Today we will start chapter 6. Today let’s study how Isaiah was commissioned to be a prophet. Isaiah had already spoken the word of God as a prophet, but his work as a full-dressed prophet is from chapter six on. Here he receives a commission from God, and begins his work as a full-dressed prophet. It can be said that chapters 1 to 5 are the general remarks or introduction to the whole book of Isaiah. Today let’s study three things about Isaiah’s commission.

I. I am ruined (Vs. 1-5)
First please look at verses 1-5. Here is says, “In the year that King Uzziah died”. (1) Isaiah was commissioned “in the year that King Uzziah died”. (1) It is difficult to know the exact year that King Uzziah died, but it was about 740 B.C. If you look at II Chronicles 26:15, you can see what kind of king King Uzziah was.
II Chronicles 26:16
King Uzziah was a very outstanding king and ruled over Judah for a period extending over 52 years so his name resounded over a great distance. In the year that this great King Uzziah died Isaiah was commissioned. In this year he saw a vision. It was a vision of “the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted.” (1) Here a contrast can be seen. It is a contrast between God and King Uzziah. King Uzziah who so respected and trusted, died and was removed from the throne. He is contrasted with the real king, the Lord who is “seated on a throne, high and exalted.” (1) This means that who Isaiah should depend upon is not King Uzziah, but the Lord. If you look at II Chronicles 26::2 you will see that it was Isaiah that wrote about the great works of King Uzziah. It is thought that as Isaiah was writing about the greatness of the works of King Uzziah, that he began to put his expectations in him. I think when he saw that the King Uzziah had died and was removed from the throne and that the Lord is “seated on a throne, high and exalted”, (1) he realized that it was the Lord, God, whom he should really be trusting.
Next, let’s look at what the Lord who is “seated on a throne, high and exalted” (1) is like. “The train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.’ At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.” (1-5)

First of all, “The train of his robe filled the temple.” (1) This was a long flowing robe of a king that symbolizes his authority and power. “The train of his robe filled the temple” (1) means that the King of Kings has authority, power and rule over the entire temple. The human kings die and are dethroned, but the real King, the Lord is “high and exalted” (1) and reigns as the supreme power and authority.
Next it says, “Above him were seraphs”. (2) Seraphs are heavenly beings that serve the Lord. Seraph is the origin for the word that means burning in Hebrew. Therefore, it is thought that it is a heavenly being that performs works concerning consecration. Each seraph had six wings. “With two winds they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying.” (2) How interesting they look! I’m not very good at drawing, but I think it would be interesting to draw them. The reason that they look like this is because they couldn’t look at directly God. God is so holy and so glorious that they couldn’t look directly at him. “And they were calling to one another: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.’”(3) Here the Seraphs say ”Holy, holy, holy” three times showing that the Lord is that holy. It is possible to say that it shows that the trinity, but by saying it this way it stresses strongly the holiness of God. This word for “Holy” originally had the meaning of consecration. It is completely different from the things that were created. It can’t be put on the same level. It is completely heterogeneous. This holiness cannot be expressed by any words in this world. “At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.” (5) This shows the presence of God. It is the brilliance of God’s glory. God is so holy that the entire temple shook and was filled with smoke.
Isaiah was touched by this holiness and his words are recorded in verse 5.
Vs. 5
This word “Woe” (5) is the same word that he said to the people of Judah. It has the meaning of “something　that　is　detested”　or　a　”warning　that　there　will　be trouble if they do something”. Isaiah says this word to himself. “Woe to me I am so detestable and trouble will come upon me.” When Isaiah was touched by the overwhelming holiness of God, he was shown his own filthiness. He was so sinful that he couldn’t stand there any longer. Moreover, he said, “I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips.” (5) He is confessing that he is completely unfit to be prophet that proclaims God’s Word.
This is the beginning of Isaiah as a prophet. As long as he was saying, “You are”, he was a child. It is by saying not “That person is” or “This person is”, but “I am unclean” that we can begin the work of the Lord.
Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matt. 5:3) “The poor in spirit” are hearts just like this. In contrast to the spiritually proud and self-sufficient they realize how miserably poor they are spiritually. The word that is used for “poor” is not the poverty at the level of having clothes, but not having money to buy more clothes. This “poor” is at the level of being miserably poor to the point of having no food or home, of being homeless. That is how poor of a condition the person is spiritually. Such a person has come to realize this before God. Jesus says that such a person is blessed. That is because “theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matt: 5:3)
The French philosopher, ideologist, mathematician, and biologist, Blaise Pascal was a precocious genius, and his ability was in many fields, but a large part of the huge amount of papers that he left are said to have been written after he fell off his horse and in the midst of suffering on his sick bed where he met his Lord Jesus. Among such writings are the famous words, “In our hearts is a vacuum that only the real God can fill”. He was able to say such a thing because in the midst of his sufferings, he realized that he himself was no good. He could not live without God. He felt that without God he could not accomplish anything. Jesus is saying that such people are blessed. God’s glory, power, and strength come upon such people.
Isaiah experienced this. When he was faced with the overwhelming holiness of the Lord, he had to exclaim, “Woe to me!…I am ruined.” (5) However, by this experience he took the first step in being commissioned as a prophet. This experience of realizing that not “You are”, but “I am unclean” is necessary for preaching the Word of God as a real prophet. When Isaiah saw the Lord who is seated in heaven “high and exalted” (1) and his eyes were surrounded by God’s holiness, for the first time he was able to have such a heart.
We are the same. When we look at others and say, “That person is…” or “This person is…” it is difficult for our hearts to be moved. To be moved we have to stand before the absolute God, and realize how unclean we are.
One person that I know is a very good golfer. This person is always bragging about his good golfing. However, when this golfer met a pro-golfer he couldn’t brag anymore. You can’t brag about your golfing in front of Tiger Woods. You can’t brag about you baseball technique in front of Ichiro. This is the same. We can’t brag about our righteousness before the completely holy God. By being touch by this holiness for the first time we can be broken, and humbled. This is the first step in entering into the Lord’s work.

