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Isaiah 6:1-8
Isaiah’s Commission
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. 2 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. 3 And they were calling to one another:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory.”
4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.
5 “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.”
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”
8 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!”
Today’s Old Testament reading is from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, which is book we read from frequently during Advent. But this isn’t one of the passages that we think of as we prepare for Christmas, like “for unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given.” Today’s reading is entitled “Isaiah’s Commission.” And in this case, the word “commission” means an assignment from God – an assignment to serve as a prophet.
In the passage, Isaiah reports having experienced a vision. In the vision, he found himself transported into the presence of God, who is seated on the heavenly throne and surrounded by a host of angels who are constantly singing God’s praises.
The interesting thing about the passage, it seems to me, is that when Isaiah realizes that he is in the presence of the holy God, he is immediately struck with a sense of his own sinfulness. Isaiah cries out that he is “a man of unclean lips,” living among other “people of unclean lips.” And he is seized with a sense of despair as he realizes how unworthy he is to be in the presence of God.
It seems to me that the way the angels are described is significant. Each of them has three pairs of wings. With one pair, they hover while they sing praises, about as you would expect of angels. But the other two pairs of wings are used to cover their faces and feet, symbolically hiding themselves from the presence of God. It seems to me they’re expressing by their posture the same thing Isaiah says in words: that they are unworthy to be in God’s presence. The point, it seems to me, is that not even the angels are holy enough to be in the presence of God.
In Isaiah’s vision, one of the angels takes up a burning coal from the altar of God and touches it to Isaiah’s lips. This action ‘purifies’ Isaiah – it burns away the unclean-ness from him, so he can undertake the mission God has for him.
But it also seems significant that this purification transforms Isaiah, replacing the cringing fear in which he says, “Woe is me!” with a spirit that’s ready and willing to do whatever God wants done. “Here I am,” Isaiah says, “Send me!”
This story reminds us that the God we serve is a holy and mighty God, and that throughout history, those who have found themselves in his presence have experienced “sock and awe.” That’s probably not surprising — God is the creator and sustainer of a universe 13.8 billion years old, powerful and holy beyond our imagining.
The story also reminds us in this season that this powerful and holy God loves us enough to go to the cross to reconcile us to himself. He’s a God who purifies his Son’s followers of our sins and invites us into a loving and nurturing relationship with him. This great God invites us to call on him as ‘Abba’ – the Aramaic equivalent of ‘Papa.’
The other point this passage makes, it seems to me, is that in just about every case recorded in the Bible, God has not recruited super-humans to do his work. Instead, God recruits ordinary, sinful people and empowers them to do superhuman things.
If God was willing to use only perfect and sinless people to do his work, he’d have a workforce of exactly one. But God has shown over and over again throughout history that he can do amazing things through ordinary people.
So if we’re willing to answer God’s call, to open ourselves to his transforming power, who knows what God might do through us? (Only God knows, I guess.) Any of us might be empowered as Isaiah was. God calls all of us to some kind of service, and by the power of his Holy Spirit, each of us can become the kind of person who responds to God’s call by saying boldly what Isaiah said: “Here I am. Send me!”
Let’s pray. Lord, during this advent season, we ask you to purify us of our sinful natures and put us to work in the service of your kingdom. Help us to be listening for your call in our lives, and when we hear that call, transform us and empower us to say what Isaiah said: “Here I am! Send me!” Amen.
Every Blessing,
Henry
(The other readings for today are Psalms 62 and 126; II Thessalonians 2:1-12; and Luke 22:1-13. Our readings come from the NIV Bible, as posted on Biblica.com, the website of the International Bible Society.)
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