Isaiah - Verse By Verse

Scripture:  Isaiah 6:11 (NIV):  "Then I said, 'For how long, O Lord?'  And he answered: 'Until the cities lie ruined and without inhabitant, until the houses are left deserted and the fields ruined and ravaged,' "

Thought:  To me, when God decides to destroy a thing, He has very good reason!

Question:  Am I on the road to destruction?

A typical human response comes here from Isaiah.  In the face of trouble and rejection we humans always want to know what's coming.  We want to see an end to trouble!  We must think it is pointless, so why bother at all?  To what purpose do we persevere?  God's ways, however are high above our ways.  (Where would we be today had God not persevered through Calvary?) 

Even as we saw yesterday, God is using Isaiah to be sent and to send a message to the Jews of his day that really becomes meaningless to them, (calloused hearts, dull ears and closed eyes).  God sends the "powerful delusion" so that they will believe only lies.  (See yesterday's reference to II Thessalonians 2:11.)  The delusion must continue until full destruction of their world as they know it is completed.  The consequence of lies is total destruction!  The devil, the father of lies, seeks to destroy us!  This is "how long" Isaiah must work at his mission:  until the Jews are virtually destroyed as a nation:  "cities" will "lie ruined", with no "inhabitant", "houses" will be "left deserted"; "fields" will be "ruined and ravaged." 

Interestingly, in the end times when II Thessalonians 2:11 will literally be fulfilled, this process will have to ripen and go full circle again:  earth will be destroyed by fire because mankind prefers to believe the lie, the delusion that God Himself sends to them, because they are not worthy of entertaining or accepting the truth.  They have crushed it underfoot too many times already.

Prayer:  Great God, help me to avoid ruination at Your hand!  Cause me to realize if and when I am ever beginning to harden my heart, so that I may confess and find Your forgiveness.  Amen.   

Scripture:  Isaiah 6:10 (NIV):  " 'Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes.  Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.' "

Thought:  To me, it is good that God does not allow His precious truth to be compromised.

Question:  Is my heart "calloused" against Christ?

Does God not want the people to understand Him?  Does He not want them to obtain heart-healing?  The Septuagint translation is a little different, indicating they are never hearing or learning; that they themselves continually choose not to take to heart the things God presents to them.  I think God does want, even longs for, the people's hearts to understand and consequently be healed; but I see His jealous judgment emerging as He sends Isaiah.  It's as though He is warning Isaiah that they will never respond to him; that he is going into an unharvestable field; that it's no use...How sad.  Then it becomes a sacrilege, a waste, to even begin because they tread under foot the forgiveness of God.  Forgiveness is a two-party deal or it isn't anything.  This is why we have other scriptures that confirm this Isaiah passage:  II Thessalonians 2:10 and 11:  "they perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.  For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie."  Revelation 22:11a: "He that is unjust, let him be unjust still:  and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still..."

And so the command to Isaiah:  "Make their ears dull and close their eyes."  What a commissioned task Isaiah is given!  The role of a prophet and obedient servant of Christ is not always rosy and joyous.  But we must do what God commands and say what He wants us to say, to whom and where He sends!

Prayer:  Omnipotent Father, thank You for drawing a line and declaring unbelief unacceptable.  Help me, deep in my heart, to fully embrace Your scriptural truths and trust You!  Amen.

Scripture:  Isaiah 6:9 (NIV):  "He said, 'Go and tell this people:  'Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.' ' "

Thought:  To me, the dark unbelief of the Jews is a warning to us all.

Question:  Have I heard and understood the gospel of Christ?

Isaiah acquires an unusual assignment:  he is to stop pleading and persuading men to believe and obey, and begin to announce and declare that they have become too hard-hearted.  They, (the Jews close at hand, that is, "this people"), will freely entertain a prophet and hear all he says, but the spiritual substance of the message from God will escape them.  They will freely look upon Isaiah, and even cherish his recorded words for posterity, yet they will not grasp the heart of what is written.

The Jews were, and still are today, a people "ever hearing" the scriptures.  They look into them intently.  Yet God has declared them void of understanding and has ordained for them, by and large, to be incapable of true spiritual perception.  

The question is begged:  do I sit in any places "hearing" God's Word but "never understanding" it?  Do I ever look upon scriptures as an indication of the life of Christ yet never "perceive" their beautiful substance?

Have I missed the boat?

Prayer:  Lord God, help me to examine my own heart:  have I found the incomparable joy of true salvation through Christ?  Cause me to be assured, Lord, and to dismiss any doubts of unbelief.  "I do believe You, Lord; help my unbelief!"  Amen.

Scripture:  Isaiah 6:8 (NIV):  "Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, 'Whom shall I send?  And who will go for us?'  And I said, 'Here am I.  Send me!' "

Thought:  To me, to be needed by God to accomplish His mission is mind-boggling!

Question:  Have I heard God's call to "go"?

