ISAIAH ANSWERS GOD’S CALL
I. LESSON SUMMARY
What can we learn about commitment from Isaiah’s story?
We know that any commitment to God comes out of a relationship with Him and Isaiah
gives us some important points about our relationship with God.
A. First, any relationship with God involves developing an understanding of who God is.
1. Isaiah tells us He is holy—separate, apart and different from anything we have
ever known.
2. His holiness also includes a righteous purity that will expose any sinfulness and
inadequacies we may have.
B. Secondly, God wants our relationship with Him to be authentic.
1. Isaiah found that to establish and maintain an authentic relationship with a holy
God required confession, repentance and atonement for sin.
- Being in relationship with God means aspiring to develop God’s holiness in our
own lives.
2. Isaiah also recognized that an authentic relationship with God was alive, changing
and growing.
a. Isaiah and his people had allowed their relationship with God to deteriorate
into a set of rituals and festivals.
- Worship was a weekly habit with no life-changing inspiration.
b. An authentic relationship with God is not just a set of religious practices, but
learning to let what you believe change the way you live your life.
C. Next, based on Isaiah’s experience, as our relationship with God grows and
develops, there will be a call to serve this holy God.
1. The call will come as we are properly prepared and able to respond.
2. It is our response to this call that really defines our commitment to God.
- Isaiah gave us the model response, “Here am I. Send me!”
3. In his new relationship with God, Isaiah was a changed man.
a. He was no longer concerned about his status and position in life, or even his
personal safety.
b. His focus in life was now on what he could do to express his gratitude to God.
c. One of the important ways he did this was to share his experience with others.
D. For Isaiah then, his commitment came out of an understanding of who God is, what
God did for him and a deep sense of gratitude.
- Again, a good model for our own commitment.
II. INTRODUCTION
A. Unit: Old Testament People of Commitment – Part II
1. Purpose
a. to explore what was involved in the commitments of these 4 people and how
their decisions affected their lives
b. to find guidance for our own commitments to God.
2. Theme: a commitment to God can involve unforeseen risks, but will provide
unforeseen blessings as well.
B. Today’s Lesson
1. The Setting
a. Today’s story of Isaiah takes place in the year that King Uzziah died.
- Most scholars believe that date to be 742 BC.
b. Uzziah had reigned over the southern kingdom, sometimes called
- Recall that after Solomon, the 10 northern tribes pulled out of the alliance and
formed a northern kingdom called “
- The 2 southern most tribes, Judah and Benjamin, became the southern
kingdom which took its name from the more dominant of the 2 tribes.
c. During Uzziah’s reign both kingdoms enjoyed great prosperity with almost as
much success and influence as Solomon’s kingdom.
- 3 factors probably account for this prosperity:
(1) Assyria and
during this period they had essentially canceled each other out.
- Assyria destroyed the Syrian capitol,
exhausted most of their own resources.
(2)
over their lesser neighbors.
- e.g., Uzziah had modernized the army, conquered the Israelite’s
traditional enemy, the Philistines, and forced some of the smaller
surrounding nations to make annual payments (tribute) to his kingdom.
(3) Both kingdoms were enjoying political stability and peace because both
had very able kings who ruled for a relatively long time (~40 years).
- Uzziah in particular was an energetic and competent ruler who
encouraged prosperous enterprises in agriculture, copper and iron
works and even extended commercial activities into
d. From a religious viewpoint, Uzziah was generally considered a “good” king,
mostly because the nation did prosper under him.
- And during the first part of his reign, he was faithful to God.
- But he was quite proud of his achievements and never really gave enough
credit to God.
- Moreover, he allowed pagan altars to remain in land and during his last years
he himself began to turn away from the Lord.
2. Problems in
a. In spite of the pagan presence, there was an increase in participation by the
people in
b. The problem was that the people were not practicing genuine, authentic worship.
- Their professed beliefs were not translated into actual practice in their lives.
- One writer characterizes their failure as “presentational religiosity” with an
absence of “authentic ethical living”.
- They paid lip service to God and went through the rituals, but did not uphold
God’s ethical requirements in their everyday lives.
- The upper class would celebrate the religious festivals but then continue to
oppress the poor and powerless through many kinds of injustice.
c. Does this sound like a paradox?
- How can a nation have more people participating in religion and religious
activities, but still have widespread oppression, injustice and an ever
widening gap between the rich and poor?
(The religion and religious practices do not reflect an authentic relationship
with God, and the people don’t really understand what commitment means.)
- Do you see any parallels with our world today?
3. Isaiah
a. Isaiah was a prophet to the southern kingdom who probably lived in
- He is believed to have been born ~760 BC and probably died ~701 BC.
- He may have been born to aristocracy because during his ministry he seemed
to have easy access to the king.
b. If Isaiah received his call in 742, he would have been about 18 at the time.
- Some think he may have been a young priest serving in the
had his vision.
c. Isaiah was not hot-headed and explosive like so many other prophets.
- His writings are elegant and more reserved.
- Throughout his life he seemed to have a very clear idea of the will of God.
- It was in his writing that we see the first teachings about true monotheism.
-- In Isaiah’s day many Jews worshipped only one God, but still believed
in the existence of other gods (henotheism).
-- Isaiah taught otherwise, emphasizing the holiness and sovereignty of God.
4. Isaiah’s Commitment
a. In today’s story, Isaiah has a vision where he experiences the presence of
God in a very profound way.
- His vision of God and in particular, the holiness of God, makes Isaiah
acutely aware of just how far short both he and his people have fallen from
God’s standards.
b. In his vision, Isaiah confesses what he now recognizes as sinfulness and a
lack of holiness in his own life.
- He repents and begins seeking a new, more authentic relationship with God.
- He recognizes that changes must be made in his life, some of them painful,
before he can properly worship and serve a holy God.
- But God in His grace provides a way for Isaiah to be forgiven and purified
for a deeper, more meaningful relationship with Him.
c. God provides the means for Isaiah to be changed and prepared for a holy life
with Him.
- At the same time, God issues a call for someone to take this message of
change to other people—a message that people must change the way
they live.
- Out of gratitude to God and properly prepared to speak as His prophet,
Isaiah responds with a new level of commitment, “Here am I. Send me!”
III. SCRIPTURE
A. Read Isaiah 6:1-4
1. Isaiah tells us he had a vision of God in heaven.
a. He doesn’t say it was a dream, but a vision—something likely experienced
during the waking hours of the day.
b. Where was he when the vision occurred? (the text doesn’t say)
- Some have speculated that he was in the
service there.
- Others have suggested it came to him during his own private devotional
time, possibly in the
of his beloved king, Uzziah.
2. His vision and the images he describes are quite explicit with interesting details.
a. His vision involves at least 4 of our 5 physical senses.
- He sees God in all His glory.
- He hears the voices of God and the heavenly beings.
- He feels the shaking of the doorposts and thresholds.
- He probably used his sense of smell to confirm that the substance filling
the temple was smoke and not fog or clouds.
b. Isaiah’s description suggests that his vision was not some psychological
or meditative thought process.
- It had a certain level of physical reality to it because it involved so many
physical senses.
3. Who are these heavenly beings called “seraphs”?
a. “Seraph” is a Hebrew word meaning “fiery one” or “burning one”.
- It may come from the idea that these beings had a shining appearance or
possibly from the fiery imagery associated with the presence of God.
b. The English translation for more than one of these beings is “seraphs”, while
the plural in Hebrew is the more familiar “seraphim” that we hear in hymns.
| Contact: - Search - Log On | Copyright © 2010, Temple Baptist Church |  |
