Notes on Isaiah 6
(Isa 6:1 KJV) In the year that king Uzziah died I saw
also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.
Imagine being privileged to see the Lord at His throne. Yet, this
privilege brought a great responsibility. Isaiah saw visions but for a purpose. He had a
mighty work to do. His work was to warn the people of their sin and call them toward
repentance. The Lord commands repentance. The message of repentance is still in order. He
did not take away repentance with the coming of Jesus Christ. Thus we have in the book of
Acts, "Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins,
and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost."
The Hebrew for Jesus is Yehowshuwa. Sounds a little like Joshua. I
read somewhere that the Old Testament was written before the letter J came into being. So
the actual Hebrew name for Jesus would begin with a Y instead of a J.
So whether we baptize in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost
or the name of Jesus should mean that we are to baptize under the authority of these for
the remission of sins. To argue about which name to use is pointless because they are one
in unity and purpose. The Greek name for Jesus is "Iesous".
If I was going to insist on being baptized in the name of Jesus, I
would have to consider which exact name to use. I would probably pick the Hebrew form of
the word. I am not demeaning the name of Jesus but the emphasis here is not what exact
wording to use but what is taking place in the heart of the believer, a new beginning, a
new birth and a baptism into the body of Christ.
I believe in water baptism as an outward testimony of our faith and
to follow the Lord's example in obedience as He told us to do but to argue over which name
to use is not the point. The main focus should be the New Birth. What is happening inside
the inner man? We can be baptized in water in the name of Jesus and still not be saved if
no New Birth has taken place inside the soul of that same man. Water baptism alone cannot
save. It is possible to go under the water a sinner and come up a wet sinner.
The heart and soul of man must repent of sin, believe in Jesus Christ
to remove that sin, receive Jesus as Lord of their lives and in doing so they become a New
Creature in Christ Jesus. This then is the New Birth Jesus told Nicodemus about in John
chapter 3.
"Except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of
God." These are the words of Jesus Himself. This is something that takes place
inside the soul of a man or woman. This is something that only God sees. How can our
salvation depend upon what a man says when we go under the water? Salvation comes before
actual water baptism. Water baptism is our obedience to the word of God and example Christ
gives. It tells others that "I have received this New Birth, I am born again. I have
received Jesus Christ as savior."
Whether we use the title of Father, Son and Holy Sprit as the Jesus
said in the book of Mark or the name of Jesus as the book of Acts suggests does not made
any difference because they are the same purpose to show obedience to the words of the
Lord. To follow the Lord's example to be baptized. John baptized Jesus and the bible does
not say what John said when Jesus was baptized so actual wording was not the issue but
what takes place inside the heart of man is the issue here. It gets us sidetracked off the
main issue when we argue over things like this just like I just got off the topic of
Isaiah's vision. See, it happens to us all.
(Isa 6:2 KJV) Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six
wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain
he did fly.
3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD
of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory .
To return to this topic of this vision, this shows us the great and
mighty majesty and holiness of our Lord. Worship in heaven goes on. Someone in heaven is
constantly worshipping God. He is so great and mighty. He is so worthy of all praise and
adoration that whoever is in Heaven cannot stop worshipping and praising Him continually.
How awesome is must be to actually be in His physical presence. It must be an overwhelming
experience. I have felt the presence of God many times throughout my lifetime and it is
awesome. Just one minute in His presence cannot even compare to hours of entertainment and
laughter of the things in this life. He is awesome.
(Isa 6:4 KJV) And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him
that cried, and the house was filled with smoke .
5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of
unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have
seen the King, the LORD of hosts .
This is a normal reaction when in the presence of a Holy Righteous
God. He immediately felt unclean and undeserving. We must not take God lightly. He is not
someone to be brushed off or taken time for one hour on Sunday morning. This is the
creator, the savior, our live-giver and the whole reason for our existence.
(Isa 6:6 KJV) 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:
7 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 had to be cleansed from sin before beginning the work God
calls Him to do. He couldn't tell others to repent and turn to God without first repenting
Himself. Notice that he felt the need for cleansing but God did the actual cleansing.
