1 GOD, HIGH AND LIFTED UP ISAIAH 6:1-13
2 Text: Isaiah 6:1-13, GOD, HIGH AND LIFTED UP 1. In the year of King Uzziah s death, I saw the sovereign master seated on a high, elevated throne. The hem of his robe filled the temple. 2. Seraphs stood over him; each one had six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and they used the remaining two to fly. 3. They called out to one another, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord who commands armies! His majestic splendor fills the entire earth! 4. The sound of their voices shook the door frames, and the temple was filled with smoke. 5. I said, Too bad for me! I am destroyed, for my lips are contaminated by sin, and I live among people whose lips are contaminated by sin. My eyes have seen the king, the Lord who commands armies. 6. But then one of the seraphs flew toward me. In his hand was a hot coal he had taken from the altar with tongs. 7. He touched my mouth with it and said, Look, this coal has touched your lips. Your evil is removed; your sin is forgiven. 8. I heard the voice of the sovereign master say, Whom will I send? Who will go on our behalf? I answered, Here I am, send me! 9. He said, Go and tell these people: Listen continually, but don t understand! Look continually, but don t perceive! 10. Make the hearts of these people calloused; make their ears deaf and their eyes blind! Otherwise they might see with their eyes and hear with their ears, their hearts might understand and they might repent and be healed.
3 11. I replied, How long, sovereign master? He said, Until cities are in ruins and unpopulated, and houses are uninhabited, and the land is ruined and devastated, 12. and the Lord has sent the people off to a distant place, and the very heart of the land is completely abandoned. 13. Even if only a tenth of the people remain in the land, it will again be destroyed, like one of the large sacred trees or an Asherah pole, when a sacred pillar on a high place is thrown down. That sacred pillar symbolizes the special chosen family. (NET) Commentary: Isaiah wrote about some events that took place in the year that King Uzziah died. This was around 742 B.C. Isaiah saw an amazing scene. He said, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. (Isaiah 6:1) Isaiah saw seraphim or flaming creatures with six wings each were flying over him. They covered their faces with two of their wings and their bodies with two more. They used the other two wings for flying. The seraphim cried out to one another, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. (Isaiah 6:3) The posts of the Temple were shaken and smoke filled the Temple. Smoke was often seen as a demonstration of God s power. An example of this would be at Mount Sinai. And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled. And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God; and they stood at the nether part of the mount. And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly. And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice. (Exodus 19:16-19) In the presence of God, Isaiah
4 felt doomed because of sins. Isaiah said that he and the people were all people of unclean lips. He was symbolically purified to do the work of a prophet that God called him to do. 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: 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. (Isaiah 6:6-7) After the purification God wanted to know if Isaiah was ready for the task. He asked, Whom shall I send, And who will go for Us?" Isaiah answered, "Here am I! Send me. Sadly, the people would close their eyes, stop their ears and harden their hearts to much of Isaiah s preaching. The refusal of God s message would lead to destruction and desolation. However, the people are not left without hope. God said, But just as stumps remain after trees have been cut down, some of my chosen ones will be left. Future hope was found through the coming of the Messiah. God called Isaiah in the year of King Uzziah died Isaiah 6:1-4: Uzziah was sixteen when he became king of Judah and reigned for fifty-two years. Sixteen years old was Uzziah when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty and two years in Jerusalem. His mother's name also was Jecoliah of Jerusalem. And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father Amaziah did. And he sought God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the visions of God: and as long as he sought the LORD, God made him to prosper. (2 Chronicles 26:3-5) At first Uzziah was a great servant of God. Sadly, When he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction: for he transgressed against the LORD his God, and went into the temple of the LORD to burn incense upon the altar of incense. (2 Chronicles 26:16) The account of what happened to Uzziah is very sad indeed. And Azariah the priest went in after him, and with him fourscore priests of the LORD, that were valiant men: And they withstood Uzziah the king, and said unto him, It appertaineth not unto thee, Uzziah, to burn incense unto the LORD, but to the priests the sons of Aaron, that are consecrated to burn
5 incense: go out of the sanctuary; for thou hast trespassed; neither shall it be for thine honour from the LORD God. Then Uzziah was wroth, and had a censer in his hand to burn incense: and while he was wroth with the priests, the leprosy even rose up in his forehead before the priests in the house of the LORD, from beside the incense altar. (2 Chronicles 26:17-19) In 2 Chronicles 26:21we read, Uzziah the king was a leper unto the day of his death, and dwelt in a several house, being a leper; for he was cut off from the house of the LORD: and Jotham his son was over the king's house, judging the people of the land. We often date events in our life by the year that something happened. We might say that happened the year the tornado came, or the year my Daddy died. So, in the year that Uzziah died Isaiah had a vision of God high and lifted up. God was sitting on His throne with great majesty. Earthly thrones are left empty, but that is never the case with God. He will never die nor abdicate His throne. Isaiah saw seraphims or these heavenly, angelic beings. Their purpose seemed to have been to declare the glory of God. 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. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. (Isaiah 6:2-3) The glory of God was seen as smoke filled the Temple. Smoke had represented the glory of the Lord filling Solomon s Temple. And it came to pass, when the priests were come out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of the LORD, So that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud: for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of the LORD. (1 Kings 8:10-11) Isaiah is willing to go on behalf of God Isaiah 6:5-8: When Isaiah saw the greatness of God, he became more aware of his own sins. He was also more aware of the sins of the people. He said, 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. (Isaiah 6:5) "Before he announced any 'woes' on others, he first confessed his own sin and said, Woe
