Isaiah 6:1–8

The prophet did not receive this vision of glory and this solemn commission in Uzziah's prosperous days. It came in the year when the son of David, once prosperous and now struck with leprosy, breathed his last... Then, however, Isaiah saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up. The mere skirts of His glory filled the temple.

Why is Uzziah introduced here? May it not be, among other things, to remind us of the widest possible contrast? On one side stands the very best man on earth, the highest ruler of Judah's kingdom, the most honoured man in the world. On the other stands THE KING, THE LORD OF HOSTS. King Uzziah was a leper, and lived outside the camp. This shows us that sinful man is unfit for the presence of God, however high his office and dignity. It shows that man has no resources at all for cleansing the leprosy of sin. Unless God meets him with healing mercy, he must remain unclean, unfit to be with the God of holiness.

Scripture uses the name Adonai where the One meant is Jehovah. Isaiah 6:1 says, "I saw the Lord (Adonai)... high and lifted up," and at the end of the vision, "Woe is me!... for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts" (Jehovah Sabaoth)... So this identifies Adonai with Jehovah. This is quite clear and simple. But it is of this passage that John 12 speaks, that the prophet saw Christ's glory, and spoke of Him. It is Adonai, but it is Jehovah.

This chapter opens a very different scene. It is not the law, but Jehovah revealed. Not that the people are one bit better... Both chapters show the people judged, but the principles of judgement are wholly different.

He saw the Lord, high and exalted, and His is the glory that surpasses all (John 12:41). That is why the skirts of it filled the temple. Israel's kings had failed and sinned badly. Even so, the cry of the seraphim bore witness that God's throne rests on holiness.

This was a solemn, soul-subduing sight... The light of the throne revealed to him his true condition. And what was that light? It was the moral glory of Christ. As we read in the Gospel of John, "Isaiah said these things because he saw His glory and spoke of Him."... The law may tell me what I ought to be. Conscience may tell me I am not that. But I can form a true estimate of what I am only when the bright beams of Christ's moral glory pour themselves around me.

"Seraph" means a burner. It is the word for burn, and the only other thing called a seraph is the fiery serpent. The point is that they cry, "Holy, holy, holy."

The cherubim speak of God's power in government. We may call them the executors of divine righteousness. The seraphim, by contrast, stand in relation to God's nature. We may call them the guardians of His holiness. The word seraphim occurs only here in Scripture, but it is related to another word. Seraph occurs often, and it means "to burn." Our God is a consuming fire. We find seraph, for example, with the sin and trespass offerings, which were "wholly consumed" on the altar. The burnt offerings and peace offerings, by contrast, "went up to God as a pleasing aroma."

No vision more glorious had ever burst on human eyes. These attending burning spirits took in the whole earth as the scene of His glory. Even so, His holiness was their first care and chief cry. Activity, even in the winged seraphim, is not everything, nor the main thing. Each one did not need all six wings for flight, but only two. "With two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet." One shows awe toward God, the other shame about himself. Both show the reverence that suits them in His presence.

In the presence of His glory, the creature must take its place of nothingness before Him. Without that, can there be any true work for God, or any wisdom for it?

Each one had six wings. With one pair he covered his face — their reverence was profound. With another he covered his feet: their ways were perfect, yet they refused to look at them. One Object only absorbed their attention.

They used only two of their six wings for flight. First came the covering of the face in the presence of glory that cannot be searched out. Then came the covering of their own way from their eyes. Last came their activity in the service of their God — a suitable lesson for ourselves. A spirit of worship and self-forgetfulness comes before service.

May we then do now what the seraphim do above. With two wings they cover their face, as a token of their confusion before the holy presence of the Lord. With two they cover their feet, as if to hide their steps from themselves and from others. And with the remaining two they fly to carry out their Lord's will.

What a scene! One of those very seraphim stood above the Lord's throne with veiled face, crying "Holy, holy, holy." He passes from that throne to the altar, and from the altar down to the deep depths of a convicted sinner's heart. There he applies the healing power of a divine sacrifice. No sooner had the arrow from the throne wounded the heart than the seraph from the altar "flew" to heal the wound.

No vision more glorious had ever burst on human eyes. The burning spirits standing there took in the whole earth as the scene of His glory. Even so, His holiness was their first care and chief cry. Activity even in the winged seraphim is not everything, nor the main thing. Each needed only two wings for flight, not all six. "With one pair he covered his face, and with another he covered his feet." That is awe toward God and shame about himself. Both show the reverence that suits them in His presence.

