Isaiah 6:13

Very few people will remain. But God will use those few to give Israel a new beginning.

Lord ~ God’s name in the Bible. In the original language, God’s names mean ‘head over all’ and ‘God always’.
Temple ~ special building in Jerusalem where Jews praised God and offered him prayers and gifts.
Jerusalem ~ at the time of David and Solomon, the capital of the country called Israel. During the time of Isaiah, Jerusalem was the capital of the country called Judah.
Jews ~ people who belong to the countries called Judah and Israel; people who belong to the 12 tribes of Israel.
tribe ~ a group of the later family of one father.
fiery ~ something that seems like fire.
angels ~ God’s servants in heaven.
glory ~ the splendid beauty and wonderful light of God’s most holy character.
altar ~ special table where priests burned animals as gifts to God.
vision ~ a mental picture from God to show something that only you can see.
holiness ~ a holy and perfect state.

Isaiah: New *Heavens and a New Earth

Isaiah Begins to *Prophesy

Isaiah Chapter s 1 to 6

Gordon Churchyard

The words in brackets, […], are not in the *Hebrew Bible. They make the book easier to understand in English. Isaiah wrote his book in the *Hebrew language.

Chapter 6

v1 [This happened] in the year when King Uzziah died. I saw my *Lord. He was sitting on a very high throne (king’s special seat). [The end of] his very long coat filled the *temple.

v2 Above [the *Lord] were [special servants of God called] seraphs. They were waiting to serve him. Each [seraph] had six wings. [Each one had] six wings. Two [wings] were covering their faces. Two [wings] were covering their feet. With two [wings] they were flying.

v3 One [seraph (special servant of God)] called to another. They said, ‘The *LORD of Everything is *holy, holy, holy! His *glory fills the whole Earth.’

v4 As each [seraph (special servant)] called, the doorsteps of the *temple shook. Also, the *temple was full of smoke.

Notes

In this chapter, the *prophet Isaiah is the speaker. A ‘prophet’ tells people what God shows to him. In this chapter, Isaiah tells us what he saw. Then he tells us what happened to him. 1a means the first part of verse one and 1b means the second part, and so on.

In verses 1-4 Isaiah tells us what he saw. A ‘vision’ is something very special that a person sees. Usually, other people cannot see it. We do not know whether those things in the *vision really happened. Isaiah may have seen them in his mind. But he did see something very special. So here, ‘saw’ does not mean ‘understood’, as it did in Isaiah 1:1. If those things really happened, then Isaiah did not go into the building at the *temple. The note about verse 1c explains that. But if the *vision was only in his mind, then he may have gone in. We do not know!

Verse 1a This happened ‘in the year when King Uzziah died’. King Uzziah died at some time between 740 and 736 B.C. ‘B.C.’ means ‘years Before Christ came to the Earth’. Uzziah was a great king, and he made his country strong (2 Chronicles 26:6-15). But Uzziah became proud. He went to the *temple. And there he did the work that a priest would normally do. The *temple was God’s house in Jerusalem. Only God’s special servants that worked there, the priests, could go into the *temple. So because Uzziah had gone in, God punished him. God caused Uzziah to have a serious disease in his skin. People with that disease had to live alone, so Uzziah’s son Jotham did the work of the king (2 Chronicles 26:16-21). Later, Uzziah’s grandson Ahaz helped Jotham. A few years before Uzziah died, something very important happened in Assyria. Assyria was a big country that was north and east from Judah. Assyria had a new king. His name was Tiglathpileser the Third, because there had been 2 other kings called Tiglathpileser before him. He ruled in 745-727 B.C. This Tiglathpileser wanted to rule the world from Assyria to Egypt. That huge area included Judah. Judah was never as great again as when Uzziah was king.

