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Isaiah 6
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King James Version
Isaiah’s Commission
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.1
Bible Commentary
1
The vision is dated, for the
greater certainty of it. It was in the year that king Uzziah
died, who had reigned, for the most part, as prosperously and
well as any of the kings of Judah, and reigned very long, above
fifty years. He saw the Lord Jesus; so this vision is explained
John 12:41,
that Isaiah now saw Christ's glory and spoke of him, which is an
incontestable proof of the divinity of our Saviour. He it is who
when, after his resurrection, he sat down on the right hand of God,
did but sit down where he was before,
John 17:5.
His throne being erected at the door
of the temple (as princes sat in judgment at the gates), his
train, the skirts of his robes, filled the temple, the
whole world (for it is all God's temple, and, as the heaven is his
throne, so the earth is his footstool), or rather the church, which
is filled enriched, and beautified with the tokens of God's special
presence.2
2 Above the throne, as it
were hovering about it, or nigh to the throne, bowing before it,
with an eye to it, the seraphim stood, the holy angels, who
are called seraphim-burners; for he makes his ministers a
flaming fire,
Psalms 104:4.
Special notice is taken of their wings (and of no other part of
their appearance), because of the use they made of them, which is
designed for instruction to us. They had each of them six wings,
four were made use of for a covering, as the wings of a fowl,
sitting, are; with the two upper wings, next to the head, they
covered their faces, and with the two lowest wings they covered
their feet, or lower parts. This bespeaks their great humility and
reverence in their attendance upon God, for he is greatly feared in the assembly of those saints,
Psalms 89:7. They not
only cover their feet, those members of the body which are less
honourable (1 Corinthians 12:23),
but even their faces. Two were made use of for flight; when they are
sent on God's errands they fly swiftly (Daniel
9:21), more swiftly with their
own wings than if they flew on the wings of the wind.2
3 The anthem, or song of praise,
which the angels sing to the honour of him that sits on the throne,
was sung with zeal and fervency--they cried aloud; and with
unanimity--they cried to another, or one with another. The
song was the same with that which is sung by the four living
creatures,
Revelation 4:8.
The seraphim praise God with one of his most glorious titles: the
Lord of hosts. None of all the divine attributes is so
celebrated in scripture as this is. The Jews thought the glory of
God should be confined to their land; but it is here intimated that
in the gospel times (which are pointed to in this chapter) the glory
of God should fill all the earth.2
4 The house was shaken; not
only the door, but even the posts of the door, which were
firmly fixed, moved at the voice of him that cried. This
violent concussion of the temple was an indication of God's wrath
and displeasure against the people for their sins; and it was
designed to strike awe upon us.2
5 With what a pure lip did the
angels praise God! "But," says the prophet, "I cannot praise him so,
for I am a man of unclean lips." The angels had celebrated
the purity and holiness of God; and therefore the prophet, when he
reflects upon sin, calls it uncleanness. What gave occasion
for these sad reflections at this time: My eyes have seen the
King, the Lord of hosts. He saw God's sovereignty to be
incontestable--he is the King; and his power irresistible--he is the
Lord of hosts. Isaiah was thus humbled, to prepare him for the
honour he was now to be called to as a prophet.2
6 One of the seraphim immediately
flew to him, to purify him, and so to pacify him. God has strong
consolations ready for holy mourners. Further, angels are
ministering spirits for the good of the saints, for their spiritual
good. Here was one of the seraphim dismissed, for a time, from
attending on the throne of God's glory, to be a messenger of his
grace to a good man; and so well pleased was he with the office that
he came flying to him. Here is a comfortable sign given to the
prophet of the purging away of his sin.2
7 The seraph brought a live coal
from the altar, and touched his lips with it, not to hurt them,
but to heal them--not to cauterize, but to cleanse them; for there
were purifications by fire, as well as by water, and the filth of
Jerusalem was purged by the spirit of burning,
Isaiah 4:4.
This live coal was taken from off the altar, either the altar of
incense or that of burnt-offerings, for they had both of them fire
burning on them continually. An explication of this sign: "Lo,
this has touched thy lips, to assure thee of this, that thy
iniquity is taken away and thy sin purged.2
8 Here is a communication between
God and Isaiah about this matter. God needs not either to be
counselled by others or to consult with himself; he knows what he
will do, but thus he would show us that the sending forth of
ministers is a work not to be done but upon mature deliberation.
