“And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send and who will go for us?’ Then I said, ‘Here I am, send me.'”
–Isaiah 6:8
Isaiah 6:8 is maybe one of the most famous well known verses in the book of Isaiah and it’s famous well known for a reason. This chapter depicts God in all of His glory, Isaiah sees God surrounded by angels singing holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory and the foundations of the threshold start to shake and the whole place is filled with smoke and Isaiah is undone by his own sin. He knows he’s standing before a holy God that he deserves judgment before.
Once God graciously saves us, we should naturally desire to be used by Him.
Yet God in His mercy in this symbolic picture of atonement sends one of these angels to him with a burning coal that He had taken with tongs from the altar and touches Isaiah’s lips and says behold this has touched your lips, your guilt is taken away and your sin is atoned for. It’s that scene that sets the stage for God for the first time in this vision, in this passage to speak and the voice of the Lord booms saying whom shall I send and who will go for us?
Isaiah 6:8 Explains Why Isaiah Wanted To Represent God
What an awesome question to be sent by God as a representative of God, as an ambassador for God, as a spokesman for God. Who will go for us? Representing the God of the universe and Trinitarian God at that, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Who will go for us? Isaiah responds and it’s not as much here the cry of a hero saying here’s my chance to do something, instead it’s the plea of this sinner who was just saved by God’s grace. He arises and says I’ll do it. I’ll day, use my life.
However you want to use my life I want to represent You, I want to be an ambassador for You, I want to be a spokesman for You. I want to make Your glory, Your voice, Your Word known so use my life. It’s just the natural overflow, this is what I love about this text. It’s just the natural overflow, once we’re saved by grace to say, God here’s my life. So use me for Your glory. It’s the only potential response. Really once you realize how God has saved you by His grace. The only real response that can come next is God, use my life for Your glory. Indeed God would use Isaiah’s life for His glory.
This Verse Explains The Desire To Be Used By God
It would not be easy for Isaiah, but that’s what I love about this passage. When God says whom shall I send and who will go for us? Isaiah doesn’t raise his hand and say, where are we going? What do You want me to do? Instead without even asking any questions, without hesitation he just says, here am I send me. I’ll do whatever You want me to do. I’m provoked to look at my own life, to challenge you to look at your life and just to say, are we saying the same thing to God?
Are we saying to Him, Lord here’s my life. I’m saved by Your grace. My life belongs to You. I want to be Your ambassador, I want to be a spokesman for You, I want to represent You, I want to make Your glory known. Here’s my life, whatever You want to do, wherever You want me to go I’ll do it because my life belongs to You. I’m saved by Your grace. Therefore I want to be used for Your glory.
Isaiah 6:8 Is Thankful For God’s Grace
We pray that, oh God, here we are. Today each one of us saved by Your grace, saved by Your mercy. Thank You for atoning for our sin, for taking away our guilt. We praise You for Your grace and in response to Your grace we raise our hands. So we lay down our lives, we say we want to go wherever you want us to go, we want to go. Before You even tell us what You want to do we say we want to do it. We want to obey You, we want to represent You, we want to glorify You. We want others to know the grace we’ve received. Here we are, send us wherever, however, whatever. Here we are. Send us. In Jesus name I pray, amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