The cherubim speak of God's power in government, and we may call them the executors of divine righteousness. The seraphim, by contrast, stand in relation to God's nature, and we may call them the guardians of His holiness. The word seraphim occurs only here in Scripture, but a related word, seraph, occurs often, and it means "to burn." Our God is a consuming fire.

Holiness has first place in this cluster of God's glories. It is, we may say, one of the essential attributes of God; and without it, who could adore or even reverence Him? Yet it is the very trait of His nature that men are most averse to, and most likely to overlook. He has therefore reminded us over and over again in His Word that He is holy. In this attribute of His being He is incomparable.

It is instructive to note the New Testament references to this scene. In John 12:41, the blind rejection of Jesus is the theme, and we discover that Isaiah "saw His glory and spoke of Him." Then in Acts 28:26, Paul refers to our chapter and says, "The Holy Spirit was right in saying…" So here is one of those allusions to the Trinity embedded in the Old Testament. In verse 3 we have "Holy," repeated, not twice nor four times but three; and the LORD of hosts is before us. In verse 5, "the King, the LORD of hosts," whom we find to be the Lord Jesus. In verse 8, "the voice of the Lord," which is claimed as the voice of the Holy Spirit. God is One and yet Three: Three and yet One. Hence, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for US?"

He says, "I saw the Lord"; and what did he hear? He heard this: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory." Yet at that very moment God tells Isaiah to go and make the heart of this people dull and to shut their eyes. This lasts until the cities lie waste with no one in them, the houses empty, and the land completely desolate. How then could the whole earth be full of His glory? Only because God is what He is. He has a purpose concerning His beloved Son, whether in connection with an earthly people or a heavenly people.

What effect does this vision of glory have on the prophet? It withers all the pride and beauty of human nature. In the presence of this glory the prophet sees deepest into his own sinful, wretched condition, and into the condition of the people he lives among… We need this as much as the prophet did.

The seraphim covered their faces and their feet while they cried, "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory." Surely, then, those who worship the Father in spirit and in truth should be no less reverent than they.

God called Isaiah to go out as the prophet of judgment against Israel. At that time the Lord showed Himself in His temple in such terrible majesty that the very doorposts moved at His voice, and smoke filled the house.

No vision more glorious had ever burst on human eyes. But if the attendant burning spirits took in the fullness of the earth as the scene of His glory, His holiness was their first care and chief cry.

The other place where smoke fills the temple is Revelation 15. There God is about to make good His righteous and holy claims, and the seven angels appear with the seven last plagues. No one could approach God at that moment, for He was acting as judge. So it is striking that when smoke filled the house — that is, when God showed Himself as judge because of His holiness — it had the right effect on Isaiah.

So Isaiah had seen the earthly temple, when the Lord came to announce the desolation of Israel (Isa. 6:4). So God had shown Himself to His people at the giving of the law, when "Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke because the LORD had descended on it in fire. The smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain trembled greatly" (Ex. 19:18). God dealing with man in righteous judgment is necessarily "a consuming fire."

Smoke from the glory — the solemn darkness in which God is shut up before active judgment, so that man cannot find Him.

The glory of God is the display of what He is. Any showing forth of what God is — whether in grace, in power, or in holiness — is a display of His glory. Here, where power in judgment is the subject, it is the display of what He is as judge, according to what His own nature requires. (Compare Isa. 6:1-4.) This at once explains why no one could enter the temple until God had completed these judgments. For who indeed could stand before a God of judgment?

The Divine presence moved the very door of the temple, and a spiritual movement in Isaiah followed. It produced deep conviction of sin and uncleanness. He had just pronounced six woes upon others in the name of the Lord; now he called for a woe upon himself.

The light of the throne revealed to him his true condition… Christ is the perfect standard by which everyone must be measured. It does not matter what I may think of myself, nor what others may think about me: the question is, What am I as seen in the presence of Christ? … Then the hidden chambers of my heart are laid open, the secret springs of action are revealed, the real condition is laid bare.

In chapter 5 he cries "Woe" on many people, and he is right in doing so. It takes no special grace to do that. But it does take a great deal of grace to condemn oneself. Here we see how Isaiah came to cry that seventh "Woe" — and it was the making of him. When he cried "Woe is me," he put his finger on the right spot.

The effect of the vision upon Isaiah is that he says, "Woe is me! for I am undone," or it might read "I am put to silence." He says, "I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips." But what has brought about this confession? "For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts."

When the king had to take the place of a leper and say, "Unclean," what wonder that Isaiah, as the most prominent of the godly few, should give sad expression to the tears and feelings of the righteous! There is no word in scripture to express a worse condition than "unclean." It is used of the leper who is thrust out of the camp. Yet this is the word the prophet uses of himself.

