Isaiah 6
6
The Throne Room
1In the year that King Uzziah died, # 6:1 King Uzziah died a leper (see 2 Chron. 26:23). It is likely that the prophecies of Isaiah 1–5 were given before Uzziah’s death in 740 BC. The prophet realized that God would judge even a king if he sinned. Isaiah saw the holiness of God in the judgment of the leprous king and knew that if his uncle Uzziah would be judged, he would be too. When we see the way the Lord deals with sin, our eyes are opened and we see him as he really is. I clearly saw the Lord. # 6:1 Although the word for “Lord” here is Adonai (“Sovereign” or “Master”), we see from vv. 3 and 5 that this is “the Lord God, Commander of Angel Armies.” Long before Jesus was born, Isaiah saw his glory (see John 12:41). He was seated on his exalted throne, towering high above me. # 6:1 Isaiah mentioned a throne seven times (6:1; 9:7; 14:13; 16:5; 22:23; 47:1; 66:1). Transported into the throne room, Isaiah overheard the solemn chanting of the seraphim. He felt the trembling of the very foundations of the temple, and he witnessed the rainbow glory-robe of Almighty God. He also saw an altar, a fire with burning coals, antiphonal singing, and flying seraphim. His long, flowing robe of splendor spread throughout the temple. # 6:1 This very robe of glory has clothed us in Christ, for we are his temple. When we “put on Christ,” we are robed in his splendor before God and angels. Even just his robe fills the temple. This is a picture not just of the majesty of God but also of his incomparable size. 2Standing above him were the angels of flaming fire, # 6:2 Or “seraphim [burning ones],” the fiery custodians of the holiness of God. The seraphs were a class of angels stationed around the throne of God. Seraph comes from the Hebrew word for “burn.” Some have equated the seraphim with the living creatures mentioned in Rev. 4:6–9. They were on fire, burning with the adoration of God. each with six wings: with two wings they covered their faces in reverence, with two wings they covered their feet, and with two wings they flew. # 6:2 With wings folded upward and wings folded downward, they appeared to Isaiah as huge flames of fire. What Isaiah saw is still taking place today in heaven’s throne room. 3And one called out to another, saying:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God,
Commander of Angel Armies! # 6:3 Almost every Jewish commentator speaks of the threefold repetition of the word holy as a reference to the way God manifests his holiness (1) in heaven, (2) in this world, and (3) in the ages to come. Today we can see the triune God being praised: Holy (Father), Holy (Son), Holy (Spirit). Throughout church history this sacred chant has been heard in liturgy, worship, and song. Fifty times Isaiah calls him “the Holy One of Israel.”
The whole earth is filled with his glory!” # 6:3 Isaiah saw the sinfulness of man; the seraphim saw the glory of God. Isaiah needed to see what the angels see. Every true voice for God must have the revelation of glory filling the earth. Without this vision, we are only seeing part of the truth. What fills the earth is his glory, not our sinfulness. This is occurring now, not just in the future.
4The thunderous voice of the fiery angels caused the foundations of the thresholds to tremble # 6:4 What caused this shaking? The celestial praises of God, sung to their highest, caused the foundations to shake. as the cloud of glory # 6:4 Or “[holy] smoke.” This cloud (smoke) is mentioned seven times in Isaiah (4:5; 6:4; 9:18; 14:31; 34:10; 51:6; 65:5). filled the temple!
Isaiah’s Seventh Woe
5Then I stammered and said, “Woe is me! I’m destroyed # 6:5 The Hebrew word nidmêti can be translated “finished,” “cut off,” “pierced through,” “devastated,” “destroyed,” “doomed,” “undone,” “silenced,” or “ruined.” See Judg. 13:22; Job 42:5–6. Isaiah pronounces his seventh woe upon himself. —doomed as a sinful man! For my words are tainted and I live among people who talk the same way. # 6:5 Isaiah was a prophet who made his living from speaking, yet he calls himself a man whose words are tainted. He declared himself a sinner who had offended with his words. He had offended others, and he had offended the holiness of God. Polluted with sin, his words were “tainted” (unclean, foul, defiled, polluted, contaminated), as are ours. King Yahweh, Commander of Angel Armies—my eyes have gazed upon him!”
