“Here Am I! Send Me!” (Isaiah 6:1-13)

• 6:1-4 – Isaiah’s vision
  • King Uzziah’s death (2 Chronicles 26:4, 16-21); probably around 740 B.C.
  • The seraphim: six-winged beings; different than cherubim (Ezekiel 11:22)
  • “Holy, holy, holy!”
  • The house filled with smoke (cf. Revelation 15:7-8)
• 6:5 – Isaiah recognizes his unworthiness
  • “All have sinned” (Romans 3:23)
  • Normal reaction – Gideon (Judges 6:22); Manoah (Judges 13:22); Job (Job 42:5,6); Peter (Luke 5:8); John (Revelation 1:17); the thief (Luke 23:40,41)
  • This vision is of the preincarnate Christ (John 12:36-41)
• 6:6-7 – God’s forgiveness
  • “He who a moment before felt that in the presence of the Holy God sin could not exist, and that therefore he must perish with his sin, now felt that he was separated from his sin so that it alone might perish, and he might live.” (Rowley)
  • We must seek purification (Psalm 51:10-13)
  • Example of Saul of Tarsus (Acts 8:3; 9:1; 26:9-11; 22:16)
• 6:8-13 – Isaiah’s commission
  • “Who will go for Us?” (cf. Genesis 1:26; John 1:1)
  • “Here am I! Send me!”
  • God warns of the hardening of hearts
  • “Yet a tenth”; “So the holy seed shall be its stump”

Discussion Questions

1. Why is it important to recognize the holiness of God in contrast to our sinfulness?

2. What effect did the vision have on Isaiah?

3. What duty did Isaiah have? What is our duty today?

4. Why did God use the word “Us” in verse 8?

5. Reconcile verse 10 with passages such as 2 Peter 3:9.