Repenting is our part, the cleansing is God's part. He is the one that brings the New
Birth. It is done by the Holy Spirit. It is a real experience, a real inner change. It's
something more than just turning over a new leaf. It is something that is done by the Holy
Spirit. His sin was immediately taken away, just as if he had never sinned. This kind of
bothers me when men of today dig into someone's past and expose sins of 10 or 20 years
ago. When sin is forgiven and put away by the Lord and the person has become a new
creature in Christ Jesus, do we have a right to make a person feel guilty again when our
Lord has put away and forgotten the sin?
(Isa 6:8 KJV) Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom
shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me .
The Lord gives Isaiah a chance to respond to the need. Isaiah shows a
willingness to obey what the Lord wants Him to do.
Is this our attitude?
(Isa 6:9 KJV) And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye
indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.
10 Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and
shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand
with their heart, and convert, and be healed.
11 Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be
wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate,
12 And the LORD have removed men far away, and there be a great
forsaking in the midst of the land.
13 But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be
eaten: 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.
God knows that the majority of the people will reject His
pleadings and warnings. After hearing and rejecting the word over and over again the heart
becomes dull of hearing and hardened. This is also how the conscience is seared. When a
person first does something wrong, our conscience pricks us and we are disturbed about it.
If we continue to ignore the prodding of our conscience then the act we do becomes less
and less bothersome. Sooner of later the act is not wrong anymore to us and we can sin
without feeling bad about it. Then the sin seems like a good thing. This is why standards
of morality have changed from generation to generation. We have gone so far now that
we call evil good and good evil.
Take our today's society for example. Once homosexuality was
considered very wrong. Today, if you warn against the danger of that kind of lifestyle you
are considered the one doing wrong, not the homosexual. In fact they are now considered
the heroes who bravely come out of the closet unashamed of their actions. Those that warn
against their lifestyle are considered to be bigots.
So now our standards of morality is the very opposite from what they
once were. It was once considered wrong to abort a baby on purpose. Now those that speak
out against abortion are considered religious fanatics who want to rob women of her
reproductive rights. The innocent victims have no rights.
Verse 10 describes our generation as well as these who dwelled in
Judah before the Babylonian captivity, our hearts have become fat, ears heavy and our eyes
shut. In fact if the majority of people in the United States alone would read these bible
studies that would probably think I was a nut case. Fifty years ago they would have agreed
with most of it. One hundred years ago they would have agreed wholeheartedly except for my
condemnation of slavery.
Slavery is a good example of how something evil can be accepted as a
good thing. Just because something is lawful does not make it right. I'm sure that when
slavery was first introduced to people that it was not widely accepted. The conscience may
have pricked those who became involved at first. Soon greed, laziness and the desire to
have someone else do all the work made slavery more acceptable and it was no longer
considered evil but actually a good thing. They began to justify themselves with,
"Maybe it was God's plan to make sure they heard the gospel." "Maybe it was
a way to provide for a nation of starving people."
First off: No where in the New Testament does Jesus tell us to go
kidnap people out of other nations and bring them to our own nation so that they can hear
the gospel. He tells us to go into the entire world and preach the gospel to everyone. We
are not to harm a hair on anyone. We are to be more willing to accept harm to ourselves
than to allow ourselves to harm someone else.
Yes, we woke up and realized the evil of slavery so when are we going
to wake up and realize that abortion is indeed murder. Are we going to accept the murder
of children next? The elderly? The mentally ill? The weak? The sick? Sure you may think
I'm crazy but little by little these things creep into society until nothing is wrong and
everything is right.
Why do you think a serial killer can kill without a qualm? They are
not mentally retarded or crazy. They have no conscience because their conscience has been
seared. We cheat in business once, it may bother us but after a while it is considered
good business practice.
The only thing that can save the next generation is a good national
repentance and crying out to God.
" If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble
themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear
from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." 11
Chronicles 7:14
We see in the last verse of chapter 6 how a remnant shall remain from
the captivity of Judah. God will keep His promise to Abraham and raise up a deliverer
through his lineage that will bring salvation to those who receive Him. His plan was to
use the seed of Abraham. Believe it or not that the time is coming when the Jewish people
will be preachers of the gospel of Jesus Christ. They just don't know it yet. Yet the
gospel of eternal life and salvation is not limited to the Jews. It is for everyone who
comes through faith in Jesus Christ as savior and Lord.
Isaiah 7 & 8
Isaiah Index
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