II. Send me (Vs. 6-8)
The second point is that even if we are unclean, the Lord will purify us. Please look at verses 6 to 8.
When Isaiah was touched by the Lord’s holiness, he was overcome with the feelings of “I am ruined” (5) “I am unclean”. Just then one of the seraphs flew to him “with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar.” (6) The seraph touched Isaiah’s lips with the coal and said, “See this has touched your lips; you guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.” (7)
By the one way grace of God, Isaiah’s sin was purified. This was not by Isaiah’s strength. Salvation comes outside of us. By being touched by the burning coals from the altar, Isaiah’s guilt was taken away and his sin was atoned for. This means the salvation of sin by the cross of Christ. For on top of the altar was the sacrificed animal offering as an atonement of sin. Our sin is forgiven by the blood of the lamb, Jesus Christ whom God gave. This is the only way. It is by the one way grace of God. The coals for the altar touched Isaiah so his guilt was taken away and his sin atoned for.
It was then that Isaiah heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” (8) Isaiah said, “Here am I. Send me!” (8)
This means that the people who are sent out for the Lord, who go out for him are those who have experienced God’s grace. They are people who have experienced the one way forgiveness of God. The people that work for God are not people that are perfect with no weak points or people that have an abundance of gifts. If that was the case, no one could be sent out. We are all imperfect. However, anyone even though he is imperfect, if he is a person that knows God’s grace, and has experienced that by the one way grace of God, that his sin is forgiven, then he can be sent out. That’s because it is a work of grace. Only those that know the grace of God can share that grace with other people.
Within ourselves there is someplace the feeling that we have to be perfect in order to serve the Lord. That is not true. No matter how imperfect we are, if we have received the grace of God who took away our guilt and atoned for our sin, we can go out to do the work of the Lord. It is an excuse to say that we can’t serve because we are not proper yet. It doesn’t matter whether you are proper or not. That is because serving is a work of grace. If our sin is forgiven by the one way grace of God, by the faith of believing in Christ, then we will feel like we earnestly want to serve. Like Isaiah we can say, “Here am I. Send me!” (8)
It was the same when Jesus called Peter. In Luke 5 we can see that Jesus said to Peter who had fished all night, but didn’t catch even one fish, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.” (Luke 5:4) Peter thought it was useless because he had fished all night and hadn’t caught anything, but he answered, “Because you say so, I will let down the nets.” (Luke 5:5) When he did that, “they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break.” (Luke 5:6) When Peter saw that he said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” (Luke 5:8) He realized his uncleanliness and weaknesses. However, to this Peter Jesus said, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will catch men.” (Luke 5:10)
The pastor of Grace Chapel in New York, Leslie B. Flynn called Peter “a person like the sea of Galilee. The Sea of Galilee always has waves. Sometimes when you think it is quiet and in the next moment it all at once outrageous waves appear. To say that Peter is like the Sea of Galilee means that Peter is always opposite of what you expect. He’s told to be quiet and he is noisy. He’s told to stay awake and he goes to sleep. He’s told to sleep and he gets up. If you tell him to have courage and he is subservient and he withdraws. He’s told to move forward and he shrinks back. Jesus called such a Peter. Jesus called Peter not because he was a perfect person. Jesus called Peter fully knowing that Peter was not perfect and he knowing what was going to happen after that. Peter’s name was originally Simon, but Jesus renamed him Peter which means rock. In the Gospels, Peter was anything but a rock. He was impulsive and unstable. In Acts, he was a pillar of the early church. Jesus named him not for what he was but for what, by God’s grace, he would become. He was changed into a rock.
The decisive event was that he denied Jesus saying he didn’t know him three times before the rooster crowed. When it happened just as Jesus said it would, he remembered Jesus’ words and went outside and cried. “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, they your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” (Luke 22:31, 32)
When Peter met the risen Lord Jesus he experienced the Lord’s forgiveness. “’Simon son of John, do you love me?’ Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, ‘Do you love me?’ He said, ‘Lord you know all thing; you know that I love you.’ Jesus said, ‘Feed my sheep.’” (John 21:17)
Peter denied Jesus three times, but Peter whose sin was forgiven and knew the grace of the cross, was changed into a person that responded to the Lord’s love by giving his life According to legend, Peter who evangelized in Rome by the persecution of the Roman emperor Nero, he was crucified on the cross. He didn’t think that he was worthy of being killed in the same way as Jesus so it is said that he was hung upside down on the cross.

