The Loss of a Leader and the Sight of the Lord
Isaiah 6:1–8
© Mike Riccardi
Introduction
Well, these last two weeks at Grace Church have been truly special, as we have reflected on Pastor John’s memory and legacy of faithful ministry—first in our time together in GraceLife the first Sunday after his homegoing; then at the memorial last Saturday; and for those who could make it, at the elder meeting this past Thursday night. Fifty-six years of faithful pastoring in the same church—week in, week out; year after year; decade after decade. It’s hard, really, to apprehend the uniqueness of what we’ve all lived through. The greatest Bible-expositor of at least the last half-century has been here, in our church, faithfully expounding the Scripture, teaching us what God has revealed of Himself to His people, showing us, verse by verse, the glory of the loveliest One there is: the pearl of great price: the Lord Jesus Christ.
And I’ve said before: the constancy of John MacArthur has been one of the most comforting features of his ministry. Nearly every week for more than half a century, you knew that on Sunday morning, John MacArthur would be in his pulpit, in his suit and tie, with his Bible open, preaching the next verse of Scripture. You could set your watch by it, your calendar by it. In fact, so many of us do refer to the time we came to Grace Church by what book and chapter Pastor John was preaching from when we came. Janna and I got here in “Mark 2.” That’s known to the rest of the world as August 2009, but for us it’s “Mark 2.” But that constancy—that steadfast faithfulness—it’s comforting, isn’t it? There is a security that we feel in just knowing what’s coming.
And it wasn’t only in the routine or the order of service. There was a constancy of fidelity as well. A constancy of principle. When you came to hear John MacArthur preach, you knew you weren’t going to get political commentary, or stand-up comedy, or vapid anecdotes—“sermonettes for Christianettes,” as John would call them. No, you knew that you were going to get Bible truth in Bible dress. Scripture: sixteen ounces to the pound. Scripture interpreted by Scripture, illustrated by Scripture, and applied with Scripture. And you also knew that he wasn’t going to surrender to the next evangelical fad. Charismania, Seeker sensitive, free grace antinomianism, Evangelicals and Catholics Together, emergent church, missional church, contextualization, wokeness, social justice, Covid alarmism—whatever it was, you could count on John MacArthur to cut through the nonsense and just preach the Word. And we will be eternally grateful for that steadfast faithfulness. There’s a steadiness and a stability that that kind of shepherd brings that comforts the sheep.
But now that shepherd is no longer with us. And the absence of a man so faithful, so constant is discomforting. What’s going to happen now? Will that steadiness and stability continue to mark Grace Church?
Well, this morning I want to remind you that the people of Israel in around 740 BC were asking very similar questions. And I want to turn to a passage this morning that answers those questions for us, in some way. And that passage is one I mentioned during our first time of reflection several weeks ago; and it’s actually a passage that I’ve preached in GraceLife before, around ten years ago. And that’s Isaiah chapter 6. In Isaiah 6, the Lord God calls Isaiah into prophetic ministry by revealing Himself to Isaiah in an unforgettable, life-changing scene.
And that scene begins with the orienting remark, Isaiah 6:1, “In the year of King Uzziah’s death.” Uzziah was one of Judah’s better kings, and we read of his story in Second Chronicles chapter 26. And I’d like you to turn there with me, before we jump right in to Isaiah 6. Second Chronicles 26 begins by telling us that Uzziah became king when he was sixteen years old. Verse 2 says, “He built Eloth and restored it to Judah after” his father, King Amaziah died. Eloth was a port city at the northern head of the Gulf of Aqaba, on the Red Sea, and it was militarily strategic for Judah to hold that port. We learn from verse 3 that Uzziah reigned for fifty-two years in Jerusalem—from sixteen to nearly seventy years old, in the first half of the eighth century BC. Verses 4 and 5 tell us that “he did right in the sight of Yahweh” and “continued to seek God…; and as long as he sought Yahweh, God prospered him.”
And the next section of 2 Chronicles 26 goes on to record Uzziah’s exemplary military career. Verse 6 says “he went out and warred against the Philistines, and broke down the wall of Gath and the wall of Jabneh and the wall of Ashdod”—all key Philistine cities. Verse 7 says, “God helped him against the Philistines, and against the Arabians who lived in Gur-baal, and the Meunites.” Verse 8: “The Ammonites also gave tribute to Uzziah, and his fame extended to the boarder of Egypt, for he became very strong. Moreover, Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the Corner Gate and at the Valley Gate and at the corner buttress and fortified them. He built towers in the wilderness…” These are all military fortifications that kept Judah’s borders safe and secure from would-be attackers.
