Isaiah Chapter 6

Brethren, we want to turn over to the book of Isaiah. We have rather a modest amount of scripture we want to look at today and consider. We want to go through just one chapter today. In future sessions, we want to cover more ground. But I thought it was important to take my time with this today, Isaiah 6. Because in Isaiah 6, we see the calling of God's prophet.

We see the background behind the calling of God's prophet here. So I'd like to give you the theme of chapter 6. Then I'll go through a little bit of background. Then give you a New Testament spiritual lesson. And then actually go through the chapter verse by verse. So first of all, the theme of Isaiah 6. The theme is that God calls Isaiah to do God's work. God calls Isaiah to do God's work, not just to a personal relationship with God.

And you know, brethren, as we go through and we study this chapter, there are so many parallels we are going to see with our individual walk with God. Because God has called us to a personal relationship with Him. But He's also called us to make sure that we do a work. God has not called us just for a personal relationship with Him. That was something Mr. Armstrong stressed time and time again. And you know that, you understand that. So that's one of the main focuses.

That's the theme of chapter 6. Now in terms of the background of what's taking place here, this is a critical time in the history of the nation of Judah. King Uzziah has either just died or is in the process of dying. His rule, which went 52 years, was only exceeded by the rule of Solomon in terms of the wealth of the of the Empire, of the country, of the nation. It was a very wealthy rule that Uzziah had. The nation flourished economically. The nation flourished militarily.

There was a massive works program, construction projects. As a result, very little in a way of unemployment. The people were very successful. The cash was flowing, so to speak. Almost everybody seemed to have prosperity. Very, very good time. However, and here's again another New Testament lesson for us, in the latter years of King Uzziah's life, he began to lose that first life.

He was generally speaking a very righteous king. But toward the end of his life, he let sin creep into his life. He became more prideful, had more feelings of self-importance, actually forced himself into the temple and assumed the role of a priest. And as a result of that, God felt a need to chastise him, and he became a leper. He became a leper. And he lived from that point to the end of his life in isolation.

He was not allowed to be buried in Jerusalem, where the royals were normally buried. He was buried out in a field. So there's a lesson there for us to learn as we work our way through the material here today. Uzziah, Solomon, before that, Demas in the New Testament, all three of those men had very good beginnings. And all three had endings they wish they could amend. And as the Bible talks about in the book of Revelation, they lost their first love.

And so we want to make sure that we don't lose our first love. And so we're going to see a man here, Isaiah, who has a tremendous degree of first love as we go through chapter 6. Now, regarding chapter 6, although Isaiah and the people of his day didn't realize this, when King Uzziah died, that was a turning point. It was a major turning point in the history of Judah. Because at this point, the nation begins a downward spiral. There'll be a few times of respite, such as with Hezekiah. But generally speaking, the nation was on a downward spiral, and eventually would go into national captivity, as Israel also did. So that's a little bit of a background to the chapter here.

The lesson for our day today, the lesson for us as Christians today, is in order to properly do God's work, we've got to be purified. In order to really do God's work effectively, we have to be purified. Now, you and I, hopefully, are effectively doing God's work. And we have been purified by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Now, again, we're not sinless, but we have accepted Jesus Christ as our personal Savior.

We've got a relationship with God the Father and our older brother. Our sins have been forgiven us, and we're going to see that material here in chapter 6. How before He was allowed to preach the gospel, that Isaiah had to be purified. And as I was putting my thoughts together for chapter 6 here, I couldn't help but think of the fast that has been called. I couldn't help but think of the United Church of God, I don't know if we call it a logo or what do we call that, where on their logo it says, preaching the gospel, preparing a people.

Because that's exactly what we see here in chapter 6 of Isaiah. Isaiah is going to be prepared by God. After He is prepared by God, He's going to go out and preach the gospel. Now you might think, well, Mr. Delisandre, this is the Old Testament. Are we going to have the gospel preached in the book of Isaiah? Absolutely. We've got some of the greatest gospel messages, if you will, in the book of Isaiah. In Isaiah chapter 9, verse 7, for example, you've got where it talks about how the increase of God's government will go on forever.

