Theophany #62: Isaiah’s Cleansing and Call
- 5 days ago
- 6 min read
Last time, we stood with Isaiah before the throne of God.
We saw the Lord high and lifted up.We saw the seraphim above Him.We heard their unending cry:
“Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.”— Isaiah 6:3
Now the vision presses closer.
The holiness Isaiah has seen is no longer something outside him. It falls on him. It exposes him. It brings him to the place where every sinner must come before a holy God:
“Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone…”— Isaiah 6:5
That is where this theophany now takes us.
This is what happens when a man truly sees God.
He stops comparing himself to other men. He stops defending himself.He stops excusing himself.
In the light of God’s holiness, Isaiah sees what he is.
He says, “I am undone.” He is coming apart. His strength is gone. His confidence is gone.
His excuses are gone. The vision of God has reduced him to truth.
And notice the particular sin he confesses: unclean lips.
That is not accidental. The seraphim have just been crying out pure praise. Heaven is filled with holy speech. And now Isaiah sees that his own mouth is not fit for such a place.
The prophet who will speak for God first learns that he himself is unclean.
This is always the way.
Before a man can speak for God, he must be broken before God.
The Burning Coal
Then comes one of the most tender moments in all Scripture.
“Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar:”— Isaiah 6:6
The coal comes from the altar. That matters.
Isaiah is not cleansed by ignoring sin. He is not comforted by being told that things are not so bad after all. He is not healed by a softer view of holiness.
His cleansing comes from the altar—from the place of sacrifice.
The seraphim brings the burning coal and touches Isaiah’s mouth:
“And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.”— Isaiah 6:7
What a sentence that is.
Thine iniquity is taken away.Thy sin purged.
The same holiness that undid him now cleanses him.
God does not reveal sin in order to destroy the repentant sinner. He reveals sin in order to remove it.
The Lord wounds, but He also heals. He exposes, and then He restores.
Isaiah’s lips had been unclean. Now the very place of his uncleanness is touched by grace.
That too is often God’s way. He does not merely forgive us in some distant, abstract sense. He puts His hand upon the very place of our failure.
Peter, who denied Christ with his mouth, is later told, “Feed my sheep.”The man who cursed and swore is restored to speak and preach.
Isaiah’s lips are cleansed because Isaiah will need those lips in the service of God.
“Here Am I; Send Me”
Only after cleansing comes calling.
“Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?”— Isaiah 6:8
Now Isaiah is ready to hear.
Before, he could only cry out in ruin. Now he can answer in surrender.
“Then said I, Here am I; send me.”— Isaiah 6:8
This is one of the great responses in all the Bible.
It is simple. It is willing. It is unreserved.
Isaiah does not ask first where he will go. He does not ask how long the work will last. He does not ask whether the people will listen. He does not bargain. He does not ask for easier ground.
He simply says, “Here am I; send me.”
That is what grace produces.
A man who has been brought low by holiness, cleansed by mercy, and restored by God is now ready to go wherever God sends him.
The Lord does not send the proud. He sends the broken man made clean.
A Hard Commission
But the call Isaiah receives is not an easy one.
“And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.”— Isaiah 6:9
This is a fearful calling.
Isaiah is sent to a people who will hear but not hear, see but not see. Their hearts are hard. Their ears are dull. Their eyes are shut.
His ministry will not be measured by applause. It will not be marked by national revival in the ordinary sense. He will preach truth to a resistant people.
That too is part of this theophany.
Many men would gladly say, “Send me,” if the road ahead promised visible success. But the Lord tells Isaiah from the beginning that this mission will be difficult, painful, and full of resistance.
Faithfulness is not the same thing as visible results.
The prophet is not called to make the message acceptable. He is called to deliver it.
“How Long?”
Isaiah asks the question any servant would ask:
“Then said I, Lord, how long?”— Isaiah 6:11
And the answer is severe.
The cities will be wasted.The houses will be without man.The land will be desolate.Judgment is coming.
Yet even here, the last word is not destruction.
The chapter ends with a remnant:
“But yet in it shall be a tenth… 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.”— Isaiah 6:13
The tree may be cut down, but the stump remains. Judgment will come, but God will preserve a holy seed. The nation will be shaken, but God’s promise will not fail.
That is the hope at the end of Isaiah’s call.
God always keeps for Himself a remnant. He always preserves what He has promised. He always carries forward the line of grace.
And in the fullness of time, that holy seed will lead us to Christ.
What This Isaiah Theophany Shows Us
This vision shows us several things we must not miss.
First, the nearer a man comes to God, the more deeply he feels his own sin. Shallow views of God produce shallow views of sin. But when holiness fills the temple and heaven cries out, “Holy, holy, holy,” then a man says, “Woe is me.”
Second, God provides cleansing for the sinner He convicts. The coal from the altar points us toward sacrifice, atonement, and finally toward the saving work of Jesus Christ. Sin must be purged, not excused. And God Himself provides the means.
Third, the man God sends is the man God has first humbled and cleansed.
Fourth, God’s call does not always lead to easy earthly success. Isaiah is sent into hardness, rejection, and judgment. Yet he is still sent by God, and that is enough.
For Us
We live in a time when many want comfort without confession, calling without cleansing, and service without surrender.
Isaiah’s vision gives us the true order.
First, the holy God.Then, the undone sinner.Then, the cleansing from the altar.Then, the willing servant.Then, the hard but faithful mission.
That order still stands.
No man is ready to say, “Here am I; send me,” until he has first said, “Woe is me.”
And no one is truly clean except by the provision God Himself has made.
For us, that provision is seen fully in Jesus Christ, who bore our sin, took away our guilt, and opened the way for forgiven sinners to serve the living God.
Isaiah saw the throne. Isaiah heard the cry. Isaiah felt the fire. Isaiah answered the call.
May we do the same.
Looking Ahead
We have now seen the throne. We have seen the seraphim. We have heard the cry. We have watched the prophet be undone, cleansed, and sent.
Next time, we move from Isaiah to another call vision, and another man overwhelmed by the word of the Lord:
“Then the Lord put forth his hand, and touched my mouth…”— Jeremiah 1:9
*********************
Faces covered, wings resplendent,
Seraphim before Him bow!
Angels tremble, martyrs weep,
And saints perfected praise Him now!
Holy is the angels’ Maker,
He who spread His stars in the skies.
Holy is the Judge of Creation,
All lies bare before His eyes!
Woe is me, for I am ruined!
For my eyes have seen the King!
Robed in righteousness, and holy:
Hear the Voice of Judgment ring!
All unclean, my lips, my spirit,
Vile and foul in all I do!
All corrupt, my heart within me,
Wretched, wicked through and through!
Every hope I must abandon!
Guilty, I await His stroke.
Now must come His righteous sentence:
Wait! A Bright Form parts the smoke!
Bleeding feet stride through the temple!
Christ approaches, weeping love!
Wounded hands remove my filthiness,
God’s caress in every move.
Freely righteous! Full atonement!
Justified, from sin set free!
By the word of God the Father,
I’m declared as pure as HE!
At the Cross, His wounds acquit me!
Fatal wounds proclaim His praise!
And the Empty Tomb sings His glories:
Justice is assuaged by Grace!
--Words: Neil Barham, 2005.
BEFORE HIS EYE © 2005 Neil Barham
These lyrics may be freely reproduced or published for Christian worship,
provided they are not altered, and this notice is on each copy. All other rights reserved.
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