From the TeachingtheWord Bible Knowledgebase

When God said, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?" Isaiah said without hesitation, "Here am I! Send me." He was ready to do God's work. What was it?

If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. (Colossians 3:1-4)

Many passages in the Bible tell us that among the very first of the "things above" upon which we must set our minds is the holiness of God. His holy wrath remains, and will eternally remain, upon those who persist in unbelief apart from Christ (John 3:36, Ephesians 5:6, Colossians 3:6, Revelation 20:11-15, 21:8). But those who place their faith in Christ alone, apart from works (Romans 3:28), are, Romans chapter five verse nine tells us, "justified by His blood... [and] saved from wrath through Him."

The prophet Isaiah had this understanding of things above. When he saw the glory of God and the holiness of God seated on His throne, Isaiah cried out, "Woe is me, for I am undone [in the Hebrew, I am cut off, I am destroyed]; 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, the Lord of hosts" (Isaiah 6:5).

Isaiah saw the pre-incarnate Lord Jesus Christ, "the King, the Lord of hosts." Later in his prophecy, in chapter thirty-three, Isaiah asked, "Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with the everlasting burnings?" (33:14). God drove this great reality home to Isaiah by showing him the throne room of Heaven.

God showed Isaiah His absolute holiness, and Isaiah's own hopeless depravity. God showed Isaiah that there was no hope to be found in the things of earth. "I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips." There is no help, no salvation, to be found there. But God showed Isaiah Himself, "high and lifted up," seated on the throne of Heaven. And God saved Isaiah, and God set Isaiah apart to do a work for His glory. And when God said, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?" Isaiah said without hesitation, "Here am I! Send me."

Isaiah's Work for the God of Heaven

Isaiah was ready to do God's work. What was that work? Isaiah prophesied during the reigns of four kings. He prophesied against great evil - even against a king of Judah who sacrificed his own children to pagan gods. Isaiah also participated in a time of great revival and reformation.

Isaiah was also instrumental in saving the nation of Judah from judgment for a time. We read in 2 Chronicles chapter 32 that Sennacherib king of Assyria invaded Judah in the time of king Hezekiah. And Sennacherib laid siege to Jerusalem. And he boasted to the people of Judah that no other god had been able to stand against him. Sennacherib had conquered all other nations he had invaded. And so he said to the people of Judah, "Your God cannot deliver you out of my hand."

But we read in 2 Chronicles 32:20 that Hezekiah the king and Isaiah the prophet "prayed and cried out to Heaven" for the nation's deliverance. Hezekiah under the influence of Isaiah said to the people, "Be strong and courageous; do not be afraid nor dismayed before the king of Assyria, nor before all the multitude that is with him; for there are more with us than with him" (2 Chronicles 32:7). Because of Isaiah the prophet, Hezekiah also set his mind on the things of Heaven, and not on the things of earth. He understood that deliverance would come from Heaven, and it did:

Now because of this King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah, the son of Amoz, prayed and cried out to Heaven. Then the Lord sent an angel who cut down every mighty man of valor, leader, and captain in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he returned shamefaced to his own land. And when he had gone into the temple of his god, some of his own offspring struck him down with the sword there. Thus the Lord saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib the king of Assyria, and from the hand of all others, and guided them on every side. (2 Chronicles 32:20-22)

Furthermore, we find God using Isaiah to write the great book of prophecy, with all of its tremendous statements concerning the first and second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, including the great and vital statement of the virgin birth of Christ, and the great prophecy of Christ's sufferings to justify sinners in Isaiah chapter 53. Isaiah continued to set his mind on things above, and not on things on the earth.

God's Work Is a Long-Term Proposition

When God opened Isaiah's eyes to behold the throne room of Heaven, God was preparing Isaiah to do a great work, not merely in his own time, but for eternity. In his finite flesh, Isaiah could not see this clearly. Seven hundred years later, Peter wrote this in his first epistle, chapter one, beginning at verse seven:

Of this salvation the prophets [Isaiah and the others] have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow.

To them it was revealed that, not to themselves, but to us they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the Gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from Heaven - things which angels desire to look into. (1 Peter 1:10-12)

We see this plan of God in action when He sent Philip to the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts chapter eight. What was the eunuch reading as he traveled home from Jerusalem? He was reading the prophecy of Isaiah, more than 70 years after it was written. We read in Acts chapter 8 verse 35 that Philip

opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture [Isaiah chapter 53], preached Jesus to him. Now as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, "See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?" Then Philip said, "If you believe with all your heart, you may." And he answered and said, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God." (Acts 8:35 -37)

Dear friend, set your mind on things above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. And as you do so, God will use you. God will work in you. We find this in the rest of the book of Colossians as Paul exhorts us to have this Heaven-bound focus in every aspect of our life in this world. You may not see all of the results, just as Isaiah did not see all of the results. In the sovereign working of God, some may accept your witness, and others will reject your witness. But as you maintain this Heaven-bound focus, God will use your life to accomplish His sovereign purposes - not only in the present time, but in years to come, perhaps even in generations to come, and for eternity.

This was true for Isaiah, as God opened his eyes to see "the Lord, high and lifted up." And it will be true for you, by the powerful working of Jesus Christ, the One who is and must be "high and lifted up" in our own lives.

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