Talking about government. What did Jesus Christ come and preach? The gospel of the kingdom of God. So in Isaiah 9, 7, it talks about how that government will increase. In Isaiah chapter 11, verse 6, I've got that on my hand. Right here, I don't have a tattoo, but I've got my ambassador college ring.

And it's got the lamb and a lion and a little boy, a little little child there. And it's got Isaiah chapter 11, verse 6. For a long time, that was an emblem for the worldwide church of God, which most of us came into the church through. Isaiah 11, 6. That's the gospel. Isaiah chapter 53 is a section of scripture we use all the time on Passover.

So yes, the gospel is being preached by Isaiah. In terms of outlining the chapter, it's in three sections. We'll go through each of those three sections today. Let me give that to you. Verses 1 through 4, we see the beginning of Isaiah's calling from God. That's verses 1 through 4. That's verses 1 through 4. Verses 5 through 7.

We see Isaiah being convicted by God.

And verses 8 through 13, we see Isaiah being commissioned by God. So we see his calling, his conviction, and his commission all by the great God. And we see that in this chapter. So let's get into the chapter here. Chapter 6, verse 1. In the year that King Uzziah died, we believe that most scholars would say that's 740 BC, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne high and lifted up, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Now, we're going to take some time here in verse 1. There's a lot of things happening here in verse 1. But I want to call to your remembrance what we said was the overall purpose of Bible prophecy. The overall purpose of Bible prophecy is for us to change our lives, to help us see what we must do to be at one with the great God.

We look at prophecy, we see what nations did, what they didn't do, how that affected their relationship with God, and we can use prophecy as a roadmap to help us change to be what we should be. Now again, remember the date. The year that King Uzziah died, 740 BC. In less than 20 years, Israel is going to go into national captivity.

Very short time. Isaiah here is starting his ministry. Basically, his ministry was to Judah for the most part, but he also had words to say to Israel. And so he's going to see Israel going captive. Just as you and I have been called at a time, we believe just prior to some very difficult times this nation is going to see. So in many ways, our walk with God and Isaiah's walk with God parallel each other, being called just before a national time of calamity. So how did God prepare Isaiah to do God's work? How have you and I been prepared to do God's work? What are you and I doing with that preparation that God has given to us? So here we see that in verse 1, God gave Isaiah an extraordinary vision, an extraordinary vision. Isaiah at this point may have only been 18 years old, relatively young man, and he's got this very special encounter with God. Now, again, as I was meditating on the material here, I couldn't help but think about something I've said to you earlier that Isaiah has a counterpart in the New Testament, and that counterpart is Paul. Both Isaiah and Paul were very well educated men.

Both Isaiah and Paul wrote foundational material that would become God's inspired word. Isaiah is one of the most quoted books in the New Testament. Paul wrote a great deal of the New Testament. We also see that in Acts 9, I'm not going to turn there, but in Acts 9, Paul has a vision from God, resulting in his conversion. Here we're going to see, we're beginning to see, that Isaiah has a vision and is being called.

Now, again, as I was putting my thoughts together for the sermon, thinking about Paul's life, Isaiah's life, you know, why did God do this? And again, you and I can think about how God has been working in our lives, and let's see if we find some parallels between what God is doing with Paul, Isaiah, and us. You know, you put your name in the blank there. Isaiah's faith needed to be strengthened. You know, why the vision? Isaiah's faith needed to be strengthened. Our faith needs to be strengthened. We need to have no doubt who God is, what God is doing, why he has called us to do his work. The second reason, I believe, that Isaiah was given this special vision is he needed to be humbled. And we're going to see in just a few moments how when the angels were speaking and singing, how it shook the very throne of God, power that was invested in those beings. And I'm sure as Isaiah, maybe not right then and there, but as Isaiah began his ministry, he probably thought on these things about, well, you know, God could have used those angels to go to the nations and proclaim the truth. He could have done that, but God chose not to do that. God chose to use him. And so that was a humbling thing. We need, God humbled Paul, knocked him down on the road to Damascus. We need to be knocked down on the road to our Damascus. The third reason that perhaps God allowed this vision to take place is because Isaiah needed to be filled with a sense of urgency, filled with a sense of urgency in a very short time. Now he didn't know the time schedule. We do, looking back as a matter of history, that, you know, 18 years, 20 years later, Israel goes into captivity. So there's a sense of urgency. Remember, he wrote to both, mostly in the Judah, but he also had some words for Israel. Paul also wrote with a sense of urgency. And the fourth thing that I see as I was meditating on this is that God gave Isaiah this vision to inspire him, realizing he was going to be going through some very challenging times. He was going to have a very difficult ministry. He was called to say things and to preach things, to proclaim things to people. God said, they're not going to get it. They're not going to listen. He's doing God's will. And so doing God's will, it could be easy to get frustrated. It could be easy to say, where's the fruit? Not many, if any, are doing anything.