Verse 1b ‘I saw my Lord.’ ‘Lord’ is a word that means ‘master’. It is someone that has authority. Here it means God. Isaiah wrote his book in the *Hebrew language. ‘Lord’ is not the same word in *Hebrew as ‘*LORD’ is in verse 3. ‘*LORD’ is a special name for God. It refers to the *Hebrew word ‘YHWH’. Bible students think that ‘YHWH’ means ‘always alive’. God called himself by that name when he made a covenant with his people. A ‘covenant’ is a special, serious agreement. In the Bible, it is usually what God and his people agree to do for each other. God agrees to help his people if they obey him.

In Exodus 33:20 we read, ‘No man shall see me (God) and live.’ From that verse, we learn this. We shall only see God when we die. But many people in the Old Testament (the first 39 books in the Bible) saw God and they stayed alive! Some examples are Abraham (Genesis 18:1-3), Jacob (Genesis 32:24-30) and Moses (Exodus 3:4). How can we explain that? A possible explanation is in John 12:41: ‘Isaiah saw Jesus’ *glory.’ Jesus came to Earth as a baby. He was born on this Earth in Bethlehem. But he was alive before that. Jesus is God, but people looked at him. They saw him, but they did not die! So Abraham, Jacob and Moses probably saw Jesus. And many other people in the Old Testament (first part of the Bible) saw him. Therefore they did not die when they saw God. This is possible because Jesus is God in human form. The note about verse 3b explains the word ‘*glory’.

Verse 1c The *Lord was sitting on a throne. A ‘throne’ is a special seat on which a king sits. Or some other very important person may sit on a throne (special seat). Both the *Lord and the throne were very high up. They were probably up in the sky. Isaiah was not in the *temple, but he was outside it. We know that for two reasons:

• Isaiah was probably not a priest. So he could not go into the actual building, the *temple itself.

• The *altar in verse 6 was outside the building.

Outside the *temple, there were some large yards without roofs. Ordinary people would pray in the outer yard. But only priests could go into the inner yard. And only priests could enter the actual building, that is, the *temple itself.

Kings often wear special clothes. Here we read about a very long and beautiful coat that a king wears. Its end is several metres behind the king as he walks. Usually he has servants to lift it off the ground. We call the very long end of that special coat a ‘train’. An engine on the railway pulls a train of carriages. Similarly, a king with such a coat pulls along a ‘train’ of cloth! The ‘train’ of cloth was so long that its end went into the *temple. It seemed to fill the *temple.

Verse 2 A ‘seraph’ is an angel of fire. An ‘angel’ is a special servant of God. An angel lives in heaven with God. Perhaps these seraphs’ (special angels’) wings seemed like flames of fire! Their wings were never still. They were covering their faces because they could not look at the *LORD. We do not know why these special angels were covering their feet. Perhaps it meant that they did not decide where to go. They allowed God to decide. With the other two wings, these angels were flying. But they stayed in the same position in the air, as some birds do. Notice that these seraphs (special servants of God) had faces, hands and feet, as people have. What Isaiah saw surprised him. It surprised him so much that he said ‘six wings’ twice! What he saw was wonderful.

Verse 3a We do not know how many seraphs (special *angels with six wings) there were. But they called to each other in pairs. The *Hebrew word here means ‘called’ or ‘shouted’ to each other. In the Old Testament (the first 39 books in the Bible), we do not usually read that *angels can sing. These *angels declared, ‘The *LORD of Everything is holy, holy, holy.’ The note about verse 1b explains ‘*LORD’. ‘*Holy’ means ‘very, very good’. Only God is really holy. He is so good, so holy, that people cannot go near him. In his book, ‘The *Prophecy of Isaiah’, the writer called Alec Motyer says this. These two things may make God holy. He is separate from people and he is very bright to look at.

• God is separate because he has not *sinned. However, people have sinned. ‘Sinned’ means that they have ‘not obeyed God’s rules’.

• He is bright, as the sun is bright. Just as people cannot look at the sun, so they cannot look directly at God.

Isaiah calls God ‘the Holy [God] of Israel’ 25 times in his book. ‘Holy, holy, holy’ probably means ‘very, very, very holy’.

