TRUST WORTHY God’s Holiness: Isaiah saw his sinfulness and lack of holiness

5 And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for 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, the Lord of hosts!”

John Gill

And I said: “Woe is me”—There’s no woe to a good man, all woes are to the wicked; but a good man may think himself wretched and miserable, partly on account of his own corruptions, the body of sin and death he carries about with him; and partly on account of wicked men, among whom he dwells (Psa 120:5; Rom 7:24):

For I am lost—A good man cannot be undone, or be lost and perish; he is lost in Adam with the rest; in effectual calling he is made sensible of his lost and undone state; and under the power of unbelief may write bitter things against himself; but be can never perish, or be lost and undone for ever. The Targum is,

“for I have sinned”;

and his particular sin is after mentioned: some render it, “for I have been silent”; as if he had not performed the duty of his office, in reproving for sin, or declaring the will of God: others, “for I am reduced to silence,” I am forced to be silent; he could not join with the “seraphim,” being conscious to himself of his vileness, and of his unworthiness to take the holy name of God into his polluted lips, as follows:

For I am a man of unclean lips—He says nothing of the uncleanness of his heart, nor of his actions; not that he was free from such impurity; but only of his lips, because it was the sin of his office that lay upon his mind, and gave him present uneasiness; there is no man but offends in words, and of all men persons in public office should be careful of what they say; godly ministers are conscious of many failings in their ministry. The Targum is,

“for I am a sinful man to reprove”;

and so unfit for it.

And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips—Such were the Jews, not only in Isaiah’s time, but in the times of Christ and his apostles, who traduced him, as if he was a wicked person, calumniated his miracles, said he was a Samaritan, and had a devil; they taught for doctrines the commandments of men, and opposed and blasphemed the truths of the gospel; and to live among men of a filthy speech and conversation is a concern to a good man; he is vexed and distressed hereby; he is in danger of learning their words, and of suffering with them in a common calamity.

For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts—The same divine and glorious person described in Isa 6:1 who is no other than the Lord Christ, King of kings, and Lord of lords, King of saints, and Lord of the armies, in heaven and in earth; and a lovely sight it is to see him by faith, in the glory and beauty of his person, and in the fulness of his grace; such a sight is spiritual, saving, assimilating, appropriating, very endearing, and very glorious and delightful: therefore it may seem strange that a sight of Christ should fill the prophet with dread; one would think he should rather have said, happy man that I am, because I have seen this glorious person, whom to see and know is life eternal; but the reason of it is, because in this view of Christ he saw the impurity of himself, and was out of conceit with himself, and therefore cries out in the manner he does; just as in a sunbeam a man beholds those innumerable motes and atoms, which before were invisible to him. It was not because of his sight of Christ he reckoned himself undone; but because of the impurity of himself, and those among whom he dwelt, which he had a view of through his sight of Christ: his sight of Christ is given as a reason of his view of his impurity, and his impurity as the reason of his being undone in his apprehension of things. The prophet, in these his circumstances, represents a sensible sinner, under a sight and sense of his sinfulness and vileness; as the seraph in the following verses represents a gospel minister bringing the good news of pardon, by the blood and sacrifice of Christ.

Rashi

For I am lost—I will die, for I was not worthy of seeing the countenance of the glory. We find a similar statement made by Manoah (Jdg 13:22): “We shall surely die, for we have seen God.”

I am lost—Heb. נִדְמֵיתִי, comp. (Zep 1:11): “All the traders are broken (נִדְמֶה).”

People of unclean lips that are defiled with sins from Jonathan.

“But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.” EXO 33:20

Berakhot 7a:30

The Gemara continues to cite the Sages’ explanation of verses that require clarification on the same topic. With regard to God’s statement to Moses, “ ‘But,’ he said, ‘you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live’ ” (Exo 33:20), it was taught in the name of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korha that the Holy One, blessed be he, said to Moses as follows: When I wanted to show you my

wanted to show you My glory at the burning bush, you did not want to see it, as it is stated: “And Moses concealed his face, fearing to gaze at God” (Exo 3:6). But now that you want to see my glory, as you said: “Show me your glory,” I do not want to show it to you. Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korha interprets Moses’ initial refusal to look upon God’s glory negatively, as he rebuffed God’s desire to be close to him.

