THE PROPHET ISAIAH'S VISION OF THE KING'S
HIGH WAY
Isaiah the Prophet was the son of Amoz and an
unnamed prophetess. His name means "Yahweh
is Salvation." He lived in Jerusalem (7:1-3, 37:2)
and was married to a prophetess, with whom he
had two sons, who were given prophetic names,
"Shear-Jashub, and Maher-shala-hash-baz." (7:3,
8:3,) He prophesied in Jerusalem during the reigns
of Kings Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah. He
was called to the prophetic ministry in 739 b.c.,
the year that King Uzziah died. The vision which
Isaiah saw when he was, as is said of Samuel,
established to be a prophet of the Lord (1 Sa.
3:20), was intended to confirm his faith, that he
might be abundantly satisfied of the truth of those
things, which should afterwards be made known
to him. It is noteworthy that Isaiah dates the
vision, as having taken place "in the year that
king Uzziah died," and not in the 16 year reign of
Jothan which was commencing. Uzziah's reign
brought peace, security and prosperity to Judah.
His rule which was lengthy, some 52 years, from
809-758, was the longest of any of the kings in
the Southern Kingdom. (2 Ki. 15:2, 2 Chron. 26:3)
Uzziah had been a popular young king, who
ascended the throne at age 16 in the place of
Amaziah his father. (2 Chr. 26:1). He did that
which was right in the sight of God, and as long
as he sought the Lord and obeyed Him, God
prospered him. Uzziah waged war against the
Philistines. He constructed strong fortifications
and dug many wells. He loved farming, and had
herds of cattle and grape fields. His well-
equipped army consisted of over 250,000 soldiers.
He built special machinery to launch arrows and
hurl stones at the enemy. (2 Chr. 26:15-16)
"When he was strong, his heart was lifted up to
his destruction…" King Uzziah went into the
temple of the Lord to burn incense on the golden
altar, a sacred place and duty reserved for only
the priests. This priestly duty took place twice a
day, but was a priviledge reserved only for the
sons of Levi. Burning incense by someone, even a
king, who was not of the descendants of Aaron,
was a breach of Levitical law punishable by
death. (Num. 3:38). When the priest rebuked the
king, Uzziah became very angry. Leprosy
immediately broke out on his forehead. The Lord
judged him for presumption. Uzziah remained a
leper to his death. The Prophet Zechariah states
that there was a great earthquake in the days of
King Uzziah. (Zech. 14:5)
"And ye shall flee to the valley of the
mountains; for the valley of the mountains
shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like
as ye fled from before the earthquake in the
days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the LORD
my God shall come, and all the saints with
thee."
1) Isaiah's Vision of the Lord (v. 1-4)
In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the
Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted
up; and his train 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. (Isa 6:1-4 RSV)
Isaiah the Prophet was given a prophetic vision of
Almighty God in His holy Temple, which exalts the
Lord as "The Holy One of Israel." He was seated
on His throne. The Lord's majestic robe flowed
down so that filled the inside of the Temple.
Isaiah saw the angels who are called "seraphs,"
or "burning ones," who appear to be associated
with divine judgment upon sin, which is one of the
aspects of God's holiness. The name is derived
from the Hebrew verb saraph ("to consume with
fire"), and this etymology is very probable
because of its accordance with Isa., vi, 6, where
one of the seraphim is represented as carrying
celestial fire from the altar to purify the Prophet's
lips. Many scholars prefer to derive it from the
Hebrew noun saraph, "a fiery and flying serpent",
spoken of in Num., xxi, 6; Isa., xiv, 29, and the
brazen image of which stood in the Temple in
Isaiah's time (IV Kings, xviii, 4); but it is plain
that no trace of such serpentine form appears in
Isaiah's description of the seraphim.
When the seraphs spoke to one another, crying
"Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh." Holy, Holy, Holy, the
posts of the door in he Temple moved, and smoke
filled the inside of the Temple. The word
translated as "Holy," is KADOSH in Hebrew. It
means, "set apart." One of the seraphs took a live
coal from the altar and touched Isaiah’s lips. In
doing this, God was showing Isaiah that there
was a need for purging in his own life. Then,
Isaiah would be ready to go out and tell others
about God. God asked Isaiah whom He could send
to tell them about Him. And Isaiah answered,
"Here am I. Lord send me!
a) The Lord's Position (v. 1)
1. Sitting on a throne, high and lifted up -
6:1b
2. The train of His robe filling the temple
(Solomon's temple.) (6:1c)
The particular scene here is that of God as
King of the Universe, surrounded by
attendants. He is represented as seated upon
his throne above the ark, in the most holy
place, where the glory appeared above the
cherubim, surrounded by his attendant
ministers. This is called by God himself "the
place of his throne." "A glorious high throne
from the beginning is the place of our
sanctuary," said the Prophet Jeremiah. (Jer.
