The Road to Jesus Leads to Humility
As we study through Isaiah, we see man is not lost because God cannot save. Man is lost because his sin repels him from the holy nature of God just as darkness is repelled by light. God is holy. How is sinful man going to stand in the holy presence of God? That is the perpetual question asked throughout the Old Testament and only answered in Jesus Christ.
We come to chapter 6 and three things are made evident in chapter 6. First, and foremost, is the holiness of God. Yet, this holiness is pictured in contrast with the sinfulness of man, epitomized in God’s own prophet, Isaiah. So we see here that the prophet of God is no more holy or righteous than the nation of Israel. He is a sinner preaching to sinners. But, also we see, in contrast with Israel at large, Isaiah has the humility to submit and obey the Lord’s commands.
Chapter 6 is God’s call to Isaiah to be a prophet, to be a light to his nation, to be a witness of God’s work in the world and Isaiah says, “Here am I. Send me.” This is the attitude that God wants and needs Israel itself to have. The question is: Who will echo Isaiah’s submission?
In Isaiah’s vision, a seraphim called out in praise to God: “Holy, holy, holy. The whole earth is full of His glory.” This is the only place in the Old Testament where a quality is raised to the third power, indicating that God’s holiness is “so far beyond anything the human mind can grasp that a ‘super-superlative’ has to be invented to express it” (Motyer, 81).
Isaiah was overwhelmed just as any humble God-fearer would have been, in the presence of God. Compare Peter in Luke 5:8. To be blunt, until a man sees the holiness of God, he is not ready to preach the Gospel. I fear there are a lot of people claiming to be servants of the word who have not yet seen the holiness of the Lord.
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Isaiah’s answer is very similar to Peter’s: “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips. For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.”
We saw back in 4:4 that the Branch would bring a “spirit of burning” that would purify Israel and take away the filth of the daughters of Zion and purge the bloodshed from Jerusalem, making the survivors “holy.” So it is here that the fiery creature comes to Isaiah with a burning coal from the altar and touches Isaiah’s mouth with it. Through this symbolism, Isaiah’s iniquity is taken away and his sin is forgiven.
Standing pure and holy in the presence of God, Isaiah is now in a position to represent the holy God to an unholy people. The Lord calls out, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” And Isaiah, humbled and purified, responds, “Here am I. Send me.” Please observe that Isaiah does not yet know what God wants done but for an humble servant of the word, it does not matter. He stands ready to serve His Lord.
If/when Judah will be holy, it will take the God of heaven to make them holy. Their responsibility will be to open their eyes and ears and understand His expectations for them (6:9-10).
–Paul Holland
