6:1 In the year of King Uzziah's death, I saw my Lord seated on a throne, highly exalted, the skirt of his robe filling the sanctuary. which is chronologically the first chapter in the Book of Isaiah. This is where Isaiah is called as a prophet by the Lord, appointed by the Lord. And notice how he is called. He's not called off the street, or he's not self-appointed, he has a vision of the Lord. At that time is when he makes sure his calling and election. In the year of King Uzziah's death," which was 742 BC, "I saw my Lord seated on a throne, highly exalted, the skirt of his robe filling the sanctuary." So that you know where he was, in the temple in the Holy of Holies, 6:2 Seraphs stood by him overhead, each having six wings—with two they could veil their presence, with two conceal their location, and with two fly about. And later on we see that Isaiah identifies these seraphs with a certain level on the spiritual ladder, one immediately below the Lord Himself. And below the seraphs are servant's sons and servants of God. Below them is Zion and Jerusalem, below them is Jacob or Israel, below them are the rebellious of Israel and the idolaters of the nations, and below them are the King of Assyria and other sons of perdition. So these are part of a hierarchy of individuals. And here basically we have three levels right here in this scenario. We have the Lord, the Seraphs, and Isaiah, himself, Isaiah representing the elect, or the servant son category. "Seraphs stood by him overhead each having six wings." Wings, has been probably misinterpreted by artists who paint angels with actual wings, whereas there is no indication that they have such wings. So what does the term wings mean in this case? Probably energy fields of some kind, that allow them to travel the way they do, and veil their presence the way they do. 6:3 They called out to one another, and said, Most holy is the Lord of Hosts; the consummation of all the earth is his glory! In Hebrew, "holy holy holy" which is the superlative, there is no other way of saying the superlative in ancient Hebrew. "….Is the Lord of Hosts; the consummation of all the earth is his glory!" I think the King James says, "the earth if full of his glory." But, it's actually a noun, (*Gileadi now says a Hebrew word I cannot spell or pronounce) and (* _______) is a noun which means consummation or fullness, and it kind of ties into the theology of Isaiah that the Lord's purpose in creating the earth is that it may fulfill the measure of it's creation, and come to its consummation, that the whole thing is to have fruition. It's not just happenstance, it's not just to be left to follow its own chaotic path, there is a purpose in the creation, that is, see in chapter forty, to end up with an elect group of people, an exalted category of people. And that's kind of reflected here. And in that context, he sees the Lord exalted. That exalts God, when God does that for his people, that exalts Him. How does that exalt Him? He sees the Lord highly exalted on a throne and so forth. Because all those whom he has redeemed and exalted, what is He to them? He is their Maker, He is their Savior, He is their Deliverer, their Redeemer, everything to them. That exalts Him, right? 6:4 The threshold shook to its foundation at the sound of those who called and a mist filled the temple. "The threshold," that is of the temple, or of the Holy of Holies, "shook to its foundation at the sound of those who called and a mist filled the temple." That "mist" signifies what? --the Lord's presence in the cloud of glory. This is what he did anciently, when Moses went into the tabernacle to see the Lord. 6:5 Then I thought, Woe is me: I have been struck dumb, for I am a man of unclean speech, and I live among a people of unclean speech: I have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts, with my own eyes! Why would he say that? In Hebrew, the word for "struck dumb" may have more than one meaning. The King James translates it, "I am undone", whatever that means. But the phenomenon of seeing the Lord often has some kind of physical affect on the man who sees God, on the person who sees God, on the prophet. Some are blinded, some are struck dumb, some are…. whatever. And that fits, so that's the verb that I've used in translating, "struck dumb." Also what follows is the seraph carries an ember from the alter and touches it to his mouth, that scenario showed that he can then speak again. It's a classic opening of the mouth ritual. And the opening of the mouth doesn't mean just the opening of the mouth, but also all the senses, the ears to hear, the eyes to see and so forth. But why would he say, "I'm a man of unclean speech and I live among a people of unclean speech"? He identifies himself so closely with his people, particularly with their sins rather than with their righteousness. He sees that what has happened to him as perhaps a covenant curse, because to be struck dumb, or to be blinded was a covenant curse, anciently. He said, well, if this can happen to me this can happen to my people, too. But as we'll see, his identifying himself with his people leaves him with a desire to do for his people as has been done for