SCRIPTURE TEXT: ISAIAH 6:1-8 - PRE-GROUP STUDY
Before interacting with this guide, all leaders and group members should study the referenced text using the HEAR Method.
H: Highlight, or take note of, things in the passage that stick out to you as you read.
E: Explain what the passage means by asking simple questions of the text: • Why was this written? • To whom was it originally written? • How does it fit with the verses before and after it? • Why did the Holy Spirit include this passage in the book? • What is He intending to communicate through this text?
A: Apply the text to your life. What does God want you to learn from this text?
R: Respond to God in prayer.
Study Question:
1. What are some of the main things you notice about God in this text? How does it move you to worship?
2. What does Isaiah’s response to seeing God in His holiness teach us about ourselves?
3. God removes Isaiah’s sin. What does that teach us about the gospel?
4. In response to God’s mercy, Isaiah is eager to minister. Has this been true in your own life in response to God’s mercy?
Group Lesson
Main Idea: When people meet God and are forgiven by God they become passionate about being used by God.
Introduction:
I once read a story about Kobe Bryant’s passion for basketball. Evidently, his love of the game made him do some pretty obsessive things, like show up to practice at 4 A.M. and make teammates play one-on-one games to 100.
I was struck by how passion leads to a desire to act, to work, to be “in the game” so to speak.
Who is the most passionate person you know? What are they passionate about?
How does it show up in their life?
Passion leads to action. There is no way around it. God is calling our church to be passionate people who act for His glory.
When it comes to scripture, we see an example of this passion in the prophet Isaiah.
Understanding
Read: Isaiah 6:1-8
Isaiah shows us that the foundation for Christian passion and Christian action is the glory of God and the grace of God. When people see God’s glory and God’s grace, they become passionate to live lives sold out for Him.
Isaiah had an experience with God that few people ever have this side of heaven. He saw God in all His glory.
What are some of the attributes of God that Isaiah lists?
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The main attribute that Isaiah relays to us is God’s holiness.
That God is holy means that He is completely set apart from us, completely different than us. This doesn’t mean that He is unknowable to us. It means that He is not like us. He is pure and we are not. He is sinless and we are not. He is good and we are not. He is whole and we are not.
The most important take away from Isaiah’s description of God is that we serve a big God. God cannot be reduced to deserving only a part of our life.
This God that Isaiah describes is worthy of the entirety of our lives.
When we settle for a small idea of God, we are content to give Him the bits and pieces of our lives. Isaiah will not let us settle for such an understanding of God.
In what ways have you settled for a small view of God? How has that impacted your passion for God?
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In what ways does this passage move you to worship God? How does worship make us passionate about being used for Jesus?
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God’s glory moves us to live lives centered around Him.
When we see who God is, our prayer becomes, “God use me.”
Isaiah not only experienced God’s glory. He experienced God’s grace in a radical way.
Notice Isaiah’s response to God’s glory in v. 5. Why do you think his response is so dramatic?
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Isaiah is convinced that he is about to die because he is a sinful man in the presence of God. Yet, God does the unimaginable. He takes his sins away. In Isaiah we have a perfect illustration of the gospel. A sinful man stands before a holy God. Then, the holy God does what the sinful man could never do for himself. He takes away his sin. This is God’s grace.
“When we understand the character of God, when we grasp something of His holiness, then we begin to understand the radical character of our sin and hopelessness. Helpless sinners can survive only by grace. Our strength is futile in itself; we are spiritually impotent without the assistance of a merciful God. The hands of God are gracious hands.
They alone have the power to rescue us from certain destruction.” - RC. Sproul
God’s grace moves us to live lives centered around Him.
When we see how God loves us, our prayer becomes, “God use me.”
Read Isaiah 6:8.
All of this results in Isaiah longing to be used by God. People who have encountered God’s glory and God’s grace long to be used for God’s mission.
Application
Read Acts 20:22-24
What does Paul consider his main goal in life? How can we make our main goal in life living for Christ’s mission?
