A Willing Volunteer

KEY VERSE: “I heard the voice of the LORD saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I, send me.” —Isaiah 6:8

SELECTED SCRIPTURE: Isaiah 6:1-8

THESE words were uttered by Isaiah following a wonderful vision given to him by the Lord. In the vision Isaiah saw “the Lord sitting upon a throne,” and he wrote that “the whole earth is full of his glory.” While the Lord has permitted evil to flourish throughout the earth since the disobedience of our first parents in the Garden of Eden, he has always maintained his commanding position of control, not only over the affairs of earth, but of his entire universe. He has never vacated his throne. And it is true that the whole earth is filled with his glory. Certainly there is much in the earth that is inglorious. The sin-cursed and dying race itself does not reflect the glory of God. But those who reverence the Lord see his glory displayed all around and above them.

But even more pertinent to the vision is a time in the future when the earth, being rid of sin and the curse of death, will reflect his glory even in its inhabitants who originally were created in his glorious image. And so to a large extent, Isaiah’s statement that the glory of the Lord fills the earth was prophetic of the time when the restitution feature of the divine plan will be complete. It will be then, in the fullest sense, that the glory of the Lord will fill the earth, and it will be then that all flesh will recognize that glory and rejoice in it.—Isa. 50:5

Seeing the Lord “high and lifted up” caused Isaiah to feel very unworthy. He said, “Woe is me! for I am undone [Margin, cut off]; 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.” (vs. 5) Seemingly the vision was so real that the prophet thought he had seen the Lord literally, and therefore would be cut off. He knew that in any event he was not worthy of life.

But the Lord had other plans for Isaiah, who explained, saying, “Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: and he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.” (vss. 6,7) Isaiah further explained: “Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Isaiah quickly grasped the meaning of the vision. He realized that the Lord was calling him into his service, and his immediate and hearty response was, “Here am I: send me.”—vs. 8

Like Isaiah, the Lord has called us with a vision of his glory. And in this vision of truth we can see God in the sense of discerning the four cardinal attributes of his character, those attributes which combine to proclaim his glory. We see his wisdom in all his creative works—and particularly in man, his crowning earthly creation.

We see God’s justice in the condemnation of man because of sin, and also in his plan to redeem him from death through the provision of another perfect man to be a Redeemer. In this provision we also see an outstanding demonstration of God’s love, even as we do in many other features of his plan.

Indeed, in one way or another all God’s attributes are displayed in essentially every aspect of his plan. We see his power in creation, in the resurrection, in the care of his people. All call attention to the various ways in which God’s Wisdom, Justice, Love and Power are revealed in the outworking of his plan of the ages.

And it is this glorious plan which has served as a vision to enable us to see God high and lifted up. What has been the Lord’s purpose in giving us this vision? It is the same purpose he had when he revealed himself in that vision to Isaiah. Through the vision of present truth the Lord is asking, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?”

The impetus for thus dedicating our lives for the cause of the truth was supplied by the work and example of Jesus. His ministry of the truth was an altar which not only supplied to us justification but the coals from it have symbolically touched our lips, and our great desire is also to go and tell the people.—vs. 9

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