17:12) And the place of the soles of his feet,"
Ezek. xliii. 7. 12. The very posture of sitting is
a mark of state and solemnity:
b) The Lord's Purity (v. 2-3)
The vision given Isaiah instills in the Prophet a
deeper revelation of the holiness of the
Almighty than ever before. Many things would
transpire in the lives of the people of Israel,
which would be authored by God because of
His holy nature. Things of which Israel would
be tempted to say: Why did God do this? Or
why has that befallen us? God's revelation to
Isaiah as the Kadosh or Holy One, residing in
spotless purity, is significant for this is tied to
the fact that He is the Perfect and the Just
One. The prophesies of Isaiah carry this stamp
of distinction, that God is "The Holy One." The
title "Holy One" occurs throughout the book of
Isaiah.
c) The Lord's Power (v. 4)
God has the unrestrained ability to accomplish
what he wills. (Job 12:13) The earth was
created by His power, (Jer. 10:12) and he
reigns forever by His power.
2) Isaiah's Vision of Himself (v. 5-8)
a) Isaiah's Confession (v. 5)
Isaiah 6:5 "Woe is me for I am undone,
because I am a man of unclean lips, and I
dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips;
for mine eyes have seen the king, the Lord of
hosts."
Here is the definition of "undone": undone,
damah, daw-maw', Hebrew 1820; a primitive
root; to be dumb or silent; hence to fail or
perish; trans. to destroy :- cease, be cut down
(off), destroy, be brought to silence, be
undone, × utterly.
b) Isaiah's Cleansing (v. 6-7)
God used a vision to communicate revelation
to the Prophet Isaiah's life. He administered
His divine will through the seraphim:
1. One of the seraphim flew to him - 6:6a
One of the heavenly beings which had been
hovering around the Lord, worshipping His
holiness. The creation of angels is found in
Psalm 148:2-5. When exactly the seraphim
were created, we do not know. The angels
were present at the creation of the world,
and shouted for joy! (Job 38:7) As to their
appearance, seraphim, like cherubim are
winged. (Dan. 9:21) Angels are described
in scripture as an order of supernatural or
heavenly being, whose business it is to act
as the messengers of God, and to carry
out His divine will. These are termed
kedhoshim, or "holy ones." (Psalm 89:5-7)
ir, irim, meaning "watchers." (Daniel 4:13,
17, 23) In the New Testament the only
possible equivalent of the seraphim is "the
living ones." ("beasts" of the King James
Version) in Revelation 4; 5, etc. Here, as in
Isaiah, they appear nearest Yahweh's
throne, supreme in praise of God's
holiness.
1. Their position (6:2a)
a. Standing above the throne - cf. NKJV,
KJV
What Isaiah meant by the seraphim
standing above the throne, is inferred
from the use of their wings. The angels
"as flames of fire."
b. Or above the Lord - cf. ASV, NASB,
NIV, NRSV
c. Or around Him - cf. the Septuagint
2. Their wings - 6:2b
a. Each had six wings
b. Two covered their faces, two covered
their feet, with two they flew.
Because of God's holiness and unveiled
glory, the wings covering their faces
signify humility.
c. Not to be confused with
"cherubim." (cf. Eze 10:1-22)
The scriptures differenciate between
seraphim and cherubim, although each
are mentioned in proximity to the throne
of God. A cherubim guarded the way to
the tree of life. They are represented in
the Tabernacle and Temple. The
cherubim in Ezekiel carry the chariot of
the divine throne, when we see God
moving from place to place. The
seraphim hover on both sides of the
throne, singing antiphonally of the Lord's
holiness. Seraphs belong to a catagory of
judging angels, sometimes called
destroying angels. When David numbered
Israel, an angel destroyed them by
pestilence. (2 Sam. 24:16) In 2 Kings
19:35, such an angel destroyed the
Assyrian army, killing 185,000.
1) Cherubim were below the throne;
seraphim were above it
2) Seraphim and cherubim both have six
wings. Both offer praise to God. However
the cherubim are depicted as full of eyes.
