What is the meaning of "here am I; send me" in Isaiah 6:8?

We have seen the complete ruin of the sinner; we have seen the complete remedy in Christ; let us now look at the result, as exhibited in whole-hearted consecration to the service of God. 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. Now he gave the willing, ready expression of obedience to God when, on hearing that a messenger was needed, he exclaimed, "Here am I; send me." 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." The light of the former must show him what he is, and the provisions of the latter must show him what Christ is ere he can say, "Here am I; send me."

The general mission of Isaiah shows a blessed state, and great preparedness of heart in the prophet. The vision was of the Lord in His holy character. The burning Seraphim were then celebrating it, lowly but exalting Jehovah. The prophet has the fullest sense of this, both for himself and the state of the people. No haste to go but a sense of what he was, and of what the people were, in presence of a holy yet evidently a known God. "Woe is me, I am undone, for I am a man of unclean lips, and dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, and I have seen the King, the Lord of hosts." The effect was subjective, and that was all - the deepest and truest place. But the moment his lips are cleansed by the coal from the altar, and Jehovah says "Whom shall I send, and who shall go for us," he offers himself - "Here am I, send me." This is very beautiful. We are apt to run (I admit the difference of the Gospel) in haste, as soon as interested, and then to shrink before the carelessness or opposition of the world. Here he does not stir till the Lord has fitted him, and calls; then he is His ready servant. Here, consequently, we get the largest scope of prophecy - the fullest scheme of the counsels and intentions of God, in connection with His plans as to His people and His glory.

Then came the challenge as to service, and Isaiah's response; and as a result he was specially sent as the messenger to Israel. As often pointed out, the unvarying order is:— first, conviction; second, cleansing; third, commission in the service of God. Isaiah said, "Here am I; send me." When God was about to commission Moses, He had the response, in effect, "Here am I; send somebody else," as we see in Exodus 4:13; though He overruled it and Moses was sent. Let us all — especially the young Christian — give Isaiah's response and not that of Moses, lest the Lord pass us by, to our loss at the judgment seat of Christ.

It is instructive to note New Testament references to this scene. In John 12:4, the blind rejection of Jesus is the theme, and we discover that Isaiah "saw His glory, and spake of Him." Then in Acts 28:26, Paul refers to our chapter and says, "Well spake the Holy Ghost …" So here is one of those allusions to the Trinity, which are embedded in the Old Testament. In verse 3 we have "Holy," repeated, not twice nor four times but three; and Jehovah 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 Ghost. God is One and yet Three: Three and yet One. Hence, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for US?"

His Willing Obedience. Some may say, You should preach Christian duty. So say I, only put it in its right place. Jesus said, "If ye love me, keep my commandments;" for He loves the "willing heart," and the "cheerful giver." When we know peace with God, through the amazing sacrifice of His beloved Son, it constrains us to love and serve Him to whom we owe so much. And we see the prophet was much in this spirit; for after he had received an unmistakable assurance of pardon and peace with God, he had a willing, grateful desire to addict himself to the Lord's service. He says, "I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me." This surely is willing service, happy duty; it is like taking the yoke of Jesus, whose yoke is easy, and whose burden is light. The wondrous love of Christ constrains us to love Him, who has so loved us; it calls upon us to praise and glorify Him, who has washed us from our sins in His own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father; to Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

"In the year that king Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried to another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, [is] Jehovah of hosts: the whole earth [is] full of his glory. And the foundations of the thresholds were moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke" (vv. 14). No vision more glorious had ever burst on human eyes: but if the attendant burning spirits embraced the fullness of the earth as the scene of His glory, His holiness was their first care and chiefest cry. Activity even in the winged seraphim is not all nor most. Not all six wings did each need for flight, but two only. "With twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet," in awe toward God and shame as to himself, in both the reverence that befits them in His presence.

