"Woe is me ....." Isaiah 6:5
- Rita Egolf
- Jul 16
- 7 min read
Isaiah's response to God's presence was a deep sense of unworthiness, as he declared, "Woe is me, for I am undone!"
The passage begins with a vision of Isaiah encountering the Lord in the temple, hence the message of divine encounter.
In our Christian walk, we are reminded of the importance of seeking divine encounters through prayer, worship, and meditation on God's Word.
Just like it was in Exodus 3, where Moses encountered God through the burning bush. Both instances emphasize the need for a personal encounter with God to strengthen our faith.
As believers, it's not enough to merely attend church every Sunday; we must cultivate a personal relationship with God that goes beyond seeking prayers from our pastors, for God is not only the Father of our pastors but also our Father, willing to communicate with us.
Therefore, we should strive to nurture a deeper, personal connection with God by daily immersing ourselves in His Word and inviting the Holy Spirit into our hearts for guidance.
Another important message of the passage is Holiness and Conviction.
Isaiah's response to God's presence was a deep sense of unworthiness, as he declared,
"Woe is me, for I am undone!"
This theme of recognizing our sinfulness and need for repentance is crucial in our Christian life.
As believers, we are admonished to come to a place of humility and repentance, acknowledging our need for God's forgiveness and grace.
God has given Isaiah a glimpse of Himself sitting on a throne as strange, angelic beings call out to one another about the Lord's holiness (Isaiah 6:1–3).These beings have voices that shake the very foundations of the building (Isaiah 6:4). Standing in the presence of God's glory, Isaiah is suddenly overwhelmed with his unworthiness to be in such a place or see such things.
Isaiah cries out in despair. This is not only because common understanding among the Israelites was that those who see God in His full glory must die (Exodus 33:20). It's that given a glimpse of the true holiness of God instantly burns into Isaiah's inner being the depth of his sin. Seeing the Lord of hosts makes him aware that he deserves death because of his sin.
Specifically, Isaiah describes himself as a man of "unclean lips" surrounded by people of "unclean lips". The reason he is calling out his lips specifically is it is with the lips, our words, that we reveal who we are in our hearts. Jesus said, "For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks" (Matthew 12:34). Hearing the pure praise of the Lord from the lips of the seraphim, Isaiah knew in an instant his own unworthiness. And he is not unique, the people of Israel are also unworthy.
"Woe is me! for I am undone. Alas for me! I am a gone man; I shall surely die (Judges 13:22; 6:22); I am silenced; I am struck dumb, struck dead." Thus Daniel, when he heard the words of the angel, became dumb, and there was no strength, no breath, left in him, Dan. 10:15, 17. Observe,
1. What the prophet reflected upon in himself which terrified him: "I am undone if God deal with me in strict justice, for I have made myself obnoxious to his displeasure, because I am a man of unclean lips." Some think he refers particularly to some rash word he had spoken, or to his sinful silence in not reproving sin with the boldness and freedom that were necessary-a sin which God's ministers have too much cause to charge themselves with, and to blush at the remembrance of. But it may be taken more generally; I am a sinner; particularly, I have offended in word; and who is there that hath not? Jam. 3:2. We all have reason to bewail it before the Lord,
(1.) That we are of unclean lips ourselves; our lips are not consecrated to God; he had not had the first-fruits of our lips (Heb. 13:15), and therefore they are counted common and unclean, uncircumcised lips, Ex. 6:30. Nay, they have been polluted with sin. We have spoken the language of an unclean heart, that evil communication which corrupts good manners, and whereby many have been defiled. We are unworthy and unmeet to take God's name into our lips. With what a pure lip did the angels praise God! "But," says the prophet, "I cannot praise him so, for I am a man of unclean lips." The best men in the world have reason to be ashamed of themselves, and the best of their services, when they come into comparison with the holy angels. The angels had celebrated the purity and holiness of God; and therefore the prophet, when he reflects upon sin, calls it uncleanness; for the sinfulness of sin is its contrariety to the holy nature of God, and upon that account especially it should appear both hateful and frightful to us. The impurity of our lips ought to be the grief of our souls, for by our words we shall be justified or condemned.