him. He sees the Lord, he hears the Lord talk. He made sure his calling and election. Now he wants to do that for his people. If you had that experience, wouldn't you? That would be your greatest desire, I think, to then go and do for others as has been done for you and to help them attain that point also, so that they might enjoy that happiness. And so that's kind of built in, that's kind of preparing the way for you to believe that, to see that, by his closely identifying himself with his people in that way and so later on he volunteers to go and be the Lord's servant unto his people. "I have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts with my own eyes!" With his physical eyes, not just with his spiritual eyes. You can see the King the Lord of Hosts with your spiritual eyes, and that's one level of knowing God, but there is also the physical one. And that's another level. 6:6 Then one of the seraphs flew to me carrying an ember which he had taken with tongs from the altar. The altar is the altar of atonement on which sacrifices were offered and those sacrifices or by virtue of those sacrifices, people's sins were forgiven or remitted. But like I said, those sacrifices could not really atone for the sins of any person, only God could do that. But God's atonement could not have a human precedent so the animal was chosen to represent him. So an ember is something that is purified, right, the fire's hot, and there's no impurities in the ember, and so it signifies purity—by virtue of the atonement, cleansing by virtue of the atonement. What atonement? The one that Christ would make of which animal sacrifice is a type, or a foreshadowing. 6:7 Touching it to my mouth, he said, See, this has touched your lips: your sins are taken away, your transgressions atoned for. Looks particularly because Christ has said what comes out of the mouth makes a person unclean rather than what goes into the mouth when he was having a controversy with the Pharisees about what they could and couldn't eat. But it signifies not just his cleansing of the lips, it's the whole person, as it said, your sins are taken away, you are cleansed, your transgressions are atoned for. 6:8 Then I heard the voice of my Lord saying, Whom shall I send? Who will go for us? And I replied, Here am I; send me! Now in verse five it says, "I have seen the King the Lord of Hosts with my own eyes", and now in verse eight it says, "I've heard the voice of the Lord". And if you'll look carefully at the mission of any prophet, he always sees and hears—both. They see the one thing and they hear the interpretation. In this case hears the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send?" And it's interesting that the word apostle means, "one who is sent". It's the same verb in Hebrew, *_____________. *______________ is the apostle, or one who is sent, the messenger. So he becomes a messenger of the Lord. He is sent on His errand. "Who will go for us?" The Lord uses the plural there—not just himself, who else would be included? Maybe the one who sent him, or maybe the seraphim, at any rate, it implies some kind of council of individuals, not just one. We'll see that council in chapter forty. "And I replied, Here am I; send me!" So he's willing, and he's now able to talk. And he's willing to go, because he wants to do for his people what has been done for him, right? His lips have been cleansed, or he has been made clean. His sins have been atoned for, and now since his people were in the same state as he was originally, now he wants to do that for them. He's kind of laid the groundwork for us to think along those lines. 6:9 And he said, Go, and say to these people, Go on hearing, but not understanding; Go on seeing, but not perceiving. Go, is his commission. That's where he's sent. This is his investiture as a prophet of God, right there, in that one word. "Go and say to these people." Now the Lord there repudiates the covenant relationship with His people. He doesn't say go and say to my people, He says, go and say to these people. And that repudiates the covenant relationship, or the covenant formula—My people, their God, those possessive terms denote the covenant relationship between the Lord and His people. These people means, these alienated people. He doesn't identify who they are, just kind of leaves it open, anonymous—which means that they are people who have become alienated from God. Yes they are His people because they're right there in the vicinity, otherwise he would say those people and name somebody else. He implies that these people have become alienated from Him. "Go and say to these people, Go on hearing, but not understanding; Go on seeing, but not perceiving. Make the heart of these people grow fat; dull their ears and shut their eyes, lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears, understand in their heart, and repent, and be healed." I'm sorry, Lord, this is not what I anticipated. He didn't want to do that for them. What did he want to do? He wanted to get them atoned for and cleansed, the same as he had been. Instead, he's to go to them and become what scholars call a hardener of the heart. When a prophet goes and preaches to a