shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.
9. And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand
not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. 10. Make the heart of this
people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they
see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their
heart, and convert, and be healed. 11. Then said I, Lord, how long? And
he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the
houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate, 12. And the Lord
have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst
of the land. 13. But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return,
and shall be eaten: as a tell tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in
them, when they cast their leaves: so the holy seed shall be the
substance thereof.'--ISAIAH vi. 1-13.


WE may deal with this text as falling into three parts: the vision, its
effect on the prophet, and his commission.

I. The Vision.--'In the year that King Uzziah died' is more than a date
for chronological accuracy. It tells not only when, but why, the vision
was given. The throne of David was empty.

God never empties places in our homes and hearts, or in the nation or
the Church, without being ready to fill them. He sometimes empties them
that He may fill them. Sorrow and loss are meant to prepare us for the
vision of God, and their effect should be to purge the inward eye, that
it may see Him. When the leaves drop from the forest trees we can see
the blue sky which their dense abundance hid. Well for us if the passing
of all that can pass drives us to Him who cannot pass, if the unchanging
God stands out more clear, more near, more dear, because of change.