Two little lines I heard one day, Traveling along life’s busy way; Bringing conviction to my heart, And from my mind would not depart; Only one life, ’twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last. Only one life, yes only one, Soon will its fleeting hours be done; Then, in ‘that day’ my Lord to meet, And stand before His Judgment seat; Only one life, ’twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last. -C.T. Studd
Questions for Personal Reflection
1. Can I honestly say that I want God to use me?
2. Have I been more concerned about what I can get from God instead of how I can serve God?
3. Have I ever experienced God’s grace and glory like Isaiah?
Prayer
Close the group in prayer focusing on the reality that we all only have one life to give Christ.
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Teacher's Notes:
Group Lesson
Main Idea: When
people meet God and are forgiven by God, they become passionate about being
used by God.
Introduction:
I once read a story about Kobe
Bryant’s passion for basketball. Evidently, his love of the game made him do
some pretty obsessive things, like show up to practice at 4 A.M. and make
teammates play one-on-one games to 100.
I was struck by how passion
leads to a desire to act, to work, to be “in the game” so to speak.
Have you ever been that passionate about something?
Passion leads to action. There
is no way around it. God is calling our church to be passionate people who act
for His glory.
When it comes to scripture, we
see an example of this passion in the prophet Isaiah.
Understanding: Read: Isaiah
6:1-8
6 In the year that King Uzziah
died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of
his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him were seraphim, each with six wings:
With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and
with two they were flying. 3 And they were calling to one another: “Holy,
holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is
full of his glory.” 4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and
thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. 5 “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of
unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.” 6 Then
one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken
with tongs from the altar. 7 With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has
touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your
sin atoned for.” 8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom
shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”
Isaiah shows us that the
foundation for Christian passion and Christian action is the glory of God
and the grace of God. When people see God’s glory and God’s grace, they
become passionate to live lives sold out for Him.
Isaiah was given a difficult
mission. He had to tell people who believed they were blessed by God that
instead God was going to destroy them because of their disobedience.
Isaiah’s picture of
forgiveness reminds us that we too are forgiven. When we recognize how great
our God is, how sinful we are, and the extent of God’s forgiveness, we receive
power to do His work.
Holiness means morally
perfect, pure, and set a part from all sin. We also need to discover God’s
holiness.
Isaiah had an experience with
God that few people ever have this side of heaven. He
saw God in all His glory.
What are some of the
attributes of God that Isaiah lists?
___________________________________________
The main attribute that Isaiah relays to us is God’s holiness. That God is holy means that He is completely set apart from us, completely different than us. This doesn’t mean that He is unknowable to us. It means that He is not like us. He is pure and we are not. He is sinless and we are not. He is good and we are not. He is whole and we are not.
The most important take away from Isaiah’s description of God is that we serve a big God. God cannot be reduced to deserving only a part of our life. This God that Isaiah describes is worthy of the entirety of our lives. When we settle for a small idea of God, we are content to give Him the bits and pieces of our lives. Isaiah will not let us settle for such an understanding of God.
In what ways have you settled
for a small view of God? How has that impacted your passion for God?
_________________________________________
In what ways does this passage
move you to worship God? How does worship make us passionate about being used
for Jesus?
__________________________________________
God’s glory moves us to live
lives centered around Him.
When we see who God is, our
prayer becomes, “God use me.”
Isaiah not only experienced
God’s glory. He experienced God’s grace in a radical way.
Notice Isaiah’s response to
God’s glory in v. 5. Why do you think his response is so dramatic?
_________________________________________
Isaiah is convinced that he is
about to die because he is a sinful man in the presence of God. Yet, God does
the unimaginable. He takes his sins away. In Isaiah we have a perfect
illustration of the gospel. A sinful man stands before a holy God. Then,
the holy God does what the sinful man could never do for himself. He takes away
his sin. This is God’s grace.
“When we understand the
character of God, when we grasp something of His holiness, then we begin to
understand the radical character of our sin and hopelessness. Helpless sinners
can survive only by grace. Our strength is futile in itself; we are spiritually
impotent without the assistance of a merciful God. The hands of God are
gracious hands.
They alone have the power to
rescue us from certain destruction.” - RC. Sproul
God’s grace moves us to live
lives centered around Him.
When we see how God loves us,
our prayer becomes, “God use me.”