The middle of verse 10 says he “hewed many cisterns, for he had much livestock, both in the lowland and in the plain. He also had plowmen and vinedressers in the hill country and the fertile fields”—which speaks to Uzziah leading advancements in agricultural technology. Verse 11 says, “Moreover, Uzziah had an army ready for battle, which entered combat by divisions according to the number of their muster.” Verse 12: “The total number of the heads of the households, of valiant warriors, was 2,600. Under their direction was an elite army of 307,500, who could wage war with great power, to help the king against the enemy.” Verse 14: “Uzziah prepared for all the army shields, spears, helmets, body armor, bows and sling stones. In Jerusalem he made engines of war invented by skillful men to be on the towers and on the corners for the purpose of shooting arrows and great stones.” Uzziah was a military genius. He was considered to have restored Israel’s military power near to what it was during Israel’s golden age—the united monarchy under King David nearly 200 years earlier. “Hence,” verse 15 says, “his fame spread afar, for he was marvelously helped.”
Uzziah was a good king. He was a faithful leader. He protected the nation God had entrusted him to lead. And he did so for more than five decades. There are a lot of parallels between Judah’s king of fifty-two years and our pastor of fifty-six. In many ways, what Uzziah was to Judah militarily, John MacArthur was to evangelicalism spiritually.
But there were also some differences—and for that we thank God. You see, King Uzziah’s brilliance brought the kind of prosperity and peace that lulls fleshly people into self-sufficiency and apathy toward God. Judah got comfortable. National decadence—instead of breeding humility and faithfulness to God’s Word—brought moral decadence. And so the first five chapters of Isaiah’s prophecy contain denunciation after denunciation of Israel’s wickedness. Chapter 1 verse 21: “How the faithful city has become a harlot, She who was full of justice! Righteousness once lodged in her, But now murderers.” Verse 23: “Your rulers are rebels And companions of thieves; Everyone loves a bribe And chases after rewards. They do not defend the orphan, Nor does the widow’s plea come before them.” Chapter 2 verse 7 speaks of their prosperity and military victories: “Their land has also been filled with silver and gold And there is no end to their treasures; Their land has also been filled with horses And there is no end to their chariots.” But verse 8 speaks of their idolatry: “Their land has also been filled with idols; They worship the work of their hands, That which their fingers have made.”
And, sadly, this moral decline among the people had reflected one of the few failures of King Uzziah. The second half of 2 Chronicles 26 goes on to describe how Uzziah’s strength led to pride in his later years. That pride manifested itself in Uzziah’s seizing the role of the priests and seeking to burn incense to Yahweh in the temple. The Law was clear: the king was not to be the priest. And so God struck Uzziah with leprosy, and he remained a leper until he died.
And so now, with their super-king weakened and incapacitated, Judah began to feel the pressure from the Assyrian empire that was growing stronger by the month, and who was setting their sights on plundering God’s rebellious nation. Uzziah’s son Jotham was no match for his father’s military prowess, and so what once was a settled security in their king began to give way to panic, in some, and to a morally bankrupt, live-it-up-while-there’s-still-time attitude in others.
Now, again, we can be thankful that Pastor John had no great compromise in the twilight of his life, like Uzziah did. And we can be thankful that there isn’t the kind of unfaithfulness among the congregation of Grace Church that was running rampant through Judah. But of course, “Let he who thinks he stands firm take heed lest he fall” (1 Cor 10:12). But even so, I do think enough of a parallel holds to make this a profitable sermon for our day. With Uzziah gone, where would that constancy and security come from? With Pastor John in heaven, where should we look for steadiness and steadfast faithfulness in the midst of a hostile world and a weak evangelicalism? Answer: to the God who empowered them both! to the God who never changes! Yes, Hebrews 13:7: “Remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you; and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith.” But also remember—very next verse—“Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, today, and forever.”
