Consider these questions as you dwell in Isaiah 6:8-13:

1. In Isaiah 6, after Isaiah experiences God's forgiveness and responds with "Here I am. Send me," he is tasked with delivering a message of judgment and hardening the hearts of the people. How can believers today reconcile the dual responsibility of sharing the Gospel's grace while also acknowledging the reality of judgment?

2. Isaiah's commission to speak words that would close the ears and hearts of the people seems contrary to the usual message of hope and redemption in the Gospel. How does this instance reflect the tension between the invitation to salvation and the hardening of hearts? What does this teach us about God's sovereignty in human responses to His message?

3. Reflecting on Isaiah's response, "Here I am. Send me," believers are reminded of their call to share the Gospel. How can this passage inspire a sense of urgency and responsibility in individuals to share the message of forgiveness and redemption found in Christ, despite the challenges or resistance encountered?

Transcript:

In the first part of Isaiah 6, we saw his response to the absolute holiness of God. He said that it wasn't just the people around him who had unclean lips. He himself was a man with unclean lips, and God cleansed him. He brought that coal from the fire, did the cherubim, and made him clean, sin was atone for. So, we see something important here that Isaiah responds to what God has done. God says something here. He hears the voice of the Lord, Whom shall I send and who will go for us? After what Isaiah has experienced, what should his response be? Well, my sins have been forgiven. Maybe I'll go for you, God, when I've got some free time, or I have some vacation time. Maybe, God, I'll think about it, but I have something going on that I would like to do. Now, obviously, that's not what we see here. Isaiah comes face to face with the holiness of God. He realizes that his sin has been atone for. And so, when God says to him, Whom shall I send and who will go for us? We see his response, Here I am. Here I am.

It's me. Send me, because you have made me clean, O God. I will go. So what does God tell him to say? This is where the story really turns and it continues through this theme of judgment, and there's a sad element to this story here? Because what Isaiah is supposed to say is not good news. He says, Say, 'keep on hearing, but do not understand. ' 'Keep on seeing, you do not perceive. Make the heart of these people dull, and their ears heavy, blind their eyes, lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed. ' In other words, God is saying judgment is going to come. There is not going to be any forgiveness on the horizon for them. Not any time soon. It will, in fact, come. But as it stands, God is saying judgment is going to come. Judgment needs to come. So you're going to hear, but you're not going to understand. You're going to see, but you're not going to perceive. Your hearts are going to be dull. This is a sad state of affairs that this is what is going to be happening is heartbreaking, honestly.

The word of the Lord is coming from a prophet, but the purpose is not that it would be good news. And we see that there's some fatigue in this, right, from the prophet, Isaiah, that he realizes he is not sending good news as he asks the question in verse eleven, How long, O Lord? How long are the people's ears going to be closed? How long will they be blind to the truth? How long will their hearts be dull? And what does God say? Until judgment comes. Until judgment comes. This is a very difficult passage. We have the joy of Isaiah understanding the call on his life because of God forgiving him. Then we see that the word of the Lord is coming to people, but it is entirely for the purpose judgment. But we understand going forward that at some point here, Isaiah is going to be able to proclaim good news. It's going to be when after judgment comes, we read. But we do know later on in the Book of Isaiah, he is able to proclaim good news that God is going to come. His people are going to be brought back. People are going to be forgiven.

Now, there's a couple of things that I want us to think about as we consider this passage quickly today as we close up. First is this commissioning from Isaiah. We have understood the holiness of God. We have understood that we have sinned against Him. And so we have a call in our lives. In the Great Commission, we are called to go and make disciples. And if we understand what God has done for us in Christ, then our response is, Here I am. Send me. Now, that doesn't necessarily mean we go out and we are missionaries. Some of us are not called for that, but we are called to make disciples, whether that's with our children, our grandchildren, our nieces, and nephews, people in our community, people in our covenant community of the church. We are called, and so may we respond. May we respond with the servanthood that Isaiah has. Here I am. Send me. May we go out each and every day and look for opportunities to share God's word because of what he has done for us in Christ. And the second thing I would like us to consider as we look at this passage, may we remember what this word of judgment comes as from God, that Isaiah is speaking this, and these people were going to hear the judgment.

They were going to see the judgment. They were going to experience the judgment. They were not going to understand it. May we look upon the judgment that was to be poured out upon us, the judgment that we received forgiveness for through the work of Christ for us. May we understand that? May our eyes not be closed to the grace that God has shown us. May our ears not be closed when we hear that gospel because that good news is proclaimed to us. Here, Isaiah is told to proclaim judgment, but we have good news proclaimed to us when we hear that our sins are forgiven Christ. May our hearts not be dull. May we hear the story of Christ's forgiveness. May we be motivated to go out with that message that others may hear and believe. Others may know the hope that we have in the Lord Jesus.