In the year that King Uzziah died, 1 saw also the Lord sitting upon
a throne, high and lifted up, and is train filled the temple Above it stood
the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face,
and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one
cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy holy, is the Lord of hosts: The
whole earth is full of his glory. And the posts of the door moved at the
voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. Then said
I, 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 mine eyes have seen
the King, the Lord of hosts. 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." Also 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." And he said, "Go, and tell this people, hear ye indeed,
but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.
Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and
shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears,
and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed." Then said
I, "Lord, how long?" And he answered, "Until the cities be wasted without
inhabitant,
And the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate. And
the Lord have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the
midst of the land. But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return,
and shall be eaten: as a teil tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in
them, when they cast their leaves: so the holy seed shall be the substance
thereof. ISAIAH 6.
This chapter is one of the greatest in the Old Testament. It clearly
reveals the essence of Biblical Religion. The prophet describes the
vision of his vocation and pictures which express at the same time his
fundamental experience of God, his interpretation of human existence, and
his conception of the prophet's task. His experience of God is an experience
of the holiness of God. He interprets man's condition as one of uncleanness
and inability to face God. The prophet's task is paradoxically set against
the natural meaning of prophecy. These three ideas belong together and
comprise perhaps the highest expression ever given to the prophetic spirit.
The prophet does not describe God Himself in any way. He speaks only
of the train which filled the temple, of the angels surrounding the Lord's
throne, of the shaking of the foundation, and of the smoke filling the
house. In this manner he indicates that the revelation of Cod is at the
same time the veiling of God. God can reveal Himself only by remaining
veiled. But even the veiled revelation makes Isaiah feel that he is perishing.
The facing of God, even if it be a mere approaching to His sphere, even
if God Himself remain hidden, means the annihilation of man.
The same feeling is expressed in the cry of the seraphim "Holy" has
a double meaning, as the context clearly shows. It means the majesty of
which the world is full; and it means purity as against human impurity.
Glory without purity is the character of all pagan gods. And purity without
glory is the character of all the humanistic ideas of God. Humanism has
transformed the inaccessibility of God into the sublimity of His moral
commands. Humanism has forgotten that God's majesty, as experienced by
the prophet, implies the shaking of the foundation wherever He appears,
and the veil of smoke whenever He shows Himself. When
God is identified with an element in human nature, as in humanism, the
terrifying and annihilating encounter with majesty becomes an impossibility.
But "Holy" means also moral perfection, purity, goodness, truth, and justice.
God's glory can fulfill all the world, only because He is holy in this
double sense. The glory of the gods who are not holy in this double sense
can fulfill only one country, one family or tribe, one nation or state,
or one sphere of human life. Consequently, they do not possess the truth
and justice and purity of the God Who is really God. They are demons aspiring
to holiness, but excluded from it, because their glory is majesty without
purity. Therefore, let us say, during this time particularly, "Thou only
art holy!"
The prophet confesses that he. is a man of unclean lips, and that he
lives in the midst of a people with unclean lips. He emphasizes his lips,
because his work is preaching; but the impurity of his lips symbolizes
the impurity of his entire existence, and of the existence of individuals
and society as a whole. Isaiah exhibits profound insight, when he identifies
himself with his unclean people in the very moment that he is made worthy
of his exceptional vision. The difference between mystical and prophetic
religion lies in that insight. For even in the greatest ecstasy, a prophet
does not forget the social group to which he belongs, and its unclean character
which he cannot lose. Consequently, the prophetic ecstasy, as opposed to
the mystical ecstasy, is never an end in itself, but rather the means of
receiving the divine commands which are to be preached to the people. Isaiah's
vision reveals the two conditions for prophetic existence. The lips of
the prophet must first be purified by fire. He can then hear the Voice
of God, the condition for his being sent by God. Nobody can be the prophet
of God through his own strength; and nobody can absolve himself. Only the
power of Divine Holiness, having touched our existence, can bring us near
to God. Something of our existence, sin, iniquity, or uncleanness must
be burned away, must be annihilated. Only though such annihilation
can God speak to us and through us. But whether or when He speaks to us
at all does not depend upon us in any way. Isaiah did not produce either
the vision or the purification. He was overcome with terror and awe. And
he had to act. For God asks, "Who will go for us?" God waits for the answer.
He does not compel. Isaiah's decision to go must be free. Freedom of decision
is the second condition for prophetic existence. A prophet must decide
whether or not he will dedicate himself to the task. With respect to our
fate and vocation we are free; with respect to our relation to God we are
powerless. The majesty of God is evident in either case.
The prophet then describes the content of the divine command. "Make
the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their
eyes." Our natural moral feelings refuse to accept such a paradox. For
if we speak, we wish to make ourselves heard; and when we preach, we wish
to convert and to heal. But the prophet accepts the divine command. And
when his natural feeling impels him to ask, "How long?" he receives the
answer, "Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses
without man, and the land be utterly desolate!" No hope or promise is expressed.
What is the meaning of that paradox? It means that true prophets are the
instruments of God in the actualization of His judgment against mankind.
They are instruments in so far as the prophetic word always excites the
opposition of man with respect to both his vital existence and his moral
and religious existence -- indeed, particularly with respect to his religious
existence.
All people desire false prophets, who, through the glorification of
their gods, glorify their followers and themselves. People long to be flattered
in regard to their desires and virtues, their religious feeling and social
activity, their will to power and utopian hopes, their knowledge and love,
their family and race, their class and nation. And a false prophet can
always be found to glorify the demon they worship. But when the voice of
the true prophet is raised, they shut their ears, they contradict his statements,
and they ultimately persecute and kill him, because they are not able to
receive his message. The order endures until the prophet's words are fulfilled,
and the cities are destroyed, and the land is made desolate.
We are all eager for the prophetic spirit. We are anxious to lead the
people to a new justice and to a better social order. We long to save the
nations from a threatening doom. But does our word, if it be God's
word, have better effect than that which Isaiah saw in his vision and experienced
in his life? Are we more than he was? Are our people today less devoted
to demons than his people were? If not, can we expect anything other than
what he was told to expect through his vision? We must pray for the prophetic
spirit which has been dead for so long in the Churches. And he who feels
that he has been given the prophetic task must fulfill it as Isaiah did.
He must preach the message of a new justice and of a new social order in
the name of God and His honour. But he must expect to be opposed and persecuted
not only by his enemies, but also by his friends, party, class, and nation.
He must expect to be persecuted to the degree to which his word is the
word of that God Who alone is holy, that God Who alone is able to create
a holy people out of the remnant of every nation.
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