Isaiah has had an experience with God, and through the service of the seraph is made meet for the Master’s use. Now he hears the voice of God calling for a volunteer. The prophet in response to the voice of God volunteered himself into the service of God. The divine conversation he heard ended with, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’ and Isaiah answered, ‘Here am I; send me’.
Isaiah counted it a privilege to go as Jehovah’s messenger. The ‘burning ones’ surrounding the throne would readily have become ministers of the wishes of deity; but they had never known defiled lips. How could they go to a people of ‘unclean lips’? Isaiah had already confessed to having ‘unclean lips’ but that was before the coal of fire ‘from off the altar’ had removed his uncleanness. Now it is not his lips but his ear. A sensitive ear and cleansed lips go together; ‘And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’ The progress in his personal experience is most marked. He saw, v. 1. He heard, v. 8. He said, v. 8. Isaiah heard the voice of God calling for a volunteer and he replied by submitting his life; ‘Here am I; send me’. Isaiah’s response to the question shows that he not only listened, but also held himself available, and was ready to obey.
These same qualities are still required for Christians who desire to serve the Lord. The prophet’s ‘Here am I; send me’ finds its echo in the Lord’s word to His disciples, ‘As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you’, John 20. 21. God took the prophet at his word saying, ‘Go’, but little did he realize what he had let himself into. His mission was to go to a people blind, deaf and who had hardened their hearts to the message of God. We measure the stature of the prophet by his response to God when told his ministry would be of no avail. God had distanced Himself from the people because of their spiritual condition, yet the idea to ‘quit’ did not enter Isaiah’s mind. It was God’s work, he was delivering God’s message and he was still willing to go. Are there any today that are willing to go and witness to a heedless generation?