Verse 3b Isaiah also uses the name ‘*LORD of Everything’ many times. Some examples are in Isaiah 1:9 and Isaiah 1:24. In those verses, the idea is that the *LORD has armies of *angels. And he is the commander of those armies. Often, the *angels help God’s people. But here in Isaiah 6:3, the *angels are not fighting to help God’s people. Instead, Isaiah is telling us that God is the *LORD of Everything. That means everything that is on Earth. And it also means everything that is in the skies. ‘The whole Earth’ here may also include the skies above the Earth. The Earth and the sky are full of God’s glory. ‘Glory’ is what makes God great. It is what makes him shine more brightly than the sun. It is what makes him different from men and women.

Verse 4 If the doorsteps shake, so will the whole house! Isaiah was perhaps near the door of the *temple. The *altar was near the door. The note about verse 6 explains the word ‘altar’. When God is near, the ground often shakes. There is often smoke and fire as well. Some examples of that are in Exodus 19:18; Psalms 18:7-8 and Habakkuk 3:3-10. Here, the smoke fills the *temple so that nobody can see into it.

v5 Then I said, ‘I am so sad, because I must be silent! I am a man with lips that are not clean. And I live among people whose lips are not clean. And with my own eyes I have seen the King, the *LORD of Everything!’

v6 Then one seraph (special *angel with six wings) flew towards me. In his hand was a [piece of] coal. The coal was burning. The *angel had taken it from the *altar with tongs (a tool to pick up hot objects).

v7 And he touched my mouth [with it]. And he said, ‘Look! This [very hot coal] has touched your lips. It has taken away your responsibility for the wrong things that you have done. It has covered your *sin.’

v8 Then I heard the voice of the *Lord. He said, ‘Whom shall I send and who will go for us?’ Then I said, ‘I am here. Send me.’

Notes

In verses 5-8, we read how the *vision affected Isaiah.

Verse 5 One translation of ‘I am so sad’ is ‘There is no hope for me!’ (The Good News Bible). ‘I must be silent’ means this. Isaiah cannot prophesy. And to ‘prophesy’ means to ‘tell people what God is saying’. Isaiah cannot do that because his ‘lips are not clean’. It means that he has said bad things. And so have the people all round him. He cannot even praise God together with the seraphs (special *angels with six wings)! Isaiah has seen the holy God (verses 1-4). That has made him feel how bad he is. The king whom he saw was God himself.

Verse 6 The *altar was outside the door of the *temple (the building). The ‘altar’ was a metal table with a fire on it. There the priests burned animals that they had killed. God had ordered them to do that. ‘Tongs’ are special scissors with which to hold hot things. The seraph (special *angel) used tongs to take the very hot coal from the fire. Then he touched Isaiah’s mouth with the coal. The important thing to notice is this. Isaiah was sad because his lips were not clean. So, he was sad because he had said bad things. But God sent the seraph (special *angel) to him. And God had actually showed himself to Isaiah in verses 1-4. All through this chapter, God acts first!

Verse 7 God sent the seraph (special *angel) to touch Isaiah’s lips with a piece of very hot coal. When the seraph did that, God was showing two things to Isaiah.

• God had taken away Isaiah’s feeling that he was responsible for his *sins. Isaiah had felt bad because he had done wrong things. And he had expected punishment for those wrong things.

• God had covered Isaiah’s *sin, so that God could not see it. The *Hebrew word for ‘cover’ is the same word that *Jews still use in the name Yom Kippur. ‘Yom’ means ‘day’, and ‘kippur’ means ‘cover’. Yom Kippur is a special day for *Jews each year. On that day, they remember that God covers *sin. Actually, a more exact translation of ‘cover’ here is ‘pay the cost’. In English today, the words ‘cover the cost’ still mean ‘pay the cost’.

