- Isaiah 06 (Contemporary English Version)
- In the year that King Uzziah died, I had a vision of the LORD. He was on his throne high above, and his robe filled the temple.
- Flaming creatures with six wings each were flying over him. They covered their faces with two of their wings and their bodies with two more. They used the other two wings for flying,
- as they shouted, "Holy, holy, holy, LORD All-Powerful! The earth is filled with your glory."
- As they shouted, the doorposts of the temple shook, and the temple was filled with smoke.
- Then I cried out, "I'm doomed! Everything I say is sinful, and so are the words of everyone around me. Yet I have seen the King, the LORD All-Powerful."
- One of the flaming creatures flew over to me with a burning coal that it had taken from the altar with a pair of metal tongs.
- It touched my lips with the hot coal and said, "This has touched your lips. Your sins are forgiven, and you are no longer guilty."
- After this, I heard the LORD ask, "Is there anyone I can send? Will someone go for us?" "I'll go," I answered. "Send me!"
- Then the LORD told me to go and speak this message to the people: "You will listen and listen, but never understand. You will look and look, but never see." The LORD also said,
- "Make these people stubborn! Make them stop up their ears, cover their eyes, and fail to understand. Don't let them turn to me and be healed."
- Then I asked the LORD, "How long will this last?" The LORD answered: Until their towns are destroyed and their houses are deserted, until their fields are empty,
- and I have sent them far away, leaving their land in ruins.
- If only a tenth of the people are left, even they will be destroyed. But just as stumps remain after trees have been cut down, some of my chosen ones will be left.
Chapter 6 of Isaiah records the prophet's call by God to go to Israel with the message of coming judgment and the need for repentance. This may be the most frequently referenced chapter of the book. Did Isaiah's call come chronologically at this point in his ministry following the accounts of the first five chapters? Or, did his call come before the events of the first five chapters but was not entered into the narrative until this point? In other words, did Isaiah have the visions concerning Israel's sin and coming judgment, as recorded in the first five chapters, before or after his call? If before, then they were probably meant to prepare him for the call. If afterward, they became his preparation for what he was to do.
The vision of the Lord seated on the throne with the pronouncement of His holiness by the Seraphim made Isaiah acutely aware of his sinfulness. Not only was Israel sinful, but the prophet Isaiah, God's messenger to Israel, was also sinful as are all people. What qualifies a sinful prophet to go to a people and preach to them of their sin and the need for repentance? Isaiah was qualified for this task because God called him to it and because he acknowledged his sin and was cleansed of it.
What, specifically, was Isaiah called to do? Verse 9 tells us, "Go! Say to these people: Keep listening, but do not understand; keep looking, but do not perceive. Dull the minds of these people; deafen their ears and blind their eyes; otherwise they might see with their eyes and hear with their ears, understand with their minds, turn back, and be healed." The people of Israel could keep listening and keep looking, but it would make no difference. Without acknowledgement of their sin and repentance from it, nothing they did would make a difference. Their listening would not bring understanding nor their looking perception. Isaiah's message to them would only dull their minds further and further deafen them and blind them as they refused to respond to it.
Passages such as this may trouble us with the impression that God Himself was dulling the minds of the people so they would not see or hear and not come to undertand and therefore fail to turn back. During His ministry, Jesus referenced this verse, also applying it to Israel in His day. The point was that Israel could not believe because they would not believe. This is a caution for any of us at any time. The more we resist responding to God in our lives the less we are able to respond. The more we refuse to listen, the less we are able to hear. God does not hinder us from responding to Him in repentance. He does everything possible that we might respond. It is we who place the obstacles to responding in the way. God sent Isaiah to Israel even though He knew they would not respond. He wanted them to have every opportunity to avoid the coming judgment, or maybe better termed discipline.
Though the people would not listen to Isaiah, God would have their attention through the coming events of discipline. Isaiah asked how long it would be until the people would hear and see and no longer be dull of mind and would finally be healed? God told him it would be "Until cities lie in ruins without inhabitants, houses are without people, the land is ruined and desolate, and the LORD drives the people far away, leaving great emptiness in the land." (6:11-12)
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