Read Isaiah 6:8.
All of this results in Isaiah
longing to be used by God. People who have encountered God’s glory and God’s
grace long to be used for God’s mission.
Application
Read Acts 20:22-24
What does Paul consider his
main goal in life? How can we make our main goal in life living for Christ’s
mission?
Two little lines I heard one
day, Traveling along life’s busy way; Bringing conviction to my heart, And from
my mind would not depart; Only one life, ’twill soon be past, Only what’s done
for Christ will last. Only one life, yes only one, Soon will its fleeting hours
be done; Then, in ‘that day’ my Lord to meet, And stand before His Judgment
seat; Only one life, ’twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will
last. - C.T. Studd
When we meet God, things happen.
There are three remarkable
changes that we may pray for our in our own encounter with God.
The first personal
transformation you experience from an encounter with God is this:
1. When
You Meet God, You Encounter Perfected Glory
2. When
You Meet God, You Encounter Piercing Humility
3. When
You Meet God, You Encounter Prioritized Living
When we move from the God of
glory to the God of mercy, and we experience this God in our person every facet
of living is now transformed in such a way as we must prioritize the answer to
the question. “Who will go?” There is no other response but Isaiah’s response,
“Here am I! Send me.”
This reply is not only the
response of the preacher or missionary or some other vocational minister. This
reply is the response of the sinner who says “I will receive you, Lord Jesus
Christ. I repent and turn to you and you alone.” It is the response of every
believer who has encountered the holiness of God and the mercy of God. How can
we say anything but “Here am I! Send me.” Send me to do your will in my
workplace. Send me to do your will and my family. Send me throughout all the
days and the years of my life to serve you in such a way as when I stand before
you I will hear, “well done, thou good and faithful servant.” There is no other
response but prioritizing God in all of our lives when we experience his mercy.
Perhaps you don’t know the
fullness of his mercy because you don’t know the extent of his Majesty. Maybe
you do not know his mercy because you have never moved from the fear of his
glory. Today is the day where you are a witness to the vision of Isaiah in your
own life. Today is the day when you say, “Oh my God, you are so glorious, and I
am a sinner. But you have sent your only begotten Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ, from the very altar of Paradise and through the power of the Holy
Spirit your forgiveness has seared the sinful nature of my soul. You have
cleansed me by covering me with the righteousness and the atonement of your
only begotten Son. I yield my life to you.”
Conclusion
So, we, also, experience the
vision of God through his word and the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. The
transforming vision of God changes us. And when we meet our Lord Jesus Christ
we, also, experience the transformative consequence: as perfected glory moves
us to a piercing humility that brings about prioritized living.
We ask ourselves how we can be
better witnesses for Christ? How can the Church be strengthened to proclaim the
unsearchable riches of Christ in this present evil age? We ask ourselves how
the church can have a more significant impact on the culture? The answer, my
dearly beloved, is not in some ingenious methodology or in a new way to conduct
church or in anything of the sort. The answer to the question of power in the
Christian life and in fulfilling the mission of God in the world is, now as in
Isaiah’s day, a fresh encounter with the living God. Such a meeting is
available to you today, but it will require something of you. God is calling
you to listen to his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who says, “Come up here . . .”
(Revelation 4:1 ESV). Commit today to
take the time in your life to put your mind on the things that are above.
Commit in your life today to separate yourself, if only for a short while each
day, to seek God and His word. When you approach the table of the Lord’s
Supper, pause to gaze with the eyes of your praying soul upon Jesus Christ
dying on the cross for you. When you see the baptismal waters of the Covenant
of Grace dripping from the heads of God’s children, close your eyes and give
thanks to God has washed you in his forgiving grace. Dear friend, often speak
to God in prayer through all of the days of your life, so that on the day when
you are translated from this life to the next you will come upon a vision of
God that you have been anticipating all of your life.
This is what happens when you
meet God. Everything changes.
Questions for Personal
Reflection
1. Can I
honestly say that I want God to use me?
2. Have I
been more concerned about what I can get from God instead of how I can serve
God?
3. Have I
ever experienced God’s grace and glory like Isaiah?