And again, brethren, we have a very challenging work to do. And just because, you know, we put out all that we put out, and our doors, we don't have thousands of people here in Chicago coming to services or any place else in the country for that matter or the world, just because we're not seeing that kind of fruit now doesn't mean we're not doing the work of God as he's outlined for us. God's got his own timetable, his own plan, and he's working that plan out. So the design of this vision we see here in verse one is not only to impress on Isaiah the sense of the holiness of God, and in so doing, Isaiah's thinking, well, wait a minute, why is he choosing me? I'm not holy. I've got all these faults. I've got all, you know, he's 18 years old, I've got all these difficulties in my life. But God also wanted to impress upon Isaiah the weight of what he was being called to, just like you and I need to be impressed upon the weight of what God is calling you and I to do.

Verse one, in the year King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of his robe filled the temple.

Brethren, as you and I go before God, every day that we go before God, as we go before God with regard to this special fast day that has been called, allow our thoughts to go here and to remember that our prayers are going to this throne that is high and lifted up. No throne is higher, no throne is greater, no throne is more grandeur attached to it than God's throne. It says here, the train filled the temple, again, indicative of the grandeur and the power.

And I think it's interesting when you take a look at verse one here. The contrast of King Uzziah, who died of leprosy, and leprosy in many ways is a type of sin.

It gets into the flesh. It goes deep into the flesh. It rots, just like sin does those same sorts of things spiritually to us. So here you've got a contrast of a man who either died or is dying of leprosy, and the great King, God the Father, Jesus Christ, the King of Kings. A tremendous contrast there. Look at verse three for a moment. One cried to another and said, Holy, Holy, Holy, the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory.

So we see a tremendous contrast there. Let's put a marker here in Isaiah chapter 6 for a moment. Let's go back to 2 Chronicles.

I do want to touch base on this just for a moment.

2 Chronicles chapter 26.

I have mentioned this before. We want to turn to a scripture to nail this down. Nail this down. 2 Chronicles 26 and verse 21, where it says, King Uzziah was a leper until the day of his death. He dwelt in an isolated house because he was a leper. He was cut off from the house of the Lord.

So again, we don't want to follow that example. We want to have a strong ending to our life, not a weak one. Okay, we go back now to Isaiah chapter 6.

Isaiah chapter 6 verse 2.

Above it stood seraphim. Each one had six wings. With two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. Now, I can spend a long time here talking about the angelic realm, different kinds of angels, and so forth. That's not the point of what I want to cover with you today. The United Church of God is a wonderful booklet on the subject of angels. You certainly can go there and take a look at that. But there's a reason God does everything he does. And he's introducing the seraphim here. God is giving Isaiah a vision of his holiness, a vision of his glory. And flying above that throne were a number of very spectacular creatures. Now, again, as I may mention, the subtext here is that these were creatures of power. These were creatures of righteousness.

And again, Isaiah's thinking about himself and where he stood with God.

