Isaiah 6:6-8 - Whom shall I send?

6:6,7

The key elements of this scene are first the holiness and enthronement of the Lord. He is Lord, and He is holy. This stands in opposition to the world. Then there is Isaiah’s awareness of his own sinfulness, not to mention that of the world. We should note that Isaiah is going to become one of God’s most important messengers, arguably the most important messenger in the Old Testament. In order to do this he needed an awareness of the greatness of the Lord, the sinfulness of the world, and of himself. If things were left there, both he and the world would be in an absolute mess, a hopeless condition. Judgement would be the only thing in prospect. Thankfully things are not left there, one of the seraphim comes with the burning coal, touches Isaiah’s lips and tells him that his guilt is taken away, and his sin atoned for.

6:8

Then the Lord asks “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” The plural us here is like that in Genesis 1:26. It could be referring to the trinity, or, perhaps more likely, the angelic host in heaven. God knows the sinful state of the nation, and of the world, and He intends to do something about it. We can despair when we look at the state of our nation, and we are right to be aggrieved, but we should also have faith that the Lord intends to do something about it. Next, that doing something about it involves men. God always involves us in His plans.We should be ready for God to call us. Of course, we are all already called in a general sense, and should seek to live as God’s children and Christ’s servants from day to day, but we should also be ready for a call to a specific task.