Resources on Isaiah 6
The Bible Panorama
CHAPTER SIX
V 1–4: GOD’S GLORY Before
Isaiah is called and commissioned to be a prophet, God gives him a glimpse of
His wonderful glory and awesome holiness. V 5–7: UNWORTHILY UNCLEAN The
response, as always, when one understands something of the holiness of God, is
that Isaiah sees himself as undone, unclean, and unworthy. Through a seraph
touching his lips with a live coal, God demonstrates that Isaiah’s iniquity is
taken away and his sin is purged. He knows God’s complete cleansing. V 8: READY
RESPONSE Only then does God ask, ‘Who will go for Us?’ Recently cleansed and
put right by God, Isaiah readily says, ‘Here am I! Send me.’ V 9–12: DIFFICULT
DUTY God underlines that the task will be hard. Isaiah will be sent to
unresponsive people to give them God’s word until the cities are laid waste and
the land uninhabited, because the citizens will be taken into captivity. V 13:
RETURNING REMNANT The encouragement, however, is that there will be a remnant
that returns, which God regards as a holy seed or as a stump. This will provide
the nucleus of future believers who will walk with God.
The Teacher’s Bible Commentary
A Commissioning Call (Isa.
6:1–13)
The passage. — At some event
in the Temple, either in a public worship service or in private prayer, in the
year of King Uzziah’s death (742 B.C.), Isaiah had a life-changing vision of
God. Likely the death of Uzziah was a traumatic experience in the life of the
young Isaiah. While in the Temple the physical surroundings faded into the
background and Isaiah had an encounter with God.
He had a new consciousness of God. He saw God as sovereign over
all the world. His majesty filled the place as though royal robes had filled
the Temple. Created creatures were present to serve him. In reverence,
humility, and service the seraphim stood in his presence. In antiphonal singing
they expressed the holiness of God.
Struck by his own sinfulness
Isaiah confessed his sin before the holy God. From the altar one of the
seraphim took a coal to touch it to his lips signifying his forgiveness.
Having been forgiven of sin,
Isaiah made a commitment of his life to God. Upon hearing the question, “Whom
shall I send, and who will go for us?” he quickly answered, “Here am I; send
me” (v. 8).
With Isaiah’s commitment came
a commission from God. He commanded him to go and he gave the prophet a
message. The message is presented from the standpoint of its inevitable result.
It was not the purpose of the message to make the people unrepentant; because
of the people’s sinfulness it was known that this would be the result.
How long was he to minister?
To the very end. Even until a time of devastation and destruction he was to be
faithful in announcing God’s word.
But it would not all be
fruitless. A remnant (v. 13) would remain. From the stump of the fallen nation
would come the seeds of new life. There was always hope when God was at work.
Special points. — While some
interpreters consider the reference to King Uzziah’s death (v. 1) simply a
method of dating the experience, most understand it to indicate a shattering experience for Isaiah.
In his grief he went to the Temple and there saw God.
Why should Isaiah be so
conscious that his lips were unclean (v. 5)? Perhaps it is because of his
responsibility as a spokesman for God. Perhaps, too, it is because promises are
broken and covenants are renounced with the mouth.
Only in this passage are
seraphim mentioned in the Bible. They are pictured as living creatures who were
attendants of God. Their real significance may be in what they conveyed by the
use of their three pairs of wings: reverence, humility, and service.
The remnant (v. 13) became a
prominent part of Isaiah’s message. Some who were faithful to God would remain
to serve and worship him.
Truth for today. — When do we encounter God?
For many people their most
realistic experience with God has been in a time of deep personal need when
they threw themselves completely on God. It is not just at the crisis times
that God approaches us, but at those times we are often most receptive to him.
At any time that we become
conscious of God in His holiness and glory we become aware of our own
unworthiness. The purity of God convicts us of our uncleanness.
With every confession of sin
and plea for forgiveness God gives purification. Sin is drastic and must be
dealt with drastically. But God answers in forgiving grace.
Concern for others is a result of encountering God and experiencing
forgiveness. We must share what we have felt.
Others may not always be
receptive to our message. Faithfulness is our responsibility. The results are
God’s business.
