Isa. 6, The Storm & the Light (D. A. Carson)

(We attended the Rocky Mountain Bible Mission “Shepherd’s Conference” in Missoula April 23-25.  We are going to post, in outline form, the messages from D. A. Carson of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, founder of the Gospel Coalition.)


Isa. 6 needs to be seen in its context.  Isa. 1-5 is a denunciation on Jerusalem for her sin.  (Carson noted Isa. 3:5, a sign of God’s judgment is the loss of elderly statesmen and the abundance of children in leadership.)  Isa. 7ff speaks of judgment by Assyria.  In the midst of this was a good king, Uzziah, being good most of his reign but died in shame.  Isa. 6:1 begins “In the year King Uzziah died.”

v A holy God, v1-4.

·        “I saw the Lord.”  Isaiah used the term Adonai, not Yahweh.  He saw the “hem” of His robe.  As always God is “seen” with limitations.  In depictions of God the closer you get to God the more obscure the description.

·        “Holy, Holy, Holy.”  God is thrice holy, only here and in Rev. 4-5.  “Holy” must be seen as more than simply “separation” or “moral” as we often speak.  “Holy” is tied to the essence of God; to be “holy” is in some way to be “God-ish.”

·        “The whole earth is full of His glory.”  This is a common theme, esp. in the Psalms.  Dr. Carson used Psalm 29 to illustrate.

·        This description of God tells us something about God we may forget.  The Lord is not a “tame” God (using the description of Aslan in Chronicles of Narnia.)

v A humble servant, v5-7.

·        “Woe is me.”  We should see this in light of the series of woes pronounced by Isaiah in Ch. 5 (v8,11,18,20,21,22ab).  “My eyes have seen the King.”

·        What we consider the most sinful part of the body, our lips or tongue, our speech, that is where God goes to clean up.  (My note: of course this related to the task God has for Isaiah.)

·        “A live coal … from the altar.”  How God did this, of course, is with a product of the “sacrifice.”

v A hard message, v8-13.

·        “Whom shall I send?” God does not ask because He does not know but because He desires an answer from Isaiah.

·        “Send me.”  This is not the cocky answer of Peter (though all leave you I will never deny you).

·        Isa. 6:9-10 is a very hard message.  Dr. Carson relates it to the words of Jesus, Because I tell you the truth, you do not believe Me (Jn. 8:45).  In today’s evangelical truth here is a needed message: we cannot “trim” the truth in order to get more people to believe. 

·        “How long.”  Isaiah’s ministry would never see a great revival.  He was to continue preaching until the land lay in ruins.  And yet, v13, there was eventually a message of hope, the “Stump of Jesse” (Isa. 11:1ff). 

God is severe and at the same time, spectacularly generous!

v Lessons.

·        The God-ordained folly of preaching.

·        The God-ordained finality of Jesus (the ultimate sacrifice, the stump of Jesse).  Jesus is the Holy One (Acts 3:14, etc.).

·        The God-ordained severity and compassion of God.