Isaiah 6:1-13

Isaiah 6:1-13 (NRSV)

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. ² Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. ³ And one called to another and said:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;

the whole earth is full of his glory.”

⁴ The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke. ⁵ And I said: “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”

⁶ Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. ⁷ The seraph touched my mouth with it and said: “Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.” ⁸ Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I; send me!” ⁹ And he said, “Go and say to this people:

‘Keep listening, but do not comprehend;

keep looking, but do not understand.’

¹⁰ Make the mind of this people dull,

and stop their ears,

and shut their eyes,

so that they may not look with their eyes,

and listen with their ears,

and comprehend with their minds,

and turn and be healed.”

¹¹ Then I said, “How long, O Lord?” And he said:

“Until cities lie waste

without inhabitant,

and houses without people,

and the land is utterly desolate;

¹² until the Lord sends everyone far away,

and vast is the emptiness in the midst of the land.

¹³ Even if a tenth part remain in it,

it will be burned again,

like a terebinth or an oak

whose stump remains standing

when it is felled.”

The holy seed is its stump.

Famously, Isaiah 6:1-13 relates a vision the prophet had in the temple at the time of the death of Uzziah. It relates the call of Isaiah. This passage is a particular example of the multiplicity of biblical ideas of revelation. Here, while worshipping in the temple at Jerusalem, Isaiah becomes part of the counsel of the Lord and receives his commission. [1] The call of Isaiah to become a prophet of God is perhaps the best-known event in Isaiah's life. If the vision recorded in 6:1 marks the start of Isaiah’s ministry, his career began in 738 B.C., the year of King Uzziah’s death, and extended until at least 701 B.C. and possibly later. His words to Ahaz were uttered not long after his ministry in Jerusalem began, and may have propelled him from the ranks of ordinary court prophets to pre—eminent status. It appears that Isaiah was a part of the privileged class within Jerusalem as indicated by his ease of access to the centers of power. His presence in the area of the temple normally restricted to priests might arguably place Isaiah within that class. Might he have been among the 80 priests of valor who confronted King Uzziah on his ill-fated attempt to offer a sacrifice within the temple precinct (II Chronicles 26:16-21)? Certainly uppermost in Isaiah's affections was his love for the city of Jerusalem and his interest in the special relationship between YHWH and the Davidic dynasty.

            Many scholars think the specific setting for chapter 6 to be an annual religious drama conducted in the temple. This drama, known as the Enthronement Celebration (see Psalms 47, 93 and 96-99), depicted the return of the Divine King to the temple as victor over the forces of evil to receive the crown as king, creator and judge of his people.

Isaiah 6: 1-3 describe a vision of the Lord. In the year that King Uzziah died, when the nation is going through a difficult transition from a popular and effective ruler to his unproven and less popular son, Jotham. I hope I am not reading too much into this, but it sounds like Isaiah is worried about the future.  Without Uzziah at the top, what is to happen? He knew that the next king would not be like Uzziah.  After all the good that Uzziah accomplished, the new king could wipe it all away.  Isaiah needed the reminder that it is not good to place too much trust human beings in general and in political leaders in particular.  They often disappoint us.  Those whom we think of as leaders, as celebrities, and lift far above ourselves as idols, often turn out to be too much like us.  They are weak.  They have feet of clay.  Yet, we find it easy for fame, beauty, intellect, wealth, and power to impress us. I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. The vision occurs in the temple, likely during an act of worship. Thus, on one Sabbath day, Isaiah entered the temple.  Isaiah was dejected, anxious, yet hopeful that the Lord would give him a sign.  He offered his prayers.  The priests performed their duties.  All went on as before.  However, this time Isaiah saw the Lord. A dejected prophet caught a vision of the real king.  He had been so impressed with the accomplishments of a human king.  He needed a reminder that not all was lost.  The real king was still in charge.  He caught a vision of who the Lord really was. This was no ordinary Sabbath day.  Everything had changed.  Isaiah would not be the same after this.  Throughout much of his ministry, Isaiah tried to persuade the king not to put his trust in foreign alliances.  Rather, in the midst of the complicated politics of that period, he needed to place his trust in the Lord.  The king simply did not listen.  ² Seraphs mixed creatures popular in Egyptian symbolism as guardian deities, were in attendance above him. Each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet (referring to genitalia), and with two they flew. The six-winged seraphim described in this passage are otherwise unknown in the Scriptures, this being the only reference. These attendants to the heavenly throne display the appropriate response to the presence of YHWH.  With two wings, they covered their faces so that the holiness of the Lord would not blind them; with two wings they covered their nakedness; and with two wings they hastened to their appointed tasks.  ³ In addition, one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, an antiphon sung in Jerusalem temple. In the Hebrew language, one of the ways to express emphasis is through repetition, and thus Isaiah hears the thrice spoken "Holy" as a way of indicating the surpassing holiness of YHWH. As for the Christian reader, wise counsel suggests a need to avoid taking the threefold "Holy" of verse 3 or the "us" of verse 8 in any Trinitarian sense. The former is for emphasis; the latter is YHWH addressing those attending his throne. Yet, the hymn by Reginald Heber (1826) has part of its imagery from this verse. “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty,” the hymn begins, who is merciful and mighty, “God in three persons blessed Trinity.” As the antiphon concludes, the whole earth is full of the glory of the Lord.”

