Isaiah 6:1 - Meaning and Application

The vision Isaiah saw when he was confirmed as a prophet of the Lord, like Samuel (1 Samuel 3:20), had two purposes. First, it strengthened his faith, so he could be fully sure of the truth of what God would later show him. God had already opened his communication with Isaiah, and such visions did not need to be repeated for every new message. In a similar way, God first appeared to Abraham as the God of glory (Acts 7:2) and to Moses (Exodus 3:2). Ezekiel’s prophecies and John’s also begin with visions of divine glory.

Second, this vision stirred Isaiah’s heart. It gave him such reverence for God that it would both energize him and keep him faithful in God’s service. Anyone who is to teach others about God should first know God well himself. The vision is dated to make it certain. It happened in the year King Uzziah died, after he had ruled Judah for most of his life, and for the most part had ruled well and successfully, longer than fifty years.

Around the time Uzziah died, Isaiah saw God on a throne. This reminds us that when princes die and return to the dust, our comfort is that the Lord reigns forever (Psalm 146:3, 4, 10). Israel’s king dies, but Israel’s God still lives. The death of great and good people should lift our eyes in faith to the eternal, immortal King. Uzziah died under a cloud, because he was kept isolated as a leper until his death. Earthly rulers have their limits, and their glory often fades. God, however, lives forever, and his glory never fades. Uzziah dies in a place of sickness, but the King of kings still sits on his throne.

What the prophet saw is recorded for us, so that we may believe it and, in that revelation, see the glory of the Lord as if in a mirror. We should turn aside and look at this great sight with humble reverence. First, we see God on his throne, and that throne is high and lifted up. It is above all other thrones because it is greater than them, and over them because it rules them. Isaiah did not see the very essence of God, which no human being can see. He saw the Lord in his rule and authority, and he saw the Lord Jesus. John 12:41 explains that Isaiah saw Christ’s glory and spoke about him, which is clear proof that our Savior is truly divine. After his resurrection, when Christ sat down at the right hand of God, he simply took the place he had always held (John 17:5).

Second, we see his temple, his church on earth, filled with the signs of his glory. His throne was set at the door of the temple, like rulers who sat in judgment at the gates. His train, the edge of his robe, filled the temple. This can mean the whole world, since all of it is God’s temple and the earth is his footstool. More especially, it points to the church, which is filled, enriched, and made beautiful by the marks of God’s special presence.

Third, we see the bright and blessed attendants around his throne, who honor his glory and carry out his rule (Isaiah 6:2). Above the throne, hovering near it and looking toward it, stood the seraphim, holy angels whose name means burning ones. God makes his ministers flames of fire (Psalm 104:4). They burn with love for God, zeal for his glory, and anger against sin. He also uses them as agents of his judgment when he is a consuming fire to his enemies. It is not certain whether Isaiah saw two, four, or, as seems likely, a countless company of angels (Daniel 7:10). Their greatness lies in being seraphim, full of warmth matching their light, filled not only with knowledge of God but with holy love.

Special attention is given to their wings, because of how they used them, which teaches us something important. Each of them had six wings, not stretched upward as in Ezekiel’s vision (Ezekiel 1:11), but used in two ways. Four wings were used for covering. With the two upper wings, near the head, they covered their faces, and with the two lower wings they covered their feet, or lower parts. This shows deep humility and reverence in their service before God, for he is greatly feared in the assembly of the holy (Psalm 89:7). They covered not only their feet, the less honorable parts of the body (1 Corinthians 12:23), but even their faces. Their faces, no doubt, are fairer than human faces (Acts 6:15), yet before God they cover them, because they cannot endure the brightness of divine glory. They also do it because, aware of how far they are from God’s perfect holiness, they are ashamed to show themselves openly before him, who even charges his angels with folly if they should try to compare with him (Job 4:18). If angels are this reverent before God, how carefully should we approach his throne with godly fear. Otherwise, we are not doing God’s will as the angels do it. Yet Moses, when he went up the mountain with God, removed the veil from his face (2 Corinthians 3:18).

The other two wings were used for flight. When angels are sent on God’s errands, they fly swiftly (Daniel 9:21), faster than if they were carried on the wind. This teaches us to do God’s work gladly and quickly. If angels come from heaven to earth for our good, should we not rise from earth toward heaven and share in their glory (Luke 20:36)?

Fourth, we hear the song of praise the angels sing to honor the One on the throne (Isaiah 6:3). They sang with zeal and strong feeling, crying out loudly. They also sang in harmony, calling to one another and answering in turn without any discord. Their song is the same as the one sung by the four living creatures (Revelation 4:8). Praising God has always been, and will forever be, the work of heaven and the steady joy of blessed spirits above (Psalm 84:4). The worship of heaven does not change with time or style.

The seraphim give God praise for two things. First, they praise his endless perfection in himself.

Here is one of God’s most glorious titles: he is the Lord of hosts, Lord over all armies and powers, over every host in heaven and on earth. One of his most glorious qualities is his holiness. Without holiness, even his rule as Lord of hosts, or, as the parallel passage says in Revelation 4:8, as the Lord God Almighty, would not be the joyful, praise-worthy truth it is. Power without purity would only frighten people.

No divine attribute is praised in Scripture more than this one. God’s power is said twice in Psalm 62:11, but his holiness is said three times: “Holy, holy, holy.” This shows several things. First, it shows the angels’ zeal and earnestness in praising God, since they repeat the words when one phrase is not enough. Second, it shows the deep pleasure they take in thinking about God’s holiness, a subject they love to linger on. Third, it shows how far above even the purest creatures God’s holiness stands. He is holy, three times holy, infinitely holy, holy by nature, perfectly holy, and holy forever.

This may also point to the three persons of the Godhead, the Holy Father, Holy Son, and Holy Spirit, since the next verse says, “Who will go for us?” (Isaiah 6:8). Or it may point to God as the One who was, who is, and who is to come, because that title of honor is added to the song in Revelation 4:8. Some think the angels were also praising the fairness of the sentence God was about to pronounce on the Jewish nation. In that judgment, he would be, and remain, holy, because all his ways are right.

The glory of God was also made known to people. “The earth is full of his glory,” the glory of his power and purity, because he is holy in all he does (Psalm 145:17). The Jews thought God’s glory should stay within their own land. But this chapter points ahead to gospel times, when God’s glory would fill the whole earth. It is especially the glory of his holiness, which is the beauty of all his other qualities. For a time, that glory filled the temple (Isaiah 6:1), but in later days the earth itself will be full of it.

Notice the marks of terror that filled the temple when this vision of divine glory appeared in Isaiah 6:4. First, the house was shaken. Not only the door, but even the doorposts, though firmly set, moved at the voice of the one who cried out, at the voice of God calling to judgment (Psalm 50:4), and at the voice of the angel praising him. Heaven has voices loud enough to drown out all the noise of this lower world, with its many waters (Psalm 93:3-4). This strong shaking of the temple showed God’s anger against the people for their sins. It also gave a preview of the later destruction of the temple and city by the Babylonians, and then by the Romans. It was meant to humble us. If walls and posts tremble before God, should we not tremble too?

Second, the house was darkened. It was filled with smoke, like a cloud spread over the face of his throne (Job 26:9). Because of the darkness, we cannot fully look at it or speak of it clearly. In the temple above, there will be no smoke, and everything will be seen plainly. There God lives in light, but here he makes darkness his covering.