Isaiah 6:1-13 · Isaiah’s Commission

1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3 And they were calling to one another: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory." 4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.

5 "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For 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 Almighty."

6 Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 With it he touched my mouth and said, "See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for."

8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!"

9 He said, "Go and tell this people: " 'Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.'

10 Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed."

11 Then I said, "For how long, O Lord?" And he answered: "Until the cities lie ruined and without inhabitant, until the houses are left deserted and the fields ruined and ravaged,

12 until the Lord has sent everyone far away and the land is utterly forsaken.

13 And though a tenth remains in the land, it will again be laid waste. But as the terebinth and oak leave stumps when they are cut down, so the holy seed will be the stump in the land."

The Call of Holiness
Isaiah 6:1-8 (9-13)
Sermon
by Derl G. Keefer
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These were not the best of times for Israel. Bleakness, despair, and frustration ruled the day. Israel's King Uzziah died. He started his career as king well. He was a sixteen-year-old boy who succeeded beyond expectation. He was powerful, famous, and rich. His religious reforms were vital to Israel's spiritual life.

Once he was king, Uzziah entered the temple to burn incense on the golden altar, which only the priests were allowed to do and was immediately stricken with leprosy as he lingered there. The Jewish historian, Josephus, tells us that Uzziah was smitten when he threatened to kill the eighty priests, who were already warning him to leave. But, after being stricken with leprosy, he left the temple and moved outside the city, while his son, Jotham, reigned as king. A year later Uz…

CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Sermons on the First Readings, by Derl G. Keefer