Isaiah chapter 6
English Standard Version
1In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3And one called to another and said: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!"
4And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. 5And I said: "Woe is me! For I am lost; for 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!"
6Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7And he touched my mouth and said: "Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for."
8And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" Then I said, "Here I am! Send me." 9And he said, "Go, and say to this people: "‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’
10 Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed." 11Then I said, "How long, O Lord?" And he said: "Until cities lie waste without inhabitant, and houses without people, and the land is a desolate waste, 12and the Lord removes people far away, and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land. 13 And though a tenth remain in it, it will be burned again, like a terebinth or an oak, whose stump remains when it is felled." The holy seed is its stump.
What does Isaiah chapter 6 mean?
Isaiah 6 describes Isaiah's call from God to take His message to the people of Judah. Some scholars believe the book may have been meant to begin with this chapter, but many see this as the fitting conclusion to the introduction of Isaiah 1—5. This chapter is as if Isaiah is answering the question of what gives him the authority to the tell the people of the Judah of the coming judgement of the Lord.This chapter establishes the beginning of Isaiah's work as a prophet. This came in the year King Uzziah died, around 740 BC. Uzziah was one of the great kings of Judah. At the time of his death, the Assyrians were beginning to mount the great war machine that would roll over the nations of the middle east (Isaiah 6:1; 2 Kings 24:10–16).
Isaiah describes a remarkable experience, either a vision or an actual appearance of the Lord. This was for his eyes only in the temple in Jerusalem. He sees the Lord dressed in royal robes sitting on a throne high up in the temple. Above the Lord stands an unnamed number of seraphim, six-winged angelic beings possibly in the form of fiery serpents (Isaiah 6:1–2).
The seraphim call out to each other in voices that shake the foundations of the temple. They proclaim the holiness of the Lord and declare His glory. Smoke fills the temple as they call (Isaiah 6:3–4).
Hearing their voices proclaim the pure praise of the Lord, Isaiah is overwhelmed with his unworthiness to be in such a place. He knows he has "unclean lips:" that he is a sinful, mortal man who has no business seeing God. He is not worthy even of praising the holiness of the King as the angels do. He deserves death (Isaiah 6:5).
Instead, one of the seraphim flies to him and touches Isaiah's mouth with a coal from the altar. The angel says simply that this action has taken away his guilt. His sins are atoned for. The implication is that Isaiah has been cleansed to speak on behalf of the Lord (Isaiah 6:6–7).
Only after this does Isaiah hear the voice of the Lord. God asks who He should send and who will go for "us." This could be referring to Himself and the angels or Himself as the trinity. Isaiah, now cleansed and eager to serve the Lord, quickly answers that He is there and asks God to send him (Isaiah 6:8).
The Lord tells Isaiah the message He wants His prophet to give to the people of Judah. They are to hear without hearing and see without seeing. In other words, the Lord knows the people of Judah are too far gone into their sin and rebellion to receive Isaiah's warnings about God's coming judgment. Yet they will not be given the excuse that they were never warned. In response to Isaiah's question of "how long?" the Lord tells him to continue to preach to his unresponsive people until the judgment comes. He is to continue until the land is laid to waste and the people are carried away into exile (Isaiah 6:9–12).
The tiniest bit of hope remains. The Lord's promise is there that even after everything is destroyed a "holy seed" remains. This seed is referring to when the Messiah will come and bring salvation to the world. (Isaiah 6:13).
Isaiah is among the most important prophetic books in the entire Bible. The first segment details God's impending judgment against ancient peoples for sin and idolatry (Isaiah 1—35). The second part of Isaiah briefly explains a failed assault on Jerusalem during the rule of Hezekiah (Isaiah 36—39). The final chapters predict Israel's rescue from Babylonian captivity (Isaiah 40—48), the promised Messiah (Isaiah 49—57), and the final glory of Jerusalem and God's people (Isaiah 58—66).
Isaiah 6 seems to answer the question of why Isaiah (Isaiah 1:1) was qualified to speak of Judah's sin and the Lord's coming judgment. The previous five chapters have already been on this topic. Isaiah describes seeing God in the temple on a throne, while hearing seraphim calling out about the Lord's holiness. After his lips are cleansed, Isaiah volunteers to take the Lord's message to his people Judah. The Lord shows Isaiah that message will not be received and that he will preach until the judgment comes. Chapters 7 and 8 detail Isaiah's early prophecies, including a famous prediction about the Messiah.