Full of eyes within. They were full of eyes
before and behind, and when the wings
were lifted John saw that they were full
of eyes within also. The eyes, sleepless,
possibly symbolize never resting, but
actively worshipping continuously, as well
as acting as guardian watchers over
mankind.
3) "The most that can be said with
certainty about the seraphim is that they
were a separate group of attendants who
praised God at His throne" - ISBE
(revised)
3. The Seraph's praises - 6:3
a. "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts;
the whole earth is full of His glory!"
b. "The threefold recital of "holy" is a
Hebraism indicating or placing emphasis
on the absolute holiness of Him who sits
on the throne.
2. In his (the seraph's) hand a live coal
taken with tongs from the altar - 6:6b
The seraph flew to the altar of burnt offerings
before the door of the Temple, on which the
fire that came down at first from heaven was
perpetually kept burning, and was never
extinguished. (Lev. 9:24, 2 Chron. 7:1,Lev.
7:12-13) And took from off the altar a ritzpah,
or red hot stone, or radafe, a red-hot coal .
Radafe meaning "to scatter sparks, sparkle, or
glow. This was removed with a pair of
tongues. He flew to Isaiah and touched his lips
with it, and immediately there was a response
on the part of the Prophet, of a sense of his
own uncleanness.
3. The altar of burnt offerings."
The "burnt offering" was a sacrifice required by
the Law in which an animal was consumed by
fire. It was not an offering for a specific sin,
but rather for the sinful heart or sin-nature
which required atonement for the worshipper to
have access to God. It symbolized total
commitment of the worshipper to the Lord.
B) Purged of His Sin
1. The seraphim touch Isaiah's mouth with
the coal - "Then flew one of the seraphims
unto me, having a live coal in his hand,
which he had taken with tongs from off the
altar." 6:7a
2. His iniquity is declared taken away and
his sin purged - "And he laid it upon my
mouth and said: Lo this hath touched thy
lips and thine iniquity is taken away and
thy sin is purged." 6:7b
Taken away -- purged. Iniquity is the sin
deep within that is at the very heart, and
is an essential part of our sinning and
stains us in God’s presence. This was
taken away, removed, got rid of. ‘Sin’ is
the actual outworking of iniquity in
wrongful action, and that too was purged,
covered, atoned for. There was now no
barrier between Isaiah and God. The result
was that from complete self-despair he
came to a place of being able to listen to
the voice of the Lord God. For us there is
"something better" than even this "live
coal," for we may see Yeshua/Jesus Who
was the one sacrifice for sin for all time,
and we may call on Him knowing that, if
we admit to Him our sin and look to Him,
the blood of Yeshua haMashiach/Jesus
Christ, God’s Son, cleanses us from all sin
(1 John 1.7).
3. Isaiah could now offer acceptable
service to the Lord. "Also I heard the voice
of the Lord, saying: "Whom shall I send
and who will go for us? Then said I, Here
am I, Lord send me." (Is. 6:8-9, Psa
51:12-15)
Through the vision from God, Isaiah was
given a revelation of the Lord which was
vitaly necessary for his own life as well as
his ministry as a Prophet of God. The
vision clarified some necessary things for
the prophet, concerning his own standing
before God in the office of a prophet, the
nature of the mission God was sending
him on, and the success of the mission.
The revelation given to him was the means
by which God purged his own life, prior to
service. The Lord reveals that there is a
need for a messenger to speak on God's
behalf to the people. The Prophet
volunteers to go. God send him on a
divinely appointed mission to the nation of
Israel.
c) Isaiah's Calling (v. 8)
6:8
"Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying,
Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?
Then said I, Here am I, Lord send Me."
6:9 And he said, "Yes, go and tell this people.
"You will hear my words, but you will not
understand. You will see what I do, but you
will not perceive its meaning."
"Go say unto this people, Hear on, but
do not discern. See on but do not
perceive. Stupify thou the heart of this
people, and their ears make thou heavy.
And their eyes overspread, lest they see
with their eyes, and with their ears
should hear, and with their heart should
discern and come back, and they be
healed." (Rotherham's Emphasized
Bible)
3) Isaiah's Vision of the Holy Remnant
"But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall
return and shall be eaten: as a teil tree and as
an oak, whose substance is in them, when they
cast their leaves: so the holy seed shall be the
substance thereof." (v. 13)
a) Their Rebellion (v. 9-10)
6:10 Harden the hearts of these people. Close
their ears, and shut their eyes. That way, they
will not see with their eyes, hear with their
ears, understand with their hearts, and turn to
me for healing."
