Bible Study Isaiah 6
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Isaiah 6 · WEB

The Vision of the Holy God

Listen — WEB narration 0:00 / 0:00 Narration: World English Bible (David Williams), public domain — AudioTreasure.

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In the year that king Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up; and his train filled the temple.
2Above him stood the seraphim. Each one had six wings. With two he covered his face. With two he covered his feet. With two he flew.
3One called to another and said, "Holy, holy, holy, is Yahweh of Armies! The whole earth is full of his glory!"
4The foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.
5Then I said, "Woe is me! For I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, Yahweh of Armies!"
6Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar.
7He touched my mouth with it, and said, "Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away, and your sin forgiven."
8I heard the Lord's voice, saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" Then I said, "Here I am. Send me!"
9He said, "Go, and tell this people, 'You hear indeed, but don't understand; and you see indeed, but don't perceive.'
10Make the heart of this people fat. Make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn again, and be healed."
11Then I said, "Lord, how long?" He answered, "Until cities are laid waste without inhabitant, and houses without man, and the land becomes utterly desolate,
12and Yahweh has removed men far away, and the forsaken places are many within the land.
13If there is a tenth left in it, that also will in turn be consumed, as a terebinth, and as an oak, whose stump remains when they are felled; so the holy seed is the stump."
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Summary

Isaiah 6 is one of the most transforming encounters with God in all of Scripture — the prophet's call vision. In the year King Uzziah died (740 BC), Isaiah sees the Lord enthroned in the temple, seraphim crying "Holy, holy, holy," the building shaking, smoke filling the air. The prophet's first response is not wonder but self-destruction: "Woe is me, I am undone." A seraph brings a coal from the altar, touches his lips, and declares his sin forgiven. Then the commission: go and harden this people's hearts. The paradox is staggering — Isaiah is cleansed to preach a message of hardening. The chapter ends with the remnant hope: even after destruction, a holy seed remains in the stump.

Themes

  • The transcendent holiness of God — the triple *qadosh* that shakes creation
  • The sinner undone in the presence of holiness
  • Purification before service — the coal on the lips
  • The paradox of the hardening commission — God's judgment through proclamation
  • The remnant as holy seed — hope buried in the stump

Key verses

  • Isa 6:3 — “Holy, holy, holy, is Yahweh of Armies! The whole earth is full of his glory!”
  • Isa 6:5 — “Woe is me! For I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips.”
  • Isa 6:8 — “I heard the Lord's voice, saying, 'Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?' Then I said, 'Here I am. Send me!'”

Context & background

Isaiah 6 is the prophet's call narrative — placed not at the book's opening (as in Jeremiah or Ezekiel) but after five chapters of oracles, perhaps as a retrospective foundation. The year of Uzziah's death (740 BC) was a political crisis — Uzziah had been a strong king, and his death opened a period of instability. Against that backdrop, Isaiah sees the true King enthroned. The seraphim (*saraph* = burning ones) appear only here in the Hebrew Bible — six-winged creatures whose threefold "holy" (*qadosh*, *qadosh*, *qadosh*) is the only triple repetition applied to any divine attribute in the OT. In Hebrew, repetition intensifies; triple repetition is superlative. The thresholds *shook* (*annu*) at the voice of the seraphim — the temple itself responds to God's praise. The hardening commission (vv. 9-10) is quoted in all four Gospels and Acts as the explanation for Israel's failure to receive Jesus. The "stump" image (v. 13) introduces Isaiah's remnant theology — the holy seed is not destroyed by judgment but preserved through it, ready to grow again.

Cross-references

  • Hebrews 4:13 — "nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight" — v. 3's "whole earth full of glory"
  • John 12:39-41 — John says Isaiah saw Jesus' glory — v. 1 in NT application
  • Matthew 13:13-15 — Jesus quotes vv. 9-10 to explain why he speaks in parables
  • Revelation 4:8 — "holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty" — v. 3
  • Romans 11:5-7 — the remnant chosen by grace — v. 13's stump

Check your reading

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  1. Observe

    What do the seraphim cry to one another in verse 3?

  2. Observe

    What does the seraph do with the live coal in verses 6-7?

  3. Interpret

    Why does the encounter with God's holiness produce Isaiah's "woe is me, I am undone" (v. 5)?

  4. Interpret

    How should the hardening commission (vv. 9-10) be understood?

  5. Apply

    What does the sequence — undone, cleansed, commissioned — say about preparation for service?

  6. Apply

    What is required before one can authentically say "here I am, send me" (v. 8)?

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