Isaiah 6 - 7

Before we get to Chapter six, and the call of Isaiah I have to tell you a story.

In 2007 there was a scandal at Walter Reed Army Medical Center where wounded soldiers were being housed in a building with stained carpets, worn mattresses, black mold and no water or heat. These soldiers waited for the government to determine if they were to remain in the military or be medically discharged and what their veteran’s disability status would be.

The Surgeon General of the Army had toured the facility and spoken with the soldiers. He knew of the problems, but he didn’t provide the necessary funding to fix them. He also testified before Congress that there was a toll-free number for any patient to call if there were problems with regards to their care. The only problem was, there was no such number.

The Army scrambled to put together a team to set up the Wounded Soldier and Family Hotline. At Ft. Huachuca, Arizona, where I was stationed at the time, the commander of the health care center was tasked with sending one of her officers to be a part of this team. She called me to her office and explained the situation to me. She asked me if I would be willing to go to Washington to be a part of this team. Of course, I quickly agreed to do so.

Notice that she could have simply told me, without any explanation, that she was ordering me to Washington. But she didn’t. She first told me about the situation in Washington and the need for people to be tasked with fixing the problem to improve patient care.

In the first five chapters of Isaiah, God told Isaiah what the problem was with Judah. Only then did He give Isaiah the opportunity to volunteer to be a prophet. He could have simply ordered Isaiah, but he wanted to give him the chance to volunteer. I think that this is significant. Most of us don’t like being ordered to do something. We would rather be told of a problem and given the opportunity to choose for ourselves whether or not we wanted to help.

In Chapter six we find the call of Isaiah in the year that King Uzziah died. Uzziah was a king who started off well, but he ended rather badly. He was able to extend the borders of Judah but was later stricken with leprosy. His reign was a time of prosperity, but Judah was spiritually corrupt, worshipping both the God of Israel and the pagan gods. There was rampant corruption at all levels, from government officials, judges, and religious leaders.

Verses 1-4, “I saw the Lord seated on a throne . . . above him were seraphs. . .. and at the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook, and the temple was filled with smoke.”

Now that’s something you don’t experience every day.

Seeing a vision of the Holy God on his throne, surrounded by angelic beings overwhelmed Isaiah. He became more aware of his sinfulness and that of his people when contrasted with God and his angels. Verse 5, “Woe to me” I cried. “I am ruined. For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”

“A man of unclean lips” didn’t mean that he was eating a messy sandwich and needed a napkin. It meant that he thought that he was not qualified to be in the presence of the Lord.

Oftentimes, someone who is new to a position might feel inadequate for the task at hand. When the newly elected Senator Harry Truman arrived in Washington, Sen. Hamilton Lewis, the Democratic whip from Illinois, soon relieved him of any feeling of inadequacy. "Mr. Truman, don't start out with an inferiority complex. For the first six months you'll wonder how you got here. After that you'll wonder how the rest of us got here."

I think that Moses, Isaiah and others felt like Harry Truman when he arrived in the Senate. In awe of his surroundings and questioning if he was up to the task at hand.

Isaiah was also concerned for his safety because he knew that one can’t see God and live. Ex. 33:20, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.” Well, he didn’t actually see God face to face, but it was close enough to scare Isaiah.

To make Isaiah feel better, an angel placed a live coal on his lips as a symbolic act of taking away his sins. Verse 7, “With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips, your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.’” No, he didn’t end up with third degree burns on his mouth. That would have made it even more difficult for him to be a prophet. The message for Isaiah was, “You’re all cleaned up now and authorized to be in the presence of the Lord.”

After being briefed on the sad moral state of the people of Judah, God asked (verse 8), “Whom shall I send. And who will go for us?” Isaiah was eager to volunteer. “Here I am. Send me!” was Isaiah’s response.

Only after Isaiah volunteered was he told that his prophetic mission would fail. Verses 9-10, “Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving. Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise, they might see with their eyes, heart with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”

About this time, I wonder if Isaiah thought, “Is it too late for me to unvolunteer?” Maybe I should tell God that I have to check with my wife first before I volunteer.