In a time when the people of Judah were panicking and fearing attack because of the loss of their fearless king who reigned for more than fifty years, Isaiah sees a vision of the King. And the King of the ages is not sitting on David’sthrone; He’s sitting on Heaven’s throne—lofty and exalted, high and lifted up, and ruling all nations. In a time when Israel faced great national and military instability, Isaiah sees a vision of Yahweh of Hosts—God Almighty, Commander of the armies of Heaven. And in a time when Grace Church faces great changes and the instability that comes along with that kind of transition, we need a sight of God—a sight of Yahweh of hosts. In this vision, God calls Isaiah into the ministry of the proclamation of the Word of God. And I pray it will serve as a fitting exhortation for calling us into ministry at this most momentous time, as we receive the baton from Pastor John.
And interestingly, God’s call of Isaiah to ministry seems to come in the form of the Gospel itself, as if he were experiencing the drama of redemption in real time. The four key components of the Gospel message make up the four scenes of Isaiah’s vision.
And so as we go through these four scenes, my prayer is that you would see—with the eyes of your heart—this same glorious vision of God that Isaiah saw, and that the beauty of His holiness and His grace displayed in the Gospel would compel you to the same eager, sacrificial service of God and His people that it did for Isaiah; the same commitment to proclaim the Good News of salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.
I. God is Sovereign and Holy (vv. 1–4)
Well, just as the Gospel message does, Isaiah’s vision begins with the person and character of God Himself. Scene number one: God is sovereign and holy. Let’s look at verse 1: “In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple.”
A. God is Sovereign
This is a vision of a Sovereign King. Every phrase in this verse enhances the picture of transcendent majesty. We already spoke of the contrast between King Uzziah and King Yahweh. “In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw…the Lord.” And notice: that’s not “LORD” in all capitals there. That’s not the covenant name of God, Yahweh. This is Adonai, the word for lord, or master—the one who is in charge. Isaiah is telling Judah, “In the year we lost our great king, the one we trusted in so confidently for the past 52 years, I saw the King! The Master! The Lord of heaven and earth!”
And this King was sitting on a throne—the symbol of all authority, power, and majesty. Psalm 47 says, “God is King of all the earth. … God reigns over the nations, God sits on His holy throne.” And He sits “lofty and exalted,” or some translations have, “high and lifted up.” This is the language of transcendence, of veneration. And the train of His robe—symbolizing majesty; pomp and circumstance—fills the temple.
This opening verse of Isaiah’s vision makes it unmistakable. The very first thing that man must come to grips with as he seeks to understand God and His ways is that God is sovereign; that God is King; that God is God, and we are not. He is the King of all creation, and as creation’s “Lord,” He has the authority to do with it what He pleases. And as His creatures, all people without exception are accountable to this King.
You see, friend, you are not the master of your fate and the captain of your soul. You are not living unto yourself, for your own ends, with no coming reckoning. Every one of us must give an account to this King who sits on His throne, who is lofty and exalted, and whose majestic train fills the courts of heaven. Dear friends, the God who has created us is not some indulgent old grandfather. He is not handcuffed by the lordship of man’s free will. No, He is the SovereignKing of heaven, who sits on His throne, and does whatever He pleases.
B. God is Holy
But not only is God sovereign. He is also unutterably holy. In verse 2 we’re introduced to other characters in this heavenly scene. Isaiah says, “Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.”
“Seraphim” derives from the Hebrew verb saraph, which means “to burn.” These angels who attend to God as He sits on His heavenly throne are, literally, burning ones, ablaze with the fire of holiness. Remember in Exodus 3, Moses sees a bush set aflame, but it’s not being consumed by the fire. And so he goes to investigate, and God says, “Stop! Don’t come any closer! And take your shoes off! The place where you’re standing is holy.” In Leviticus 10, Nadab and Abihu decide to worship God in their own way, and verse 2 says, “Fire came out from the presence of Yahweh and consumed them.” And Moses says in verse 3, “It is what the Lord spoke, saying ‘By those who come near Me, I will be treated as holy.’” These seraphim—these burning ones—are a class of angels who were fiery guardians of the holiness of God.
And even they, ablaze with holy fire, have to cover their faces. They have six wings, verse 2 says, and with two they cover their face. As holy as they are, they can’t bear to look directly into the face of God’s holiness. Like the sun shining in its full strength, the sight is just too much.
With two other wings they covered their feet. Just as God commanded Moses to take off his sandals at the burning bush, because he was standing on holy ground in the presence of the Lord, so do these angels acknowledge their humility and their creatureliness in the presence of their sovereign and holy Creator, by covering their feet.
And with the final two wings they flew. The Hebrew term refers to hovering. And earlier in verse 2 it says that they stood above God. This pictures the angels’ readiness to be at Yahweh’s service. They are waiting on their seated Master, eager for any sort of direction that He might give them.
