I SAW THE LORD
Opening Prayer
Lord God, as I come to your holy, perfect, inerrant Word, please speak to me today. Continue to change me, conforming me into the image of Christ.
Read ISAIAH 6
Isaiah’s Commission
6 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3 And they were calling to one another:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory.”
4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.
5 “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”
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 He said, “Go and tell this people:
“‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding;
be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’
10 Make the heart of this people calloused;
make their ears dull
and close their eyes.[a]
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts,
and turn and be healed.”
11 Then I said, “For how long, Lord?”
And he answered:
“Until the cities lie ruined
and without inhabitant,
until the houses are left deserted
and the fields ruined and ravaged,
12 until the Lord has sent everyone far away
and the land is utterly forsaken.
13 And though a tenth remains in the land,
it will again be laid waste.
But as the terebinth and oak
leave stumps when they are cut down,
so the holy seed will be the stump in the land.”
Footnotes
- Isaiah 6:10 Hebrew; Septuagint ‘You will be ever hearing, but never understanding; / you will be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’ / 10 This people’s heart has become calloused; / they hardly hear with their ears, / and they have closed their eyes
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
Prepare to meet your wonderful God!Meeting someone face to face can be life-changing. It was for Saul on the Damascus road (Acts 9:1–6) and it also was for Isaiah. ‘I saw the Lord,’ he said, ‘My eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty’ (vv. 1, 5). It was the most formative experience of his life.
Isaiah was stunned facing the majesty and holiness of God, whose glory filled the earth and whose smoke filled the temple (vv. 1–4). Heavenly beings covered their faces. Isaiah lost all sense of re- spectability before the One who is ‘holy, holy, holy.’ ‘My God, how wonderful you are, your majesty how bright … your endless wisdom, boundless power, and awesome purity!’*
‘Woe to me! … I am ruined’ (v. 5) was Isaiah’s reaction, but then he discovered that the Lord in all his holiness is not aloof. The Lord reached down, took away the prophet’s guilt, and cleansed his lips (v. 6, 7). Immediately, it seems, the prophet was eager to serve. He offered himself (v. 8), not knowing what awaited him. Perhaps the ability God looks for most is our availability. Isaiah, foremost among the prophets, was given a hard task. He was to go to this people whose mindset would not receive the message (vv. 9, 10). So he did this, faithfully and imaginatively, for 40 years amid national disintegration… and a promise of hope (vv. 11–13).
Apply
How similar is our attitude to Isaiah’s? In our easy-going age, how should we approach the Holy One, high and exalted, seated on his throne?
Closing prayer
Almighty God, when I consider who you are and all you have done, I am amazed that you have noticed me, and even more, that you care for me. Please make my life one of constant thanksgiving and praise.
*’My God, how wonderful thou art’, FW Faber 1848
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