Isaiah 6: 4-7 are an act of cleansing and prophetic preparation. ⁴ The pivots on the thresholds, referring to the temple, shook at the voices of those who called, either heavenly or earthly voices, and the house filled with smoke, referring to incense and offerings. ⁵ Moreover, I said: “Woe, referring to guilt, is me! I am lost, expressing his sense of this experience overwhelming him, for I am a man of unclean lips. He feels unfit to be the mouthpiece of the Lord.  The point of the cultic separation of what is holy, of what is dedicated to the Lord or related to the Lord, and especially of the deity and the places and times of the divine presence, is not just to protect the holy against defilement by contact with the profane. Above all, the separation has the design of protecting the world of the profane from the threat of the holy. This explains why Isaiah in this verse responds to a vision of the holy Lord with terror.[2] Not only that, I live among a people of unclean lips. He is also aware of the sinfulness of the people generally. Further, the people have “unclean” lips that could not stand before the eternal King and therefore they have fallen victim to death. The judgment of God upon the people of God confirmed this verdict.[3] We may think the passage is harsh. Yet, we snap at our loved ones. We gossip behind the backs of our friends. If we do not speak ugly thoughts about others, we are thinking them. Carl Jung was trying to help a man with severe depression.  Jung told him to cut back his 14-hour workday to eight.  He was to go directly home to his study and spend his evenings there, quiet and alone.  The man tried it.  He went into his study and did some readings, listened to some music.  After a few weeks, he came back to Jung, complaining that he did not notice any improvement.  When the man told him what he was doing, he said, "But you didn't understand.  I wanted you to be all alone with yourself. Not reading or listening to music."  He got a horrified expression on his face.  "I can't think of any worse company!"  Jung replied, "Yet this is the self you inflict on other people fourteen hours a day."[4] That is why confession of sin daily is a good idea. We are wretched people. This passage can make us wonder if part of discipleship is a real anguish over our sinfulness before the Lord. Too many of us read and hear the Bible without having a basic respect of it. Too many go to church and receive absolution without feeling genuinely refreshed. They receive Holy Communion and remain cold. They seem to lack an appreciation of this moment of grace. More of us may need to pray that the Lord would give us more anguish over our sins. On the other hand, the contrived efforts of preachers and teachers in the church to tell us that we should feel shame and unworthiness are very different from what this passage intends. Such persons may appreciate the fact that the preacher has stepped on their toes a bit or “gone to meddling.” Yet, such feelings are often fleeting and do not yield to real change or transformation. Some Christians become stuck in this “woe is me” place. They forget that the Lord comes to unworthy people with forgiveness and grace. Yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” The acute awareness of YHWH's holiness led Isaiah to recognize the comparative unrighteousness of both him and his people. Yet, in spite of that unrighteousness, YHWH chose to reveal the divine self to Isaiah. ⁶ Then, in an act of ritual cleansing, one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that it took from the altar with a pair of tongs. ⁷ The seraph touched my mouth with it, purging the whole being of the prophet, and said, “Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.” This revelation of the Lord to Isaiah displays unimaginable grace. The fact that the Lord would choose any of us to be an ambassador of the Lord is an amazing gift and privilege.

