Isaiah 6:6-13

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. 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. 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. ¹¹ Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate, ¹² And the Lord have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land. ¹³ But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten: as a teil tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them, when they cast their leaves: so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof.

One thing left out of most teaching, preaching, and conversation about God today is the reality that God is holy. This leads to a misunderstanding of who He is. While God has many attributes (love, grace, mercy, wrath, omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, immutability, etc.), it is His holiness that permeates and defines all of His other attributes. His love is a holy love. His wrath is a holy wrath. What do we mean when we say that God is holy? We mean that He is perfect in all His ways and that there is nothing and no one like Him.

Last week, in Isaiah 6, we saw the exalted majesty of God and how you and I are to worship Him above all else, just like the Seraphim in Isaiah’s vision. We also saw the reverence that we are to have for His person in Isaiah’s response to encountering God’s holiness. This week, we will learn three more responses that we are to have in the remaining verses of this passage.

First, we are given the example to look for God’s provision. Provision for what? Isaiah has just declared, “I am undone!” Isaiah saw himself as doomed in the presence of Holy God. What God does next cleanses Isaiah of His sin and allows Him to remain in His presence. The Seraphim takes a live coal from the altar and touches it to Isaiah’s lips as an act that symbolized the purging of Isaiah’s sin. Of course, our sin is not purged with coals or fire, but with blood (Leviticus 17:11). The Bible quite clearly tells us that God has provided one means of the salvation of people and that is the death of His Son Jesus who shed His blood on a cross for us (1 Peter 1:18-20; Romans 5:8). The only hope you and I have of approaching God and one day being able to stand in His presence without His wrath is what He has provided through His Son, Jesus. Isaiah’s sin is cleansed, he is allowed to remain in God’s presence, and he becomes a prophet of God. Just like Isaiah, our sin must be cleansed if we are to approach God or serve Him.

After Isaiah’s sin is purged, he hears the voice of God calling out, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” It seems to be a general call going out to all who would hear. Isaiah only hears the call after his sin is dealt with. His call was to go and speak on God’s behalf to His people. Isaiah’s only response is, “Here am I, send me!” We must recognize that there is a lost world around us that desperately needs Jesus. God could have chosen to use anyone or anything to reach the world, but He has chosen to use those that He has called, have answered the call, and been set apart by Him for that purpose (Romans 10:14-15). Isaiah is given a rather hopeless message of hardening the people of Israel’s hearts by preaching the truth. Jesus uses these verses in John 12:36-41 to stress the unrepentance of the people towards His ministry. We must be obedient to God regardless of how popular the message we preach is. We must answer His call.

Lastly, God gives Isaiah a glimpse as to His ultimate purpose from Isaiah’s ministry and what follows for His people. Only a small portion of them will remain and believe (“a tenth”). The promise is that a “holy seed” will remain as a foundation. That holy seed is what the whole Old Testament is about. It is about the Lord Jesus who would come as the only hope for the people of Israel and the whole world. Isaiah will go on to record more prophecies about Jesus than any other Old Testament prophet. God’s hope for all people is Jesus. The answer to the problem of how an unholy, rebellious world is reconciled to God is Jesus. We must come to the place where we submit to the purpose of God through His Son. As followers of Jesus we must submit to God’s sovereign plan, trusting that His purposes are good (Romans 8:28) and will be accomplished in due time.

Have you been reconciled to God through His Son Jesus? There is no greater need we have nor a more important subject with which we must grapple than this one. God is holy and we are not. We are separated from Him by our sin and we must be forgiven to be reconciled to Him. The only way He has given for this is Jesus who is “the Way, the Truth, and the Life” (John 14:6). In response to His holiness, will you look to His provision, answer His call, and submit to His purpose?