Isaiah 6:1-8

¹ In the year of the death of the king Uzziah, I saw the Lord sitting on a high and elevated throne, and the train of his robe filling the temple. ² Seraphs standing above him: six wings — six wings for each. With two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. ³ And this one called to that one and said, “Holy, holy, holy, Yahveh of armies! His glory is the fullness of all the land. ⁴ And every cubit of the thresholds shook from the sound of those who called, and the house was full of smoke. ⁵ And I said, “I am doomed! Because I am going to be silenced, because I, a man unclean of lips and I, living in the very heart and midst of a people unclean of lips … because my eyes have seen the king, Yahveh of armies!” ⁶ Then he flew to me — one of the seraphs, and in his hand a hot coal he had taken from the altar with tongs. ⁷ And he touched my mouth, and he said, “See! This has touched your lips and has removed your guilt, and your sin is atoned for.” ⁸ Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom should I send? And who will go for us?” And I am saying, “See me! Send me!”

eyes and lips

The story of Isaiah’s dramatic life-change is told with reference to his eyes and his lips. His eyes see Yahveh in all his glory, a glory which Isaiah recognizes is the fullness of the land – it is everything. Isaiah’s eyes see the temple house shaking, and smoke everywhere. His natural response to all this display of power is to presume that his number is up . He assumes that all this is to announce that he is going to be killed.

I think that Isaiah had already been a professional prophet, but he had been a false one. He had spent his life up to that point saying what he thought people wanted to hear. Now, he sees Yahveh of armies and in contrast to that pure holiness he sees the ugliness of his lips. He is overwhelmed not just with his unworthiness, but with the rightness of his own death. He pronounces his first true prophetic utterance: a woe upon himself, for his hypocrisy.

Then, everything changes. An angelic being takes a coal from the fire (the cause of the smoke) and touches Isaiah’s lips with it, pronouncing his sin as atoned for. The LORD was not visiting Isaiah in judgment, but in forgiveness. Isaiah experiences purity for the first time. His lips are now clean, and he hears himself volunteering to go on a mission! That is how the process works.

LORD, come to our unclean lips. Show us your holiness, cleanse us by the blood of Christ, and send us on our mission for you. See us! Send us!