From Splendor to Shadow

Isaiah Sent When God's Purposes Seemed to Be Failing

But the dangers from without were not so serious as the dangers from within. By their apostasy and rebellion the people who should have been light bearers among the nations were inviting the judgments of God. Many of the evils of the northern kingdom, which had been denounced by Hosea and Amos, were fast corrupting Judah. In their desire for gain, men were adding house to house and field to field. See Isaiah 5:8. Justice was perverted, and no pity was shown the poor. God declared, “The spoil of the poor is in your houses.” Isaiah 3:14. Even magistrates turned a deaf ear to the cries of the poor, the widows, and the fatherless. See Isaiah 10:1, 2. SS 162.3

With wealth came love of display, drunkenness, and revelry. See Isaiah 2:11, 12; 3:16, 18-23; 5:22, 11, 12. And idolatry itself no longer provoked surprise. See Isaiah 2:8, 9. The few who remained true to God were tempted to give way to despair. It seemed as if God's purpose for Israel was about to fail. SS 162.4

It is not surprising that when Isaiah was called to bear God's messages of reproof, he shrank from the responsibility. He knew he would encounter resistance. As he thought of the stubbornness and unbelief of the people, his task seemed hopeless. Should he in despair leave Judah undisturbed to their idolatry? Were the gods of Nineveh to rule the earth in defiance of the God of heaven? SS 162.5

Such thoughts as these were crowding through Isaiah's mind as he stood under the portico of the temple. Suddenly there rose up before him a vision of the Lord sitting on a throne high and lifted up, while the train of His glory filled the temple. On each side of the throne the seraphim united in the solemn invocation, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of His glory,” until pillar and cedar gate seemed shaken with the sound, and the house was filled with praise. Isaiah 6:3. SS 163.1

Isaiah was overwhelmed with a sense of the purity and holiness of God. “Woe is me!” he cried; “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.” Verse 5. He realized that if left to his own inefficiency, he would be utterly unable to accomplish the mission to which he had been called. But a living coal from the altar was laid upon his lips, with the words, “Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.” Then the voice of God was heard saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” and Isaiah responded, “Here am I; send me.” Verses 7, 8. SS 163.2