Isaiah, after describing what He had seen, says, "My eyes have seen THE KING" (v. 5). And the day will come when "the whole earth is full of His glory" (v. 3). And so that no doubt should remain as to whose glory is spoken of here, the Holy Spirit of God has told us in John 12:37-41 that Isaiah spoke of Jesus, concluding, "These things said Isaiah, when he saw HIS GLORY, and spoke of HIM."

In a fallen world, the holiness of God had to mean wrath. In such a presence, what is man, whoever he may be? "Then said I, 'Woe is me! for I am undone…'" But if this is the confession that must come, how blessed is the grace that must, just as surely, be God's answer! "Then flew one of the seraphim to me, having a live coal in his hand… He laid it on my mouth and said, 'Look, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away, and your sin is cleansed.'"

As soon as he hears that Jehovah wants a messenger, the ready response comes out of his heart. It expresses itself in those eager words, "Here am I; send me." He was ready now to go out in service to the One who had made him see his own ruin and had shown him the divine remedy as well. The order is beautiful. We have, first, "Woe is me"; secondly, "This has touched your lips"; and thirdly, "Here am I."

God works this spirit of self-judgment in all who really have to do with Him. Examples of it abound in Scripture… Isaiah said, "I am undone" (Isa. 6:5); and Daniel, "my splendour was turned in me into corruption" (Dan. 10:8). So Peter, "I am a sinful man, O Lord" (Luke 5:8), and Paul, "sinners, of whom I am chief" (1 Tim. 1:15). And all these were saints who stood out in their day. They would not have stood out if they had not had such an experience. Have we had it?

God did not only apply the remedy to Isaiah's felt ruin. He applied it so that Isaiah knew for certain that the whole heart of God was in it. "Then flew one of the seraphim to me." The rapidity of the movement speaks volumes. It tells us plainly of Heaven's intense desire to calm the convicted conscience, bind up the broken heart and heal the wounded spirit. The energy of divine love gave the messenger his speed. He flew down from the Lord's throne to where a convicted sinner stood confessing that he was "undone."

"Seraph" means a burner. It is the word for burn, and the only other thing called a seraph is the fiery serpent. The point is that they cry, "Holy, holy, holy." He takes a coal, because as soon as a person is honest, grace purifies.

But what a strange way to cleanse unclean lips! "A live coal" from the altar. A coal red-hot with the fire that has just been consuming the victim. Yes, "our God is a consuming fire." What a picture of that indignation and wrath against sin which is a necessity in the nature of a holy God! And though He pities, yes, loves the sinner, that cannot change His holiness. Set me then in the presence of this righteous and holy God — how can He show me favour? It seems as impossible as that a "live coal" should cleanse instead of blasting human lips.

But look again. It is a coal from the altar. It is still a live coal, for God's wrath against sin can never die out. His righteousness can never be anything but what it has always been. Yet this live coal from the altar of sacrifice is changed in one way: it does not blast, but cleanses. Look at the reality behind the picture, and you see that the righteousness of God in the cross of Jesus Christ does not condemn the sinner but justifies him. … So if I confess the sins that prove I am one of those for whom He died, and take my place before Him, I find Him faithful and just to forgive my sins and to cleanse me from all unrighteousness.

The altar means the place where the sacrifice was burnt and presented to God. The cross of Christ is the only altar of New Testament days. The various altars of the Old Testament were only types of it. The coals of fire consumed the sacrifices and sent their fragrance up to God. They were pictures of the condemnation of sin that fell on Jesus, when He was made sin and a curse for us on the cross of Calvary.

Nadab and Abihu were careless about this. They dared to come into His presence and burn incense before Him — which pictured the fragrance of Christ before God — with "strange fire" (not taken from off the altar, see Isaiah 6:6), which He had not commanded them.

The guilt which the throne detects, the altar removes. In the light of the throne you see one object: ruined, guilty, undone self. In the light of the altar you see one object: a full, precious, all-sufficient Christ. The remedy reaches to the full extent of the ruin, and the same light that reveals the one reveals the other also. This gives settled rest to the conscience.

But this cry is spoken in the presence of the One whose grace is no less than His glory and His holiness. He applies the remedy at once… And not only this: set free in His presence, Isaiah becomes the ready servant of His will. Before this there was no haste to act, but deep self-judgement, and a true sense of the defiled state of His people, in the light of His glory.

Here, then, we have the rich provisions of the Lord's altar. Remember, that altar stands in direct connection with His throne. The two go closely together in the history and experience of every convicted and converted soul. The guilt which the throne detects, the altar removes. In the light of the throne you see one object: ruined, guilty, undone self. In the light of the altar you see one object: a full, precious, all-sufficient Christ. The remedy reaches to the full extent of the ruin, and the same light that reveals the one reveals the other as well. This gives settled rest to the conscience.