However, we may wonder how God can ‘cover our *sin’. We may ask this question. Does he just cover our *sin and so he merely hides it? No, he does not! The answer is in the New Testament (the last 27 books in the Bible). God had to pay the cost of our *sin. That cost was the life of his son, Jesus. All men and women are sinners (people that sin). To ‘sin’ means that we do not obey God. ‘Sin’ also means our thoughts, words and deeds when we do not obey God. But God made Jesus take the responsibility for our sin. Jesus died as a sinner! Paul tells this to us in 2 Corinthians 5:21. ‘God caused Jesus to become sin for us. Jesus never sinned himself. [God did that] so that we, in [Jesus], might be like God. [God is] very, very good. [He has never sinned.]’ The words in square brackets, […], help us to understand what Paul wrote.

That explains the word ‘forgives’. We could remember this word as: ‘for-gives’. For us, God gives our *sin to Jesus. When Jesus died, he took our *sin away. That means that he took the responsibility for our *sin. The soldiers from Rome hung Jesus on a wooden cross. They hung him there to die. In that way, he took the punishment for our *sin. But we must all confess our *sins to God. And whoever we are, we must thank God. We must thank him that he has forgiven us. If we do not do those things, God cannot forgive us.

Verse 8 In verse 1, God was very high up. But now he is near enough for Isaiah to hear him speak. That happens when God forgives us. We can hear him speak. There is nothing between God and a person whom he forgives. The *Lord says, ‘Who will go for us?’ In John 12:41 we read that Isaiah saw Jesus. (Read the note about verse 1b again.) And in Acts 28:25, we learn this. Isaiah heard the Holy Spirit speak in this chapter in Isaiah. So ‘us’ may mean the three persons that, together, are the one real God. They are God the Father, God the Son (Jesus) and God the Holy Spirit. Christians use the word ‘Trinity’ to describe God. ‘Trinity’ means ‘three in one’. This may also explain why the word ‘holy’ appears three times in verse 3.

But other Christians have another explanation of verse 3. ‘Holy’ in verse 3 appears three times because God is very, very, very holy. These Christians think that ‘us’ in verse 8 means God and the seraphs (special *angels). They do not believe that it means the Trinity (‘three in one’).

Isaiah answers, ‘Send me.’ When God forgives someone, that person often offers himself to God as a servant.

v9 And [God said], ‘Go! And tell [this] to these people [in Israel and Judah].

• Always listen. But you will never understand!

• Always look. But you will never see what it means!

v10 Make the heart of these people fat. Close their ears and shut their eyes. [Do that] or they will see with their eyes. They will hear with their ears and they will understand with their hearts. [Then they will] turn (change their minds) and they will be healthy again.’

v11 Then I said, ‘For how long, *Lord, [must I do this]?’ And [this is what] he answered.

• Do it until [the people’s enemy] destroys the cities. Then nobody will live there.

• Do it until nobody lives in the houses.

• Do it until the land has absolutely no use.

• v12 Do it until the *LORD removes people to distant [places].

• And do it until an enemy has ruined many places inside the country (Israel and Judah).

v13 And even if one from every ten [places or people] remains, an enemy will burn them again! They will burn trees called terebinths and oaks. But from the roots of such a tree, a holy nation will grow.

Notes

These verses are difficult for us to understand. But what they mean is this. People will not listen to Isaiah, and an enemy will destroy the countries called Israel and Judah. But there will be a few people that remain. They will still love God and they will serve him. This is a typical thing for Isaiah. After sad words, he often puts a message that contains hope. This message of hope is for the people that still trust in God. Read again Isaiah 2:1-5 and 4:2-6.

Verse 9 God told Isaiah to do something that was very strange! He must tell people about God, but they would never understand him. He must show them about God. But the people would never see what he meant. They would not understand. So Isaiah did what God told him to do. Isaiah spoke with very simple words, so that people complained. He was speaking to them as one would speak to a baby! That is what they said (Isaiah 28:9-10). But they did not listen to him, because they were evil people. They did not understand what he said. That was because they were sinners (people that did not obey God). The note about verse 7 explains what ‘sinners’ are.

Verse 10 Here God tells Isaiah what will happen. The verse starts with three descriptions.

