Trinity Sunday “In the Presence of the Holy God”
May 26, 2024 Isaiah 6:1-8
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Dear brothers & sisters in Christ,
It’s hard for us to imagine what it would be like to suddenly be in the presence of
The Holy God. Some imagine that it would it be cool or tranquil; maybe awesome & inspiring; maybe overwhelming & leave you speechless. All of those things are pretty positive feelings.
Have you ever heard of Duquette, MN? It’s south of Duluth along the WI border.
It’s not big enough to be a ‘town’. I think it used to be, when there was logging over there.
It has a convenience store, & that’s about it, besides scattered houses or hunting cabins.
Some of the members in our Lutheran church nearby would get all excited when, for a couple of times in the summer, they would see the Hollywood actress Jessica Lang come into that little store.
She was the main actress in the 1976 movie King Kong, & even won an Academy award for the 1982 movie Tootsie. (ooh!). She was actually born in Cloquet, MN, & has a family house or cabin somewhere around Duquette. When people suddenly found themselves in the presence of a movie star, they thought it was ‘awesome’; they were tongue-tied.
So, is that what’s it’s like to be in the presence of God? What do you think your reaction would be? Adam & Eve were scared & they hid; Moses was afraid to look at the ‘burning bush’; Elijah hid his face; after a miraculous catch of fish, Peter knelt before Jesus & said, ‘go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man.’ Fearful, humbling, scared. Those are the most common reactions we see in the Bible. On this Holy Trinity Sunday, we hear from Isaiah as he finds himself ‘In the Presence of the Holy God.’
+++++++++++++++++++++
In our OT reading from Isaiah 6, Isaiah is writing about the day when the Lord called him to be a prophet. Isaiah starts out: “In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple.”
The year was 740 BC, and King Uzziah was the king of Judah. Whenever a King died, things happened. Uzziah had been a mostly good king; but now Judah would be facing a serious threat from Assyria, who was the great world power of the day. If mighty Assyria decided to take them over, little Judah would be overwhelmed. With the king dead, it was a time of uncertainty and danger for God’s people.
But then Isaiah is given a vision to reassure him. Isaiah is taken into God’s throne-room.
He sees the Lord sitting on His throne, high and lifted up. Human kings come & go;
but the Lord is still on His throne! The Lord God is King over all kings, & Lord above all Lords. He rules the nations. His eye looks in favor on those who fear Him & do what He says is right. He guards & keeps His faithful people. Nothing will happen to them apart from His divine will & fatherly hand. In a time of uncertainty, Isaiah is to have courage, and trust heaven’s King.
So, where is this throne-room where the Lord is seated? It’s in the heavenly temple, which is the pattern for the earthly temple in Jerusalem. “I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple.” What Isaiah envisions is reflected in the temple in Jerusalem, where God made His dwelling in the midst of His people, to guard & guide them; to forgive their sins. At that time, the earthly temple was the intersection of heaven & earth. That’s where the God of heaven promised to be present on earth for His people. This was God’s promise for as long as His people were faithful to Him.
The Lord’s throne room in the temple was, more specifically, the Holy of Holies,
the ‘sanctum sanctorum,’ where the Ark of the Covenant was located. On the cover of the ark, on either side of the mercy seat, were angels with their wings outstretched. They were referred to as ‘cherubim’, a Hebrew word meaning ‘near ones.’ Then as Isaiah is taken into God’s presence, he also sees ‘seraphim,’ or ‘fiery ones.’ Those angels were creatures with 6-wings covering their face & feet as they flew. What would it be like to see a sight like this? Would we just say ‘ooo, that’s cool.’ Or would we be reminded that we are a sinful human being, & close our eyes to wait for the deserved lightning bolt?
Isaiah hears the seraphs calling: ‘qadosh, qadosh, qadosh, Yahweh Saba-oth!’ “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts!” From 700 yrs before Jesus, the worship liturgy of God’s faithful people has echoed this 3-fold acclamation as we praise & magnify the Holy One of Israel. The Lord is, was, & always will be The Holy One; it is His nature and His character. He is pure & righteous, omniscient & omnipotent = high & lifted up. And yet He also stoops down to dwell with man.
‘Yahweh Saba-oth,’ Lord of hosts. This means He is the Lord of the armies of angels. This word ‘host’ is mostly a military term, used for an army unit.
The Lord’s angelic armies are patrolling the earth, following His commands, protecting His people. Why don’t we see them? Because the kingdom of God -for us- is by faith, not by sight.
The cherubim & seraphim are part of His legions of soldiers, and Hebrews 1:14 says – they are ministering spirits who do His will for His people. We remember what a unique celebration there was -that historic night- when the Virgin gave birth to the Son of God in Bethlehem. ‘And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: ‘glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom He is pleased.’
Isaiah hears: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” The ‘kabod Yahweh’, the glory of God, is not limited to His throne-room in the temple. It starts in there but radiates to all of His creation. He is the Creator of Israel & of all mankind. The vision Isaiah sees is that God’s plan -all along- is to redeem the whole world. Man’s redemption is the glory that fills the earth. Our worship liturgy also sings of that glory so that we will never forget it.
