Holy, Holy, Holy: Isaiah Sees the Lord

Smoke fills the temple. The doorposts shake. And above it all, voices call out to one another, so loud the stones tremble. Holy. Holy. Holy.

Isaiah begins this part of his story with a date. “In the year that King Uzziah died.” Uzziah had ruled Judah for a very long time, and for most of those years the kingdom had been strong. Now he is gone. Far to the north-east, the empire of Assyria is growing more powerful every year. People are uneasy. What will happen to Judah now? And in that year of change, Isaiah sees something he will never forget.

He sees the Lord, seated on a throne, high and lifted up. The edge of his robe fills the whole temple. Above him stand seraphim, heavenly beings, each with six wings. With two wings they cover their faces. With two they cover their feet. And with two they fly. They call to one another, over and over. “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory.” At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shake, and the house fills with smoke.

You might expect Isaiah to be thrilled. He is terrified. “Woe is me!” he cries. “I am ruined. 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 of hosts.” Standing before a God who is perfectly holy, Isaiah suddenly sees himself clearly. His words. His heart. His people. Nothing measures up.

Then one of the seraphim flies to him. In its hand is a live coal, glowing red, taken with tongs from the altar. It touches Isaiah’s mouth with it. “See, this has touched your lips. Your guilt is taken away, and your sin is forgiven.” Isaiah has done nothing to earn this. The cleansing comes from God’s own altar, as a gift.

And then Isaiah hears the voice of the Lord himself. “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” A moment ago Isaiah thought he was finished. Now there is nothing holding him back. “Here am I,” he says. “Send me.”

The message God gives him is not an easy one. Isaiah is to speak to people who will hear but not understand, who will look but not see, because their hearts have grown hard. “Lord, how long?” Isaiah asks. Until the cities lie in ruins, God answers, and the land is empty. And yet the chapter ends with a picture of hope. When a great oak is cut down, a stump remains in the ground. And from that stump, God says, a holy seed will come. Centuries later, Jesus himself would quote these words about hearing without understanding, in the Gospel of Matthew.

Why mention King Uzziah? Second Chronicles says Uzziah reigned fifty-two years, a long and successful reign. But it also says that late in life he grew proud, walked into the temple to burn incense, a task kept for the priests, and was struck with a skin disease that stayed with him until he died. Many readers have noticed the contrast. The year an earthly king’s long reign ends, Isaiah enters the temple and sees the true King on his throne.

Isaiah’s vision is told in Isaiah chapter six. He saw how holy God is. He saw his own need. He was forgiven. And then he was ready to be sent. So here is something to think about. If God asked today, “Whom shall I send?”, what would make it hard for you to say, “Here am I”?