Isaiah knew sin. He knew sin personally, but he also knew his people sinned. How do you live for the Lord in a world that has gone so wrong? Whatever became of sin? Theologian Reinhold Niebuhr said that the Christian doctrine of sin was about the only self-evident doctrine we have as Christians. That is, even if you do not believe in Jesus, if you made anything better than a D in Western Civics, you believe that we sin. Human history is the history of sin.

If Niebuhr is right, whatever happened to sin? We know the great tragedies that human beings inflict upon each other.  Most of us know that those who founded this country, as great as many of them were, had their blind spots and sins.  Think of the way our ancestors treated the Native American.  We think of slavery.  We think of the denial of voting rights to women.  Too often, we seem surprised that those people could do such awful things.  It is as if we are surprised that our ancestors had their dark side.  They reflect who we are as well.  Why can we not just say it? We sin.

Andrew Delbanco, in his book The Death of Satan: How Americans Have Lost the Sense of Evil, notes a rather remarkable difference between the ways Americans dealt with two great disasters: the 1912 sinking of the Titanic and the 1986 explosion of the Challenger. When the Titanic went down, press accounts said there was a lesson for us to learn.  Our technology had its limits. Human pride had its consequences. An often written quote was from Scripture: "Whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted." In other words, people did not ascribe the Titanic disaster to class tensions, as in the current movie, but to sin. Delbanco says that when the Challenger exploded, television anchors groped for words. When one newscaster finally found the words to describe what had happened, he reached for the closest language he had to describe something big and bad, rhetoric from the Cold War. "Does this mean the Russians are ahead?" Somewhere, between 1912 and 1986, we lost a language for describing what is wrong with us. It is as if we lost the verbal ability to call something "sin."

Our concern is with individual fulfillment. We have no higher good than self-fulfillment. Such a perspective on the challenge that faces a human life is that it sets aside moral codes as impediments to our self-fulfillment. Yet, the moral struggle, learning the difference between right and wrong, acknowledging that right and wrong exist, is part of what makes us human. We want our children to grow up to be good people, of course, but without the moral categories of right and wrong. We want a generation to be people of character and virtue without the categories of right and wrong. In a sense, we remove the heart from the chest, and yet, still demand that the heart function.[5]

If self-fulfillment is the perceived dilemma of humanity, then are preachers to do with sin? Tom Long tells of a coffee hour conversation with a graduate student. She was serving her first church, preaching her first sermons. "I've got a problem," she declared to this teacher of preaching. "I can preach love, hope, and grace, but I cannot bring myself to preach about sin and judgment. People already get so many bad messages; I don't want my preaching to add another burden." She changed the conversation. The woman had been having a tough time as a full-time seminarian and a single parent. Her teenage son was putting her in misery with his defiance, his bad behavior. He had stolen money from her, crashed the family car in a joy ride. "Last night, I finally broke down," she said. "My son blew into the house and after hurling angry words, slammed the door to his room. I decided that enough was enough, and I confronted him. Even though he is so much bigger than I am, I opened the door, stood there, looked directly at him, and said with all of the firmness I could muster, 'I love you so much I will not allow you to do this to yourself or to us anymore.'" Tom sat there a moment, and then said, "I have just heard a powerful and faithful gospel sermon on sin and judgment."

Are we dishonest about the human condition? The call of Isaiah raises and answers this question. Young Isaiah is in the temple at worship. He has a stunning vision. It was as if the heavens opened and he saw the very throne of the Lord. "Holy, Holy, Holy," sang the cherubim. Moreover, Isaiah cried, "The choir was really on target today!" No. Isaiah declares, "Woe is me, for I am a man of unclean lips." We have had so many TV shows and movies related to angels.  Normally, when the angle shows up, the angel is kind, encouraging, and almost soft.  I do not know if these cherubim and seraphim are synonymous with angels; surely they are kissing cousins at the least.  Now, when the human being meets the angel in these shows, how often does that person cry, "Woe is me, for I am a person of unclean lips"? This experience is similar to that of Peter in Luke 5.  After he witnesses a miracle by Jesus, he bows before Jesus, and says, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man." They left everything and followed him. Isaiah and Peter both experienced a holy presence that was so awesome that they knew they had no right to be there.   

