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Isaiah describes the vision in which he was called as a prophet, dated to the year King Uzziah of Judah died, around 740 BC. He sees the Lord enthroned in the temple, surrounded by seraphim, heavenly beings whose name suggests burning, who cry out God's holiness. Isaiah is undone, is cleansed with a coal from the altar, and offers himself. Then comes a hard commission: his message will meet closed ears until the land lies waste. Watch the final line, where a felled tree's stump is called holy seed. Something remains.
1In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up; and his train filled the temple.
2Above him stood the seraphim. Each one had six wings. With two he covered his face. With two he covered his feet. With two he flew.
3One called to another, and said, “Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of Armies! The whole earth is full of his glory!”
4The foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.
5Then I said, “Woe is me! For I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips, for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of Armies!”
6Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar.
7He touched my mouth with it, and said, “Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away, and your sin forgiven.”
8I heard the Lord’s voice, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am. Send me!”
9He said, “Go, and tell this people, ‘You hear indeed, but don’t understand. You see indeed, but don’t perceive.’
10Make the heart of this people fat. Make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their heart, and turn again, and be healed.”
11Then I said, “Lord, how long?” He answered, “Until cities are waste without inhabitant, houses without man, the land becomes utterly waste,
12and the LORD has removed men far away, and the forsaken places are many within the land.
13If there is a tenth left in it, that also will in turn be consumed, as a terebinth, and as an oak whose stump remains when they are cut down, so the holy seed is its stump.”
Meditate
In the year a king died, Isaiah saw the Lord enthroned. In your season of loss, look up, and let his cleansing mercy ready you for his call.
Read it slowly, then sit with the prompt. Free: stillingwaves.com/bible/isaiah/6/
Scripture: World English Bible (public domain).Scripture: King James Version (1769 text), public domain outside the United Kingdom; in the United Kingdom under Crown patent.
Isaiah says yes before he knows what the task will be. Then he hears it, and it is hard: years of speaking to people who will not listen. His reply in verse 11 is simply to ask how long. Even someone fresh from the throne room, newly forgiven, is allowed that question. God's answer is sobering, yet it ends with a stump that still holds life (verse 13). Look also at the seraphim, who cover their faces and their feet even while they serve. Their worship includes a kind of modesty before glory. Have you said yes to God and later found the road harder than you imagined? What would it be like to bring him your own question of how long? Where might a stump in your life still be holding seed? Speak to him from that place, honestly.
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