The term for "Shut their eyes, is the Hebrew
"hasha," which means "shut or close up." It
speaks of a closing of the eyes so that they
cannot see, as if spreading matter upon the
eyes. The root word, shava signifies the
"plastering" of a house.
b) Their Removal (v. 11-12)
"Then I said, "Lord, how long must I do
this?"And he replied, "Until their cities are
destroyed, with no one left in them. Until their
houses are deserted and the whole country is
an utter wasteland. And the Lord have
removed men far away, and there be a great
forsaking in the midst of the land."
The Assyrians destroyed the Northern Kingdom
approximately 17 years later. The Southern
Kingdom fell to Babylon some 150 years later.
c) Their Remnant (v. 13)
And a tenth shall be left in it, and they shall be
burnt up again: like a terebinth and like an oak,
which appear to be dried up when their leaves
fall, though they still retain their moisture to
preserve a seed from them: so the exiles for
Israel shall be gathered together, and shall
return to their land; for a holy seed is their
plant. (Isaiah 6:13)
In his vision, the Prophet Isaiah sees that God
shall indeed bring forth a holy remnant. They
will be like a terebinth. As a teil-tree and as an
oak, whose substance is in them even when
they cast their leaves, so this remnant, though
they may be stripped of their outward
prosperity and share with others in common
calamities, shall yet be renewed as a tree in
the spring, and flourish again. Though they fall,
they shall not be utterly cast down, as
scripture states. "There is hope of a tree,
though it be cut down, that it will sprout
again." Job 14:7. (4.) This distinguished God's
remnant. Although through the dealings of
God, there would be these repeated
dispersions, (by the Chaldeans, Romans, &c.,)
yet a small remnant would be preserved as a
seed from which God will raise up a people to
exalt His holy name, and through whom He will
fulfilled all the Divine promises. The
incorruptible holy seed of God's word within
the soul is the substance of the man or
woman of God. It's that principle of grace
reigning in the heart which preserves life there.
"He that is born of God has his seed remaining
in him." (1 Jn. 3:9.) So the holy seed in the
land is the substance of the land, keeps it from
being utterly exterminated. This seed becomes
the supporting pillars of the new thig God
does. (Ps. 75:3, ch. 1:9)
Some read the preceeding verses: "As the
support at Shallecheth is in the elms and the
oaks, so the holy seed is the substance
thereof; as the trees that grow on either side
of the causeway (the raised way, or terrace-
walk, that leads from the king’s palace to the
temple. (1 Ki. 10:5) At the gate of Shallecheth,
(1 Chron, 26:16) These majestic oaks support
the highway leading to the palace of the king
by preserving the ground, which would
otherwise dissolve away. So the small residue
of God's holy praying people, are the salt of
the earth. To you I say by the word of the
Lord: "Go through, go through the gates;
prepare ye the way of the people; cast up, cast
up the highway; gather out the stones; lift up a
standard for the people." (Isaiah lxii. 10)
In a primary sense, the holy seed is Messiah,
in whom God robed Himself, or "prepared
Himself a body," so His own arm could bring
salvation. The Jewish nation was saved from
utter ruin because out of it, as concerning the
flesh, Christ came from the stump of it. (Rom.
9:5) Destroy it not, for that blessing is in it
(ch. 65:8); and when that blessing had come,
it was soon destroyed. Though the greater part
would perish as a result of their own unbelief,
yet to some, the word of the Lord in the mouth
of the Prophet would be a savour of life unto
life.
In I Chronicles 14:14, the Terebinth tree is
called "balsam" (NIV), and "mulberry." It is
perhaps better known to some as the Pistacia
tree, (Terebinthus Anacardiaceae) which
produces the pistachio nut, and is similar to
the familiar "pepper tree. "The terebinth of
Mamre, or its successor, remained from the
days of Abraham till the fourth century of the
Christian era. This tree "is seldom seen in
clumps or groves, never in forests, but stands
isolated in a bare ravine or on a hill-side where
nothing else towers above the low brushwood."
Gideon was standing by a large terebinth tree
when called by God. (Judges 6:11). David
faced Goliath in the Valley of Elah, or Valley of
the Terebinth. (I Samuel 17:2) These trees
symbolize abiding strength and longevity.
Some 2 dozen varieties of oaks are found in
Palestine. (Is. 2:13, Ams 2:9, Zech. 11:2.
Tom & Alana
Campbell -
Everett,
Washington
seriously injured that day.