wicked people, how do they receive him? Like I said, with joy, or with animosity? Usually, they harden their hearts against him, and that's what his job is here. He's to seal upon them their condemnation, or their damnation. By rejecting the prophet, they will seal God's judgments upon them. Right? When do God's judgments come upon any people? When they reject the prophets of God and cast them out and stone them, and so forth. Did they do that to Isaiah? Yes, King Manasseh did it at any rate. So, Isaiah doesn't like that. They hear, and they see, or they think they do. But what has he heard and seen---the Lord, right? "Go on hearing, but not understanding, Go on seeing, but not perceiving." They see and hear, but it's on such a superficial level, that it doesn't count for anything. 6:10 Make the heart of these people grow fat; dull their ears and shut their eyes, lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears, understand in their heart, and repent, and be healed. But there is a redeeming side. Because the Lord always sends prophets if there is a use for it. There are those who do listen to Isaiah, and they become his disciples, as I mention later. How do we know? We can know right here in verse 10 that there are those who will listen. Because it says, "lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears, understand in their heart, and repent, and be healed." And that is the formula for salvation, right there—is seeing with the eyes, hearing with the ears, understanding with the heart, repenting and being healed. And healing in Isaiah is synonymous with salvation. They appear in parallels. So even though his main mission is he's not going to get very far with these people, it's apparent that some will listen. And that's the sequence, too. You see something, and you hear, and then finally you understand, and you do something about it. You repent, or whatever it is you now perceive the matter and then comes the forgiveness, or the healing. 6:11 And I replied, For how long, my Lord? And he said, Until the cities lie desolate and without inhabitant, the houses without a man, and the land ravaged to ruin. I'm not so impressed with this commission that you've given me. How long is it going to last? A little bit of his human side is coming out here. And he said, Until the cities lie desolate and without inhabitant, the houses without a man, and the land ravaged to ruin. 6:12 For the Lord will drive men away, and great shall be the exodus from the centers of the land. So for the most part, you are not going to get a good reception. It's going to happen that the people are not going to repent, the enemies are going to come in, the Assyrians, get rid of the inhabitants out of the lands, and the land ravaged to ruin. For the Lord will drive men away, [there will be a scattering] and great shall be the exodus from the centers of the land. Which are the cities, because that's where the people are congregated. That's where the people have to live, because they can't afford to live other places, too. Reminds me of World War II, when I was just an infant, during the bombing of our city, when we went, scattered out into the countryside. Trying to eke it out, out there, while the cities were being bombed. 6:13 And while yet a tenth of the people remain in it, or return, they shall be burned. But like the terebinth or the oak when it is felled, whose stump remains alive, so shall the holy offspring be what is left standing. And the word used for tenth here is interesting because it is *______yah, and Yah is the name of Jehovah. Assyria is a tenth, or a tithe—same word is used for tithing. So Assyria, means the tithe of Jehovah—a special tithe. And this is where Isaiah, using the tithing imagery the idea of those who will be destroyed, and who will be delivered. And while yet a tenth of the people remain in it, or return, they shall be burned. But like the terebrinth or the oak when it is felled, whose stump remains alive, so shall the holy offspring be what is left standing. Now the terebrinth, or the oak are trees that if you cut them down, they will sprout again. If you cut them right off at the trunk, the bottom of the trunk, they will come up again. They have the ability to do that. Other trees will not do that. And so that implies, that if the tree represents the people, and the tree is cut down by the King of Assyria, the Lord's axe and saw, who hews down the wicked, then those who are elect, will still come back. They will reconstitute the Lord's people once more, and become a new tree. In the tithing imagery that Isaiah is using, the Levites received a tenth of the increase of the Israelites, and the Levites paid a tenth of that tenth that they received to the family of Aaron, the priests. And that tenth of the tenth was called the holy portion. And that's what he's alluding to by using the word holy, the holy offspring that will be left standing. They will become the new tree. That refers to the elect, the tenth of the tenth. And the others will be burned or killed, the ninety percent will be burned or killed in some other way, and the nine percent will also survive, but not through the Lord's divine direct intervention.