Isaiah then asked how long this ministry might be. Verse 11, “For how long, O Lord?” How long is the assignment? Verses 11-12, “until the cities lie ruined. . . until the Lord has sent everyone far away.” In other words, “for as long as you are needed. This is no two-year enlistment in the Army.” Wow, I wonder if Isaiah’s enthusiasm for his mission faded just a bit.

In Chapter 7, we find Isaiah meeting with Ahaz, the evil king of Judah. Ahaz was a compromiser when it came to religion. He combined the worship of God with the worship of Baal and Molech. I guess he didn’t want to offend anyone.

Jerusalem, the capital of Judah, was being threatened by King Rezen of Aram (Syria) and Pekah, the king of Israel (also known as Ephraim). Why did they want to attack Judah? Because the King of Judah refused to join an alliance with them against the even larger kingdom of Assyria.

Verse 2, “so the hearts of Ahaz and his people were shaken, as the trees of the forest are shaken by the wind.”

Of course, Ahaz was frightened, panic stricken. Judah was a very small country. Some of its cities had already been attacked. There seems to be no barrier that could keep these nations from attacking Jerusalem.

Verse 3, “Then the Lord said to Isaiah, ‘Go out, you and your sons Shear-Jashub, to meet Ahaz. . . Verse 4, “Say to him, ‘Be careful, keep calm and don’t be afraid. Do not lose heart because these two smoldering stubs of firewood.’” Verse 8 says that within sixty-five years Ephraim will be too shattered to be a people.

Why would Isaiah tell these people what would happen in sixty-five years when most of these people would be dead? For that matter, why does Isaiah write about the first and second coming of the Messiah which is even further in the future? It’s obvious that some of these messages are for another audience, those who would live many years later. This is made clear in the book of Daniel where Daniel was receiving prophetic messages which he didn’t understand. Dan. 12:8-9, “I heard, but I did not understand. So, I asked, My Lord, what will the outcome of all this be? He replied, ‘Go your way, Daniel, because the words are closed up and sealed until the time of the end.’”

There are passages in Revelation that we still don’t fully understand. Perhaps it’s because they too are for a future generation. Just imagine how much of the book of Revelation puzzled the Apostle John. He didn’t even have the vocabulary to describe the images that he saw.

Isaiah then describes the kings of Israel and Syria as smoldering, dying pieces of wood in a fire (verse 4). In time the Assyrians overtook these nations that were threatening Judah.

Isaiah’s words of encouragement might not have comforted King Ahaz. After all, he has been listening to numerous prophets, both real and false, telling him contradictory messages.

In verse 11, God told Ahaz to ask for a sign to convince him that what is being prophesied by Isaiah is true. Apparently, God knew that Ahaz wasn’t convinced that his safety was assured. Ahaz declined the offer of a sign, though he really needed one to put his mind at ease.

Isaiah tells him that he is going to give the king a sign, whether he wants one or not. Verse 14, “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel. . . before the boy knows enough to reject wrong and choose the right, the land of the two kings you dread will be laid waste.” This happened before the boy was two years old.

Since the purpose of this “sign” was to put King Ahaz’s mind at ease the sign must refer to an event that took place in his lifetime, not hundreds of years later. The sign says, in the time it takes for a virgin to fall in love, get married, give birth to a baby boy whose name will be Immanuel, and he is old enough to know right from wrong, those two kings who you fear will be history.

Immanuel means “God is with us.” This expression can have multiple meanings. It can mean the incarnation of the second member of the Trinity, Jesus. It can also mean God being with the King of Judah to protect him and his people from the armies of Israel and Syria.

Isaiah goes on to say in verses 18-25 that Judah will be invaded by the Assyrians who will “shave your head and the hair on your legs and to take off your beards.” To shave their heads, legs and beards was a great insult to the defeated army. The land will become desolate, but that is for a future time. For the time being, Ahaz needn’t fear this current threat from Syria and Israel.