually leave it out, and simply stop with “Here am I, send me.” It was a message of judgment, of warning; they were not going to believe. And Isaiah really did not want to deliver it. So we shall have to consider why this is in the passage.
The setting of Isaiah 6 is the year 742 B.C. Uzziah had been a good king (and there were so few of them). But in his latter years he became proud and usurped the role of priest, and God struck him down. With his death the hopes of many probably seemed dashed. Good King Uzziah was dead—and his wicked son would now take over! But on that occasion God broke through and revealed Himself to Isaiah. The young prophet may have been closing down things in the temple, and as the shadows crept across the temple precincts the flash of glory broke through and the prophet entered into the vision of the heavenlies—he could look past the curtain, past the holy of holies and into the sanctuary in heaven.
The king was dead; but Isaiah saw the King! Kings come and go; but in a theocracy the LORD reigns eternally from heaven. He is the One whom we must please. He is the One who cleanses from sin, or strikes with judicial blindness those who persist in rebellion. He is the Holy One of Israel, and those who believe in Him will be the remnant, the holy seed, the future of the promise. The impact of this vision was overwhelming! In seeing the LORD of glory, the prophet saw himself, and the nation. As with Moses on Mount Sinai, Job hearing God from the whirlwind, Paul on the road to Damascus, or John on the Isle of Patmos, the young seer was changed forever with this vision.
http://bible.org/seriespage/how-sovereign-lord-god-prepares-his-servants-isaiah-61-13
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Wow! As we explore God's Word more deeply we see just how blessed and burdened Isaiah was when he heard God's vision; but through that dark time, God gave Isaiah a glimpse of the pre-incarnate Christ, Our Lord! Oh, how privileged and mighty to see our God in His splendor. As the expository suggests, Isaiah was forever changed and given the strength and resolute spirit he would need to preach God's command--that the people repent, be cleansed and turn to God for all of their needs.
It is so easy for us to justify pursuing things and goals in this world; believing, blindly, that God wants this or that for us. This is a trick of the devil; we seek Jesus FIRST and His righteousness and all things will be added to us as believers. Check your direction, check your pursuits in all areas of your life--do you see the Lord of Glory or the praise of men? Repent, believe and be healed says Jesus. Until tomorrow beloved, let the Holy Spirit fill your souls and minds. Sister Lisa
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Back to Basics
Isaiah's Vision of the Lord Isa. 6:3 Holy, holy, holy. The threefold repetition intensifies the superlative (cf. Rev. 4:8). Holiness implies absolute moral purity and separateness above the creation (see note on Isa. 1:4). his glory. This is a technical term for God's manifest presence with his covenant people. It was seen in the cloud in the wilderness (Ex. 16:7, 10); it moved in to “fill” the tabernacle (Ex. 40:34–35) and then the temple (1 Kings 8:11), where the worshipers could “see” it (Ex. 29:43; Ps. 26:8; 63:2). Several passages look forward to the day when the Lord's glory would fill the earth, i.e., the whole world will become a sanctuary (Num. 14:21; Ps. 72:19; Hab. 2:14; cf. Isa. 11:9); and the esv footnote suggests that the seraphic cry shares this anticipation. Other texts in Isaiah also look forward to the revealing of the Lord's glory to the world (11:10; 35:2; 40:5; 58:8; 59:19; 60:1–2; 66:18). John 1:14 asserts that this glory was present in Jesus.
Isa. 6:4–5 The revelation of the Holy One is disturbing (see Ex. 19:16–18).Woe is me ! For the first time in the book, Isaiah speaks, and his word is a prophetic woe against himself. He confesses his unclean (i.e., not permitted in God's presence) lips, unlike the seraphic choir, whose worship is pure. I dwell in the midst. Isaiah's generation is unfit for God, and Isaiah himself is no better. my eyes have seen the King. The holiness of the King is such that the very sight of him seems as though it would be fatal to a sinner (cf. Gen. 32:30; Ex. 33:20; Isa. 33:14).
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:
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.”
Isaiah's Commission from the Lord
8 And 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.” 9 And he said, “Go, and say to this people:
“‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand;keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’
10 Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes;
lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts,
and turn and be healed.”
