1In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.
The words of judgment against Judah in the previous chapters end with the words, “...if one look unto the land, behold darkness and sorrow, and the light is darkened in the heavens thereof.” In chapter 6, Isaiah tells why he presented such a message of judgment. His ministry as a prophet began with a vision. Isaiah had this vision “in the year that king Uzziah died.” We know from the first verse of the first chapter of the book that Isaiah received revelation from God “in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.” Thus, it seems likely that Isaiah’s vision of the Lord took place at some time before Uzziah died but in the same year as his death.
The commission that Isaiah will receive in this chapter anticipates coming judgment for Judah. There is no hope of restoration mentioned until the last verse. Why was Isaiah given this commission at this time? If such a message of judgment had been given to him in the year that the wicked king Ahaz died, the reason would have been obvious. But Uzziah “did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father Amaziah did.” Uzziah’s son and successor Jotham also was said to have done right (II Kings 15:3,34; II Chronicles 26:4; 27:2). Why was severe sentence on Judah pronounced in the year of Uzziah’s death?
Uzziah (also called “Azariah”) reigned for 52 years in the southern kingdom of Judah. Because he was a good king, God blessed his reign. But II Chronicles 26:16 says, “But when [Uzziah] was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction: for he transgressed against the LORD his God, and went into the temple of the LORD to burn incense upon the altar of incense.” Uzziah became proud and he sinned by entering the temple to burn incense although he was not a priest. God judged Uzziah then and there by smiting him with leprosy. Uzziah’s son Jotham then became the acting king, even before Uzziah died (II Chronicles 26:19-21).
It seems likely that Uzziah’s sin of pride in response to the blessing and prosperity God had given him was emblematic of what was taking place in the general population. In fact, according to II Kings 15:4, there was ongoing idolatry in Judah during Uzziah’s reign: “the high places were not removed: the people sacrificed and burnt incense still on the high places.” The same is written concerning the reign of Uzziah’s son Jotham, and that “the people did yet corruptly” (II Kings 15:35; II Chronicles 27:2).
It was at this point that Isaiah was given his vision of the Lord and received a commission to prophesy in Judah. There was prosperity in Jerusalem and Judah, and the people were proud. The king had attempted to exalt himself by seizing the right to burn incense in the temple. But Isaiah saw “the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.” This verse does not say that Isaiah entered the temple; rather, he had a vision of the Lord in the temple. This vision leaves no place for the pride of man. It is the Lord, not Uzziah or Jotham, who is sitting upon a throne. He is high and lifted up, not the little king who tried to exalt himself. The train of the Lord’s robe filled the temple; the house belonged to Him.
The phrase “high and lifted up” is found in only two places in the Old Testament, both in the book of Isaiah. The other reference is in Isaiah 57:15: “For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.” The Hebrew expression translated “high and lofty” in 57:15 is exactly the same as the expression in Isaiah 6:1.
Whom did Isaiah see? In verse 5 he says, “mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.” Isaiah saw Yahweh. In speaking of Jesus, the apostle John wrote, “But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him....” Then, with reference to Isaiah 6:10, John wrote, “These things said Esaias, when he saw his glory, and spake of him” (John 12:37,39-41). Thus, Isaiah saw the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ hundreds of years before Christ’s first coming “and spake of him.” “The King, the LORD of hosts,” whom Isaiah saw, is Yahweh the Son.
2Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. 3And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. 4And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.
The cry of the seraph was, “Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.” When Moses asked the LORD to show him His glory, the LORD said, “I will make all my goodness pass before thee...” (Exodus 33:18-19). The glory of the LORD is His goodness. His goodness fills the whole earth. Though He is absolutely holy and the whole earth is defiled with sin, still He provides for all peoples and gives opportunity for all to repent.
5Then said I, 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 mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts. 6Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: 7and he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.
Isaiah’s vision of the LORD also made him to see himself as he was. He said, “I am a man of unclean lips.” Isaiah’s focus on his lips was probably in realization that he in his defilement would not be worthy to proclaim the holiness of the LORD as the seraphim had done. The coal brought by the angel was not just any coal. Fire cleanses only by consuming filth. But Isaiah’s lips were not even burned. The coal brought by the angel was taken from off the altar – whether from the brazen altar or from the altar of incense, having been brought there from the brazen altar. In either case, the coal represented fire that had consumed a sacrifice. The sacrifice pictured a sin bearer; the fire of judgment burned away the filth borne by the sin bearer. The angel said, “Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.”