God in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost all concur, as in
the creating, so in the redeeming and governing of man. God now
appeared, attended with holy angels, and yet asks, Whom shall I
send? For he would send them a prophet from among their
brethren,
Hebrews 2:17.
It is a rare thing to find one who is fit to go for God, and carry
his messages to the children of men: Who is sufficient? Such a
degree of courage for God and concern for the souls of men are
seldom to be met with. Isaiah had been himself in a melancholy frame
(Isaiah
6:5), full of doubts and fears;
but now that he had the assurance of the pardon of his sin the
clouds were blown over, and he was fit for service and forward to
it. What he says denotes His readiness: "Here am I, a volunteer, not
pressed into the service."2
9 God takes Isaiah at his word, and
here sends him on a strange errand--to foretell the ruin of his
people and even to ripen them for that ruin. These verses are quoted
in part, or referred to, six times, in the New Testament, which
intimates that in gospel time these spiritual judgments would be
most frequently inflicted. Isaiah must preach to a people that would hear him indeed, but that is all; they will not heed him;
they will not understand him; they will not take any pains,
nor use that application of mind which is necessary to the
understanding of him; they are prejudiced against that which is the
true intent and meaning of what he says, and therefore they will not
understand him, or pretend they do not. They see indeed;
but they perceive not their own concern in it; it is to them as
a tale that is told.2
10 That, forasmuch as they would
not be made better by his ministry, they should be made worse by it;
those that were wilfully blind should be judicially blinded (Isaiah
6:10): "They will not
understand or perceive thee, and therefore thou shalt be
instrumental to make their heart fat, senseless, and sensual,
and so to make their ears yet more heavy, and to
shut their eyes the closer; so that, at length, their recovery
and repentance will become utterly impossible; they shall no more
see with their eyes the danger they are in, the ruin they are
upon the brink of, nor the way of escape from it; they shall no more hear with their ears the warnings and instructions that are
given them, nor understand with their heart the things that
belong to their peace, so as to be converted from the error of their
ways, and thus be healed."2
11 That the consequence of this
would be their utter ruin,
Isaiah 6:11,12.
The prophet had nothing to object against the justice of this
sentence, nor does he refuse to go upon such an errand, but asks, "Lord,
how long?" (an abrupt question): "Shall it always be thus? Must
I and other prophets always labour in vain among them, and will
things never be better?" Or, (as should seem by the answer) "Lord,
what will it come to at last? What will be in the end hereof?" In
answer to this he is told that it should issue in the final
destruction of the Jewish church and nation. "When the word of God,
especially the word of the gospel, had been thus abused by them,
they shall be unchurched, and consequently undone.2
12 Their cities shall be
uninhabited, and their country houses too; the land shall be
untilled, desolate with desolation, the people who should
replenish the houses and cultivate the ground being all cut off by
sword, famine, or pestilence, and those who escape with their lives
being removed far away into captivity, so that there shall be a
great and general forsaking in the midst of the land; that populous
country shall become desert, and that glory of all lands shall be
abandoned." Note, Spiritual judgments often bring temporal judgments
along with them upon persons and places. These predictions being so
expressly applied in the New Testament to the Jews in our Saviour's
time, doubtless this points at the final destruction of that people
by the Romans, in which it had a complete accomplishment, and the
effects of it that people and that land remain under to this day.2
13 There was a remnant reserved in
the last destruction of the Jewish nation: But in it shall be a
tenth, a certain number, but a very small number in comparison
with the multitude that shall perish in their unbelief. That they
shall return from sin to God and duty, shall return out of captivity
to their own land. That they shall be eaten, that is, shall be
accepted of God. That they shall be like a timber-tree in winter,
which has life, though it has no leaves: As a teil-tree and as an
oak, whose substance is in them even when they cast their leaves,
so this remnant, though they may be stripped of their outward
prosperity and share with others in common calamities, shall yet
recover themselves, as a tree in the spring, and flourish again;
though they fall, they shall not be utterly cast down. The holy
seed in the soul is the substance of the man; he that is born
of God has his seed remaining in him,
1 John 3:9.2
References and notes
1. King James Authorized Version
2.
Matthew Henry
Complete Commentary on the Whole Bible
-
http://bible.crosswalk.com/Commentaries
3. HIS MAJESTY
by Ray C. Stedman - http://www.pbc.org/dp/stedman/isaiah/0577.html
4.
CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Seraphim
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13725b.htm
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Cults 
Why Did God Permit Sin?