Isaiah's Throne Room Vision

In the year that King Uzziah died, the prophet Isaiah was given a vision that would define his entire ministry. He saw Yahuah seated on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the Temple. Above the throne stood seraphim — fiery beings with six wings each. Two wings covered their faces (they could not look upon Yahuah's full glory), two covered their feet (in humility), and with two they flew.

The seraphim cried to one another: 'Set-apart, set-apart, set-apart is Yahuah of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!' The doorposts shook and the Temple filled with smoke.

Isaiah's response was not joy but terror: '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 my eyes have seen the King, Yahuah of hosts.'

Then one of the seraphim flew to him with a live coal taken from the altar and touched his mouth, saying: 'Your iniquity is taken away, and your sin purged.' Only after this purification did Yahuah ask: 'Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?' And Isaiah responded with the words that have echoed through the ages: 'Here am I! Send me.'

This story reveals a pattern: encounter with Yahuah's holiness leads to awareness of sin, which leads to purification, which leads to commission. Isaiah could not serve until he was first undone and then restored.