Request your free, three-month trial to Tabletalk magazine. You’ll receive the print issue monthly and gain immediate digital access to decades of archives. This trial is risk-free. No credit card required.
Try Tabletalk NowAlready receive Tabletalk magazine every month?
Verify your email address to gain unlimited access.
Isaiah 6:6–13
“I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’ Then I said, ‘Here I am! Send me’ ” (v. 8).
Popular understandings of the Lord in our day frequently refer to Him as One who “meets us where we are” or who “loves us unconditionally.” These views are so common, in fact, that even many Christians may speak of our Creator in these ways.
Yet we should ask whether these understandings about the Lord are accurate. Read in their best light, the answer is yes, they are correct—to a point. If all that is meant by these views is that God does not wait until we clean ourselves up morally before He shows us His grace or that we can do nothing to merit the saving love of our Maker, then we can agree. After all, Scripture is quite clear that everyone (except Jesus) is fallen in Adam and dead in sin; consequently, we cannot make the first move toward the Lord, and we are wholly unable to merit His favor (Rom. 5:12–20; Eph. 2:1–10). If God were to require us to be worthy of salvation before He saved us, no one could ever be saved. Furthermore, even after we have been redeemed, we remain sinners who need God’s gracious forgiveness and can never earn heaven (see Rom. 11:6; 1 John 1:8–9). If, however, these views mean that God demands absolutely nothing from us, and that one can be in a state of salvation without turning from one’s sins, then we must disagree.
God’s call of Isaiah helps us understand this. Isaiah, when confronted by the holy Lord, cried out in woe because he recognized his unholiness before God (Isa. 6:1–5). In today’s passage, we see that the Lord did not dispute Isaiah’s exclamation. Instead, He sent an angel to cleanse Isaiah’s sinful lips with fire (vv. 6–7). The Lord did not merely accept Isaiah as he was in his unholiness but acted to purify the prophet. God requires holiness of His people and provides it for His people. We are not just to sit back and do nothing when confronted with the truth about our sin; rather, like Isaiah, we are to confess our sin and trust in the Lord’s mercy.
Having been absolved of his sin, Isaiah was then sent by the Lord to preach to the people of Judah (vv. 8–13). The holy God shows His profound mercy in forgiving His people, but He adds to this grace by also commissioning them for service. Our lack of holiness before God is real, but if we trust in Him through Christ, He delights to use us as instruments to advance His kingdom. Let us confess our unholiness, but let us not think that we cannot be used of the Lord despite our imperfections if we trust in Him.
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
We must be clear about our sin and our need for the Lord’s grace. We must also be clear that God delights to use His forgiven people even though they will struggle with sin until they are glorified (1 John 1:8–9). If we have trusted in Jesus, we have been absolved of our sin and called to His service. May we seek to serve His kingdom through our local churches.
For Further Study
- Exodus 19:1–6
- Leviticus 8
- Acts 9:1–22
- Romans 15:8–21