Isaiah 6 and Romans 9

As with any of my posts I would highly recommend you read the chapter before you read any of this. For all I know I could be pulling things out of context left and right. I won't be focusing on the whole chapter. Instead, I want to talk about the parts that stick out to me.

      In this chapter Isaiah is in the Temple of the Lord in heaven. He stands before the Lord of hosts and the seraphim. The Hebrew word "serapim" means "fiery," so these creatures were blazing and also had six wings. They proclaim the holiness of God thrice. This is a reminder to Isaiah of the "moral purity separateness above creation" (ESV Study Bible notes) of God. Isaiah shudders and immediately responds to God that he is unworthy to be in His presence. One of the seraphim flies to Isaiah and touches his mouth with a burning coal. This signifies atonement for his sins, therefore qualifying him to be in the presence of the Most High. This is a most beautiful picture of grace.
     
      God then asks who will be His mouth-piece on the earth (the role of a prophet). Isaiah, no longer unclean before God, speaks up and says, "Here am I! Send me" (verse 8). Then God tells Isaiah what to tell the people (the Israelites). Isaiah is to warn them of their folly. The Israelites have turned from God to pursue their own pleasures. They no longer delight in Him.

      Isaiah is to bring the warning said in verses 9-10, but God says only a few will respond positively and turn back to Himself. The rest will be hardened to the message and be removed from the city. A "tenth" (v. 13) will remain. This is where I get off on my tangent.

      Does it seem fair to you that God declares people's hearts would be hardened? I ask this because it is something I have struggled with in the past. It is the reason I left my parents church to hear other beliefs on the matter. I find it incredibly hard to believe that the loving God we talk about has specific "vessels of wrath prepared for destruction" (Romans 9:22). In the verse preceding this Paul compares God to a potter and us to the clay. He asks if the clay has any right to tell the potter what it is to become. The obvious answer is no! Still struggling with this? Here's another way I learned to go about this.

      Who knows what's best? Do we, or does God? Later on in Isaiah God talks about how much higher His thoughts and ways are than Isaiah's. Who am I to argue that? How on earth would anyone with a finite lifespan and knowledge know more than God, who is not limited to time and has created everything we see and don't see? I know this is a tough pill to swallow, and that is the way it goes. In fact, it is good that you are struggling with this. That shows that you too are human like myself. This conclusion I have come to also reassures me of this: how much more grace and mercy was imparted to me and how much more indebted I am to Christ! Read the rest of Romans 9 and realize how glorious God is! How rich his mercy is to you, the believer!