Isaiah 6:1-8

Isaiah’s Commission

1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple.

2 Above him were seraphim, 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 seraphim 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!”

Isaiah 6:1-8 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 6

This chapter contains a vision of the glory and majesty of Christ, the mission and commission of the prophet, and the destruction of the Jews. In the vision may be observed the time of it, and the object seen; who is described by the throne on which he sat, Isa 6:1 and by his ministers about him; and these, by their name, by their situation, by their wings and the use of them, and by their employment, Isa 6:2,3 and by the effects their crying to one another had upon the place where they were, Isa 6:4 and next follows the effect the whole vision had on the prophet, which threw him into great distress of mind; and the relief he had by one of the seraphim, and the manner of it, Isa 6:6,7 upon which a question being put, concerning sending some person, the prophet makes answer, expressing his readiness to go, Isa 6:8 when a commission is given him, and the message he is sent with is declared, Isa 6:9,10 whereupon he asks how long it would be the case of the Jews mentioned in the message he was sent with; and he is told it would continue until the utter destruction of them, Isa 6:11,12 and yet, for the comfort of him and other saints, it is intimated that there would be a remnant among them, according to the election of grace, Isa 6:13.

Cross References

• 1. S 2 Chronicles 26:22,23
• 2. S 2 Kings 15:7
• 3. S Exodus 24:10; S Numbers 12:8; John 12:41
• 4. S 1 Kings 22:19; S Psalms 9:4; S Psalms 123:1; S Revelation 4:2
• 5. Isaiah 52:13; Isaiah 53:12
• 6. Revelation 1:13
• 7. Ezekiel 1:5; Ezekiel 10:15; Revelation 4:8
• 8. Ezekiel 1:11
• 9. S Exodus 15:11
• 10. Psalms 89:8
• 11. Isaiah 11:9; Isaiah 54:5; Malachi 1:11
• 12. S Exodus 16:7; Numbers 14:21; Psalms 72:19; Revelation 4:8
• 13. S Exodus 19:18; S Exodus 40:34; Ezekiel 43:5; Ezekiel 44:4; Revelation 15:8
• 14. S Isaiah 5:8
• 15. S Numbers 17:12; S Deuteronomy 5:26
• 16. Luke 5:8
• 17. Exodus 6:12
• 18. Isaiah 59:3; Jeremiah 9:3-8
• 19. S Exodus 24:10
• 20. Psalms 45:3; Isaiah 24:23; Isaiah 32:1; Isaiah 33:17; Jeremiah 51:57
• 21. S Job 42:5
• 22. S Leviticus 10:1; Ezekiel 10:2
• 23. Jeremiah 1:9; Daniel 10:16
• 24. S Leviticus 26:41; Isaiah 45:25; Daniel 12:3; 1 John 1:7
• 25. S Job 40:9; Acts 9:4
• 26. Jeremiah 26:12,15
• 27. S Genesis 1:26
• 28. S Genesis 22:1; S Exodus 3:4