Jun. 18, 2025

Dear Friends,

I hope you can attend our Bible study tonight as we continue our study of Isaiah 6. Tonight's focus is on Isaiah 6:8a. Notes are attached.

LIVING THE CHRISTLIFE

WAYNE BARRETT

JUNE 18, 2025

Isaiah 6

v. 8a

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of

his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they

covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3 And they were

calling to one another:

“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty;

the whole earth is full of his glory.”

4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.

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.”

6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from

the altar. 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.”

8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” …

______________________

There is an important progression here:

Isaiah (already or not yet a prophet, we are not sure) has encounter with God—initiated by God

He sees God worshiped in his glory—and it has nothing to do with Isaiah

This passage lends some support to the idea that this was Isaiah’s initial call as a prophet,

but it is not conclusive

Isaiah then sees himself as he is. He realizes his sinful state and the sin of his people—and he

cries out in despair.

Isaiah’s guilt is taken away; his sin is atoned for—also done by God

And now, Isaiah hears a call for service—an invitation—in the form of a question

This is a regular pattern—but not God’s only pattern. God does not have a template.

The apostle Paul’s encounter was in the midst of (then) Saul’s aggressive persecutions

Jesus’ disciples were called in different ways—and they were in quite different walks of life

But God is always the initiator. God takes action and issues the invitation.

And the response to God’s invitation is always a response to an encounter with God.

“Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying…”

This is the first time in the encounter that the Lord speaks.

Isaiah’s experience of atonement prepared him to hear this voice—with this particular message

(to follow)

What Saul heard in his encounter was “‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’ And he said,

‘Who are you, Lord?’ And he said, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But rise and enter

the city, and you will be told what you are to do.’”—Acts 9:4-6

2

cf the encounter of the “Woman of Samaria” (John 4): A conversation that Jesus began with

“Give me a drink.”

Later, “The woman said to him, ‘Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet’” (v 9).

Then later, “So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the

people, ‘Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?’”

(vv 28-29)

cf the encounter of Zacchaeus:

“And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, ‘Zacchaeus, hurry and come

down, for I must stay at your house today.’ So he hurried and came down and received him

joyfully. And when they saw it, they all grumbled, ‘He has gone in to be the guest of a man

who is a sinner.’ And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, ‘Behold, Lord, the half of my

goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.’

And Jesus said to him, ‘Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of

Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.’”—Luke 19:5-10

Peter and Andrew: “While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is

called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And

he said to them, ‘Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.’ Immediately they left their

nets and followed him.”—Matthew 4:18-20

So, the Lord does not have a boilerplate way in which he relates to individuals. He also often

surprises with the relationships that he welcomes and establishes.

“Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”

Isaiah does not say that the Lord said “to me”; he says he heard the voice of the Lord saying—so

the object of the Lord’s statement is uncertain

Does this represent a question that the Lord, in a sense, is always asking?

“And he said to them, ‘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.’”—Luke 10:2

Or, is this a question the Lord is asking specifically about an appointment to go to Judah on his

behalf—a question that Isaiah is allowed to overhear? (As a way of drawing Isaiah in, if he

wants in. We use similar techniques—both with children and adults)

Or, is this a question to Isaiah directly?

The decision of whom to send, unquestionably, is God’s. But at the same time, his interacting

with Isaiah in this way—and with millions of others in other ways—shows that our will—our

responses—have a legitimate, God-given, role.

The Lord does not say what he will be sending whomever to do. But there is an implicit need for and

importance of a task that the Lord chooses to send a representative, as opposed to “doing it himself”—

another indicator of our having true consequence in God’s created order.

“for us”

Before Christ, this plural was a mystery, whatever the speculation. Now we know that the Father,

Son, and Holy Spirit are the Three-In-One godhead, the Trinity.

“Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion

over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all

the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ So God created man in his

own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”—

Genesis 1:26-27

“Then the LORD God said, Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and

evil.”—Genesis 3:22

3

“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all

your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”—Deuteronomy 6:4-5

This is the Shema (from the first word, in Hebrew), the great statement of faith of Israel.

In this statement, the word translated “God” is Elohim, which is the plural of Eloha. This

is a much discussed topic.

Even though Elohim is plural, it uses singular verbs—and the entire emphasis of the OT

is that God is One. Elohim is used throughout the OT to refer to God.

• Some say that this is just an aspect of the Hebrew language with no particular

theological meaning

• Some say it refers to a divine council

• Some say that this is like the royal “we”—a sign of God’s majesty. This analogy

only goes so far, because when royalty use the royal “we,” they also use plural

verbs, as in “We are not amused”—not “We is not amused.”

• Some Christians (I am one) believe that this points to the Holy Trinity, inspired

by God long before people knew about God as Trinitarian.

• I think this view is reinforced by phrases such as “Let us make man in our image,

after our likeness” and “has become like one of us” and “Who will go for us?”

Do we truly appreciate that we can and are sent by God?

This is a choice that God has made—and the choice reflects the status that he has given to us as

both his creatures and his children

God could do it himself, and he can (and sometimes does) send angels with his messages

Prophets and leaders were sent by God

John the Baptist was sent by God

Jesus was sent by God (He mentions this many, many times. It was fundamental to his identity.)

“As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.”—John 17:18

“Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending

you.’”—John 20:21

Being sent by Christ gives us purpose and responsibility and true consequence and true

opportunity

A great part of Scripture is the story of people being called and sent by God

Isaiah hears this divine question—this call expressed as a question—and his response is to follow