“Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me” (Isa. 6:8).
 Having been purified, Isaiah immediately responded to God’s call for a representative whom He could send out on His behalf. In New Testament terms, Isaiah would have been called an apostle; that is, “one who is sent.”
 Interestingly enough, the book of Isaiah does not begin, as do some other prophetic books, with the prophet describing his prophetic call (compare Jer. 1:4-10, Ezekiel 1-3). In other words, he must have already been called to be a prophet, even before the events of chapter 6. The Bible does show that a divine encounter can encourage a prophet even after the ministry began (Moses: Exodus 34; Elijah: 1 Kings 19). In contrast to other examples, too, where God tells people they are to be prophets, in Isaiah 6 the prophet volunteers for a special mission. It appears that chapters 1-5 of Isaiah represent conditions at the time when Isaiah was first called, after which God jump-started his ministry by encouraging him at the temple and reconfirming his commission as God’s prophetic spokesman.
 God encouraged Isaiah at His temple. Is there evidence elsewhere in the Bible that God’s sanctuary is a place of encouragement? Psalm 73 (see Ps. 73:17), Heb. 4:14-16, Heb. 10:19-23, Revelation 5. What do these texts tell us?
 Not only does God’s sanctuary throb with awesome power; it’s a place where weak and faulty people such as we can find refuge. We can be reassured by knowing that God is working to rescue us through Christ, our High Priest.
 John also saw Christ represented as a sacrificial lamb that had just been slaughtered, its throat slit (Rev. 5:6). This was not a pretty sight. The description makes the point that although Christ was raised from the dead and has ascended to heaven, He continually carries the Cross event with Him. He is still lifted up in order to draw all people to Himself at His altar.