So these angels are holy, they are reverent, they are humble, and they are obedient. They’re also powerful. Verse 4 says that when they speak, the foundations of the doorways of this heavenly temple shake. These angels are not the cute, chubby toddlers that you put on wallpaper and decorate your bathroom with. These were the blazing-in-fire, high protectors of the holiness of God, with voices like a fighter jet breaking the sound barrier!
But what’s most amazing about these seraphim is not what they looked like, or even what they sounded like. It’s what they said. What is the topic of conversation between heavenly servants of God? Look at verse 3: “And one called out to another and said, ‘Holy, Holy, Holy, is Yahweh of hosts! The whole earth is full of His glory!”
This is magnificent. This is the focal point of Isaiah’s encounter with God. The original Hebrew shows that Isaiah wants to slow down the narrative and arrest the reader’s attention on the angels’ song. This is what he wants us to remember most about this heavenly vision: the content of the angels’ worship as they behold the glory of the God,exalted on His glorious throne centers on His holiness. “Holy! Holy! Holy!”
That threefold repetition is extremely significant in the Hebrew language. Not only does it have implications for the Triunity of God, but it indicates an exceptional amount of emphasis. In our writing, if we want to emphasize something, we might underline it, or put it in italics, or use boldface type. We use _underscores_, *asterisks*, and ¡exclamation points! Well, when a Hebrew speaker wanted to emphasize something, they repeated it. Second Kings 25:15 refers to “fine gold.” But Hebrew just says, zahav zahav: “gold gold.” In order to emphasize the preciousness of the gold, the writer just repeats the word! Twenty-five times in the Gospel of John, Jesus says, “Truly, Truly, I say to you…” In other words: “What I’m about to say is an important truth.”
But the threefold repetition is exceedingly rare. I can’t even say this without hearing R. C. Sproul’s voice, but I have to say it anyway: These angels do not just call God, “Holy!” They don’t even call Him, “Holy! Holy!” To attempt to capture the fullness of what they see, these angels have to invent a super-superlative: God is Holy! Holy! Holy! Sproul goes on to point out the uniqueness of that. The Bible doesn’t anywhere say that God is “Mercy, mercy, mercy.” It doesn’t say that God is “Justice, justice, justice.” It doesn’t even say that God is “Love, love, love.” The one time Holy Scripture gives this kind of emphasis to a particular attribute of God, it is His holiness.
Well, the scene continues. At the calls of the angels, verse 4, it says that the foundations of the thresholds trembled, and the temple was filling with smoke. This is consistent with other manifestations of God’s holy presence. In Exodus 19, the children of Israel come to Mount Sinai, where God Himself will meet them, enter into covenant with them, and give them His holy Law. And Exodus 19:16 says, “So it came about on the third day, when it was morning, that there were thunder and lightning flashes and a thick cloud upon the mountain and a very loud trumpet sound, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled.” The foundations of the temple tremble in Isaiah 6, and the people tremble here at Sinai. Verse 17: “And Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Now Mount Sinai was all in smoke because Yahweh descended upon it in fire; and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked violently. When the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and God answered him with thunder.”
Friends, this is the revelation of God that God Himself gives to Isaiah, so that Isaiah might proclaim who God is to a sinful and wicked generation. I ask you: Is this your conception of God? Have you beheld God supremely as the One who is majestic in holiness? Is this the God you serve, Monday to Saturday? Is this the God you proclaim to your unbelieving friends and neighbors? the God who is Light, in whom there is no darkness at all? the One whose eyes are too pure to look upon evil? Or have you domesticated Him? Have you housebroken God? into a god that’s just a little less offensive—a little less imposing than thunder and lightning and smoke—a little more flexible in his demands forholiness?
Dear friends, the God we worship, the King who never changes—whose constancy is the ground of our comfort—the God we proclaim to the world, is, first of all, the absolutely Sovereign and thrice Holy Lord of the universe.
II. Man is Hopelessly Sinful (v. 5)
Well if you have beheld this God, and if you have approached Him in the purity of His holiness, what has been your response? What is man’s response to such a vision of the glory of God’s holiness? Let’s look at Isaiah’s response, verse 5: “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, Yahweh of hosts.’” This second scene of Isaiah’s vision showcases his own sinfulness. Scene number one: God is sovereign and holy. And in the light of that holiness, scene number two: man is hopelessly sinful.
