Sermon for 5-29-24

Sermons, The Word

 

Isaiah 6: 1-7

Trinity Sunday 2024

 

Opening Prayer: Almighty and everlasting God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we give You most hearty thanks that You have granted unto us a clear and abundant revelation of Your being and purpose; and we humbly ask You, give us grace to acknowledge, honor and praise You as our Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier, who lives and reigns, ever one God, now and forever.  Amen.

 

Isaiah’s Vision of the Lord

 

In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train[a] of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called to another and said:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory!”[b]

4 And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. 5 And I said: “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!”

6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”

+In the Name of Jesus+

 

Qadosh, Qadosh, Qadosh!    They are the Hebrew word “holy.”   The threefold use of Qadosh goes back to this text and forward to Revelation 4 where we hear the angels say, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord God Almighty,” followed by the identification of the LORD: “Who was and who is and Who will be.”   With the threefold use of “holy” we are at the same time reminded of the Triune God and also of His holiness.     This morning, we draw our attention to this threefold word of our Lord as we consider:

 

WE ARE GIVEN A GLIMPSE OF GOD’S THRONE

 

There are three points that we on which we focus our thoughts as we look upon the throne of God:

 

  1. God Is Holy.
  2. We are sinful.
  3. God is gracious.

 

GOD IS HOLY

 

In order to understand some of what is being said here, we need to understand the mention of King Uzziah.   King Uzziah was actually one of the better kings of the southern kingdom of Judah.   He was their tenth king and ruled for 52 years making Judah prosperous.  Even his name glorified God, “Yahweh is my strength.”     But toward the end of his life, he became proud believing himself to be the real king over Judah having all the rights of privileges of both the palace and the temple for himself.

 

So, one day he felt that as the king, he could also take the place of the priests and he entered the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense which was specifically the purview of the priests; nobody else had the permission to do this.    When the priests challenged him for his arrogance, Uzziah became angry with them.   The LORD then afflicted Uzziah with leprosy which made him unclean and unable to come near the Temple for the remainder of his life.   This was to impress on Judah that the real king was the LORD.

 

Frist of all this morning, The LORD gives Isaiah a vision of who the real King and Lord and priest is: “I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train[a] of his robe filled the temple.”   Isaiah uses the Hebrew word “Adonay” the title of lordship, rule, and reign.    This Lord was to be recognized as the True king and recognized as eternally higher than any earthly monarch.  Uzziah had clearly overstepped his authority and was punished for his sinful act.    God does not take sin lightly.

 

Isaiah’s description of the Lord, with the attention paid to the robe and the filling of the Temple with his robe represents the authority and office of priest and king.      To underscore this, God lets Isaiah see the description and the action of the seraphim.  They are stationed above the LORD, but are covering their faces and feet in the presence of the Holy God.     The response of the Seraph is one of humility and reverence; indeed they must cover themselves before the holy presence of the Lord.

 

They call to one another, “Holy, holy, holy” which signifies the entirety of the divine perfection which separates God from His creation.     Proud Uzziah thought he could approach a holy God in his arrogance without the intervention of the priests.   In other words, there was no repentance only a heart hardened by his pride.

 

But dear Christian, let us be careful.     Each Sunday, we come into the presence of the holy Lord in the Divine Service.   In the service, we not only hear Him speak to us, but we approach His throne, we approach the very Holy Table of our Lord.  We too must approach this table in reverence with a heart that has a repentant spirit.  We, like Isaiah, should be awestruck.  Even the seraph covered themselves.

 

God is holy and as with the example of Uzziah, we must see He takes our sin very seriously.   Every sin is a move to usurp the authority of the Lord.    Remember, as with the seraphim, we say to one another in our communion liturgy as a reminder of God’s holiness:

 

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory!” (Sanctus, page 76, ELH).

