Isaiah Sees the Lord
The year King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord. He sat on a throne, towering and majestic. His robe swept across the temple floor, filling every corner. Above him hovered angels—seraphim. Each had six wings: two covering their faces, two covering their feet, and two for flight. They called out to one another: 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord who commands heaven’s armies! His glory floods the whole earth!' The doorposts shook at the sound of their voices. Smoke filled the temple.
Cleansed and Called
I cried out, 'I’m done for! I’m a man with a filthy mouth, living among people with filthy mouths. And I’ve just seen the King—the Lord who commands heaven’s armies!' Then one of the seraphim flew to me. In his hand he held a burning coal he’d taken from the altar with tongs. He touched my lips with it and said, 'This has touched your lips. Your guilt is gone. Your sin is wiped clean.' Then I heard the Lord’s voice: 'Who should I send? Who will go for us?' I said, 'I’m here. Send me.'
A Hard Message
He said, 'Go tell this people: 'You’ll hear but never understand. You’ll see but never really get it.'' 'Make their hearts dull. Plug their ears. Cover their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts—and turn back and be healed.'
I asked, 'Lord, how long?' He answered, 'Until the cities lie in ruins with no one left. Until the houses stand empty and the land is completely destroyed.' 'Until the Lord drives everyone far away and the land is abandoned.' 'Even then, a tenth will remain. But they’ll be destroyed again—like an oak or terebinth cut down, leaving only a stump. That stump is the holy seed.'
Influences
- 16:1 — Isaiah 6:1 (KJV)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.
- 16:2 — Isaiah 6:2 (KJV)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.
- 16:3 — Isaiah 6:3 (KJV)And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.
- 16:4 — Isaiah 6:4 (KJV)And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.
- 16:5 — Isaiah 6:5 (KJV)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.
- 16:6 — Isaiah 6:6 (KJV)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:
- 16:7 — Isaiah 6:7 (KJV)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.
- 16:8 — Isaiah 6:8 (KJV)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.
- 16:9 — Isaiah 6:9 (KJV)And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.
- 16:10 — Isaiah 6:10 (KJV)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.
- 16:11 — Isaiah 6:11 (KJV)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,
- 16:12 — Isaiah 6:12 (KJV)And the LORD have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land.
- 16:13 — Isaiah 6:13 (KJV)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.