The word seraphim means burning ones. It means burning ones. Perhaps suggesting a purity and a zeal for God. Perhaps they're present suggesting a consuming fire of God's holiness. But certainly suggesting God's power. The beings that serve God are themselves powerful because God created them that way. And holy and righteous in terms of how God views that. Verse 3, and one cried to another and said, Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory. So this is one of their primary missions. This is one of their primary ministries. The threefold repetition of the word holy suggests completeness. This is something that they did. And again, Isaiah is watching this, hearing this, thinking about this, analyzing this, thinking about himself in relation to this. Verse 4, and the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of whom cried out, and the house was filled with smoke. Just as we saw, you know, the smoke descended upon Mount Zion when the Ten Commandments were given. Just as we saw the smoke of God moving, the pillar of smoke moving to show the children of Israel when they should move or not move. That showed God's power. So God's power is seen here filling this situation. Isaiah saw the smoke fill in the temple, the cloud of his presence. So in these first four verses, we see Isaiah receiving a vision. We see Isaiah noting various things about the throne of God, God himself, and all the things surrounding God. And in his mind, he's thinking about himself. He's analyzing his relationship with this God. Hearing such praise made Isaiah realize, made him think, well, what have I been doing in relation to this great God? And you know what you might want to jot down in Romans chapter 3 and verse 23. For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Romans 3, 23. Romans 3, 23. So this is just the beginning of his calling here. But a spiritual takeaway that I would like to present to you at this point in the sermon. Isaiah is being called. You have been called or are being called, depending upon what your relationship right now with God is, what area you are, what stage you are in your relationship with God. But the same powerful being, the same majestic God, at some point, whether you were born into the church, as we say, or whether you came in apart from anybody, God made a decision to either call your parents or grandparents and down the road you, or God made a decision to bring you out of the world. From this throne, with all this power, he called you. The same calling that he gave to Isaiah. In your notes, you might want to turn to Acts 10. I'm going to read this one verse from three different translations. Acts 10 and verse 34. Acts 10, 34. First translation is God's word, where it says, then Peter said, Now I understand that God doesn't play favorites.

Talking about our calling, God doesn't play favorites. Acts 10, 34. And the King James says, Then Peter opened his mouth and said of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons.

Same verse in the Weymouth New Testament. Then Peter began to speak, I see he said that God makes no distinctions between one man and another. And so you put those three translations together. God doesn't play favorites. God is no respecter of persons. God makes no distinctions. What God did with Isaiah, he does with you. And we can be encouraged by that. We can be inspired by that. We can be stirred to action by that. Let's look at 2 Timothy chapter 1.

2 Timothy chapter 1, verse 8. Therefore, do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me, as prisoner, but share with me in His sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling. Not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began. We have got a holy calling extended to us by God's grace, just as Isaiah had a holy calling being extended to him by God's grace, just as the Apostle Paul. And brethren, as I go through my ministry over the course of time I've been in the ministry, it's always been so encouraging to me in the various places I've been to see how God works, how God works with His family.

You know, you can have a young person who was raised in a church, but eventually they'll come to the pastor or one of the elders and they'll say, well, you know, I was raised in a church, but I've gone as far as I can go. I feel like I've hit a wall and I need something more. I know I need to be baptized. I've been sitting in church all these years. I've heard all these sermons. I know I need to be baptized. I probably know the scriptures that you had discussed with me, but I want to make sure I'm doing this right. What must I do? People born in a church, raised in a church, will ask that question. Certainly, that's a question I asked. I wasn't born and raised in a church. What, as I talked with Dr. David Albert, what must I do? You know, I've been taking classes in Ambassador College. I was a junior beginning my junior year at the time. I read the booklets on salvation and so forth, but again, I wanted to make sure that I was doing it the way God wanted it done. What must I do? And that has been true from the time of Acts chapter 2, when Peter gave that inspired sermon. What did they come to Peter and say? Men and brethren, what shall we do?

That's the mind of God working for 2,000 years. And before that, we would see that with Isaiah. What must we do? God tells us. Let's go back now to Isaiah chapter 6.

Verse 4 verses, we saw the beginnings of his calling. Now verses 5 through 7, we see how God's going to convict him. I've went through to some detail describing what his mind must have been thinking as he was seeing these things. We're going to see in verses 5 through 7 how this plays out. Verse 5, Isaiah 6, 5. So I said, Woe is me, 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 my eyes have seen the king, the Lord of hosts. So again, he's using the property yardstick there. He sees the glory of God in a vision and realizes he is wanting. He realizes he needs help. Now, over in the book of Job, if you would turn there with me, Job chapter 42.

