The prophet Isaiah had this wild, trippy vision one time way back when: he was in God’s throne room with a bunch of terrifying creatures flying around and shouting about how Holy God is. All of a sudden, one of them came over to have him kiss a coal, which somehow cleansed him.
What’s the deal with this cleansing? Isaiah felt tremendously inadequate in the room of God’s splendor, even though he knew he was supposed to bring God’s word to Israel. But then, in the very next verse, God asks “Whom shall I send?” and Isaiah says “Send me” (Isaiah 6:8 NASB ‘95)! Since Isaiah’s “sin [was] atoned for” (see picture), he could go and help take God’s Word to his people.
Now, our mission may not be to “[r]ender the hearts of this people insensitive,” which is what God told Isaiah to do in prophetic, symbolic language. But we received a commission (a sending) from Christ to “make disciples” and help widen his wonderfully topsy-turvy community (Matthew 28:18-20)—and we didn’t have to kiss a coal in the midst of a petrifying dream to qualify. Instead, we play our part in the Kingdom on the strength of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection, which is more than enough for us to be able to say: we are sent.
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