We cannot be honest about our sin because we are dishonest about the human condition.  We know not how to describe ourselves except through therapeutic categories (we are sick rather than sinful).  We have an educational problem, and if we just had enough of it, we eradicate racism, sexism, and other sin one could mention. There is some truth to all of that, but none of it gets to the heart of a specifically Christian view of the human condition.

This Scripture demonstrates that sin is a by-product of God confronting us.  Say it like a professor: sin is a theological rather than an anthropological matter. This is to say that the Christian doctrine of sin deals with our notions of God rather than to our ideas about humanity. Sin is not the result of natural human anxiety or little slip-ups.  We are saying that face-to-face with the awesome righteousness of God, the holiness of Jesus, we fall to our knees. We have our noses rubbed in the great gap between whom we are and who God is. To be brought close to the claim, "Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God Almighty. The whole earth is full of his glory!" is to cry, "Woe is me for I am one of unclean lips and dwell amid a people of unclean lips." Any knowledge of God that is not also knowledge of our impoverishment generates arrogance. Yet, the knowledge of our impoverishment without knowledge of God generates despair. Thus, the Christian who lives in a “woe is me” condition has not heard truly the message of this text. For the Christian, of course, knowledge of Jesus Christ is central because we find there both the glory of the Lord and the impoverishment of humanity.[6]

We know sin as we truly know God. Luther said he would know nothing of his sin had the Holy Spirit not taught him. Sin is a by-product of faithful worship. The theologian Karl Barth could declare that, "Only Christians sin." The sins of non-Christians are peccadilloes, slipups, and small potatoes. Christians sense sin as a huge gap between our loving, forgiving, seeking Savior and us. Christians confess only because of a prior confidence in a forgiving, gracious God. Before that, confession is mere child's play.

The human heart is a great battleground between good and evil, between certain natural human inclinations, and the good that God intends for us. In the words of the eldest brother Dimitri of Fyodor Dostoevsky's great novel, The Brothers Karamazov: "The devil is fighting with God and the battlefield is the human heart."

In a world that has gone has so wrong, we must be willing to face the reality of our condition as human beings.  Yes, there is a great gap between God and us.  God has overcome that gap through grace.  Peter cried, "Depart from me, I am a sinful man!" The good news is, he never does.

In Isaiah 6: 8-13, we have the giving of the divine commission to Isaiah. While he perceives his own weakness before God, he hears a very special voice. ⁸ Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” I find this fascinating.  When Isaiah perceives his own sinfulness, the Lord did not forget about him.  Rather, grace became even more obvious to Isaiah.  The Lord could use a broken person, one who knew his own sinfulness. This revelation also communicates an unavoidable mission. The Lord comes with forgiveness and grace, and therefore a mission. The Lord convicts, but also equips and empowers to live a life for the Lord. The Lord adopts us as children of the Lord. The image is that of the Lord surrounded by the heavenly court with Isaiah allowed to attend. Moreover, I said, “Here am I; send me!” Isaiah displays the kind of faith and trust that we might think of as courage. He is willing to get up and do what needs to be done. Grace frees the prophet to respond to the mission. He hears the question and knows only he can go. He has no authority outside this.  The prophet accepts the commission. Isaiah's call introduces a new element to prophetic ministry, namely the need for the spokesman to experience purification for himself before he can undertake the mission to which he has been called. Thus cleansed (forgiven), Isaiah can do nothing less than show his gratitude by committing himself to the purposes of YHWH. The task is impossible. It will likely not lead to success, as the world understands success. People need to hear that the call of the Lord is toward something that looks like endless failure. ⁹ Further, he said, “Go and say to this people, an implicit sign of divine rejection, for the Lord knew they would reject the message of the prophet. Isaiah united himself to the people by saying that he dwelt among a people of unclean lips. The Lord does not refer to them as the people of the Lord. Rather, they are simply “this people.” Here is the message Isaiah is to deliver. ‘Keep listening, but do not comprehend; keep looking, but do not understand.’ ¹⁰ Make the mind of this people dull, and stop their ears, and shut their eyes, so that they may not look with their eyes, and listen with their ears, and comprehend with their minds, and turn and receive healing.” With their senses dulled, they cannot act responsibly. His call is to a specific political situation. He is not a traditional preacher of repentance. ¹¹ Then I said, “How long, O Lord?” Isaiah begs for this period to end. Thus, he is not just asking for information, as in how many months or years. The Lord said: “Until cities lie waste without inhabitant, and houses without people, and the land is utterly desolate. We are to imagine the devastation wars caused. Isaiah 6:12-13, in a saying that refers to the stump left after the destruction of Judah in 587 BC.[7] If they think they have received enough judgment, they will receive more. Thus, when the prophet asks how long judgment will come, the Lord answers ¹² until the Lord sends everyone far away, and vast is the emptiness in the midst of the land. ¹³ Even if a tenth part remain in it, it will be burned again, like a terebinth or an oak whose stump remains standing when it is felled. “The holy seed is its stump.

