When we were younger, it could have been easier to love the idea of a king but the older we got, we learnt about politics and flawed kings/authorities. We realised that some of them were tyrants and some ruled poorly and our experience with earthly authorities could influence our view of God as King. Isa 6 will show us how this King is different from the other kings that fail and disappoint. God is holy and set apart. and there is none like Him. He is enthroned and reigned not only in the time of Isaiah but also today.
(A) Our Hope: the God who is our King and our Creator (Isa 6:1-4)
In Isa 6:1a, we read of the death of king Uzziah’s, and Isaiah’s vision that occurred during this time. Isaiah had a vision of the LORD sitting upon a throne. As we read last week, Uzziah is the king of Judah. With his death came a sense of uncertainty. The enemy, Assyria, is drawing near. Isa 1-5 also showed us a people that was rotting in sin. It was a time of political turmoil and personal failure.
But the throne is not empty. The prophet Isaiah sees Uzziah topple, and then – he sees the LORD, and He is seated on a throne, and He is unmoved. The LORD is utterly secure. Earthly kings die but God remains enthroned. In Ps 146:3-4, this psalm reminded the people not to put their trust in princes, who die. Instead, as Ps 146:10 says, the Lord reigns forever.
Change is the air we breathe. Things that we thought were sure: health, strength, relationships can easily vanish. Yet, Isaiah sees a God who changes not. He remains unmoved on the throne! In the year of the dead king, Isaiah sees the everlasting king.
Isaiah also saw the LORD being “high and lifted up” (Isa 6:1b). Isaiah uses this image of height to help Isaiah grasp how high and far above this King is. Isaiah uses height to gesture towards how exalted, how glorified, to get you to realise and to imagine how far above Isaiah this King is, that Isaiah has to crane his neck to glimpse the King.
Isaiah also describes how “the train of His robe filled the temple” (Isa 6:1c). Not only is there this endless upward tilt to view the one on the throne, we also read of the train of this robe filling this temple. Just the hem of this king’s robe is enough to be filling the temple to the full.
This is the perspective that Isaiah gains – of a vast and great king who is high, high above Isaiah and earthly kings. This helps us to see that the temple is the rightful place of this God. God belongs in the temple and the entire temple is about God. The temple of the LORD is a place so sacred so special that even the ruler of all the land of Israel may not, must not simply stroll in. This is in stark contrast to Uzziah, who entered the temple without regarding the rules of temple worship in 2 Chron 26. Entry was forbidden to Uzziah, but this king that Isaiah now sees dwells here, and the very hem of His garment fills the temple.
This vision in Isaiah relies on objects (throne), perspective (high and lifted up) and familiar symbols (temple) to establish a distance between us and this holy God. It is not a distance that we can, on our own initiative, cross.
What does this mean for us? It calls us to consider the fragility of your ‘king’. Who have you tied your hopes to? Is it a political cause or party? Or is it landing a certain job? How others perceive you? How long did that last? Consider the fragility of your king. We are always trying to build around things that move. But amidst the moving and shaking of everything in the nation, from the enemies encroaching to the ruler toppling, Isaiah is brought to the One who is the Rock of Ages, who is enthroned and reigning. It tells us not to build our lives around and on things that move.
This study invites us to slow down and meditate, and worship. The words that we have are insufficient to understand and describe this king. This is not a passage to be summarised, to get the gist of and move on. We need to dwell on these words repeatedly and slowly to understand who it is that we are beholding. This passage demands that we stop, read, re-read and engage in careful contemplation and meditation. Even after all that, our words may fail us.
In this vision, Isaiah also sees seraphim (Isa 6:2). The word seraphim literally means “burning ones” and they stand before the king as servants. When we read the description in these verses, we realise that angels are not cute babies flying in the air. The Bible describes them as terrifying figures. John Calvin proposes this: "they are an extension of the infinite majesty of God: as sunbeams draw our eyes back to the sun, which we may not look upon.. we may learn by it to behold and adore his wonderful and overwhelming glory". Yet, however dazzled we are by these bright & burning servants – they are just servants to the Holy One, who does not just give off light but is the source of light, is light Himself, and in Him is no darkness at all.
Each seraphim had six wings and they each are used for different purposes.