‘Make the heart of these people fat.’ The *Jews believed that people thought in their hearts. A fat heart means a mind that cannot think. So one English translation has ‘Make this people thick in the head’ (J.B. Phillips). ‘Thick in the head’ is an English way to say ‘stupid’.

The *Hebrew words for ‘close their ears’ really mean ‘make their ears heavy’. It means that they cannot hear anything.

‘Shut their eyes’ means that they cannot see anything.

These three descriptions all mean the same thing. People will not understand Isaiah’s words! They might listen to Isaiah, but in the end they will not believe his message. If they did believe it, they would ‘turn’. Here ‘turn’ means ‘change their minds’. They would become healthy. That means that they would obey God again. In Hosea 6:1, we read this. ‘Come, and let us go back to the *LORD. After he has hurt us, he will cure us.’ The message there is the same as it is here in Isaiah.

Verse 11 The *Lord did not say who would destroy the cities. He did not say who would spoil the land. God used armies from Assyria to destroy Israel. And he used armies from Babylon to destroy Judah. The words ‘for how long?’ are not really a question. They are a sad cry, like ‘I am so sad’ in verse 5. But the *Lord answered Isaiah’s words. The *Lord said this. The people would not believe Isaiah until somebody came to destroy their country. Nobody would live in the towns and there would be no farmers in the country.

Verse 12 The *LORD did not say where the distant places were. He did not say whom he would use to do those things. But we know the answer. When the army from Assyria defeated Israel, they took the best people away to Assyria. The army from Babylon did a similar thing with Judah.

Verse 13 This verse is a puzzle to Bible students! It seems to mean this. When someone cuts down a tree, the tree will grow again from its roots. In the same way, a remnant will grow again. The ‘remnant’ here means the few people that still obey God. After enemies destroy both Judah and Israel, the remnant will still be there. The nation will grow again from them. Terebinths and oaks are types of trees.

Something to do

1. Make sure that God forgives you. Confess to him that you have *sinned. Then ask him to forgive you. Promise that you will try to obey him in the future. Then offer yourself to him as his servant.

2. Study the places where verses 9-10 appear in the New Testament (the last 27 books in the Bible). Look at Matthew 13:14-15; Mark 4:12; Luke 8:10; John 12:39-41; and Acts 28:26-27.

3. Isaiah said the words ‘Then I said’ three times in Isaiah chapter 6. Find those three places. The three things there were important when God appointed Isaiah to be a *prophet. Use your own words to describe those three important phases.

heavens ~ another word for ‘skies’. It can also mean the place where God lives and the skies above us.
prophesy ~ tell people what God is saying.
Hebrew ~ the language that Isaiah spoke.
LORD ~ a special name for God that only his servants should use. It is not a translation. It represents the Hebrew word YHWH. It probably means that God is always alive.
lord ~ master. When it has a capital L (that is, ‘Lord’) it is a name for God.
Hebrew ~ the language that Isaiah spoke.
temple ~ God’s house in Jerusalem. False gods also had temples.
LORD ~ a special name for God that only his servants should use. It is not a translation. It represents the Hebrew word YHWH. It probably means that God is always alive.
lord ~ master. When it has a capital L (that is, ‘Lord’) it is a name for God.
Hebrew ~ the language that Isaiah spoke.
holy ~ very, very good. Only God is really holy. He is so holy that he is separate from everybody else.
glory ~ something that shines and is wonderful. Especially, it is God’s splendid beauty.
prophet ~ someone who says what God is saying. There is a note at Isaiah 1:1.
vision ~ something that a person sees, maybe only in their mind.
altar ~ a special metal table where people burnt animals and corn to please God.
angel ~ a special servant of God in heaven.
heaven ~ God’s home.
holy ~ very, very good. Only God is really holy. He is so holy that he is separate from everybody else.
prophecy ~ a message from God.
sin ~ not to obey God. Or, what you do when you do not obey God.
Jews ~ the people that lived in Judah (which sounds like ‘Jew-dah’) and Israel.