The prophet Isaiah began to see visions concerning Judah and Jerusalem in days of king Uzziah, and his work continued for some sixty years. It was in the last year of Uzziah's life that Isaiah saw the vision which is the subject of the present lesson.
Uzziah was the grandson of Joash. The latter, like his father; died a violent death, as did also his own son Amaziah. Both Amaziah and his son and successor, Uzziah, began to reign in the fear of God, but as the Lord prospered them, their hearts were lifted up. Amaziah worshipped false gods, and Uzziah became so full of pride and self-importance that he even forced his way into the sanctuary with the intention of burning incense. For this he was smitten with leprosy, and obliged to surrender the kingdom to his son Jotham.
Cleansing From Sin
In Isaiah's vision there was revealed to him the Lord upon His throne, exalted high, surrounded by angels and worshipped by the seraphim. As these declared the holiness of the Lord, a sense of his own sinfulness overwhelmed the prophet and he cried, "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 my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts." (Isaiah 6:5)
But God never makes known His holiness with the object of inducing despair in men. High and lifted up as He is, His holiness and power are equalled by His love for men, and He bids them. "Sing unto the Lord, all you saints of His, and give thanks at the remembrance of His holiness." (Psalm 30:4)
In His love, He bestows His holiness freely upon sinful men, hence the infinite measure of His holiness only makes known the fullness of His unspeakable gift. In quick response to the prophet's sense of need, an angel flies to him with a live coal from off the altar, and as it was laid upon Isaiah's mouth, the comforting assurance was given, "Lo, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away, and your sin purged." (Isaiah 6:7)
A Throne of Grace
The blasphemous pride of King Uzziah in presumptuously approaching that altar had merited and found swift and awful punishment; but for Isaiah's humble confession of guilt it had no terrors. The sinful and helpless, who can only plead their sad necessity, may come with boldness to the throne of grace, and find there plenteous redemption. The broken and contrite heart may be despised among men, but it is honored in heaven. God has respect unto the lowly. His answer to every confession of wrongdoing is, as it was to Isaiah, "your iniquity is taken away." (Isaiah 6:7)
Whom Shall We Send?
Then follows the next step. Isaiah dwelt among an unclean people. God cared for them as much as He did for Isaiah. Who should go forth and tell them of the cleansing that was so freely given, and so easily obtained? The angels could not do it, for they did not know the defilement and the burden of sin. The messengers must be chosen among men redeemed, and Isaiah, who knew both the disease and the healing, offered himself for the work, saying, "Here am I; send me." (Isaiah 6:8)
A Warning Message
Just as quickly as the cleansing of sin followed upon the confession of it, did the commission to declare the Gospel follow upon the offer of service. "And He said, Go," (Isaiah 6:9)
The words of the message were put into his mouth. It reads like a message full of discouragement at first sight. "Tell this people, Hear indeed, but understand not; and see indeed, but perceive not." (Isaiah 6:9)
The cause also was to be made known. "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 understand with their heart." (Acts 28:27; Isaiah 6:10)
Although the words hardly seem like a message of good tidings, they were so in reality for all who would hear, since they made known the flimsy character of the barrier that kept the people from forgiveness and healing. If only Judah would use their senses, hear with their ears, see with their eyes, and understand with their hearts, the result would be that they "should be converted, and I should heal them." (Acts 28:27)
The Glory of the Lord God did not require great things of His people that they might be saved. If He had asked them to hear without ears, or see without eyes, they might have complained that His conditions were hard, but these faculties had already been given and God simply asked that they should be used.
It was necessary to use their members for the maintenance of their physical life. Food grew around them in abundance, but they needed to see it and gather it with their hands before it could give them life. So all about them, as the seraphs sang, the whole earth was full of the glory of God, or the fullness of the whole earth was His glory. (See Isaiah 6:3, margin of Revised Version)
Had their ears been open to hear what God said to them, by His servants and His works, their eyes been willing to see in the wonders of nature the living presence and continual working of their Creator, they would have gladly recognized in every ministration of earth and sea and air, supplying their wants, that they were made partakers of the Divine life, and thus have been turned from idols to serve the living God.
Like the Beasts that Perish
The same lesson is for us today. The difficulty that hindered Judah then, prevented their children from acknowledging the Messiah, and Paul told the Jews at Rome that the Holy Ghost had spoken truth by Isaiah, when it declared the real nature of the obstacle that kept them from being saved.
Fuller than the beasts that perish, men receive the life of God through the channels by which it is conveyed, caring only for the food and raiment after which the heathen seek, and forgetting that these are added to a far more precious gift, the righteousness of God. "Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knows that you have need of all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." (Matthew 6:31-33)
In the life of God that is bestowed so freely upon men, "filling their hearts with food and gladness," (Acts 14:17) are given "all things that pertain unto life and godliness." (2 Peter 1:3)
But it is true of the multitudes now as it was in the time of Isaiah: "The ox knows his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel does not know, my people do not consider." (Isaiah 1:3)
How Long?
The Divine ambition is to see men happy. God's rejoicing is in the welfare of His children, and He desires that men shall acknowledge His love in the abundance of His gifts. If they will not do so, before He allows himself to be finally rejected, and the way of death irrevocably chosen by His creatures, He gives opportunity to learn the value of His gifts by their withdrawal. Some, when the judgments of the Lord are in the earth, will learn righteousness: "When your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness." (Isaiah 26:9)
And so, although God does not willingly afflict nor grieve the children of men, (Lamentations 3:33) this is often the only chance of saving them. It was so with Judah. To Isaiah's question, how long it should be before the people should be willing to see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and thus be healed, the reply was given, "Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate." (Isaiah 6:11)
Yet the promise was given that a remnant should return, and that like a tree which has life in its trunk, even though all outer sign of life, in leaves and branches, has disappeared, the holy seed should be the substance of the nation. This seed was not holy by its own merits but would consist of all who should submit themselves to the righteousness of God, and not attempt, in ignorance of God and His righteousness, to establish their own righteousness. (Romans 10:3)
The Gospel of Isaiah
Isaiah had marvellous revelations of God's character. His writings present so much of the work of Christ that they are often spoken of, and truly so, as:
The Gospel according to Isaiah
For this reason, many who are counted wise and learned, but who know not the Scriptures nor the power of God, have declared it impossible that a man living so many hundred years before Christ, could have been so enlightened on the subject of the Saviour's work and teaching. To all such the warning of Isaiah comes, that they should open their eyes and ears, and learn to discern, where they see now only common things and human power, the glory of God filling all the earth. This glory of God, whom the seraphim acclaimed as, "Holy, holy, holy!" (Isaiah 6:3) when seen and received by faith, works in the beholder the fulfillment of the Divine command, "Be holy, for I am holy." (1 Peter 1:16; Leviticus 11:44-45)--Present Truth, October 13, 1898--This article was not part of the series on Isaiah, but is included because it fits well into this collection.--Notes on the International Sunday-School Lessons, October 23--Isaiah 6:1-13.