Isaiah’s response is the only appropriate one for a sinner who has just been confronted with the absolute perfection and moral purity of God. “Woe is me! I am ruined!” And coming on the lips of a prophet, this pronouncement of woe upon himself is especially significant. When a prophet had an oracle of good news, he would pronounce, “Blesséd!” We see that all over Scripture. “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked” (Ps 1:1). “Blessed is the man who trusts in Yahweh” (Jer 17:7). But when a prophet had an oracle of bad news, he would pronounce, “Woe!” This was a proclamation of condemnation. Jesus did this in Matthew 23, in that famous section with the chilling refrain: “Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!”
Isaiah himself did this in chapter 5. Look back at chapter 5 with me. Verse 8: “Woe to those who add house to house…” Verse 11: “Woe to those who rise early in the morning that they may pursue strong drink…” Verse 18: “Woe to those who drag iniquity with the cords of falsehood…” Verse 20: “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil…” Verse 21: “Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes…” Verse 22: “Woe to those who are heroes in drinking wine…” “Woe to those, Woe to those, Woe to those!” And then Isaiah sees God in His sovereign holiness, and it’s: “Woe is me!”
Isaiah doesn’t publish a heaven tourism book! “Hey everyone! Heaven is for real!” He doesn’t do a podcast or a video talking about how cool it was to see angels. No, Isaiah sees God in the flaming majesty of His holiness, and he pronounces a curse of death upon himself! You could translate this: “Let me be damned!” The holiness of God isn’t good for sinners’ self-esteem, is it? It ruins people. It bows you to the dust.
And why is this Isaiah’s reaction? Verse 5: “Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King?” The hopelessly sinful man has come into the presence of the three-times-Holy God of heaven. He says he’s a man of unclean lips, and we know that man’s mouth speaks from that which fills his… what? His heart, Luke 6:45. Unclean lips mean an unclean heart. The dark filth of man’s sin becomes clear in the searching light of God’s holiness.
Back in Exodus 20, at Sinai, after the people saw God’s presence in the thunder and lightning and smoke on the mountain, they were so terrified by the holiness of God that they begged Moses to make God stop speaking to them! Job was the same way. After God rebuked him for contending with the Almighty, Job says, chapter 42 verse 5: “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You.” “Therefore I despise myself. I repent in dust and ashes.” Jesus shows His glory to Peter in Luke chapter 5, as He provides the miraculous catch of fish. How did Peterrespond? “Hey! Thanks, Jesus! This is a ton of fish! It’s gonna go a long way!” Not even close. Verse 8: “Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!”
Jesus just revealed Himself to be God in the flesh. And even though it would be a while before Peter understood much of anything, he knew he was in the presence of Almighty God. And he was immediately gripped by the reality of his own sinfulness, and, just like Isaiah, he was undone.
Dear friends, do you recognize yourselves in Peter? In Isaiah? Do you know yourselves this way? Do you know yourselves so sinful, that in the pure light of God’s holiness you are absolutely undone? And as you proclaim the Gospel, do you bring the holiness of God to bear on man’s sin? Because that is your task. You are to convict the sinner of His sin before a perfectly righteous God. You are to so preach the holiness of God that the only conclusion that your listener can reach is that they are a worm—a criminal who has offended the thrice Holy God of the universe, and therefore is entirely ruined—entirely undone.
III. God is Unspeakably Gracious (vv. 6–7)
Because—just as the stars of the heavens need the black backdrop of the night sky to shine forth in their brilliance—it is only against the black backdrop of man’s sinfulness that the glory of God’s grace shines in majesty. That brings us to the third scene of Isaiah’s call to ministry. Scene number one: God is sovereign and holy. Number two: in the light of that holiness man is revealed to be hopelessly sinful. But, scene number three: God is unspeakably gracious. Let’s look at verse 6: “Then—meaning: when I was absolutely undone—one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs. He touched my mouth with it and said, ‘Behold, this has touched your [unclean] lips; and your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven.’”
And if you can feel in your bones the horror and the shame of being undone in the presence of this magnificently holy God, so much so that you don’t know what else to do than to tell Him to go away from you, then there are no words to describe the amazing grace in verses 6 and 7. Our sin separates us from knowing and enjoying and loving our Holy Creator. It offends Him and causes His anger to be roused against us. And yet He takes the initiative in restoring that relationship by accomplishing atonement for us.
