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the disciple whom Jesus loved, fell at His feet as one dead, when he beheld His glory
(Rev. 1: 17).
This attitude and confession of Isaiah is but a blessed anticipation of the attitude and
confession of Israel when at last they shall look upon Him Whom they pierced.
"We are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we
all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away" (Isa. 64: 6).
Isaiah, in the course of his commission, stood up before men and pronounced woe to
them because of their sins. Twenty times does he pronounce this woe, but before he
uttered one note of denunciation upon others, he bowed in the presence of the Lord and
confessed:
"Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the
midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts"
(Isa. 6: 5).
Here is the true spirit of ministry. "Considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted"
(Gal. 6: 1), is a N.T. equivalent.
Moreover, Isaiah did not first speak of the unclean people among whom he dwelt; he
spoke first of himself. This, too, finds parallels in such passages as Dan. 9:: "We have
sinned, etc,"; and Neh. 1:: "We have dealt very corruptly, etc."
There are times when we must preach wrath and speak of condemnation, but in doing
so let us remember that we are ourselves but brands plucked from the burning. A
preacher once told a friend that he was going to preach "hell" to a certain congregation.
"I hope you will preach tenderly" was the rejoinder. This is the attitude expressed in the
reply of Isaiah after his commission of judgment, "Lord, how long?" (Isa. 6: 11). This
attitude of mind and heart must have pleased the Lord that sent him.
The threefold "Then said I" of the commission of Isaiah speaks for itself. The
structure shows that they include his confession and his cleansing, his consecration and
his commission, as well as his commiseration with his people, and the message of
commination that he had to pronounce. His confession was specific, "Unclean lips". His
cleansing was equally specific, "This hath touched thy lips", and Isaiah then heard the
voice of the Lord saying:
"Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" (Isa. 6: 8).
Let us pause. God had the sovereign right to command the service of any of His
creatures. He could have sent an unclean or an unwilling Isaiah to do His service; He
could, we say, if might be the only criterion. But God is holy, and He therefore uses
clean vessels. He could have ordered Isaiah to take up his commission, He could, we say,
if omnipotence were His only attribute, but He had made man after His Own image, and