6Then out of the smoke, one of the angels of fire flew to me. He had in his hands a burning coal he had taken from the altar with tongs. 7He touched my lips with it and said, “See? The burning coal from the altar has touched your lips. Your guilt is taken away; your sin is blotted out.” # 6:7 Or “your sin is atoned for.” The seraph, instead of throwing him out of the sanctuary, brought God’s cleansing coal. It was a coal, for when God judged sin, only coals of fire were left; it speaks of a finished sacrifice. The fires of wrath were spent on Christ. The word for “coal” is ritzpah and means “ceremonial stone.” In the temple, incense was poured upon the ritzpah stone. Then the stone was placed in the fire, creating the fragrance of the burning sacrifice of the Lamb of God. This white-hot stone that was placed on Isaiah’s lips is perhaps the “shining white stone” given to the overcomers (Rev. 2:17).
8Then I heard the Lord saying, “Whom should I send to my people? Who will go to represent us?”
I spoke up and said, “I will be the one. Send me.” # 6:8 No prophet or servant of the Lord answered God’s call more swiftly than Isaiah.
Isaiah’s Message
9Then he said, “Go and tell the people:
‘You keep listening but understand nothing.
You keep watching but learn nothing.’
10Go and preach a message that will make their hearts dull, # 6:10 Or “make fat [calloused] their hearts.” Light rejected hardens the heart. See Ex. 8:15.
their ears plugged, and their eyes blind. # 6:10 Or “plaster over their eyes.” Isaiah’s message is to those who practice idolatry. As they worship idols of wood and stone with no eyes or ears, they become like that which they worship. See Jer. 10:14.
Otherwise, their eyes will begin to see,
their ears will begin to hear,
their hearts will begin to understand,
and they will return to me for healing and be healed.” # 6:10 To those who have an ear for God and a heart to receive revelation, more will be given. To those who do not have a heart to hear God, even the little revelation they have will be taken from them (see Matt. 13:11–15). Jesus came speaking in parables. He longed for the open heart to receive more while the closed heart would be blinded further. The paradox of these verses is in the way God’s Word closes the hearts and minds of the rebellious but opens the ears and eyes of the hungry seeker.
11Then I asked, “O Lord, for how long?”
He answered,
“Until their houses and cities are destroyed and uninhabited
and their land a desolate wasteland.
12Until the Lord has exiled them all to a distant country
and the entire land lies deserted.
13Yet if even a tenth # 6:13 The “tenth” could be the tenth reign of a king or the tenth part of the people. remains there, # 6:13 See 2 Kings 25:12, 22.
it will be burned again.
It will be like a fallen oak or terebinth tree when it is felled;
the stump still lives to grow again.” # 6:13 The two trees mentioned here (terebinth and oak) grow in the Middle East. They both have the power to produce new shoots even when cut down to a stump.
Now, the “stump” is the holy seed. # 6:13 Or “The seed of holiness is its stump” or “The stump is the sacred seed.” Isaiah used the word for “seed” twenty-five times. This is not the end but a new beginning. God always has remnant people, even in a time of judgment. Today true believers have the “holy seed” of Christ within them, for they have been born from above. Note the seven requirements of the divine call: (1) a revelation of God, high and lifted up (vv. 1–4), (2) a revelation of holiness (vv. 1–4), (3) a revelation of our uncleanness (v. 5), (4) divine cleansing (vv. 6–7), (5) a personal call—the voice of the Lord (v. 8), (6) abandonment to God (v. 8), and (7) divine commissioning (vv. 9–13).
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Isaiah 6: TPT
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