In many ways, this passage forms the basic structure for traditional Protestant worship. The call to worship invites us to awaken to the presence of the Lord. Holy, Holy, Holy invites us to offer praise. The entrance into the divine presence gives us an opportunity for awareness of our sin, followed by the assurance of pardon. We then hear the word of God, followed by a hymn of dedication. The benediction invites us to go into the world to serve.

Soren Kierkegaard tells a parable of a community of ducks waddling off to duck church to hear the duck preacher. The duck preacher spoke eloquently of how God had given the ducks wings with which to fly. With these wings there was nowhere the ducks could not go; no God‑given task the ducks could not accomplish. With those wings, they could soar into the presence of God himself. Shouts of "Amen" were quacked throughout the duck congregation. At the conclusion of the service, the ducks left, commenting on what a wonderful message they had heard ‑‑ and waddled back home.

Clearly, Isaiah left this worship service as a man with a mission. This moment may be such a moment for you. It may not, of course, but it might be. With Isaiah, we can also say that the rest of our lives are in the hands of the Lord. We want only what the Lord wants.  No matter where it leads.

John Wesley used a covenant prayer in his service of renewal.  I invite you to share this prayer with me.  May this be a prayer that becomes much more than words upon a page.  Rather, may this prayer express what is in our hearts today. 

I am no longer my own, but thine.  Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt.  Put me to doing, put me to suffering.  Let me be employed by thee or laid aside for thee, exalted for thee or brought low by thee.  Let me be full, let me be empty.  Let me have all things, let me have nothing.  I freely and heartily yield all things to thy pleasure and disposal.  And now, O glorious and blessed God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, thou art mine, and I am thine.  So be it.  And the covenant which I have made on earth, let it be ratified in heaven.  Amen. 

It seems wise to end this reflection with a popular praise song built off this passage.

"Here I Am, Lord."

I, the Lord of sea and sky,

I have heard My people cry.

All who dwell in dark and sin,

My hand will save.

I who made the stars of night,

I will make their darkness bright.

Who will bear My light to them?

Whom shall I send?

Here I am Lord, Is it I Lord?

I have heard You calling in the night.

I will go Lord, if You lead me.

I will hold Your people in my heart. 

--Lyrics by Dan Schutte.

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[1] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology, Volume 1, 203.

[2] Von Rad, Old Testament Theology, I, 204ff.

[3] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 30.

[4] Parker Palmer, "Borne Again: The Monastic Way to Church Renewal," Weavings, Se-Oc 1986, 14. 

[5] The image is from C. S. Lewis, The Abolition of Man.

[6] Knowledge of God without knowledge of our impoverishment generates arrogance. The knowledge of our impoverishment without knowledge of God generates despair. The knowledge of Jesus Christ constitutes the center ground because there we find both God and our impoverishment.  ‑‑ Pascal, Pensees (527).

[7] Many scholars consider verses 12-13 as from one of the editors of the book in 587 BC. The reason for this is that it appears to refer to the exile and destruction of Judah by Babylon in 587 BC.  However, it could also refer to the Assyrian desolation of the northern ten tribes in 721 and would then refer to the deportation initiated by them at that time.  Most scholars prefer, for example, to think of v. 13c as a post-exilic addition, giving hope that the little “stump” around Jerusalem can become a tree, that is, a full nation, once again.  However, if from the lifetime of Isaiah, it would refer to the people of Judah continuing and thriving after the Assyrian invasion of 721 BC.