Isaiah’s Vision of God and a message about Justice

Isaiah encounters God in a radical way. In his vision of God in the Temple (Isa. 6), Isaiah describes an experience of overwhelming beauty, terror and majesty. Even though he only sees a small glimpse of God on the throne, Isaiah is reduced to stammering. One of the defining features of God in this vision is holiness. This revelation of the holiness of God becomes so real to Isaiah that he often refers to God by the catch-phrase title the “Holy One of Israel.”* However in this encounter with the holiness of God, Isaiah realises how un-holy he is. Isaiah is after all, a man of unclean lips and from a people of unclean lips. Yet, once provision is made and his lips are purified by the burning coal, Isaiah volunteers to be a spokesperson for God. He becomes a prophet, ready to speak the message of God to his own community. So, let’s consider what this encounter with God compels Isaiah to preach. 

Isaiah’s main message is that the community should mirror the holiness of God. Yet, what does it mean for God to be ‘holy’? Usually definitions include either moral purity, or a sense of transcendence and separateness, or both. God’s requirement of holiness for the community includes cultivating their moral and ethical life. For Isaiah, holiness is practically expressed through ethical lifestyles and justice for the whole community. Isaiah condemns the leadership of Judah for unethical practices, social injustice and lack of trust in God. He claims that the Judean community are not replicating the holiness of God. Instead they are replicating the idolatrous nations around them. We see this particularly in chapter 1, which we understand as a kind of introduction to the book of Isaiah but most likely chronologically after his encounter with God in chapter 6.        

In Isaiah 1:4 the prophet says: 

Ah, sinful nation, people laden with iniquity,offspring who do evil, children who deal corruptly,who have forsaken the Lord,    who have despised the Holy One of Israel,    who are utterly estranged! (NRSV)

In this section, Isaiah speaks like a lawyer. He brings the charges against the community for corruption and rebellion. He compares them to obstinate children. These children have rebelled—they have refused their calling of being a unique and holy people who reflect the holiness of their heavenly parent and instead have sought to become like the nations around them. What then is the ‘family likeness’ they should be demonstrating? True family resemblance—that is, ethical replication—should be evidenced in true worship, righteousness and justice. Instead, their rejection of Yahweh has left them sick and ailing (Isa 1:5-6). Empty worship is one example of the poison and sickness that permeates their community (Isa 1:12-13). 

Systemic injustice is another example of their corporate ailment. As Isaiah 1:15 describes, their hands are lifted in prayer but are covered in blood:

When you stretch out your hands,    I will hide my eyes from you;even though you make many prayers,    I will not listen;    your hands are full of blood. (NRSV)

The problem is not that they are not praying. They are praying. But they are also exploiting the vulnerable in their society through acts of injustice. The blood on their prayerful hands is the blood of innocent and powerless people within their community. Their prayers are hypocritical and self-serving. God will not listen to their prayers. That’s a scary thought! This principle is also expressed in the New Testament—mistreating a weaker vessel hinders our prayers to God (1 Peter 3:7). The perpetuation of injustice in their community is inconsistent with true worship. 

Their empty worship and rejection of God is outworked in injustice and fraudulent activities. Instead, Isaiah appeals for the people to reform their worship practices and restore righteousness to the community. This message is particularly directed towards the leaders of Judah. God offers them a total transformation that is realised only through true repentance.** This redemption requires them to turn from their current unethical practices so that they truly reflect the ‘family resemblance’ of God’s holiness. The prophet tells them clearly what they are to do in Isaiah 1:17: 

Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your doings    from before my eyes;cease to do evil,learn to do good;seek justice, rescue the oppressed,defend the orphan, plead for the widow. (NRSV)

To return to their proper calling of replicating the holiness of God, cleansing is needed. Just as Isaiah experienced a purification through the burning coal scorching his lips (Isa 6:7), so his community needs cleansing. The solution is provided in concrete actions: they are to be cleansed by removing their unethical activities and subsequently change their behaviour to mirror their new orientation (Isa 1:16-17). They are to heal the wounds of social injustice. 

This message is not just for Isaiah’s time. It is also a message for today. Although our world is very different from eighth century Judah, the call to be imitators of God is still relevant for us as New Testament believers. As 1 Peter 1:16 reminds the church: ‘For it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”’ Isaiah’s revelation of the holiness of God resulted in the call for his community to reflect this same holiness. Central to this outworking of God’s holiness is justice. If we are also called to mirror the holiness of God, what should that look like in our own lives and communities? Certainly as Isaiah emphasises, our ethical lives and concern for justice should be central to this. This includes caring for the needs of the poor, speaking up for the powerless, acting on behalf of the marginalised, and being instruments of healing to the wounds of injustice in our world. 

* This name for God is quite unique to Isaiah. It is used over 25 times in the book of Isaiah and only six times in the rest of the Old Testament. 

** Brevard S. Childs, Isaiah: A Commentary, (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2001) 17.

Rev Prof Jacqueline Grey is Dean of Theology and lecturer in Biblical Studies at Alphacrucis College. She is the author of Them, Us & Me: How the Old Testament Speaks to people Today.