Again, it's just so marvelous to see the mind of God at work and God's family. Job 42, verses 5 and 6. Job says, verse 5, I have heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you. Therefore I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes.

So we see the effect of really coming to know God, what it does in a person's life. We use God as the ultimate yardstick. Luke chapter 5.

Luke chapter 5 and verse 8.

Luke 5, 8, When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, For I am a sinful man, O Lord.

And when we go back now to Isaiah chapter 6 and verse 5, we see the mind of God convicting this man. The mind of God convicting. You know, in chapter 5, which we covered last time, we saw how Isaiah pronounced three different woes, three different judgments on the nation. But now he's seeing it up close and personal for himself. Not only is the nation in tremendous need, but he is in tremendous need. And notice how he phrases it here in verse 5.

Woe is me, for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips.

Interesting that he phrases it this way. I am a man of unclean lips. For those of you fellows in Spokesman's Club, there's a verse that we would attach to that section of Scripture there. Matthew 12, 34. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. Isaiah realized his heart was not right with God. And so he talked about his lips.

Out of his lips came from what was in that heart of his, which was not right with God. He knew that heart needed to become right with God. A person's words reflect their thinking, reflect what's really deep down inside. And he realized what was deep down inside of him needed changing. Now we see something very, very interesting. Verses 6 and 7. Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal, which he had taken from the tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said, Behold, this has touched your lips. Your iniquity is taken away, and your sin is purged.

Your iniquity is taken away, and your sin is purged. I'd like to quote a section from our United Church of God commentary on this part of Isaiah. I quote, Realizing his impurity, Isaiah was symbolically cleansed by God through the intermediary work of one of the seraphs. It is fitting that a seraph, perhaps meaning burning one, touched Isaiah's lips with a hot coal from the altar, either the altar of the burnt offering. Now we talked about what a burnt offering was. A burnt offering was an offering that was made showing your total dedication to God.

Here this man is purged, is cleansed, so he can be totally dedicated to God. The work of God, proclaiming the message God wanted him to proclaim, certainly forgiving his sins. So it could have either been that altar, and in your notes you might want to jot down Leviticus 6.12, or it could have been from the altar of incense, where the incense was burned each morning and evening. A citation for that would be Exodus chapter 30 verses 1 through 8. And going on with the UCG commentary, it says, This symbolic action signified the removal of the prophet's guilt and his sin.

I continue the quote, but with a coal from the altar, Isaiah was symbolically cleansed, illustrating that God forgave his sins. This should remind us that all sin is forgiven, only through sacrifice, indeed through one sacrifice, for sacrifices on the temple altar pointed to the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Continuing on with the commentary, Interestingly, only with a censure of burning coals from the altar could Israel's high priest enter the Most Holy Place on the Day of Atonement, using the burned holy incense, producing a cloud of sweet-smelling smoke, representing the prayers of God's people. Thus, God seemed to have granted Isaiah a personal atonement or reconciliation with him in which the prophet appeared through vision and prayer of cleanse lips and God's very throne. Very, very profound, very interesting the way this is all working out in Isaiah's life. But again, brethren, what does that mean for us? You know, we can think, well, that's marvelous for Isaiah, but what does that mean for us? What is our spiritual takeaway here? Like Isaiah, we too, for repentance, through prayer, can come boldly to that same throne and receive God's grace through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

Let's take a look at 2 Timothy chapter 3.

2 Timothy chapter 3. We've gone through this a number of times since I've been here, I'm sure many times before that. 2 Timothy 3 verse 15. And that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture. And what is Scripture? Scripture is the Word of God. In Isaiah's case, he was getting it right from God and from the angelic realm, which is from God. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine and for—no, I knew King James says reproof. But another way of translating that word is conviction.

God convicts us. Just as God convicted Isaiah, God convicts us.

Verse 17, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. God was thoroughly equipping Isaiah by giving him a profound relationship with the great God.

If we move over to Hebrews chapter 4.

Hebrews chapter 4.