(2.) That we dwell among those who are so too. We have reason to lament not only that we ourselves are polluted, but that the nature and race of mankind are so; the disease is hereditary and epidemic, which is so far from lessening our guilt that it should rather increase our grief, especially considering that we have not done what we might have done for the cleansing of the pollution of other people's lips; nay, we have rather learned their way and spoken their language, as Joseph in Egypt learned the courtier's oath, Gen. 42:16. "I dwell in the midst of a people who by their impudent sinning are pulling down desolating judgments upon the land, which I, who am a sinner too, may justly expect to be involved in."
2. What gave occasion for these sad reflections at this time: My eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. He saw God's sovereignty to be incontestable-he is the King; and his power irresistible-he is the Lord of hosts. These are comfortable truths to God's people, and yet they ought to strike an awe upon us. Note, A believing sight of God's glorious majesty should affect us all with reverence and godly fear. We have reason to be abased in the sense of that infinite distance that there is between us and God, and our own sinfulness and vileness before him, and to be afraid of his displeasure. We are undone if there be not a Mediator between us and this holy God, 1 Sa. 6:20. Isaiah was thus humbled, to prepare him for the honour he was now to be called to as a prophet. Note, Those are fittest to be employed for God who are low in their own eyes and are made deeply sensible of their own weakness and unworthiness.
II. The silencing of the prophet's fears by the good words, and comfortable words, with which the angel answered him, v. 6, 7. One of the seraphim immediately flew to him, to purify him, and so to pacify him. Note, God has strong consolations ready for holy mourners. Those that humble themselves in penitential shame and fear shall soon be encouraged and exalted; those that are struck down with the visions of God's glory shall soon be raised up again with the visits of his grace; he that tears will heal. Note, further, Angels are ministering spirits for the good of the saints, for their spiritual good. Here was one of the seraphim dismissed, for a time, from attending on the throne of God's glory, to be a messenger of his grace to a good man; and so well pleased was he with the office that he came flying to him. To our Lord Jesus himself, in his agony, there appeared an angel from heaven, strengthening him, Lu. 22:43. Here is,
1. A comfortable sign given to the prophet of the purging away of his sin. The seraph brought a live coal from the altar, and touched his lips with it, not to hurt them, but to heal them-not to cauterize, but to cleanse them; for there were purifications by fire, as well as by water, and the filth of Jerusalem was purged by the spirit of burning, ch. 4:4. The blessed Spirit works as fire, Mt. 3:11. The seraph, being himself kindled with a divine fire, put life into the prophet, to make him also zealously affected; for the way to purge the lips from the uncleanness of sin is to fire the soul with the love of God. This live coal was taken from off the altar, either the altar of incense or that of burnt-offerings, for they had both of them fire burning on them continually. Nothing is powerful to cleanse and comfort the soul but what is taken from Christ's satisfaction and the intercession he ever lives to make in the virtue of that satisfaction. It must be a coal from his altar that must put life into us and be our peace; it will not be done with strange fire.
2. An explication of this sign: "Lo, this has touched thy lips, to assure thee of this, that thy iniquity is taken away and thy sin purged. The guilt of thy sin is removed by pardoning mercy, the guilt of thy tongue-sins. Thy corrupt disposition to sin is removed by renewing grace; and therefore nothing can hinder thee from being accepted with God as a worshipper, in concert with the holy angels, or from being employed for God as a messenger to the children of men." Those only who are thus purged from an evil conscience are prepared to serve the living God, Heb. 9:14. The taking away of sin is necessary to our speaking with confidence and comfort either to God in prayer or from God in preaching; nor are any so fit to display to others the riches and power of gospel-grace as those who have themselves tasted the sweetness and felt the influence of that grace; and those shall have their sin taken away who complain of it as a burden and see themselves in danger of being undone by it.
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