Community Bible Study -- Isaiah

Text of Presentation, Lesson 4, Isa 6:1-13

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A Call to Servanthood
"Responding to God's Call"

Chapter 6 is the call of Isaiah. Since this book recounts a vision from God occurring over more than 50 years (cf Isa 1:1), it's possible the first six chapters are not in chronological order, but were grouped together by Isaiah to make a point: if the Jews, a "people of unclean lips" (6:5), can have the same experience Isaiah, a "man of unclean lips," had, the problem detailed in chapters 1-5 can be solved . . . namely, how can a corrupt, rebellious Israel - defying God's law - fulfill God's promise to be a clean, obedient Israel from whom all the nations will learn God's law? By placing his call narrative here, Isaiah holds himself up as a model for his people. Just as he was enabled to bear God's message to his people, so Israel will be enabled to bear God's message to the world.

The narrative begins with a vision of God (6:1-4), emphasizing His majesty, holiness, and transcendence. Then follows Isaiah's cry of dereliction (6:5), as he recognizes his sin separates him from God, and realizes God cannot coexist with sin. According to Hebrew thought, to see God was to die . . . yet God does not want Isaiah killed, but cleansed. One of God's flaming attendants brings a blazing coal from the altar to cauterize and cleanse Isaiah's lips (6:6-7). Only then is the voice of God heard asking who might be willing to carry a message for Him . . . and Isaiah, on an adrenalin high because of his new cleanliness, utters that memorable line: "Here am I. Send me!" (6:8).

God responds with a frightening commission: Isaiah is to speak a message that will harden the people's hearts and prevent them from being healed (6:9-10). Isaiah asks how long he is to preach (6:11a), and God responds grimly: until the nation is laid waste and the people killed or taken into exile (6:11b-13). But the prophet also holds out hope when he says that - although the nation will be like a field of burned-out stumps - a "holy seed" will remain (6:13b)

The date of Isaiah's call is 740 BC, the "the year King Uzziah died." This is when Judah's hopeless position probably became clear. The mighty army of Assyria was on the move, but Judah did not feel threatened as long as the powerful Uzziah reigned. But Uzziah became unfaithful and was struck with leprosy . . . then he died and his weak son Jotham took the throne, and the danger could no longer be ignored.

What could Judah do? Isaiah's vision was to reorient the people's moral compass. The king is dead? Who is the king, anyway? . . . not Uzziah, but God! As Isaiah says: "My eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty!" (6:5). Isaiah is overwhelmed by God's majesty ("seated on a throne"), transcendence ("high and exalted," "the train of his robe filled the temple"), and superlative holiness ("Holy, holy, holy").

Why does Isaiah say his lips are unclean? Why not his heart? In today's society, we instinctively interpret this as the foul-mouthed trash we hear in the movies and on TV . . . and Jesus said: "The things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man 'unclean'" (Matt 15:18). But the best interpretation may reflect the pagan practice of "kissing the Baals"; it would imply extensive of idol-worship among the Jews if most of the people - Isaiah included - had "kissed the Baals."

Isaiah sees his situation as so hopeless that he does not even beg for forgiveness. But he underestimates the grace of God. God has not given him this vision to annihilate him . . . but so that - having seen the truth of God and received His grace of cleansing fire - Isaiah might assume the office of prophet . . . and he might prophesy the cleansing fire that awaits his nation.

Isaiah's commission seems surprising. Does God really not want his people healed? Has God predestined them for destruction? Perhaps what 6:9-10 really mean is that the hearts of the people of Isaiah's time (and several following generations) are so hardened after years of sin that the message Isaiah is called to preach will only push them farther away from God. Only a few will turn, but these faithful followers will preserve Isaiah's words until the cauterizing fires of the exile . . . when people will finally be willing to listen and healing can occur, setting the stage for the Messiah.

This seems to be the point of the reference to "the holy seed" (6:13). The Jews cannot be healed except by near-total destruction. There is no hope if they continue as they are; their religion is already half-pagan; it will become completely pagan, and all of God's revelation will have been for nothing. God is not going to allow that to happen, so the cleansing must be excruciatingly thorough. When all is lost - when the forest has been cleared and the stumps burned . . . one stump will have "the holy seed" for renewal. "Stump" and "seed" are titles for the Messiah, so that's probably what Isaiah means; but he could mean the remnant of God's people who survive the cleansing fires . . . or both!

