Isaiah 6:1-8 is one of my favorite passages of scripture. As a missionary having attended many missions conferences, I have heard countless messages centering on the famous verse, “here I am, Lord, send me” (6:8). The takeaway of the message usually being, “God is looking for someone to send to some exotic country. Are you willing to go?”
This is a good question. We certainly should regularly examine ourselves and our willingness to make personal sacrifice for the sake of ministry. While this is a good and valid application of the text, there is something else going on the passage the many readers miss. There is another dimension in the text waiting to be discovered if we are ready to dig a bit deeper. We should always be ready to do this in scripture.
So what is this other dimension? What most people miss is that in the greater context of this verse there is a tremendous transformation in character that happens to Isaiah the prophet in almost an instant. As we start out in the passage, Isaiah sees the sovereignty and holiness of God. God’s sovereignty symbolized in being high and lifted up, he’s seated on no normal chair, he’s seated on a throne. With this Isaiah witnesses the magnitude of his royal robe, symbolizing power, filling the temple, and the entire room trembles. The holiness of God is represented in the tri-fold repetition of holy in the angelic chorus.
When Isaiah witnesses all of this, he is overwhelmed. His response: “Who is me! For I am lost!…for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” (6:5). This is natural for anyone who has a sincere encounter with the one true God. In particular, Isaiah is overwhelmed with his own sinfulness. By the way, it is absolutely impossible to see our sinfulness when we have yet to have an encounter with the pure holiness of God.
What strikes me is that Isaiah doesn’t speak much in this passage. In fact, he only speaks two times. The first time he speaks, we read of his awareness of his guilt of sin (6:5). The second time we hear him speak, we hear his eager willingness to serve. What a dramatic change! In one moment, he cannot help but utter his sinfulness in the presence of the Holy One of Israel. In the next moment, he sees himself as an eligible candidate for the sacred calling of God. What happened?
Forgiveness happened (6:6-7).
This is the impact of forgiveness on our lives, absolute transformation. Transformation of how we view ourselves and our eligibility to serve God. More importantly than this, transformation of how we view and relate to God.
You’re forgiven. You’re eligible.