11 Then I said, “How long, O Lord?”
And he said:
“Until cities lie waste without inhabitant, and houses without people, and the land is a desolate waste,
12 and the Lord removes people far away, and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.
13And though a tenth remain in it, it will be burned again, like a terebinth or an oak, whose stump remains when it is felled.” The holy seed is its stump.
Understanding Isaiah's Prophecies
Isa. 6:1–13 Grace—through Judgment—for Isaiah. God's grace leads Isaiah from “Woe is me!” (v. 5) to “Here am I!” (v. 8). This vision seems to recount Isaiah's commission as a prophet. His book conveys the lasting impression of this vision of God in his infinite holiness.
Isa. 6:1 In the year. Around 740 b.c. King Uzziah died, marking the end of a lengthy era of national prosperity (see 2 Chronicles 26). Uzziah had contracted leprosy for flouting God's holiness, and his son Jotham had been his co-regent for about 10 years (2 Chron. 26:16–21). I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne. The undying King holds court above. The words high and lifted up appear elsewhere in Isaiah (Isa. 52:13; 57:15) and seem to be part of his distinctive style. John 12:38–41 brings two of these together, implying that John saw the servant of Isa. 52:13–53:12 as not only messianic, but divine. The temple in
Isa. 6:2 the seraphim. Fiery angelic beings (the Hb. word serapim means “flames”). Six wings suggest remarkable powers. The references to face and feet, with their capacity for speech in vv. 3 and 7, and “his hand” in v. 6, imply composite creatures, such as are represented in ancient Near Eastern art. he covered. Even a perfect, superhuman creature humbles himself before the all-holy God.
Isa. 6:4–5 The revelation of the Holy One is disturbing (see Ex. 19:16–18).
Isa. 6:6–7 this has touched your lips. The remedy of grace is personally applied. God's holiness and glory now redemptively enter Isaiah's experience. atoned for. Through the sacrifice on the altar, according to the Levitical ordinances (e.g., Lev. 1:4). Through his seraph (the singular form of seraphim, plural; see note on Isa. 6:2), God declares the remedy for Isaiah's sin to be sufficient and instantly effective. Now Isaiah is qualified to proclaim the only hope of the world—the overruling grace of God. « Less
Isa. 6:8 Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? See 1 Kings 22:19–20; Jer. 23:18, 22. Here am I! Send me. Isaiah's experience of grace has dealt with his problem, confessed in Isa. 6:5. “Us” is like “us” in Gen. 1:26 (“let us make man”): God could be addressing himself (in a way compatible with the Christian doctrine of the Trinity), or he could be addressing his heavenly court (less likely, since only God is doing the sending here). See notes on Gen. 1:26; 1:27. « Less
Isa. 6:9–10 God decrees that the prophet's ministry will have a hardening effect on his own generation, whose character was laid bare in chs. 1–5. The NT quotes this text to explain why some reject the good news of the gospel (cf. Matt. 13:14–15 par.; John 12:39–40; Acts 28:25–27). The openness of faith is a gift of grace, but the unresponsive hearer finds that the message only hardens him to God's gracious purposes (cf. Isa. 29:9–10; 42:18–25; 65:1–7; Luke 2:34; John 9:39; Acts 7:54; Rom. 11:7–10, 25; 2 Cor. 2:15–16; 1 Pet. 2:8). « Less
Isa. 6:11–13 God's discipline will leave only a remnant of his people—the holy seed—like a single stump left after a forest has been burned over. The remaining believers are set apart for God by the same grace that saved Isaiah. They are the heirs of God's promises to Abraham, and thus the only hope for the whole world (see 10:20–23; 11:1–10).
Keep you hearts open Beloved and hear the Holy Word drawing you back to Him and His Wisdom. Do not let the woes of this world cause you to harden your hearts and close your ears. See what the Lord has done, it is good and it is righteous and His mercy endures with us forever!! What a hopeful promise we have in Him...the flesh is weak and temporary but our souls are part of His Soul, His Holy Spirit living in us and preserving us for eternal life. Amen, all my love Sister Lisa
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