Surrey Chapel Fellowship Groups – 25th & 26th November 2015
ISAIAH’S CALL: ISAIAH CHAPTER 6

THE CONTEXT:
Read Isaiah 1:2-4: What is the relationship between God and his people like just before Isaiah’s call?
Read Isaiah 1:18-20: How comforting is this sneak-preview of Isaiah’s message?

Verses 1-4

Verse 5

Verses 6-7

Verses 8-13

Getting the overview – Read of all of Chapter 6: In a few words, what is the main theme of each of the following sections? What sub-headings would you give them? Take just a minute or so on each.

READ VERSES 1-4
•	Uzziah had been a godly and powerful king, but ultimately he became proud and this led to his downfall: he died afflicted by leprosy as a punishment from God. What, by contrast, is God (the true king!) like? Pick something from each of verses 1, 2, 3 and 4 to help us get a clear vision of our God. 
•	In daily life, what can get in the way of us seeing God for who he really is? How might we encourage each other to hold on to a clearer vision of our King? 
READ VERSE 5
•	What response does this vision of God bring about in Isaiah? 
•	Sometimes our own personal confession can be limited by our failure to grasp the reality and extent of our sin. How might the fact that Isaiah’s confession of sin in v5 follows his vision of God in v1-4 be helpful in overcoming this?
•	Notice the particular sin Isaiah’s confession focuses on. Why is ‘lip cleanliness’ such an important issue…
o	…for Isaiah?
o	…for us today? (see Luke 6:45)
READ VERSES 6-7
•	Why was the altar important for the relationship between God and his people in the Old Testament?
•	What is Isaiah’s role in being cleansed from his sin here? How do we see the grace of Jesus foreshadowed here in the way Isaiah’s sin and guilt are dealt with?
•	Isaiah is about to be commissioned as a prophet – God’s mouthpiece – so his sense of having ‘sinful lips’ might seem a significant barrier. How might this encourage us if we’re thinking about how we might serve God?
READ VERSES 8-13
•	Knowing that God’s grace has cleansed him, Isaiah readily accepts God’s call – an encouraging contrast to his sense of personal ‘ruin’ in verse 5! Is his message primarily to be one of salvation or of judgement? Look at the impact of Isaiah’s message on the minds (v9), hearts (v10) and land (11-12). 
•	If this emphasis on the inevitability of judgement seems a shock, it’s worth noting that this is the part of Isaiah chapter 6 that is frequently quoted in the New Testament (Matthew 13:14; Mark 4:12; Acts 28:26). How can we understand this ‘decree of hardening’ in the context of God’s love and grace? Discuss:
o	What are we all like by nature? Compare Romans 3:23 to God’s nature in Isaiah 6:3.
o	To what extent is the hardening of hearts and the closing of ears and eyes really ‘unjust’, given our nature? What do we really deserve? See Romans 6:23a.
•	Given our nature – just like the nature of God’s people we saw in Isaiah 1:2-4 – it’s verse 13 that should be the real shock! Where do we see undeserved hope in verse 13? See Isaiah 10:20 and 11:1-3. Why would God do this? See Ephesians 2:4-5.

Prayer:
-	For our church life.
-	Prayer for your group. 
-	Who can we share the good news with?

BP

Closing thought: How could we use the pattern of this passage in our own walk with God?
Vision of God  Confession  Gracious Cleansing  Action
You could use this as a model for prayer now!