How blessed, how worthy of God! There is no long, laborious process of cure here. God imposes no conditions and asks no work of self-help. The provision of grace is simple, immediate, and effective at once, then and there. On the sinner's part there is only the confession of the ruin that sin has caused. The declaration that iniquity is taken away and sin purged meets it at once on God's part.

How blessed, then, to see in this live coal the very picture of that unbending righteousness in God! Here that righteousness touches a man's sin-stained lips, and it cleanses them instead of consuming them. But why, and how? The answer is very easy and very precious. It is a coal from off the altar that the seraph applies. It is a coal that has been consuming the sacrifice for sin. It pictures a holiness that must stay forever the same. Yet that holiness has found its complete satisfaction in what has put away sin for every sinner who is convicted and confesses.

The coal of divine holiness had already consumed the sacrifice, and was also consuming the sweet incense. So, in symbol, the cleansing of the prophet's lips matched God's estimate of the value of the sacrifice and of the person of our Lord.

How often people refer to this touching of the "lips with sacred fire" and miss the whole point of what is here! True, it is a prophet whose lips are touched, and his call follows right afterwards. But the touch is still not the touch of inspiration. The fire does not give power here; it cleanses.

One of those very seraphim stood above the throne with veiled face, crying "Holy, holy, holy." He passes from that throne to the altar, and from the altar down to the deep depths of a convicted sinner's heart. There he applies the soothing power of a divine sacrifice. The throne had poured out its flood of living light to show the prophet the blackness of his guilt. At once a tide of love rolled down on him from the altar and carried away every trace of that guilt.

The prophet knew that the live coal from the altar had purged his uncleanness. The sinner who believes in Christ Jesus for salvation also knows that he has peace through the blood of the cross. But the prophet also had the word of the Lord to assure him of his pardon and acceptance; and, blessed be God, so have we. Some will try to persuade us that no one can know his sins are forgiven until after death. But I reply: who says I am forgiven? God says so. And if God says, "Your sins are forgiven you," why need I fear, even if the whole world says it is not so?

Then came the challenge about service, and Isaiah's response; and as a result God sent him as His special messenger to Israel. As many have pointed out, the unchanging order is: first, conviction; second, cleansing; third, commission in the service of God.

The prophet has the fullest sense of this, both for himself and the state of the people. He is in no hurry to go. He feels what he is, and what the people are, in the presence of a God who is holy and clearly known... Then the coal from the altar cleanses his lips. The Lord asks, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" and Isaiah offers himself: "Here I am! Send me." This is very beautiful. We tend to rush out as soon as we are stirred — and I admit the gospel makes a difference here — then we shrink back when the world is careless or hostile. Here he does not move until the Lord has fitted him and called him. Then he is His ready servant.

Isaiah had nothing to do for salvation, but he had plenty to do for his Saviour. He had nothing to do to get his sins purged, but plenty to do for the One who had purged them... This puts works in their proper place. The order is absolutely perfect. No one can do good works until he has experienced, in some degree, the action of the "throne" and the "altar."

John 12:41 speaks of the blind rejection of Jesus. There we learn that Isaiah "saw His glory and spoke of Him." In Acts 28:26 Paul quotes this chapter and says the Holy Spirit was right in speaking those words. So here is one of those hints of the Trinity in the Old Testament. In verse 3 we have "Holy" repeated, not twice nor four times but three... And in verse 8, "the voice of the Lord" is the voice the New Testament calls the voice of the Holy Spirit. God is One and yet Three: Three and yet One. So He asks, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?"

"Holy, holy, holy," that is Trinity. "Whom shall I send?" there is Unity. "Who will go for us?" there is Trinity.

Mr. Darby points out that the emphasis is on the "send," not on the "me."

Oh that many of the Lord's people would as earnestly cry, "Send me"! It is no use going unless we are sent. We will fail if we try to do what God has not fitted us for. But we can all do something. ALL CAN PRAY.

As often pointed out, the unvarying order is: first, conviction; second, cleansing; third, commission in the service of God. Isaiah said, "Here I am! Send me." When God called Moses, the answer He got was, in effect, "Here I am; send somebody else," as we see in Exodus 4:13. God overruled that answer and sent Moses anyway. Let us all — especially the young Christian — give Isaiah's response and not that of Moses.

When we know peace with God, through the amazing sacrifice of His beloved Son, it moves us to love and serve Him. We owe Him so much. The prophet had the same spirit. Once he was sure of pardon and peace with God, he wanted to give himself to the Lord's service.