The effect was immediate on the prophet. It is no longer woe to these or those, but "woe to me." He is profoundly touched with a sense of sin and ruin - his own and the people's. But it is uttered in His presence Whose grace is no less than His glory and His holiness, and the remedy is at once applied. "Then said I, Woe to me! for I am undone; for I [am] a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for mine eyes have seen the King, Jehovah of hosts. And there flew one of the seraphim to me, having a live coal in his hand, [which] he had taken with tongs from off the altar; and he laid [it] upon my mouth and said, Lo, this has touched thy lips, and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin is expiated" (vv. 5-7). Nor this only: for thus set free in His presence, he becomes the ready servant of His will. Before this there was no haste to act, but deep self-judgement, and true sense of the defiled state of His people, in the light of His glory. "Also I heard the voice of Jehovah, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here [am] I; send me. And he said, Go and tell this people, Hear indeed, but understand not; and see indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make its ears heavy, and smear its eyes: lest it see with its eyes, and hear with its ears, and its heart understand, and it be converted, and be healed" (vv. 8-10).

Looking at the historical fact, the prophet is lifted out of his "undone," "unclean," condition, and sent with Jehovah's message to the guilty men of Judah — "Go tell this people" Even Moses at the burning bush shrank from being sent to Pharaoh. Here Isaiah, who had just bewailed his uncleanness, no sooner hears Jehovah saying "Whom shall I send? and who will go for us?" than he answers in the power of the Spirit, "Here am I: send me." Cleansed from his iniquity, purged from his sin, he is empowered to bear Jehovah's words. What efficacy in that live coal!

There is another consequence that follows besides deliverance. Look for a moment and you will find that the prophet is spoken to by God. See the beginning of chapter 3. The word of the Lord, after all that exercise, "came to Jonah the second time, saying, Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee. So Jonah arose and went." The man is free to go now. Will you look at another scripture in the Old Testament as a further illustration of this point? That is in Isaiah 6. You will find that it was the same with Isaiah as it was with Jonah. It was no question of Isaiah being a prophet, or a servant of God, or being the one whom God wanted to send. There never was such a question as that raised by God with him. On the contrary, you will find in chapter 2 that he knows the message of God — and yet he cannot run, he cannot go upon the business that God sends him. Why? Because he has not learned himself, beloved friends! That is the reason why — and I say it boldly, that of all persons least fitted in any shape to be a messenger of God is the one who has not learned his status; every one must, but it is indispensable in a messenger. Trace the history in the sixth of Isaiah. It begins with Isaiah's acknowledgment of the greatness of God. (Ver. 1.) He was "high and lifted up." The moment Isaiah views himself in the light of God's glory and of His holiness (ver. 3) he judges himself and cries (ver. 5) "woe is me, for I am undone." When he finds his status, what do you see? It is very beautiful. "Also I heard the voice of the Lord saying, whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" (Ver. 8.) Who answers? The man who has learned himself! "Here am I, send me." He could not go before but now God sends him out with the most solemn message that was ever committed to any man to carry — and that was to go to announce God's judicial sentence upon a blinded nation, a disobedient people — and he rises in the force and power of deliverance to carry it.

No sooner was Isaiah's need met, his guilt purged, than we see in him a whole-hearted consecration of himself to God and His service which may well stir the very depth of the soul and humble us, too, at the thought of how little we imitate him therein. No sooner does he hear that Jehovah wants a messenger, than the ready response comes forth from his heart and expresses itself in those ardent words, “Here am I; send me.” He was ready now to go forth in service to the One who had made him see his own ruin and revealed also the divine remedy. The order is beautiful. We have, first, “Woe is me;” secondly, “This has touched thy lips”; and thirdly, “Here am I.”

Then we read in verse 8, "Also I heard the voice of the Lord" (the word there is Adonai, not Jehovah of Hosts), "saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? then said I, Here am I; send me". Mr. Darby points out that the emphasis is on the "send" not on the "me".

One further word; before Jehovah says to him "Go and tell", Isaiah says "Here am I; send me". Does this show his willingness for the service?