Verse 16. Hebrews 4.16. Hebrews 4.16. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that throne we see in Revelation chapter 4 and 5, that throne we see in Isaiah chapter 6, come boldly to that throne of grace that we may obtain mercy, as Isaiah did, and find grace to help, as Isaiah did, in time of need, as Isaiah had. And we move over now to chapter 9 of Hebrews, section that we read on Passover evening.

Hebrews chapter 9 starting in verse 11. But Christ came as high a priest of the good things to come, with a greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is not of this creation, and not with the blood of ghosts and calves, but with his own blood he entered the most holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption, a coal from that area that was used in that area, being used for Isaiah. For if the blood of bulls and goats, and the ashes of heifers sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit, offered himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? In Isaiah's life, he was cleansed to serve the living God.

God was preparing him because he needed to preach the gospel. Before you can properly do that work, you've got to be properly prepared spiritually. So in verses 1 through 4 we see Isaiah's calling. Verses 5 through 7 we see his conviction, being convicted, his moving on that. Well, and now the last section, verses 8 through 13, we see what Isaiah is going to do with that calling and conviction. 8 through 13 we see his commission by the great God.

Let's go back now to Isaiah chapter 6.

Verse 8, Also I heard the voice of the Lord saying, whom shall I send? And who shall go for us? Then I said, here I am, send me.

Notice the response. Isaiah responds immediately. After his being purified, he responds immediately to the calling, not just the calling to salvation, but a calling to do a work. It puts you in mind of a fellow by the name of Abram, where he who said, Abram, I want you to move. What did Abram say? Let me think on it. Let me get back with you. Let me take a look at my calendar. No, he didn't say any of those things. He went. When God told him to take his son and use his son as a sacrifice, what did he do? Did he stomp around saying how unkind God was, how unloving God was, how unfair God was? Did he drag his feet and say, well, you know, maybe beginning of next week I'll consider that? No. I've always thought it was a good example to me personally when God was telling Abraham these things. He just did it. Because I have been known from time to time to procrastinate. Now, I know there's none of you out there who's ever procrastinated in your life, but I've done that a time or two in my 67 years. Almost 67 years. Abraham was not that way. God says to do something, he does it. Abraham did it that way. Isaiah did it that way. And his immediate response shows a spirit of readiness. I'm ready, God. You've worked with me. You've cleansed me. I'm ready. It showed a spirit of resolve. He was determined to do whatever it was God wanted him to do. It showed he had a spirit of trust. He was a young man, maybe only 18 years of age, but he realized this God of all power who created those seraphim. And all it is, that God of power is going to support the work I do. And so he went forward. Okay, Isaiah chapter 6 verse 9 and 10. And so now God begins to give him the commission. And he said, Go and tell this people, keep on hearing, but do not understand. Keep on seeing, but do not perceive. Make the heart of the people dull, their ears heavy. Shut their eyes, lest they see with their eyes, hear with their ears. Understand with their heart, and return to be healed. Now, that particular section of Scripture is quoted seven times in the New Testament. And you can go and see all those seven times. I'm not going to read all those to you. But again, it could be so easy for us to think, well, when you're doing God's will, you immediately see fruit. Kind of the health wealth gospel. If you're being blessed, it's because you're doing everything that's right. If you're being cursed, there's something wrong with you.

Well, I've known some really fine Christians who have gone through years worth of trials.

I think that God was blessing them spiritually. And we can take a look at all the people who've got riches in this society, and a lot of those are atheists. So just because you've got money in your pocket doesn't mean that God's... that, you know, you're... because of what you're doing, God's blessing that. God's not going to bless sinful behavior in terms of rewarding it, but, you know, God does allow people to use the talents He gives them to parlay cash and that sort of thing.

