A Deeper Look at Isaiah 6

Ever since I heard Jerry Bridges speak a few weeks ago, I have been trying to decide which tidbit I should share. The one golden nugget of many! He spoke on Isaiah 6 which has to be my most beloved passage in the Bible. In the two sessions I attended, Friday night and Saturday morning, I gained more depth from Isaiah than I thought possible! I should have remembered what I used to teach: You can't outlearn God's Word. We never learn it all, understand it completely, or get to its depth. God's Word is beyond measure.

Jerry Bridges taught us that the first thing Isaiah saw was the Holiness of God. It was evident in the Lord's majesty depicted by His train, the worship of the seraphim, and the calling out of His Holiness (this three-fold repetition is only seen two places in the Bible - here in Is 6 and in Rev 4).

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”
At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.
“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.”
Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”
Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”

After Isaiah sees the Lord's supreme Holiness, he then immediately realizes his awful sinfulness. Isaiah calls himself 'unclean'. Bridges says that the word Isaiah uses for 'unclean' is the same word the lepers called out as they approached other people. Unclean, unclean meant "stay away, I am diseased. I am harmful to you. I am full of rotting flesh". Isaiah basically calls himself a leper.

It is when Isaiah sees himself a sinner that God sends the gospel. The gospel delivered in a live coal from the altar, touching him, declaring atonement from sin and removal of guilt.

However profound as these points are, this is not the point that bowled me over. Mr. Bridges went on to ask this question: What is the importance of WHEN Isaiah said "Here am I. Send me!"?
Think about it...

Here's the sequence. Isaiah first sees the Holiness of Almighty God. Isaiah then sees himself as full of the rotting flesh of sin. Isaiah is given the gospel. It is then Isaiah says to God, "Use me."

If Isaiah had responded as he took in the sight of Majestic God, what might his response have been? Remember Peter on the Mount of Transfiguration? Bless his heart (and ours) - he wanted to build three little huts and keep everybody right there in the middle of the experience.

And what if Isaiah had responded after he saw the true picture of his own sin? He might not have responded at all!

It is after he receives the gospel, that he responds! In his sin, Isaiah realizes he is completely unqualified for God's service. But after he is given the gospel, he is then qualified. The gospel qualifies him and motivates him! It is against the backdrop of our sin that the gospel shines so brightly (Bridges).

Jerry Bridges went on to say that Paul had pretty much the same experience. Ponder this... Paul said 'yes' to God after he saw the blinding holiness of God, his own awful sin, and was personally given the gospel by the Lord Jesus. See what I mean about a deeper look at Isaiah 6?

It is the gospel that motivates us love and serve God.