Spiritual agitation.
The passage depicts the prophet in a condition of great mental agitation; his state may suggest to us—
I. THE ALARM OF THE HUMAN SPIRIT UNDER THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF THE DIVINE PRESENCE. Anything which brings us into close contact with the unseen world powerfully affects our spirit and produces an apprehension for which we may not be able to account.
1. Any visitant, real or imaginary, from the spiritual realm fills us with fear (see 6:22; 13:22; Job 4:15; Daniel 10:8; Luke 1:12; Luke 2:9). We have not the slightest reason to apprehend any act of hostility from such a being, and may be said to have a positive interest in knowing that such as they are do exist and do concern themselves in our welfare. But there are few men who would not be considerably agitated if they believed themselves to be in the presence of a disembodied (or unembodied) spirit.
2. We are affected with lively apprehension when we think ourselves to be on the confines of the future, the spiritual world.
3. The conception of the near presence of the Lord himself awakens the greatest disquietude of soul. So was it with Isaiah now. "Woe is me! I am undone," he exclaimed. So was it with Peter when the miraculous draught revealed the presence of his Divine Master. "Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord," was his prayer. And whenever we are brought into such a spiritual condition that we are ready to say, "Surely God is in this place," whenever the hand of the Lord is felt to be upon our souls and his voice to be manifestly addressing our hearts, we are awed, agitated, even alarmed, with a peculiar and inexpressible apprehension.
II. ITS JUSTIFICATION IN OUR HUMAN GUILT. We may not be able to explain our alarm at the nearness of any created being from the other world, but we can well understand how it is we are affected as we are under the consciousness of the divine presence. It is that our littleness is abashed at the presence of Divine majesty, our ignorance in presence of Divine wisdom, our feebleness in presence of Divine power. But this is not the explanation of our alarm. It is found in the fact that when we find ourselves before God we are conscious that a guilty soul is in the near presence of the thrice-holy One (see verse 3). The clue to our agitation is in the words, "I am a man of unclean lips;" "I am a sinful man." There is a twofold reason why sinful men should be alarmed at the felt presence of God: one, that all sin by its very nature shrinks and cowers in the conscious presence of purity; the other, that the guilty human soul knows well that it is the province, and is in the power, of the righteous God to inflict the penalty which is its due; and it knows that the rightful penalty of sin is sorrow, shame, death.
III. ITS DIVINE REMOVAL. (Verses 6, 7.) Under Divine direction one of the cherubim took a live coal from that altar of sacrifice which God had caused to be built for the purging of the sins of the people, and with the coal he touched the "unclean lips" of which the prophet had made confession and complaint; so was his "iniquity taken away," and, we may conclude, his spirit calmed. The removal of that spiritual agitation which comes to our soul when we realize that our guilt is in the full view of the Holy One can only come from God himself. We may bless his Name that he has made such ample provision for this gracious purpose.
1. He has provided the sacrifice and the altar; that is found in him who is the Propitiation for our sins, in the cross of Calvary.
2. He has provided the messengers of mercy; these are found in those faithful servants who carry the gospel of his grace on the wings of their ardent love.
3. He has provided the means by which the sacrifice and the soul are connected, and the virtue of the one is made to touch and heal the other; this is found in that living faith by which the Lamb of God takes away our sin, and our soul, "being justified by faith, has peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ."—C.