Isaiah 6:1-10
1 In the year that king Uzziah died I saw
also the Lord sitting upon a
throne, high and lifted up, and his train
filled the temple.
So in about 740 BC, when king Uzziah died,
Isaiah had a vision.
Sometimes prophets and rulers had visions
and dreams, often needing
interpretation. This is the only recorded
vision that Isaiah had, and
it was a very clear presentation from
God DIRECTLY to him.
Pharaoh had a vision once, where he dreamed
about 7 skinny cows and 7
fat cows. The 7 skinny cows ate the 7
fat ones, and Pharaoh did not
know what to make of it. Joseph was there
to interpret his dream, and
Joseph was put second in command after
a stint in prison because of it.
God wrote a message on the wall when Belshazzar
was king in Daniel’s
time. The writing made Belshazzar very
fearful, so much so that his
knees shook together and banged against
one another (Daniel 4:6 - Then
the king’s countenance was changed, and
his thoughts troubled him, so
that the joints of his loins were loosed,
and his knees smote one
against another). Daniel was the only
one who could give the
interpretation, even after Belshazzar
asked astrologers and soothsayers
what they made of it all.
The point of the matter is, this vision
was pretty straight-forward,
and Isaiah was put in the ’office’ of
prophet from this encounter on.
This wasn’t the start of his prophecies
from the Lord, but it was a new
level for him with God.
2 Above it stood the seraphims: each one
had six wings; with twain he
covered his face, and with twain he covered
his feet, and with twain he
did fly.
3 And one cried unto another, and said,
Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD
of hosts: the whole earth is full of his
glory.
4 And the posts of the door moved at the
voice of him that cried, and
the house was filled with smoke.
The 'Seraphim' were angels, and their name
actually comes from ’burning ones’
in Hebrew. They were powerful beings,
but still were not able to be compared to God
to ANY extent. We find in Hebrews that
men were ’below angels,’ and all
throughout the epistles of Paul and Peter,
we know that we will have a
’glorified body’ after death if Jesus
is our Savior.
’Angels’ actually comes from the word for
’messenger’ in Greek
(angelos), and in a very literal sense,
they are messengers, indeed.
God sends them to protect us sometimes.
After Jesus was tempted in the
wilderness, angels were there to minister
to Him (in this case, likely
supplied Him with food - similarly to
what they did with Elijah - and
congratulated Him).
5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone;
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, the LORD
of hosts.
When Isaiah was in the Presence of God,
he only could see his faults
more clearly and was ashamed. He realized
that he was not worthy of
being there and he was merely a man of
unclean lips.
6 Then flew one of the seraphims unto me,
having a live coal in his
hand, which he had taken with the tongs
from off the altar:
7 And he laid it upon my mouth, and said,
Lo, this hath touched thy
lips; and thine iniquity is taken away,
and thy sin purged.
No matter what the case, if God wants you
to do something, He will make
you qualified if you allow Him to. God
won’t give you more than you can
EVER bear, and keeping that in mind and
living with that fact, following
His Call on your life is possible.
The seraphim with the coal from the altar
(with a continual fire
burning) can also be a symbol of a person
sharing the Gospel. The
person shared with may realize his sin
due to new revelation, thanks to
the Holy Ghost, and the person sharing
the Gospel can give them the good
news of Jesus Christ. Jesus is faithful
and just to forgive EVERY sin
we’ve committed and will commit, and to
cleanse us from EVERY
unrighteous part of us, no matter how
hidden those parts of us are. God
knows every secret of our hearts.
Hebrews 4:13 - Neither is there any creature
that is not manifest in his
sight: but all things are naked and opened
unto the eyes of him with
whom we have to do.
The closer we get to God in our relationship
with Him, the more we hate
sin and realize what betrayal we have
done to our Master. ’Lord’ in
Greek is literally, Master (kurios in
Greek). As we know, too, God
never changes, and in the Old Testament,
He is referred to as Adonai,
which is literally ’Master’ in Hebrew.
There is cleansing power in the Kingdom
of God. Not only cleansing, but
empowering power. It may sound redundant,
but it’s an understatement.
God will give you so much strength, that
it’ll make your head spin! You
will look back on tough times and be awed
at how much He helped you out.
