THE PROPHET’S CALL
Isaiah 6:1-13. In the year that King Uzziah died, &c.
We have here the history of Isaiah’s call to his great life-work. Perhaps in a modern biography this chapter would have been placed first. But there was wisdom in placing it where it stands; it was well to give us some insight into the real character of the men among whom Isaiah was called to labour, for thus we are enabled more easily to understand the nature of the mission on which he was sent [688] Studying this chapter as a history of the prophet’s call, I learn—
[688] This vision evidently contains the designation of Isaiah to his work as a prophet. It does not follow that he may not himself have put his book together in the form, or nearly in the form, in which we have received it. The early Chapter s as they describe the state of the people, not at one particular moment but through a course of years, announcing the punishments which must follow from that state with the blessings which could come out of them, are a living index to the subsequent prophecies and history. The place which they occupy, supposing it was assigned by Isaiah, cannot hinder us from accepting his own express words as a proof, that the year in which King Uzziah died was the critical year of his life, that which explained to him why he was sent into the world and what task he had to perform in it.—F. D. Maurice.
I. That a threefold spiritual preparation is needed for effective service of God [691] It is generally admitted that some kind of preparation is needed, e.g., for the ministry of the Gospel; but it is not generally recognised that a merely professional preparation is of no avail whatever. A man may pass through the whole routine of college life, both literary and theological, and yet not be a prophet of the Lord. Such preparation is not merely not enough, it is not even essential. “Schools of the prophets” may exist without sending forth a single prophet, and God calls many prophets who have never been inside a school door. This is true of every kind and form of God’s service, e.g., the Sunday-school, the home, Christian literature. In every case a threefold spiritual preparation is necessary. Without it we may pretend to be God’s servants; but the disguise will always be imperfect, and we shall always be betraying what we really are. Even the old blind Isaacs whom we deceive will not be sure about us: we may have on Esau’s garments, but we shall never perfectly imitate Esau’s voice. What, then, is this preparation?
1. A vision of God. Before we can serve God effectively, we must to some extent see Him as He is. In all departments of human activity, knowledge of the person served is essential to perfect service. Those who have never seen an earthly king cannot serve him as do those who are in daily intercourse with him; their loyalty is at the most a sentiment, not a constraining power. The biographies of God’s most eminent servants in all ages make it plain that the first and indispensable stage in preparation for His service is a vision of God Himself—a revelation of His majesty and holiness (Isaiah 6:1-4).
2. What a man needs before he can effectively serve God is a vision of himself. The great hindrance to such service is self-satisfaction and self-sufficiency. But when a man really sees God as He is, he straightway sees himself as he is (Isaiah 6:5). Job’s experience (Job 42:5-6). Peter’s experience (Luke 5:8). He sees himself to be utterly unfit and unable to serve God, and so attains to the second indispensable qualification for such service (Ephesians 3:8; 1 Corinthians 15:9, &c.)
3. The third thing which a man needs before he can effectively serve God is participation in God’s salvation. This is a rule that needs to be stated with wisdom. As a matter of fact, God has used the ministry of unconverted men. Such men may be guide-posts, though not guides. How much better to be a guide! How much more useful is a guide! But we cannot thus serve our generation unless we have been made a partaker of God’s salvation. By a sanctifying process,—a process involving in some cases terrible pain (Isaiah 6:6-7),—we must have been made “separate from sinners.”
[691] Once for all must he who was to be a prophet have become absolutely certain of the true relation of the world and Jehovah,—must have beheld, as in a distinct form, the sublime and holy character of Jehovah, and felt that he was directed by Him alone; once for all must he have recognised the divine power of truth against the whole world, and himself as living and moving in it alone; once for all must he have entered, with the effectual energy and act of his whole inner being, into the counsels of God, and found himself for ever bound by them, and endowed by these bonds with true power and freedom:—this was the first condition and the true beginning of all the work of the prophet, the holy consecration and the inner call, without which none can become a true prophet.—Ewald.
II. Those who have undergone this preparation will devote themselves unreservedly to God’s service.
1. There will spring up spontaneously within them a desire to serve God. They will not need to be pressed into this service; they will volunteer (Isaiah 6:8).
2. They will not be deterred by the difficulty or painfulness of the service to which they are called. It was a hard and distasteful service that was demanded of Isaiah—to prophesy to an unbelieving and scoffing generation (Isaiah 5:18-19); to enter upon a ministry that would leave men worse than it found them (Isaiah 6:9-10). Nor was this ministry to be brief; it was to be prolonged through many years (Isaiah 6:11-12). Note: in sending Isaiah on such a ministry there was nothing inconsistent with the Divine righteousness or goodness. God’s truth must be proclaimed, whether men will heed or reject it; and the inevitable effect of such proclamation of the truth is to render those who reject it more stupid and wicked than they were before (2 Corinthians 2:16; John 9:39). But, painful as it was, Isaiah did not shrink from it. Nor do any who have passed through such a preparation as his. They do not ask concerning a work or duty, “Is it easy?” “Is it pleasant?” but, “Does God call me to it?” Paul: (Acts 21:13).
III. There is great encouragement for those who have unreservedly devoted themselves to the service of God.
1. What God demands from them is not success, but faithfulness. He did not require Isaiah to convert his fellow-countrymen, but to prophesy to them faithfully. There his responsibility began and ended. So is it with preachers, teachers, and priests to-day. Men measure by success, but God by faithfulness. What a difference is the result, e.g., in such a case as that of Carey, who laboured for years without making one convert! or in such a case as Isaiah’s!
2. No faithful servant of God will ever labour without some success. Isaiah was not to toil altogether in vain. There was to be a wide-spread apostacy of his countrymen, but not a universal apostacy; a small remnant would still cleave to the Lord (Isaiah 6:13); and doubtless Isaiah’s ministry did much to keep them in the paths of righteousness. So is it with us; much of our seed may be wasted, but not all of it (Psalms 126:6; 1 Corinthians 15:58).