And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” (Isaiah 6: 8, ESV)
As sure as the sun rises, pundits predict who will win the next big event. Brandel Chamblee, using his analytical skills, pontificates on who will win because, “the data shows it.”
Paul McGinley modestly suggests another player will win because he has those “pointy elbows.” For the uninitiated, “pointy elbows” means a player is walking with recognizable confidence — it’s an Irish thing.
When we read Isaiah, we are no longer dealing with predictive skills. We are entering the realm of prophecy. As Peter reminds us, “Men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:21).
In Isaiah 6, we encounter one of the most significant questions God asks a biblical figure: “Whom shall I send?” It is also true that God indirectly places this question before us. But before we get there, we need to see the original context.
Leading up to this critically important question are five chapters of heartbreak. Israel has “forsaken the Lord,” “despised the Holy One of Israel,” become like an unfaithful bride, and become “like a garden without water.”
Yet mercifully, sprinkled throughout these descriptions of Israel going AWOL, the prophet weaves in hints of future redemption.
While God’s bride is breaking her vows, God appoints a prophet — a kind of prosecuting attorney — to bring covenant charges against her and publicly call her to repentance.
So, when God asks, “Whom shall I send?” he is asking: Who will preach a message that most will reject?
Isaiah answers, “Here I am! Send me.” That raises an important question: What caused Isaiah to volunteer?
Isaiah has a vision of Israel’s Sovereign seated on the throne, whose glory fills the whole earth. Seeing the glory of God — and John tells us Isaiah saw the glory of Christ Jesus (John 12:41) — Isaiah is seized by the reality of his own moral impurity. Beholding the majesty of God will do that to a man.
Isaiah cries out, “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips…for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” We moderns greatly underestimate what happens when a man meets the living God.
Surprisingly, the prophet who had earlier pronounced six woes against Israel now pronounces one upon himself. A “woe” is the language of prophetic curse and judgment.
Isaiah does not first see himself as superior to the people he is sent to confront. He sees himself as undone before the holiness of God.
As Isaiah confesses his sin, God, in mercy, sends one of his seraphim to touch Isaiah’s unclean lips with a burning coal taken from the altar. His lips, symbolic of his unclean heart, are cleansed. His guilt is removed. His sin is atoned for.
Here we see the order of grace. Isaiah does not cleanse himself and then offer himself to God. God reveals his glory, exposes Isaiah’s sin, provides atonement, removes guilt, and then sends him. The call to mission flows from sovereign grace.
For Isaiah, this raises another question: How will Israel respond, and how long will this hardening last?
Like the northern kingdom of Israel, Judah will reject Isaiah’s message and eventually go into Babylonian captivity. Isaiah is sent to preach, even though most will not listen.
Thankfully, amid judgment, we find proclamations of future mercy. As we continue to read, we discover that God has preserved a Jewish remnant — a people who, like Isaiah, will repent and return to Yahweh.
More important still, this remnant will one day behold the “holy seed” (Isaiah 6:13), the One who will fulfill all covenant obligations and secure all God’s promises.
This seed is none other than the seed of the woman promised in Genesis 3:15, the seed of Abraham identified in Galatians 3:16, and the seed of David promised in 2 Samuel 7:12–13.
And who is that promised seed? Only one man qualifies to fulfill all those promises — Messiah Jesus. And he fulfills them single-handedly.
When God appointed a prophet to speak truth to Israel in the eighth century BC, Isaiah said, “Send me.” But Isaiah’s commission pointed beyond itself to a greater Prophet, Priest, and King.
In the eternal counsel of God, the Father sent the Son into a world that would reject him. Yet the Son came willingly.
The rejection of Isaiah’s message led to judgment and exile. The rejection of Jesus by the many led, by the sovereign wisdom of God, to the salvation of some — both Jew and Gentile (Romans 9–11).
What does all this mean for you and me?
God uses men who see the King in his glory, repent of their sins, receive mercy through Christ, and then speak truth to wayward men lost in the blindness of their culpability.
Will you say, “Send me”?
If you do, you will discover that God uses ordinary men as instruments in his extraordinary work of calling another remnant to himself. Trust this: our clubs, like all of us, are filled with men who need a Savior.
Prayer: Lord, may we see your glory, repent of our sins, receive your mercy, and be filled with Isaiah’s courage.