8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying,
Whom shall I send, and
who will go for us? Then said I, Here
am I; send me.
We need to have the willingness to obey
God in whatever He has us do.
Isaiah was a unique prophet. Many prophets
made excuses to God about
how they are incapable of doing the work
He has set out for them. Moses
was concerned that he couldn’t speak well
in front of people, Jeremiah
was concerned that he wasn’t experienced
enough and was too young, but
Isaiah knew that he could do all things
with enablement from his King,
standing right in front of him.
We can do ALL things through Jesus Christ,
who empowers us - gives us
strength we need to carry on His Work.
Without Him, we are like a vine
cut off from the rest of the tree, only
leaving us to wither. God won’t
LET you wither with His Power. He won’t
let you crumble when the
pressure is on - Just keep your trust
in Him and you’ll go far in Him
and in life.
9 And he said, Go, and tell this people,
Hear ye indeed, but understand
not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.
10 Make the heart of this people fat,
and make their ears heavy, and
shut their eyes; lest they see with their
eyes, and hear with their
ears, and understand with their heart,
and convert, and be healed.
God’s mission for Isaiah was to present
His message to them. God would
destroy the cities due to their disobedience
to Him - in many cases,
people made their own idols and bowed
down to them. Many would hear the
words and not accept it, and be completely
blind to the truth. Such is
the case even today.
Relativism can only last you so far, but
if you try to climb that vine
for eternity, you will only find yourself
with a limited stalk. Climb
the vine of eternal life through Jesus,
and you will find yourself in
Heaven after you climb the vine of daily
life until you die (or until
Jesus returns first).
A good picture is in Isaiah 44, where the
picture of a carpenter is
given. The carpenter cuts down trees,
makes all his measurements, uses
the wood, some for fire, and the rest
to make an idol. He then bows
down to the idol and asks it to save him.
Does he know that he’s bowing
down to an inanimate block of wood?
In Psalm 115, it talks about how
the idols have eyes but see not, have
ears but hear not, have qualities but
have no living qualities. They
can’t save you more than a trash can lid!
We each often have idols in our own lives,
too. Put the Lord Jesus
first in your heart and everything else
will fall into place. Serving
the Lord doesn’t equate to a boring life,
but rather the most exciting
one - beyond what you could have ever
imagined.
His Ways and Thoughts are WAY above ours,
as far as the sky is above
the ground, even. Isaiah was cleansed
in God’s Presence and was able to
do what the Lord would have him do.
No matter what your condition, even as
Isaiah was a man of "unclean
lips," and dwelling with an unclean population
of people, God will make
a way for you to please Him, and He will
bless you for being obedient to
His Word.
Even if you are full of sin right now,
coming to Jesus will result in
total purification, just upon asking Him
to cleanse you. No matter
where you are, He hears you, and He answers
all your prayers. Sometimes
He doesn’t answer them the way you want
Him to, but in the end, you will
see that He answers them according to
your best interests.
He could have created us and left us alone
completely. He heals,
restores, forgives, empowers, strengthens,
makes a way out of no way,
gives you joy and peace and purpose in
life. He is the most caring
Father we could ever have.
When the people in the upper room were
filled and empowered by the Holy
Ghost, they were empowered to do AMAZING
things for the Lord. All
throughout the book of Acts, miracles
and conversions were all over the
place! God has much more power and ability
than we think.
So make a commitment to serve the Lord.
Whatever He wants you to do is
the most fulfilling thing you CAN do in
life. If you haven’t accepted
Christ and want to, ask Him now: Lord
Jesus, be my Savior. Forgive my
sins. I believe You are the Son of God
and give life eternally to those
who believe. Amen.
If you want to serve the Lord, give it
all to Him right now. Pray:
Lord, I want to serve You and do Your
Will for my life. Empower me to
do whatever You want me to do in life.
Thank You, Lord. I know there
are Promises in Your Name much greater
than any sin can give me. In
Jesus’ Name, Amen.
I challenge you this week to tell even
one person you haven’t talked
much to about the Gospel. Who knows, maybe
they will be a great Warrior
for the Lord!
He who began a good work in you will be faithful to carry it out
to completion in Christ Jesus. Hallelujah!