The angel takes the coal from the altar, verse 6 says. In the earthly temple, the altar stood just in front of the Holy of Holies. It was where sacrifices were offered and God’s wrath was appeased by the blood of substitutes. This symbolism connects the concepts (a) of the atonement, propitiation, and satisfaction required by God, with (b) of the forgiveness, cleansing, and reconciliation so desperately needed by His people.
And when the coal touched Isaiah’s unclean lips, the iniquity that left him ruined in God’s sight is “taken away.” The sin that caused him to become undone is “forgiven.” How could the oceans of grace be captured in such few words? How easily we read them, which represent the most marvelous undertaking in the history of the universe!
“Taken away” translates the same word that appears in Isaiah 53:4, when Isaiah says that the Suffering Servant “boreour griefs,” and “carried our sorrows.” “To bear,” “to take them away.” Atonement and forgiveness are achieved by substitutionary sacrifice. And the word for “forgiven” is kaphar, which means “to cover,” the most common word for atonement in the Old Testament. In fact, it’s the word that is used to describe the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur. One commentator explains, “As we speak of a sum of money as sufficient to ‘cover’ a debt, so [kaphar] is the payment of whatever divine justice sees as sufficient to cover the sinner’s debt” (Motyer, 78). Another says, the word kaphar with reference to sin “signifies to cover it up, extinguish, or destroy it…so that it has no existence in relation to the penal justice of God. All sinful uncleanness was burned away from the prophet’s mouth.”
This is the Gospel proper. God is holy, man is sinful and so therefore is alienated from fellowship with God and stands guilty before the Judge of all the earth. And man is helpless to do anything to pay the fine for his crimes before God. But God has acted in unspeakable, sovereign grace. Not at all on the basis of anything in the sinner, God grants the atonement that burns away the sinner’s uncleanness.
But, dear friends, our God has accomplished this—not by sending a flaming angel with a coal so holy that even the flaming angel couldn’t touch it. That would have been enough! But no, He outdoes even this scene of heavenly holiness by sending—not an angel—but His own Beloved Son, to be born as a man under the Law; to fulfill all righteousness in His perfect life; to bear the sins of His people on the cross; to undergo all of the unmixed fury of the righteous wrath of His Father that burned against us for our sins; to die under the weight of that wrath, and to rise again on the third day victorious over sin and death; all so that you and I—men and women of unclean lips and unclean hearts—might be cleansed from our filth; might be washed from our sinfulness in the blood of the spotless Lamb of God, who takes awaythe sin of the world! O, our God is unspeakably gracious!
IV. Man is Delightfully Compelled (v. 8)
And that brings us to the fourth scene of Isaiah’s vision. What is man’s response to the grace of God that freely atones for sin? Number four: Man is delightfully compelled. Look with me at verse 8: “Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?’ Then I said, ‘Here am I. Send me!’”
Now, by the way Isaiah responded to the exposure of his sin, it’s a sound conclusion to say he experienced the gracious gift of repentance. And then, having experienced the grace of God in the cleansing of his unclean lips, for him to say pretty much anything else aside from “Woe is me!” would imply that he had to trust that the atonement God granted was sufficient to pardon his sin and to restore him to fellowship with this holy God. And so it is safe to conclude that Isaiah responded to God’s gracious work in repentance and faith. And that is the response that we must call for as we preach the Gospel. We must call people to repent of their sins and to put their trust in the person and work of Christ alone for righteousness.
But because the text’s emphasis isn’t so much on Isaiah’s salvation as his call to ministry, the focus of his response is on his desire to serve the Lord: “Here am I. Send me!” And I absolutely love this. Isaiah’s own experience of the Gospel—the awesome revelation of God’s holiness, the miserable condition of his own sin, and the astounding display of grace in atonement and forgiveness—has made him ready to proclaim. Even in the face of a wicked, adulterous generation sold out to idolatry and self-service and corruption, Isaiah was delightfully compelled to the ministry of preaching this Gospel that he had experienced as the solution to the great sinfulness of the people of unclean lips.
And when you stop and think about the wickedness of our own society—the high-handed godlessness and idolatry that has come to characterize Western secularism—and then when you think about the life we have been called to in serving such a generation, where are we going to get the motivation to stand firm? to be unwavering in our commitment to the truth, even as Pastor John taught us and modeled for us? Where will we get the strength to proclaim truth to a culture hell-bent on its own destruction?
