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What has the prophet experienced in the opening verses of this chapter that leads him
to make this great confession? Let him speak again: "For mine eyes have seen the King,
the Lord of hosts." Who is this King, and what is there about Him to cause such a
self-revelation of uncleanness? In the first place this King is a direct contrast to king
Uzziah, in the year of whose death the vision was seen. King Uzziah died a leper:--
"And the Lord smote the king so that he was a leper unto the day of his death, and
dwelt in a several (separate) house' (II Kings 15: 5).
Here, then, is Isaiah witnessing to a leprous people (Isa. 1: 5, 6), with a leprous king
living apart because of his uncleanness. In vivid contrast is placed "The King" sitting in
the temple, whose holiness is such that even heavenly seraphims use four wings to cover
face and feet while they cry, "Holy, holy, holy". Suddenly, in that holy presence, Isaiah
realized his oneness with that poor leper king and that polluted nation. "Woe, is me, for I
am undone."
We are not told that the anger of the Lord waxed hot against Isaiah for daring to enter
His holy presence. We are not told that one of the mighty seraphims flew towards him to
exclude him. No, Isaiah is "in the light" (I John 1: 7), and if that light reveals sin, as the
sunbeam reveals the floating mote, it needs but to be confessed to be cleansed away. Let
us not miss this lesson, for it comes also in the epistle of John. We do not read, "If we
ask for forgiveness", but, "If we confess" (I John 1: 9). In the practical outworking of
grace, it would be a moral disaster to cleanse away recognized yet unconfessed sin. So
here, Isaiah does not attempt to mitigate; he confesses at once--"I am a man of unclean
lips." He adds, moreover, "I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips"--an O.T.
way of confessing "sin" and "sins" (I John 1: 8 and 10), confessing identification with a
fallen humanity, as well as personal complicity with its evil.
Let us notice for our joy (I John 1: 4) that cleansing is immediate: "The blood of Jesus
Christ His Son is cleansing us from all sin" (I John 1: 7):--
"Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had
taken with the tongs from off the altar. And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this
hath touched thy lips: and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged" (Isa. 6: 6, 7).
Nothing but the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses in I John 1: 7, and nothing but the live
coal from the altar purges in Isa. 6: 6, 7. John calls the evil by its true name of "sin",
and the seraphim does not excuse or modify it--it is "iniquity" and "sin". Isaiah is now
ready for service.
The prophet's experience is later to be the experience of all Israel when they "look"
upon Him Whom they had pierced, for a reference to Zech. 12: and 13: will show that
this look (12: 10) accompanied by confession (12: 10-14) is to be but the prelude to the
opening of a fountain for sin and uncleanness (13: 1).