I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!” Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.” And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.” (Isaiah 6:1-8)
This section of scripture was the passage that I was taught inductive bible study on and that later led to writing the first song I ever recorded in studio, Here I Am (Send Me). I wrote this song based on Isaiah’s vision of God in the heavenly temple and the words of Jesus in Matthew 9, that the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.
As I look over Isaiah 6 now, it resonates even more today than it did when I first studied it considering the world is growing more and more evil as we live in these end times and move closer and closer to the end of the age.
As Isaiah’s vision begins with him seeing the Lord on the throne, we see seraphim standing above Him and calling out to one another that the Lord is holy and the earth is filled with His glory. There are angels in heaven that literally live to worship God and can’t help but proclaim the truth of His holiness and glory. It makes me look inward and ask, “Do I, who have God living INSIDE of me, worship Him with such fervency and adoration the way those seraphim do?”
I know that it may seem impossible to match the worship of those angels, but as we move further into the passage, we see Isaiah’s response. God speaks and the foundations shake and the house fills with smoke. If we look back in the Old Testament, we can see examples of this in the earthly pattern and even prior to the tabernacle, as well as future heavenly happenings.
- When Moses was at Mount Sinai after God led them out of Egypt, it says, “Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they took their stand at the foot of the mountain. Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke because the LORD had descended on it in fire. The smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain trembled greatly.” (Exodus 19:17-18)
- When the tabernacle was first erected under Moses, it says, “Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on it and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.” (Exodus 40:34-35)
- When Solomon had built and dedicated the temple and brought the Ark of the Covenant into it, it says, “…and when the song was raised with trumpets and cymbals and other musical instruments, in praise to the LORD, “For He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever,” the house, the house of the LORD, was filled with a cloud, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the house of God.” (2 Chronicles 5:13b-14)
- We will see this in the future again as it states in Revelation, “and the sanctuary was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power, and no one could enter the sanctuary…” (Revelation 15:8)
In seeing the LORD, Isaiah said, “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!” (Isaiah 6:5) Upon seeing the LORD, Isaiah may have had a quick remembrance of the history from Exodus 19, when God tells Moses to set a boundary around Mount Sinai that He had descended upon, and told Moses to “warn the people, lest they break through to the LORD to look and many of them perish.” (Exodus 19:21) which caused him to cry out “Woe is me!” because he would have known the LORD’s word to Moses and the outcome of breaking through to the LORD.
I love his heart in this though, because in seeing the LORD, he immediately is aware of his own iniquity and depravity of people and he CONFESSES it to God. In light of a perfect and holy God, we fall way beyond short of whatever pedestal we may have ourselves on or others have placed us on down here on earth, and it should cause a fear and trembling in us. The question then becomes, are we coming before our holy God regularly, being broken and recognize our iniquity unto confessing and repenting of it?
The very next action wasn’t that of Isaiah, but of a seraphim who flew to him and touches his mouth with a burning coal from the altar saying, “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.” (Isaiah 6:7) Refining is done through fire, and in our lives, our Redeemer Who atoned our sin and took away our guilt is loving enough to refine us through it. Once we are atoned and have a clean conscience, there should be an even further response from us.
Immediately following, Isaiah heard God say, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” and he rises to the call and answers, “Here am I! Send me.” (Isaiah 6:8) He had just been cleansed and atoned for and was ready and willing to serve.
Then about 700 years later, Jesus tells His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.” (Matthew 9:37-38)
The mission of God has been and remains to seek and save the lost and we, as his followers, are ones He calls, equips, and uses to carry out His work of reconciliation. The big question is, are we hearing, accepting, and walking in that call? Sometimes we can let those calls go to voicemail but God has works He has prepared specifically for YOU to walk in. It doesn’t matter if you feel equipped, HE will equip those whom He calls, you just have to be willing to accept the call and walk in it, not by your power or might, but by His Spirit (Zechariah 4:6). I encourage you, spend time sitting in the presence of our King, the LORD of hosts; being broken before Him, cleansed by Him, and listen and obey His calling in your life; being quick to answer with “Here I am! Send me.”