++++++++++++++++
So, Isaiah sees the Lord God reigning on His throne. He sees the seraphim, and hears their glorious song. And then? “And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of Him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.” Isaiah is not just seeing & hearing, but also feeling & smelling this vision. The earth trembles at God’s voice, and the incense from the altar fills the temple at God’s awesome presence.
So what is Isaiah’s reaction to all this? He is overwhelmed, & quickly realizes how sin-affected & humble he is. In the presence of the Holy God, Isaiah becomes keenly aware of his unworthiness. He cries out: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”
Isaiah confesses his sinfulness in the presence of the Holy God. His unworthiness is laid bare; he knows it & he says so; no ‘ifs/ands/or buts.’ This is repentance. And once said, there’s nothing more to say, says Hebrews 10; there is only a fearful expectation of the judgement that is truly ‘just’ for the Holy & Righteous God to render on unclean sinners.
Do any of US think we are better people than the great prophet Isaiah? Or do his humble, repentant words fit us well? Have our lips been unclean? Or, as James puts it: with our tongue, do we set things on fire? Do the same lips bless our Lord and curse other people?
I wonder if American Christians get confused between ‘church & state’ in this way: do we think we have ‘first amendment rights’ with God = ‘freedom of speech’? No, we do not. Jesus said in Matt.12:36 that we are held accountable for every sinful & useless word we speak. So, Isaiah’s regret is ours.
Have our lips been grumbling & complaining == about what our life is like, blaming God for the troubles we face, or accusing Him for withholding the blessings we want? Do you put the ‘best construction’ on everything, and speak well of your neighbor? Or have you used your tongue to put down your neighbor, and damage his/her reputation? Every person’s unclean lips need cleansing. Scripture also reminds us that ‘out of the heart the mouth speaks.’
This is what Isaiah realized for himself & for us: the heart, the base soul, is sinfully unclean in God’s presence. Therefore, we are doomed; cut off.
But the vision isn’t over: “Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar.” Here comes a fiery angel with a burning coal …to blast him? No, it’s not for condemnation, but for cleansing. The angel touches Isaiah’s mouth & says: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”
But how can that be? The idol-worshipper doesn’t deserve mercy. Neither does the liar, embezzler, adulterer, abuser or murderer. How can it be that the Holy God, who exposes our sin, does not desire to condemn us, but to cleanse us? Because that is also His nature & character: both holy and gracious. We all know John 3:16; but John 3:17 is just as important: “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” Our condemnation is deserved, and it is coming; but first God sends His Savior.
The Second Person of the Trinity, comes into the world as one of us, to take the fire of God’s Holy wrath, and be Isaiah’s coal, … and ours. He is the Christ, the ‘anointed one’, who comes to cleanse our lips, mind & heart by becoming the atonement for our sin by the cross. That’s ‘how’. Whoever trusts in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.
It’s a hard reality that the job of God’s Church is to talk about sin, to expose it by God’s Holy Law. People have to know that they are ‘lost’ & doomed. All people will face God, accountable for their sinful un-clean-ness. But to face it now in repentance, rather than later in judgement, means that God now has a second message to speak to us: mercy, atonement, grace. That second message is the promise of forgiveness made flesh in Jesus — the world’s crucified & risen Savior.
This is the 2-fold message you have heard, and by God’s Spirit, have come to believe; so that you have been given a new life to live as a child of God. This 2-fold message is for all people; for He desires no one to be condemned, but for all to be saved, & to come to the knowledge of His truth. This vision reminds us that, in a special way, something from the altar today will touch your lips – with the promise to cleanse you, and take away your guilt.
It is the very body & blood of your Savior, given to you in His Holy Meal, to forgive uncleanness. Trust His words, and receive His atonement.
After the coal, God was not finished with Isaiah, just as He is not finished with you. In the presence of the Holy God, Isaiah heard the voice of the Trinity say: “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” And Isaiah replied, “Here I am! Send me.” For Isaiah, that meant being commissioned to be one of just a handful of special prophets, to preach the word to God’s people. We do not have Isaiah’s Call, but we do have his ‘sending.’
God still sends His people out from His presence; out into their daily lives. We have each received the undeserved & gracious cleansing of forgiveness in the presence of The Holy King. We realize that if God so loved us, then it means His love-in-Christ is for all the people we live with, & work with, & school with, & cross paths with.
So the Lord asks: who will we =the Trinity= send? I will send my cleansed people. That puts a certain purpose in your new life in Christ; in Matt.5, Jesus calls your life ‘salt’ & ‘light’. And each week that you return here to be in the presence of the Holy God, so each week He sends you out again: cleansed, with His law & gospel on your lips.
‘Where two or more are gathered in My name, there am I in the midst of them.’ The Holy God still reigns from His heavenly temple; and His people come into His presence. He dwells with us in His Word & Sacraments. Like Isaiah, we come humble & unworthy; but we still come, because we have heard & believe His promise to be merciful, to cleanse our lips, and to send us back into our daily life – willing to bear His holy name. Amen