We conclude this section with a comment on how Isaiah's call might be a model for others to become servants of God. We are all different, and come to God in different ways . . . but we can all learn from our spiritual forebearers. Isaiah begins by recognizing the hopelessness of his situation vs the character of God: the impossible gulf of sinfulness between himself and God . . . but this makes it possible for him to recognize, receive, and be cleansed by the incredible, undeserved grace of God. Then he is ready to glimpse the heart of God and offer himself in service. But he does not receive grace to win the praise of humans or even necessarily to fulfill his dreams . . . it is so he can be faithful to the call of God no matter what God sends him to do. We love Isaiah's inspiring words - "Here am I. Send me." - but we need to remember that God sent Isaiah to a thankless task . . . and in the end (according to Jewish tradition) he was cruelly murdered. No one can or should claim we must do things the way Isaiah did . . . but we can be sure God will call each of us in our own way to confront the truths Isaiah confronted; and if we receive God's call, he may send us like Isaiah to a thankless task - with a reward only in heaven.

The first 6 chapters of Isaiah make clear that we cannot genuinely see God as long as we think there is a human solution to our problems. Even the best Christians seem to think we can solve our problems - with a little help from God through prayer. But this makes us the sovereign and God the servant. The example of Isaiah shows we must come to the end of ourselves and admit total dependence on God before we have a chance to understand who God is . . . and really become His servant.

The story of Jacob between Genesis 28 and 32 is an example of this. Jacob saw God in a dream and glimpsed his transcendence and immanence. But God is still just an adjunct to Jacob's plans . . . until Jacob wrestles with God before confronting the brother he cheated. Then Jacob understands God is his only hope . . . and having seen God face to face, Jacob steps out to meet his fate and sees "the face of God" (Gen. 33: 10) in his brother.

Our modern stress on an intimate, personal relationship with God has its downside. We risk thinking God is our "good buddy in the sky" . . . or worse, a grandfather who says, "That's OK, honey," whenever we mess up. This cheapens God's grace . . . treating it as something God kinda' owes us. We believe in eternal security and expect unlimited forgiveness from God because we just can't help messing up once in awhile - and we expect this even when "once in a while" happens all the time. After all . . . didn't we go through the ritual of asking Jesus into our hearts - usually in public, so everyone could see our piety! But although God's grace is free, it ain't cheap.

Maybe we need Isaiah's vision of the blazing holiness of God . . . coming face to face with a moral perfection so white-hot that sin cannot even exist in His presence . . . becoming aware of a Being greater than the entire known universe (cf "the whole earth is full of his glory," 6:3). To see God in that way would bring us to the end of ourselves, and make us realize God owes us nothing. We are not "basically good people who just can't help messing lip once in awhile." We are proud, arrogant, self-centered, perverse, cruel, violent rebels in whom the stain of sin and sinfulness goes deep. And the only way our guilt can be taken away and our sin atoned for (6:7) is the undeserved grace of God!

Hence the burning coal that cleansed Isaiah's lips points to the Messiah . . . and to the cross, where God Himself took away our sin. So if we ever think God is asking too much of us, we should just stop and realize what Jesus the Messiah did for us!

But what if we answer God's call and preach like Isaiah did to modern Americans, what do you suppose the result will be? The term "two Americas" is used in this election campaign . . . and it's true. One America, based in California and the Boston-New York-Washington corridor, controls 90% of our news and movies and works actively to stamp out Christian values. The other America, here in "flyover country," retains at least a vestage of Christian values - although it's caving in to the "anything goes" barrage from Hollywood and New York. Members of both parties are on both sides, but this election offers a clear-cut choice between the values of these two Americas . . . and as Isaiah emphasizes, the real issues aren't about creature comforts, but about values! The New York/Hollywood America preaches a gospel "It's all about me" - the very same gospel Isaiah so condemns! They're trying to push us into an immoral society of sex and drugs.

Another slogan in this campaign has been: "Let's take back America." And that's right, too. America was founded as a Christian nation, and we must restore Christian values in America. According to Isaiah, we don't have a choice . . . and there isn't middle ground: we either stand with God, or we stand against Him.

What is God's plan for America? To reassert Christian values . . . or to refine our people by fire, leaving only a faithful persecuted remnant? I pray for the former - but expect the latter. The key point that God is the one in charge; whatever happens, He's orchestrating it . . . and we should have a better idea of his plan November 3.

