A Shocker!
Isaiah 6:1-10 records a grand vision Isaiah had of the Lord, seated on His throne. Surrounding the Lord were angelic beings (seraphs), calling out "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord Almighty – the whole earth is full of His glory." The doorposts shook and the temple filled with smoke.
Isaiah was undone, crying out in fear, "Woe is me! I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips and live among a people of unclean lips ... for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty."
A seraph flew to Isaiah with a hot coal, touched his unclean lips and cauterized his sin. Flush with forgiveness, Isaiah heard God ask: "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" And Isaiah, in a response to God's forgiving grace immediately volunteered: "Here am I. Send me!"
When a person sees the magnitude of their sin and the lavish extravagance of God's forgiveness, it makes him or her eagerly volunteer to be a solution to the world's need. It is no longer a "have-to" but a "get-to." And it is the normal response of someone who's discovered: "God treated Jesus as though He were me, so He could treat me as though I were Him." (Repeat).
Here am I, Lord. Send me!
I always thought Isaiah 6 was a vision Isaiah had of God the Father, high and exalted, whose holiness shook the temple doors and filled it with smoke. But one day, while reading John 12, I came across this:
"After Jesus had done all these miraculous signs in their presence, they still would not believe in Him. This was to fulfill the word of the prophet Isaiah ...... 'He has blinded their eyes and deadened their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor turn – and I would heal them.' Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus' glory and spoke about Him." (John 12:37-41)
Where in Isaiah are these words (about not seeing with their eyes or understanding with their hearts)? In Isaiah 6. In fact, they're right after Isaiah volunteers to go – in verse 8. Immediately, God commissions Isaiah to deliver that hard message (you've got blind eyes and dead hearts). John quotes this part of Isaiah 6, which are words from God's lips to Isaiah ... from the God who is Holy, Holy, Holy, whose voice shook the temple's doorposts. Him! Then...
Well, then... I read John 12:41 –
[John speaking]: "Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus' glory and spoke about Him."
Boom! Isaiah 6 is about Jesus' glory. The one who is Holy, Holy, Holy, whose voice shook the doorposts ... that's Jesus. Jesus is the one high and exalted, seated on His throne, in Isaiah 6!
When one reads Revelation 1:12-18, it's not difficult to understand the power and might and glory of Jesus, the Holy King – before whom Isaiah cried out, "Woe is me! I am ruined!" This Holy, Holy, Holy One took our woe-full sentence of death upon Himself. He was ruined, for me.
All hail mighty King Jesus! Here am I. Send me!