Verse 11. Then I said, How long, O Lord, how long will they not understand? How long will they refuse to hear? How long will they be rebellious? And He answered until the cities are laid waste and without inhabitant. The houses are without man. The land is utterly desolate. The Lord has removed men far away in the forsaken places that many are many in the midst of the land. So here we see a prophecy about some utter destruction. And for the most part, brethren, this did not take place anciently. Now there was some destruction on some of the cities of Israel and Judah, but not wholesale like this is indicating. So basically what we're looking at here is a prophecy for our day today. Remember, prophecy is dual. Prophecy is dual. Verse 13. Verse 13 is translated rather awkwardly in the New King James. Let me read this to you in the Living Bible's paraphrase. This is the Living Bible here in verse 13. Yet a tenth, a remnant, will survive. And though Israel was invaded again and again and destroyed, yet Israel would be like a tree cut down whose stump lives to grow again. So this is talking about the time of the end and our nation's time of the end. Now you recall when I said that there were a number of prophets that were contemporaries with Isaiah, and one of them was Amos. Let's turn over to the book of Amos.

Amos chapter 5. I'm talking about the same era. Amos chapter 5.

Verse 1. Hear this word which I take up against you, O lamentation, O house of Israel, the version of Israel has fallen. She will rise no more come a time when this nation just doesn't get up again. She lies forsaken on her land. There is no one to raise her up because no one wants to raise us up. People just that people are going to rejoice at the death of the two witnesses. People will rejoice at the death of the United States of America. For thus says the Lord God, the city that goes out by a thousand shall have a hundred left, and that what goes out by a hundred shall have ten left to the house of Israel. So we've quoted this in times gone by, showing the Bible seems to indicate maybe only 10 percent of the people who just prior to the beginning of the last three and a half years in the return of Jesus Christ, time of the Gentiles, that maybe only 10 percent of people will survive into the millennium.

Let's look at the prophecy here in the book of Ezekiel, again talking about the same thing. Again, we said that Isaiah would be a launching place for getting into a number of other scriptures. We've referred to this in the past, but certainly it applies here now. Ezekiel chapter 5, verse 1, verse 2, So what we see here is the shaving shows disgrace, it shows humiliation, which our nation is going to be going through. Verse 2, So here you see in one verse, verse 2, something that you see a little more detail in the book of Revelation. Here you see seal number 2, war. You see seal number 3, famine. You see seal number 4, pestilence. You see seal number 5, as well, as we take a look at this verse. The sword is talking about war, the sword talking about the great tribulation, so that seals 2 and 5. But notice verse 3, we believe that's talking about the church of God. Now whether that means we go to a place of safety, or whether God protects us like He did at Passover time for Israel, we don't know. We will know as we look in the rearview mirror. So I'm not going to be dogmatic on how God's going to do this, but God says He's going to protect a very few of this number. But then notice verse 4, then take some of them, some of who? Some of verse 3, some of the church, and throw them into the midst of the fire, and burn them in the fire. From there, for I will go out into all the house of Israel. So verse 4, we believe, indicates those we would call Laodiceans. We don't want to be a part of that group. We don't want to be a part of that group. So today, brethren, as we've gone through Isaiah chapter 6, we've seen a holy calling from God. We've seen a conviction coming from God. We've seen a commission given by God to Isaiah. Two final verses will be done for today. Let's go to John chapter 4. Because we never want to separate these prophecies from our day-to-day relevance.

John chapter 4. We saw where Isaiah was coming from in chapter 6. Notice John chapter 4 and verse 34. Most of this verse is in red in my Bible. Jesus said to them, My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. That was Isaiah's heart. That needs to be our heart. It was Christ's heart. He's our ultimate example. My food is to do the will who sent me and to finish his work. Last scripture, John 17 and verse 4. John 17 and verse 4. These are basically bookends. I have thought about this often. Christ taught you in chapter 4 about his meat to do the will of God. In John 17, the very end of his ministry, verse 4. I have glorified you on the earth. I have finished the work which you have given me to do. I have finished the work which you have given me to do. You know, I don't know how my end will come. You don't know how your end will come. I've often thought that if my end didn't come too quickly and I had the ability to think about things as I thought maybe perhaps this is my life was leading me, I would hope I would be able to think these thoughts. That, you know, Father, I know that I'm going, but I thank you that with your help I was able to finish the work you gave Randy Delisandro to do. And I'm hoping that's something that all of us could say if and when that time comes. So there we have Isaiah chapter 6. As I made mention in times in the future, we do want to cover more material. Otherwise, I'll be 110 by the time we finish this book if we take one chapter at a pop.