Before concluding, I want to comment on Messianic prophesy in chapter 7, not part of the focal passage. About 5 years after Uzziah's death; his grandson Ahaz is king. Syria and Israel are attacking Judah, to depose Ahaz and put ben-Tabeel on the throne (7:6) - probably so Judah will ally with them against the Assyrians. Ahaz and his courtiers are frightened, like "trees. . . shaken by the wind" (7:2); they want to make an alliance with Assyria. But Isaiah pleads for Ahaz to put his faith in God instead.

God offers to give Ahaz a sign to prompt his faith . . . anything Ahaz likes. But Ahaz refuses (7:12). He feigns piety, but it only masks his unbelief. Isaiah realizes this and responds with frustration (7:13). He declares God will give Ahaz a sign anyway:

The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel {which means God with us} (7:14).

The gospel of Matthew confirms that early Christians understood this passage as Messianic prophecy (Matt 1:23). The virgin birth is a fundamental to our faith. Nevertheless, there are those who disagree; two verses further on, Isaiah prophesies:

Before the boy knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, the land of the two kings you dread will be laid waste (by Assyria) (7:16).

And Isaiah 8 says:

I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. And the LORD said to me, "Name him Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz {which means quick to the plunder}. Before the boy knows how to say `My father' or `My mother,' the wealth of Damascus and the plunder of Samaria will be carried off by the king of Assyria (8:3-4).

The Assyrians overran Damascus and Samaria before the child was 12. So is "Immanuel" Jesus of Nazareth or Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz? The answer may be "both." Prophecy can be literal, allegorical, and/or metaphorical. There is no evidence Isaiah knew the details of the Messiah's life, apart from what was directly revealed to him. This is the point of Peter's comment in 1 Peter 1:10-12, that the prophets would have loved to see what the people of the 1st century AD saw.

The real question is not whether the prophesy of Immanuel has elements of Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz, but whether it has elements unique to Jesus the Messiah . . . and it does:

1. God urges Ahaz to ask for a remarkable sign, and there seems nothing remarkable about the birth of an ordinary child.

2. The choice of the word "virgin" for the child's mother is significant; Isaiah's wife was not a virgin when Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz was born.

3. In regards to the choice of a name for the child . . . Jesus --> Yeshua --> The LORD is Salvation is closely related to Immanuel --> God with us, whereas Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz --> quick to the plunder does not.

In fact, most of God's signs offered through Old Testament prophets like Isaiah were events in the future to confirm the correctness of faith exercised in the past - not supernatural acts to make unbelieving people repent on the spot. That's true of the Immanuel sign: fulfilled several years into the future and/or 700 years into the future!

We have discussed that the question of predictive prophecy itself is at issue in scholarly analysis of the bible - and this applies to the Immanuel prophecy. This comes back to the "two Americas," because those who seek to jettison Christian values deny predictive prophecy . . . and to deny the Immanuel prophecy undercuts the foundation of our faith! If Isaiah did not speak of the Messiah in 7:14, then Matthew misquotes Isaiah . . . which means many New Testament proofs that Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah must be discarded . . . leaving only Jesus the moral teacher! That's not our Jesus!

Today's Christians need a strong dose of Isaiah . . . who was called to be faithful - not successful. Isaiah didn't seek success by telling people what would make them feel good; he spoke God's words faithfully, whatever the cost. Isaiah was like God's instructions to Ezekiel hundreds of years later:

You must speak my words. . . . And whether they listen or fail to listen . . . they will know that a prophet has been among them (Ezek 2:7,5).

Jesus' apostles are an example of this. It seems the more they preached Jesus, the more their people, the Jews, turned away. They might have thought themselves failures. But with Isaiah-like faithfulness, they did not lose hope . . . and the New Testament often quotes Isaiah 6:9-10 about the deafening, blinding, hardening effect of Isaiah's preaching. Like Isaiah, the apostles knew the grace they had received and the call of God on their lives, so they were "prepared in season and out of season" (2 Tim. 4:2) to declare God's truth, confident that those who God had chosen would listen. Modern servants of God have this same mandate, "whether they listen or fail to listen, (our people) will know that a prophet has been among them."

And part of our message is the truth of the Immanuel prophesy of "God is with us" . . . that the all-powerful, all-good, creator-God walked among us, died to take away our sin and guilt, and is willing to enter into personal relationships with each of us through the Holy Spirit. And if God is with us, we can dare to have integrity in our dealings with one another and with the world, trusting God to bless and protect us.

We'll talk more about the Immanuel prophesy next week . . . and about another prophesy of the Messiah: "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given" (Isa 9:6).