6 is me!" God used one of the seraphims to deal with Isaiah s sin. 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: 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. (Isaiah 6:6-7) God cleansed Isaiah of whatever it was that made him reluctant to serve. Isaiah said, Mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD. Our life is the result of what we have allowed our eyes to see and our heart to meditate upon. In a wonderful exchange with Isaiah, after he had been cleansed by God, God asked, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me. (Isaiah 6:8) When God called Isaiah, Isaiah was ready and willing to do the work. Now that he had been cleansed spiritually, Isaiah was ready to work for God. Isaiah s preaching led to some people hardening their hearts Isaiah 6:9-10: God commissioned Isaiah saying, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. 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. (Isaiah 6:9-10) The message Isaiah was to preach was a message of warning for the people. Isaiah s preaching would cause some to have eyes that were even more blind spiritually, their ears more deaf, and their hearts would be more calloused to God s way. They would resist God s truth as preached by Isaiah. Isaiah went forth to preach knowing that, for the majority to the people, his mission would be fruitless. Paul quoted Isaiah in defence of his preaching and work and the rejection of the people. And when they agreed not among themselves, they departed, after that Paul had spoken one word, Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet unto our fathers, Saying, Go unto this people, and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive: For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and
7 understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. (Acts 28:25-27) Isaiah s preaching led a small remnant to have hope Isaiah 6:11-13: Preaching a message of God s judgment against sin is not fun, so Isaiah asked about the length of his mission. 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. (Isaiah 6:11) Isaiah was to keep preaching (1) Until the cities lie ruined and without inhabitant, (2) Until the houses are left deserted, (3) Until the fields were ruined and ravaged, and (4) Until the LORD had sent everyone far away into exile. Isaiah was to do what we should do. He was to continue preaching God s message until there was not a person left in the land to hear it. God did provide a glimmer of hope as He said, 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. (Isaiah 6:13) Leave the stump and the tree grows back! Remember, God was still in the process of preparing the Jewish nation for the coming of the Messiah! When God asks for workers, we should volunteer. We should preach His message as long as there is anyone to preach it to! Isaiah was first willing to go. Then he asked God how long the mission would be. Those that obey the gospel of Christ are saved and added by the Lord to His church. It is in the church that we can serve God, glorify Him and carry out His mission for us. Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. (Ephesians 3:21) To become a Christian you must hear the gospel (Romans 10:17), believe in Jesus (John 8:24), repent of sins (Acts 17:30), confess Christ as Lord (Acts 8:37), and be baptized to be saved. (1 Peter 3:21) For fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty love and serve Him until death. Trust in the Lord forever!
8 By Charles Box, Walnut Street Church of Christ, P.O. Box 551, Greenville, Alabama 36037 USA
9 Questions On Isaiah 6:1-13 (Questions 1-9 are based on the NET text.) 1. What did Isaiah see in the year King Uzziah died? Give details. (See verses 1-4.) 2. What did Isaiah say in response to what he had seen? 3. What circumstances led to Isaiah s evil being removed and his sins being forgiven? Of what evils and sins had Isaiah been guilty?
10 4. What question did God ask Isaiah? What was Isaiah s response? 5. What was Isaiah to tell the people? 6. Why would God tell Isaiah to make the hearts of the people calloused, their ears deaf, and their eyes blind? 7. Didn t God want the people to understand, repent and be healed? Explain verse 10.
11 8. How long did God want Isaiah to proclaim this message? 9. What was an Asherah pole? 10. King Uzziah died around B.C. What are seraphim? What was their purpose? 11. Smoke represented s. In the of, felt because of his. was to do
12 the of a that him to do. 12. How did the people respond to Isaiah s preaching? What hope, if any, was left for them? 13. Define our in verse 8 (NET) and us in the KJV. Who is included in our and us? 14. Give as much information as you can about King Uzziah. 15. Give biblical examples in which smoke was a sign of God s glory.
13 16. Seeing the of, Isaiah became more aware of his own. He was also more aware of the of the. Before he announced any on others, he first his own. 17. of whatever it was that made him to. Our is the of what we have our to and our to upon. 18. was and to do the. Now that he had been, was to for. 19. The was to was a for the. The of the would not live in keeping with the things Isaiah preached. The same is true today in regard to the truth gospel preachers are telling them. 20. Compare Paul s experience with Isaiah s experience. (See Acts 28:25-27 and Isaiah 6:9-10.)
14 21. How long was Isaiah to preach this message, continue his mission? 22. What hope if any was left for the people? 23. When God asks for workers, we should volunteer? How and in what capacities do your talents enable you to best serve? 24. Why do people refuse to walk in the way of righteousness?
15 25. How would knowing why people refuse to live righteously help us in our efforts to lead them to Christ?