The words of the angel in verse 7 contain three clauses. The third Hebrew clause is disjunctive in form. The last two clauses may be translated, “thine iniquity has departed, and thy sin will be covered.” This difference is significant because in the Old Testament, sin was forgiven on credit. Isaiah’s iniquity was removed on the basis of the future atonement to be accomplished by the Lord Jesus Christ.
8Also 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. 9And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. 10Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed. 11Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate, 12and the LORD have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land.
With the cleansing of Isaiah came the divine invitation to service. The Lord Jesus said, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” The “us” is surely the same as spoken by God in creation: “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness...” (Genesis 1:26). Isaiah responded willingly: “Here am I; send me.”
The commission Isaiah received must have surprised him. He was not told to make the people of Judah to see, hear, understand, return to the LORD, and be healed. Rather, he was told to make their heart fat, their ears heavy, and their eyes shut. How would Isaiah do this? Certainly, neither Isaiah nor we have the power to make other people to see or not to see spiritual truth. But whenever God’s word is proclaimed, a response is required. Hard hearts become harder unless God intervenes. Anyone whose spiritual eyes and ears are insensitive to spiritual truth becomes even more blind and deaf. Isaiah’s commission was to speak God’s word of rebuke to the people of Judah, which would thus require of them a response. His rebuke would become the vehicle of the hardening of their hearts.
Isaiah said, “Lord, how long?” God said that Isaiah’s message of judgment would continue until the cities and houses were without inhabitant, the land of Judah lay in ruin, and He moved the people to a place far away.
Certainly, the LORD’s words to Isaiah foresaw the Babylonian captivity. That captivity was after the time of the reigns of the four kings named in Isaiah 1:1, but Isaiah’s words would continue to bear witness after the time of his own physical presence. The words in verses 9-10 were referred to by the Lord Jesus in Matthew 13:14-15; Mark 4:12; and Luke 8:10; by the apostle John in John 12:40-41; and by the apostle Paul in Acts 28:25-27. In the last of these references, Paul was speaking to Jewish leaders in Rome. He said,
“Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet unto our fathers, saying, Go unto this people, and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive: 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, and should be converted, and I should heal them.”
Thus, the hardness of heart, the spiritual blindness and deafness that was and would be in Israel prior to the Babylonian captivity did not end then. Likewise, the judgment that God spoke of in Isaiah 6:11-12 was not complete in the Babylonian captivity. In 70 A.D., Israel was again attacked and the people dispersed by the Romans. Even today, most of the people of Israel continue in hardness of heart against the Lord Jesus, the One Whom Isaiah saw sitting on a throne, high and lifted up. God’s disciplinary judgment on the nation of Israel will not be finished until those who survive come to repentance during the period of Tribulation which precedes the second coming of Christ.
13But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten: as a teil tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them, when they cast their leaves: so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof.
Verse 12 speaks of “a great forsaking in the midst of the land.” This expression can also be translated “many forsaken places in the midst of the land.” Thus, the “tenth” referred to in verse 13 may refer to settlements in Judah that would remain after the attack by Babylon. That tenth “shall return, and shall be eaten” – that is, the remaining tenth shall again be consumed (by burning). Even the remaining settlements in Judah will face further destruction.
The sole word of consolation for Judah in this chapter is found in the latter part of verse 13: “as a teil tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them, when they cast their leaves: so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof.” The words “their leaves” are italicized in the KJV, correctly indicating that these words are not found in the Hebrew text. The word “cast” is used in the sense of “throw.” The “substance” refers to what is left of the tree when someone casts it down – that is, its stump. The “holy seed” of Israel is the stump that will remain when the nation is cut down. From that stump the nation will grow up again. The remnant of Israel is holy because of God’s promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
This chapter in Isaiah records an event which preceded Isaiah’s writing of the previous five chapters. This chapter records Isaiah’s cleansing and being sent to prophesy in Judah. So why is this chapter not the first chapter? The book begins with the message, not with the sending of the messenger. The book begins with a call to heaven and earth, linking it to Moses’ words in Deuteronomy 4:25-27 and 32:1. The book begins with descriptions of the decadence that existed in Judah, which give evidence to the rightness of God’s sentence on them in chapter 6. But now, in chapter 6, we have learned that even from the time of the end of Uzziah’s reign, the coming judgment on Jerusalem and Judah was sure.
Note: All Scriptures are quoted from the King James Version of the Bible.