The fiery, burning ones are mere servants to the Lord who is Light and is Fire, and in His presence they cover face and feet – proper and due humility from head to toe, from the face to the feet. In Isa 6:3, we read of how these seraphim called to one another and praised the LORD of hosts together. They speak of not only His power and promise-keeping nature, but also call Him “holy, holy, holy”. This reference to God is unique because no other threefold adjective appears in all the Old Testament. Isaiah strained at the limits of his language to state that God alone is God and this God is not like any human!
In Christian circles, we often speak of holiness, but what is it? Holiness carries with it an idea of separation. In Isa 6:1, we read of how he is above us, as our sovereign who rules our rulers. He is also apart from us. Consider His servants. consider that He stands apart from us as the Creator – God is wholly ‘other’ – in a different category, with infinite distance. And His glory fills the whole earth (Isa 6:3b)! His glory is evident in creation (c.f. Gen 1:1) as all things were made through Him (c.f. Jn 1:3).
As we read this, it is important for us to realise that God is not merely a bigger and better version of us. This is the God who inhabits eternity (c.f. Isa 57:15a). We are super finite and are not promised tomorrow but He inhabits and dwells in eternity. Our years fly away like loose sheaths of paper. But He, He dwells in the high and holy place. He dwells in the place so holy that only a specific person at a specific time in a specific way can enter – it is His home. He is holy and wholly other – He is not like us, and there is None Like Him.
At the end of Isa, in Isa 66:19, Isaiah write of how one day, far away nations who have not heard of His fame or seen His glory will hear and see. And when they do so, they will not be silent, but proclaim God’s glory among the nations (Isa 66:19). The whole earth will be full of His glory in redemption.
In Isa 6:4, as the seraphim call out, the foundations of the temple shook. Years before, in Exo 19:18-19, we read of how the whole mountain trembles and we are given in detail about how there was fire, smoke billowing, a loud sound and violent trembling. The LORD of Sinai, of Exodus is here. This is a picture of a weighty God. What would it be like to meet this holy God? How would you respond?
(B) Our Problem: an unclean people before a holy God (Isa 6:5)
How did Isaiah respond to all this? He says “Woe is me, for I am lost, a man of unclean lips” (Isa 6:5). We may wonder why he refers to his lips specifically and in Matt 15:11,18 we get a hint of why it was so. In Matthew, we read of how the mouth is an indicator of the heart. Something about our lips that publicly reveal our heart. The mouth tends to be the site of disclosure. Perhaps the LORD brought to Isaiah’s mind something he had said and as Isaiah watched the seraphim praise God, he saw his own deficiencies in praising and worshiping God. This prophet of God, tasked to speak on God’s behalf might not have said something bad, but he did not use his lips to praise the God who is holy and worthy of all praises.
Thus far, we have read about Isaiah speaking about the people around him, talking about the problems with the nation of Judah. But suddenly, he cries, “woe is me”. His eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts (Isa 6:5). There is no sentencing Judah without sentencing Isaiah. He sees that the essential problem is not just in the people out there. It is also in him. A sober assessment of sin does not begin with introspection. We can only awaken to the reality of sin when we see God and realise that He is supremely worthy.
(C) Our Help: receiving the king’s pardon and welcome (v6-7)
What does the seraph do in response to the prophet’s cry of woe? God takes action (Isa 6:6), where the seraphim fly to Isaiah, with a burning coal, and touch it to his lips. As the seraphim touched his lips, his guilt is taken away and removed from Him. His sin is atoned for, such that his unclean lips are now cleaned. He is not burned up but is purified (Isa 6:7).
Atonement pays a price that brings people who were separated, together. Here, it is the unclean prophet and the holy God. Isaiah was not turned to ash by the fire, but had his sin removed and purified, so that he was fit for service and ready to speak.
Isaiah is cleansed, but what about the nation, the rest of the people? The burning coal should remind us of the altar of burnt offerings. The people bring the animal to the priest, and he places his hand on the animal. It symbolism how the animal will take his place for the penalty of sin. The priest then burns up the animal.
Thus, we see here, that this sacrifice leads to cleansing. But, what is the sacrifice here? Who do we lay our sins on? It cannot be a mere animal because God rejected their polluted sacrifices (c.f. Isa 1:11). Who will bear the sin of a people of unclean lips? This will become clearer as we progress through Isaiah. Keep eyes on the king, servant and atonement made. As the book unfolds, we will see more clearly how this happens. Isaiah will provide for us glimmers of hope.