Megillah 19b:4

And Rabbi Hiyya bar Abba also said that Rabbi Yohanan said: Had there been left open a crack so much as the size of small sewing needle in the cave in which Moses and Elijah stood when God’s glory was revealed to them, as it is written: “And while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock” (Exo 33:22), and: “He came there to a cave . . . and behold, the Lord passed by” (1Ki 19:9-11), they would not have been able to endure due to the intense light that would have entered that crack, as it is stated: “For man shall not see me and live” (Exo 33:20).

Rashi

“But,” he said, “you cannot . . .”—Even when I make all my goodness pass before you I shall not allow you to see my face.”

8 But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”

9 For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, LUK 5:8-9

John Gill

For he and all who were with him were astonished—His brother Andrew, and the servants they had with them to manage the vessel, and cast the nets:

At the catch of fish that they had taken—Being so large and numerous, as the like was never seen, nor known by them before.

6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar.

John Gill

Then one of the seraphim flew to me—When the prophet had confessed his sin; for upon that follows the application of pardon; and when the seraph, or minister of the gospel, had an order from the Lord to publish the doctrine of it: it is God’s act alone to forgive sin; it is the work of his ministers to preach forgiveness of sin, and that to sensible sinners; who when they are made sensible of sin, and distressed with it, the Lord takes notice of them, and sends messengers to them, to comfort them, by acquainting them that their iniquity is forgiven; who go on such an errand cheerfully and swiftly; and though they do not know the particular person, yet the Lord directs their ministration to him, and makes it effectual.

Having in his hand a burning coal—By which is meant the word of God, comparable to fire, and to a burning coal of fire (Jer 23:29), for the light and heat which it gives both to saints and sinners, and for its purity and purifying nature:

That he had taken with tongs from the altar—Of burnt offering, where the fire was always burning; which was a type of Christ, and his sacrifice; and this shows what particular doctrine of the word it was the seraph or gospel minister took, and delivered in this visionary way; it was the doctrine of pardon, founded upon the sacrifice and satisfaction of Christ. To this sense of the words the Targum agrees, which paraphrases them thus,

“and there flew to me one of the ministers, and in his mouth a word which he received from his glory, upon the throne of glory, in the highest heavens, above the altar,”

see (Rev 14:6).

And he shall take a censer full of coals of fire from the altar before the Lord, and two handfuls of sweet incense beaten small, and he shall bring it inside the veil LEV 16:12

Rashi

From the altar—Referring to the outer altar (Yoma 45b).

Before the Lord—From that side of the altar which was before the entrance—that is, the west side (cf. Yoma 45b).

Beaten small—Why is it stated that it shall be beaten small? Was not all incense beaten small, for so it is said, “And shall beat some of it small” (Exo 30:36)? But it is intended to teach that it (the incense used on the Day of Atonement) was to be of the very finest powder, for on the eve of the Eve of the Day of Atonement it (the ordinary incense) was put again into the mortar in order that it should be again beaten into a finer powder (Keritot 6b; Sifra, Acharei Mot, Chapter 3 8-9; Yoma 45a).

I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. MAT 3:11

7 And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.” ISA 6:5-7

I, I am he

who blots out your transgressions for my own sake,

and I will not remember your sins. ISA 43:25

Rashi

I, I am he who—I am he who erased them from time immemorial lit. from then, and I erase them even now.

For my own sake—Neither in your merit nor in the merit of your forefathers.

And behold, some people brought to him a paralytic, lying on a bed. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.” MAT 9:2

In the presence of God and the heavenly creatures declaring God’s holiness, Isaiah saw without doubt his sinfulness; not just his own, but the utter sinfulness of all his people. He realized that he was in the presence of a holy God and knew that because of his sin, he was undone. He could not live, having seen the holiest of holies. In light of the holiness of God, we too can see how small, dirty, and despicable we are. But God extended mercy to Isaiah by cleansing him and taking away his sin—and he did this for us as well. When did you realize the holiness of God and your sinfulness? How did your mindset and lifestyle change because of this?