 

WE ARE SINFUL

 

Secondly this morning, we are told that at these words of the seraphim, “The foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.”     This is the scene of God’s majesty.   The holiness of God even causes the foundation of the house of God to tremble.    The smoke is often represented as a concomitant of the presence of God.   Isaiah is in the presence of God who came down from heaven.

 

What is Isaiah’s reaction?    “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 sees and knows his sin and the sins of Judah.   Isaiah uses two words for their sin.  The combination of the two of these words take in all sin, both original and actual sin.

 

As Isaiah laments “Woe is me,” Isaiah says that he has seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”    His lips are not fit for holy service or for that matter even survival.   Isaiah places himself in the category not only of desecrating the Lord of hosts and king of kings, but also of defilement.    He is unclean!    He feels that he is lost.   He is as far from holiness as one can get.

 

By nature, we too are as far from holiness as one can get.   By nature, we are unclean.       As sinful human beings, we come face-to-face with our Savior each week through the liturgy as our Lord guides us to His holy table through the liturgy.  It is His voice we hear.

 

  • Should we not be in awe?
  • Should we not be reverent?
  • Should we not tremble at the real presence of our Lord in whose holy and majestic presence we stand?

 

The Lord’s Supper is not a happy meal.; it is not pot-luck where we take from God what we like and reject the rest.    It is the holy meal.     We are sinful human beings and the “woe” of which Isaiah speaks is total and eternal destruction.    Yes, we are sinful and repentance is in order.

 

GOD IS GRACIOUS.

 

Finally this morning, we learn that not only is God holy, but the seraphim describe God: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!”[      No sooner has Isaiah expressed his fear and confessed his own unworthiness, than one of the seraphim who has spoken the words that brought fear to the very heart and soul of Isaiah is dispatched from the Throne of the LORD of hosts and King of kings to meet the needs of this poor miserable sinner on earth.     “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”

 

The glory of God involves His grace and mercy to sinners.    The seraph does not come on his own, but at the direction of God and from the Altar bearing a coal of fire symbolizing the fire of God and His forgiveness which is replicated in Pentecost.     But now the seraph comes with the touch of forgiveness, not the thunder and condemnation of the Law.   That which was unholy and unclean has been made holy, set apart, purified and sanctified and set apart for service in the Kingdom of God.

 

The comprehensive nature of this forgiveness is spoken clearly by the seraph: “Your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”   This is the voice of God whose holiness shakes the foundation of the guilt of Isaiah’s sin and announces that his sin is atoned for.    This points us ahead to Christ who is our atoning sacrifice.

 

On the cross, Jesus offered Himself to God as your propitiation.   There the voice of God shook the entire world when He said, “It is finished.”    The nails in the hands and feet of Jesus did not hold Jesus to that punishment, agony and torture.   Jesus could have come down at any time.     His love for you held Him to the cross.

 

Nailed to that cross, Jesus took your guilt upon Himself so that no one can accuse you before God on the Day of Judgment.   As St. Paul says: “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”     The Temple of God descended from on High in the life and death of Jesus.   In Holy Baptism, your Lord touched your lips and your conscience with the precious water of life, the water of forgiveness.

 

That burning coal for Isaiah came from the Altar of God: ”Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar.”   Forgiveness comes to you on the Altar our Lord has prepared for you in His Supper.    In the Holy Supper, our Lord places Himself in the elements of bread and wine on this altar.    You stand in the presence of God.   This is the meaning of the Real Presence.    He is present to forgive your sins.       His body and blood are the “coals” which touch not only your unclean lips but all of your sins.

 

Yes, God is holy.   Isaiah refers to God as “The Holy One of Israel.”   That is Jesus.   Yes, we are people of unclean lips and unclean hearts.    But the glory of God means that He is glorified in your forgiveness which is meant to touch your troubled conscience and comfort your heart.

 

We are in the presence of this Lord right now; we stand before His throne right now.    Come to His Holy Table this day once again, bring your conscience here to His altar and He will touch your hearts with His body and blood for the forgiveness of your sin.    Go in peace.  Amen.

 

Soli Deo Gloria