It seems perplexing that God, (Father, Son and Holy Spirit), and the angels cannot go themselves.  Apparently they "cannot", or have chosen not to, because they live in another "realm."  God seems to ordain that a fellow-human must go to other humans to help them.  There must be a good, maybe several good reasons, why this must be so.  But immediately after Isaiah's sins are atoned for he is not only able to speak with his newly purified lips, he is also able to speak well.  He now "joins" with God's heart and cooperates in His goals.  Logically, after God so kindly saves us from sin, we ought to respond in the same way and become willing co-workers in His endeavors.  "Lord, send me!"

Not hardly a moment passes between the Lord's question, "who will go for us?" and Isaiah's sincere response, "here am I.  Send me!"  Both question and answer are contained in one verse of scripture.  Am I as eager?  Am I as grateful to God?  Am I as available?  Can I drop my agenda and take up God's?

Isaiah did not travel across the planet to be "sent"--he simply turned around and spoke to the Jews right where he was.  It is an "internal going"; an inward 180 degree attitudinal change of course, transforming every so-called "common encounter" into a potential miracle of Divine intervention.

Prayer:  Lord, send me.  I know You have assigned me to this place and to these people.  I pray I would be useful to You to accomplish Your great goals here, right where I am.  Thank You for atoning for my sins and taking away my guilt.  I am awestruck when realizing what a heavy cost this required of You and Your Son.  Never let me forget...  Amen. 

Scripture:  Isaiah 6: 6 & 7 (NIV):  "Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar.  With it he touched my mouth and said, 'See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin is atoned for.' "

Thought:  To me, only something given from God can erase sin and guilt.

Question:  Have I received that "something"?  Am I free of sin and guilt?

Here is the seraph acting as a messenger!  But this may not be the kind help or message we were hoping for!  We may not understand why God helps us in this way; but it works!  The angel says it will atone for our sin.  Fine, we say!  Bring on the hot coal!  A hot coal, a portion of a Holy altar's fire, too hot for the angel to pick up "bare-handed," is the saving device.  Fire is a purifier, but it brings severe pain to any of us who touch it.  Christ gave Himself to the awful "fires" of hellish sin for a time for our sake.  He underwent exceeding suffering, worse than being immersed entirely in flame, to atone for our sins.  It is true that no mention is made here that the coal is painful to Isaiah's lips, but the cost of providing a purifying, holy "fire" from which "coals" are drawn for sinners must have indeed been painful for both God and Christ to bring to us through Calvary.

Notice that because Isaiah pinpoints his lips as unclean, God has provided a specific remedy applied directly to the affected area:  Isaiah's "mouth" and "lips".  And now he is declared sin-free and guilt-free entirely!  Praise God!

Prayer:  Holy God, help me to ever remember that only through Your power and kindness to help me am I free of my sins!  Amen.

Scripture:  Isaiah 6:5 (NIV):  " '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.' "

Thought:  To me, until I come to a sense of personal "ruination", I will not fully know God.

Question:  Does "woe" come to you from outside yourself, or do you sense your own "woe" from within?

Isaiah reacts properly.  He also reacts personally.  This is good.  We all should react in these two ways to God.  To fail to do either results in never really knowing God fully at all.  If we do not react in true humility, our position before God is incorrect.  If we do not take in this scene personally, and accept responsibility for our condition before a Holy God, our need for His forgiveness is eliminated.  We must see our lack of holiness while simultaneously understanding how much above us He is in His holiness.  This produces the necessity for God, The One exalted high above us, to help us become "presentable" and "acceptable" in His sight.  Our "unclean lips"--sinfulness--must be dealt with.  We can do nothing.  The great, powerful God must do something.  Will he?  Is He kindly toward us?

Here is that word "woe" again.  We have seen it all through chapter 5 where God's judgments are pronounced against sinful Israel.  But this time the godly prophet Isaiah is announcing his own, personal "woe":  he feels worthless before such an awesome God as the angels boom out His holiness in loud praise.  The two kinds of woe are entirely different, and, to me, the "woe" of Isaiah, if found in our hearts as well, will eliminate the need for God to bring judgmental "woe" upon us!  This reminds me of Matthew 23:12:  "Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted."  Once we admit our sin and desperate need of cleansing, God moves favorably on our behalf.  Isaiah knows who God is!--that's the important issue:  the Lord is "the King, the LORD Almighty."  (All 4 letters of LORD capitalized indicates the Hebrew name "Jehovah", which is a transliteration of the word Yahweh, a word ancient Jews never pronounced out loud due to reverence for God's name.)

Prayer:  LORD Almighty, I bow before You!  I am undone in my sin!  Thank You for Your forgiveness through Christ.  Thank You for being willing to cleanse me!  Amen.

Scripture:  Isaiah 6:4 (NIV):  "At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke."

Thought:  To me, it is with great longing that I read of God's physically manifested presence and the angelic praise of such power.

Question:  Will I shake at the voice of the angels?

