Bible Study: Isaiah 6:1-13

In today's lesson, Isaiah receives his calling in a heavenly vision.

Isaiah Chapter 6

Lessons from the text


In the Presence of God

Isaiah felt that his filthiness and incompetence was exposed before God.  There's no way to hide our fallen state and our sins.  God is pure; God is righteous; God is holy.  When we see Him face-to-face, we see the truth and we know that we are not righteous, pure, or holy.


Let Them Be Blind And Deaf

God told Isaiah to make the heart of the people fat, their ears heavy, and to shut their eyes, least they be converted.  As was just discussed, when people see God plainly, they acknowledge that they are sinners and can therefore repent.  If God plainly revealed himself in the person of Jesus Christ with all of his glory and his righteousness, then every person who saw or heard Jesus would have been converted.  They would not have chosen to follow Jesus willingly but would have followed Him by necessity.

Therefore, when Jesus came to Earth, His glory was hidden; He came as a poor carpenter born in a manger, not displaying Himself as the King of Kings whose very skin shines like fire (Rev 1:12-15).  This allowed people to choose to either receive the word of God willingly or to turn away and therefore condemn themselves.

___________________


Continue reading for in-depth commentary or comment 
below to let us know what you got out of today's Scripture.

___________________

Verse by Verse Commentary

1  In the previous chapters God said He would be exalted; now we see Him exalted. Noteworthy is the fact that God's train reaches down to the temple.  God's presence literally reached down from heaven to the holy temple when the temple was here on earth.

2-3  Isaiah describes the throne room of God. One interpretation of the wings is that they covered the face because the glory of God is so great and they covered their feet because 
of the holiness of God (remember how God told Moses from the burning bush to remove his shoes because he was standing

Uzziah was one of the longest reigning kings of Judah, ruling for 52 years.  Judah had just experienced revival through Uzziah's grandfather, Joash, but idolatry was still present.  Scripture says that Uzziah obeyed the commandments of the Lord but was full of arrogance.  In his later years, he decided that he was worthy enough to offer incense in the Holy Temple, which was not lawful for anyone other than the Levites to do. The priest rebuked him from entering, but Uzziah did not listen.  Therefore God smote him with leprosy for the rest of his life.  
                      (II Ki 15:1-5, II Chro 26:11-21)

on holy ground—Exodus 3:5).  Further description of the throne room can be found in Ezekiel chapter 1 and Revelation chapter 4.

4  God's presence is so great that the building shakes!  Smoke is symbolic of the presence of God.  Further examples of this symbolism are found in 1 Kings 8:10-11 and Revelation 15:8.

5  In the presence of God, Isaiah was face to face with just how much higher and more righteous God is, and consequently how much lower and unrighteousness he was.

6-7  When we acknowledge our sins before a holy God, God is willing and able to forgive us of our sins.

8  Knowing that he is now accepted in the presence of God, Isaiah is eager to serve the Lord.

9-10  God accepts Isaiah's request and gives him a mission.

11-13  This confounding of the senses of man will stand until the land is utterly destroyed.  I believe this refers to the destruction of heaven and earth.  God also promises that there will always be a remnant of people who believe, even in the midst of a society of people who are blind and death to the truth.

---

___________________


Please comment below to tell us what you learned from today's lesson.

---