Isaiah’s Vision of the Holy Lord and His Prophetic Calling.

Isaiah 6 records the prophet’s vision of the Lord sitting upon His throne, high and lifted up, while the seraphim proclaim His holiness. In the year that king Uzziah died, Isaiah sees that earthly thrones fall, but the Lord reigns in unshaken glory. Confronted by God’s holiness, Isaiah becomes deeply aware of his own uncleanness and the uncleanness of his people. Yet the Lord provides cleansing, as a coal from the altar touches Isaiah’s lips and his guilt is taken away. The chapter then shows Isaiah’s calling: he is sent to a hardened people who will hear but not truly understand, until judgment leaves only a holy seed as the hope of future restoration.

Isaiah 6:1 – 6:13

  1 In 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.
  2 Above 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.
  3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, [is] the Lord of hosts: the whole earth [is] full of his glory.
  4 And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.
  5 Then 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.
  6 Then 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:
  7 And he laid [it] upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.
  8 Also 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.
  9 And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.
  10 Make 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.
  11 Then 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,
  12 And the Lord have removed men far away, and [there be] a great forsaking in the midst of the land.
  13 But 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.