And this passage gives the answer. We need to be overcome with the reality of the grace of God that has come to us in the Gospel. We need to be ravished by grace! Knowing yourself as sinful as Isaiah was, and then knowing yourself as purified, forgiven, and justified as Isaiah was—that is kerosene on the flame in the furnace of Christian ministry!
Isaiah didn’t need to be coaxed into ministry. Nobody needed to lean on him to start serving. He was ready! The same was true of the disciples. The Jews commanded them to stop preaching in Jesus’ name; they threatened them with beatings and imprisonment; and what was their response? Acts 4:20: “We cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.” We who are beneficiaries of this marvelous gift of salvation—can we keep it to ourselves?
The terror of God’s holiness, the hopelessness of our sinfulness, the unfathomable grace that cleanses our sin: all of that must issue in our being delightfully compelled to go and proclaim. And friends, Isaiah’s was a day in which God shut the door of repentance against Judah in judgment. But God says through Paul in 2 Corinthians 6: “Behold, now is the acceptable time. Behold, now is the day of salvation.” We live in the days of the New Covenant, when the Lord has flung the doors of Gospel mercy wide open. And He is calling His sheep into His fold from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. And now we—sinners, those who should have been cast aside into eternal punishment—now we may become instruments in the salvation of others from the very same terrors of eternal punishment and into fullness of joy and eternal pleasures at the right hand of our Heavenly Father that we now anticipate with sure hope! Brothers and sisters, if you have beheld the glory of God shining in the face of His dear Son, the sheer delight from that vision alone is enough to compel you to delightful service in the proclamation of the Gospel.
Conclusion
Turn with me to John chapter 12. John is commenting on how so many people in Jesus’ day were observing these miraculous signs He was performing—exorcisms, healings, food appearing from nowhere—and yet they were remaining unconverted. And in verse 39 John quotes the final verses of Isaiah 6: “For this reason they could not believe, for Isaiah said again, ‘He has blinded their eyes and He hardened their heart, so that they would not see with their eyes and perceive with their heart, and be converted and I heal them.’” But look at what John says in verse 41: “These things Isaiah said because he saw His glory, and he spoke of Him.” Whose glory? Who is the “Him” Isaiah spoke of, according to John 12?
It’s Jesus! “In the year of King Uzziah’s death, I saw the Lord sitting on the throne!” The train of the robe that filled the temple of heaven with majesty was the Son’s royal robe! That means that the glorious God of holiness, protected by the ever-burning fire of the seraphim, left that glorious throne room to be born of a woman, to live as a man under the law of God, to live among a people of unclean lips. And that man, Christ Jesus, lived a perfect life of obedience to the Father—the life that you, dear unbeliever, were commanded to live but failed to live. And He went to the cross to be undone—to be ruined—by the wrath of the God who is a consuming fire. And He died, and was buried, but on the third day rose from the grave, and He is alive today, glorious in holiness, ruling the world from the throne He left!
And because He came, and lived, and died, and rose again, He comes now to touch the unclean lips and the unclean hearts of all those who behold the holiness of God, and the sinfulness of their own sin, and cry out in repentance with Isaiah: “Woe is me! I am undone!” Dear sinner, turn from your sin. Look upon this crucified and resurrected Messiah, and put all your trust in Him to purify you and atone for your sins. If you do that, the Cross of Christ will have become the burning coal that will cleanse you of your filthiness and will make you fit for fellowship with the thrice-holy God of heaven. The door of mercy is open to you. He is yours if you’ll have Him, this morning!
And to my brothers and sisters—my church family at Grace Church—those of you asking, “Where do we go from here? What do we do without Pastor John?” This is what we do. We raise our eyes to the Holy God of heaven, who never changes, who never leaves us or forsakes us, who is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And we take up the mantle! We receive the baton! We say, “Here am I. Send me!” We take the unchanging message—the Gospel of God’s holiness, man’s sinfulness, Christ’s grace, and the call to repentance and faith—and we proclaim it to the world, and we minister it to one another, and we live in light of it, until our King calls us home—which is only a few short days from now.
Pastor John has served faithfully and has gone to His reward. We’ll follow him there before long. But before we do, while we remain, we go on doing the exact same thing that he did. We bathe ourselves in God’s Word. We pray it into our souls. We preach it and teach it. We lay our lives down to serve the people of God. We bring the Good News to the lost. And then we go to sleep with our fathers. Now the ministry falls to us. “May all who come behind us find us faithful.”