Isaiah's Own Cleansing and Commission

“In the year that king Uzziah died, I, Isaiah, was in the temple. I saw the Lord sitting upon an exalted throne. Angels stood nearby, each with his covering and with power to move about, calling out to each other, ‘ The Lord of Hosts is most holy, for the whole earth is full of His glory.’ As the angels spoke, a door opened and the temple was filled with smoke so that I could no longer see the Lord. Then I realized that I had seen the Lord and exclaimed, ‘I am cursed, for I have unclean speech and live among people with unclean speech, yet I have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts!’ Then one of the angels came to me, holding a live coal that he had taken from the alter with a pair of tongs. Touching my mouth with it, he said, ‘This coal has touched your lips. Your sins are taken away and have been atoned for.’

“Then I heard the Lord’s voice ask, ‘Whom will I send to these unclean people?’ Having been forgiven, I said, ‘Here I am, send me!’ Then the Lord said to me, ‘Go and tell the people that they will continue to hear the Lord’s words without understanding them and continue to see His hand in their lives without acknowledging it. Then tell the people what they want to hear, again and again, so that their ears and eyes will grow content and heavy, for they will not hear the fulness of the gospel with their ears, see it with their eyes, and understand it with their hearts. They will not repent, be converted and healed.’

“I asked the Lord, ‘How long should I do this?’ The Lord answered, ‘Until my judgments fall upon them—until their cities are destroyed and emptied.’ But before their cities are destroyed, the Lord will remove His people out from among the wicked. A tenth of the people will return to the cities, only to be consumed, but like the teil and oak tree, their seed, or children, will remain, and will be called holy.”