The Christian life is not what your doctrine is, nor how long you have lived your Christian live, nor how much you have served the church, but the Christian life is what God through Jesus Christ has done for us. It is nothing more than the greatness of the grace that we have received. When we know the greatness of this grace, we can rise up and earnestly want to respond to the calling.

III. There is a remnant (Vs. 9-13)
Lastly let’s look at verses 9 to 13. Isaiah says, “Here I am. Send me!” (8) Then the Lord says the words in verses 9 and 10.
Vs. 9, 10
This is a very peculiar command. God’s prophecy is spoken so that the people are informed of the Word, and it is spoken so that they will respond by listening and following it, but here is the opposite. It is so that the hearts of those who hear will be hardened; “never perceiving” (9) and they won’t be healed. The Lord knows who will believe, and who will not believe, who will be hardened and not receive him. Even so he is giving all people a chance to be saved. He is giving them a chance to repent. Even though God knows that they will become hardened and not receive Him, and that they will be judged, still he speaks to them. That is because God is faithful to them. He wants to give them every chance to repent. Then until the very end with patience, He speaks.
Romans 9:22
God bears with great patience.
In verse 11 Isaiah asks, “For how long, O Lord?” If I was Isaiah, I’d say “Then there is no meaning in me talking. Prophecy has no meaning.” However, Isaiah didn’t say that. He said, “For how long, O Lord?” (11) He knew that this wouldn’t go on forever. The Lord answered his question in verses 11 to 13
Vs. 11-13
This is about the Babylonian exile. About 100 years after this prophecy of Isaiah these words are actually fulfilled. Babylon attacked Judah, and deported them to their own country. Also this became a reality in 70 A.D. when Jerusalem was destroyed by Rome. The Jews were scattered throughout the world. However, God once again gathered them together. From all over the world the Jews gathered and built a country in Palestine. This is the Republic of Israel. Then at the end of the world, like when they were demolished by Babylon, like when they were destroyed by Rome, the Great tribulation will come. How this will happen is recorded in verse 13. Let’s read it together.

“The holy seed will be the stump in the land” (13) is the remnant. God will judge them so that they will be made holy. But that is not to destroy them. Through this they will be purified, repent, and return to the Lord. For that purpose God is throughout this saving “the stump in the land”. (13) There is a remnant. Until the end of the world, until the day of the Lord’s coming, they will firmly follow the faith. There is always a promised people that follow God.
Our hope is here. When we look around us, Christians are very few, but God is in this preparing a remnant. Even if the situation in front of our eyes looks completely dark, there is light of hope shining. By that an amazing work is being accomplished. God does this. Let’s believe. Let’s not doubt and complain and miss God’s blessings, but keep our eyes fixed on that hope, and wait expectantly for what God will accomplish.

Applying this to our lives

1. Are you standing before the Holy God? Are you having an experience like Isaiah of crying, “I am ruined”?

2. Have you experienced God’s one way grace (salvation)? When the Lord says, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” how will you respond?