The exclamation by the angels of God's holiness and glory is very powerful and dramatic.  Oh, that we had this kind of praise on the earth today!  "The doorposts and thresholds shook":  usually any power that threatens the integrity of a large building strikes fear in us!  We worry when the realities around us are threatened by destruction.  We are at the mercy of forces beyond our control.  Here God and His heavenly host have our full attention!  "The temple was filled with smoke":  this is reminiscent of Moses' day and the initial indwelling of the tabernacle and temple by God.  He manifested His promised presence by smoke so all could see He had indeed come to them.

This is a scene we know nothing about firsthand today--we are so unused to it.  Let us be in awe of God!  Let us join the angels in loud praises of His holiness!  Let us tremble in fear at God's tremendous perfection and power!

Prayer:  All-powerful Father, I thank You that Your awesomeness and the praise of Your angels fills heaven.  Bring this to us here on earth--may Your Kingdom come!  Amen.

Scripture:  Isaiah 6:3(NIV):  "And they were calling to one another:  'Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.' "

Thought:  To me, the human mind cannot fully grasp the power and creative force of God's holiness.

Question:  Do I remember every day that God made this earth and all that is in it out of nothing?

What a sight and what a sound--this kind of praise!  Do we have any idea how holy God is?  What a great day when credit is finally given on earth to God's holiness!!

"The whole earth is full of his glory":  may our eyes not be blinded by Satan to the fact that all the earth's beauty and magnificence is from God's hand of creation.  He conceived of it all and brought it into being out of nothing by merely speaking the word.  This fact alone demands our most active praise.

But even more praiseworthy than the creation of the earth is the holiness of God.  His nature includes many attributes, but holiness, as we have roughly defined before as "purely perfect--whole and intact, missing nothing and containing no flaw--that which cannot be transgressed or violated", is the focus of the angels here in this verse.  The first words out of the seraph's mouths are "Holy, holy, holy!"  They are chorusing these words back and forth to each other.  How many seraphs are there?  We are not told here, but out of each mouth comes "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty."  Among God's greatest virtues is His holiness.  And all creation should praise that quality in Him.  I believe it is by the "strength and power" of holiness that God is able to create all things by merely speaking them into existance.

Prayer:  Lord Almighty, Holy, holy, holy are You and all Your works!  I bow in humble awe before You.  There is no one like You!  Your perfection and eternal existance separate You from all other beings!  Amen.

Scripture:  Isaiah 6:2 (NIV):  "Above him were seraphs, each with six wings:  With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying."

Thought:  To me, visions of the Lord often have accompanying angels.

Question:  Do I believe in angels?

Near the Lord in His place of holy residence, are the angels (seraphs or seraphim).  The term literally means "burning ones" or "fiery ones", supposedly so-named because of their burning love for God.  These angels stand "above him", ready to minister at His first command.  To assist their ministering afar each is equipped with two wings for flying.  Angels are primarily messengers, so here thy are ready with their wings of flight, to go at His word.

To me, in order to come near to God, the angels must cover their faces and feet with their remaining wings.  How awesome He is!  How holy His presence and how terribly terrifying to be in His presence!  Even the holy angels must approach with coverings for their faces and feet. 

Prayer:  Lord, when I consider the angels and how they act in Your presence, I am reminded how awesome and even terrifying You are!  Help my worship of You to follow in the style of the seraphim as they enter Your presence covered by their wings and in humility.  Amen.

Scripture:  Isaiah 6:1 (NIV):  "In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple."

Thought:  To me, we need "eyes" to see beyond this earth.

Question:  Have I "seen" the Lord behind the scenes?

Isaiah suffers the loss of his earthy King.  To whom will he look for leadership?  God in His great mercy brings a tremendous vision of glory to fill the prophet's void.  And Isaiah, in turn, records it for posterity and the vision is shared with us!  It is so much better to look beyond our frail, earthly rulers and see the Great God Who is standing always behind them.

God, our Great King, brings Himself as the replacement of the earthly king.  Oh that I, and we, may have this kind of vision, too!  That God will take over for us and lead us more justly and more kindly than we've ever been led before!  How we all hunger for Christ to be exalted in this way; with His "train", or following reputation, flowing large and filling the place of worship.  (Here in the United States, every election year, and we are in one now, our hopes are lifted once again to seek and embrace a better leader than we have thus far known.  It seems we are always dreadfully disappointed with our human politicians.  To me, this "hunger of hope" has been instilled in us by God, and is laying in wait for Our Lord's soon coming.  God knows we will not be disappointed at all in the leadership of Jesus Christ, Our Great Savior, Healer and Sovereign King!)

Today, we are the "temples" He fills via the Holy Spirit.  Does Christ's glory fill you and me now?  "Tomorrow", Christ will come to the Holy City and fulfill this vision of Isaiah's literally:  He will rule on His throne and be highly exalted.  Let it be!

Prayer:  Great God, thank You for spiritual visions that cement our faith in You and Your Son, Jesus Christ.  Help me to cherish what "visions" You have shown me--may they feed and encourage my faith.  There are many such visions in Your Word--thank You for those.  Amen.   

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