(Preached at Good Samaritan Anglican Church, Summerville on Sunday June 12,2022)
This morning is known on the church calendar as Trinity Sunday. The lectionary readings reflect the fact that God exists as three persons in one being. It’s a mystery that I will not attempt to explain because if I am not clear it will lead to wrong thinking about God. If we had the technology out here to run a video, I would share with you the hilarious work of some YouTube content creators that go by the name Lutheran Satire. They make cartoon videos to teach people doctrine by making fun of things. Perhaps their most famous video features two little Irishmen asking St. Patrick to explain the trinity for them. It’s very entertaining and shows how pretty much every analogy that has been used to explain the Trinity ends up with a heresy.
So, our reading in Isaiah 6 really struck me and I’d like us to focus our time this morning looking at that. So, if you have a Bible or Bible app, go ahead and turn to chapter 6. Now, I think Isaiah is more familiar to people than most of the prophets because he gives us more glimpses of Jesus than any other prophet. Later in this book there are entire chapters that describe the person and purpose of Christ. We traditionally read those at Christmas.
What do we know about this prophet? Unlike some of the prophets, Isaiah says little about himself. His father was Amoz, but the Bible says nothing more of Amoz. Jewish tradition claims that Amoz was a brother of Amaziah, king of Judah, putting Isaiah into the royal family. It is clear that Isaiah was a married man and a father. He appears to have been a resident of Jerusalem. Isaiah prophesied during the reign of several kings of Judah and his call to ministry came in the year that Uzziah died which was around 740bc.
Isaiah’s message is summed up in the meaning of his name: “Yahweh is salvation.” Isaiah announces God’s surprising plan of grace and glory for his rebellious people and, indeed, for the world. Chapter 6 is about the vision Isaiah had of the Lord at the time of his calling to be a prophet. Let’s look at the first verse.
In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord… I’m going to pause there for a moment because there are two things that are huge just in that part of the first verse. But first I want to share a story with you.
31st of August 1997. It was a Sunday morning. My wife was up before me as usual, and she came into the bedroom to declare the shocking news she had just heard on the television. Diana, the Princess of Wales was dead. Now, you need a little context to understand our shock. Diana was only a few years older than us. We remembered when she was married and how the press portrayed a fairytale like princess story of this humble schoolteacher who happened to have met and fell in love with the Prince who presumably would be the next King of England.
The news was tragic and shocking but there was even more context. We were living in England at the time. In a little more than an hour we would be at church worshipping with a congregation that had become family to us. That day, the English people would mourn the loss of a princess, one who was referred to as “the people’s princess” due to her accessibility and servant heart. This would be one of those days that everyone would remember where they were when they heard the news.
The shocking death of Diana was tragic. But the death of Uzziah was a turning point for the kingdom of Judah. So, when we read “In the year that King Uzziah died” we should not read that too casually. He had ruled for 52 years. This was a national crisis. The throne of David was vacant at the worst possible time. Rumors of mighty Assyria’s rise to power had been circulating for years. Stories of their overwhelming armies were well known. Assyria is on the march drawing near as Judah is mourning the loss of her King. Everyone was preoccupied with updates on Assyria. Dread and fear occupied every citizen’s heart.
Isaiah’s world was falling apart. But then he saw God, and he never mentions his dead king again. Now bear in mind that this is a vision. It was commonly believed that if you saw God, you would die. Even Elijah, when God appears to him, only sees the back of him. So, this is a vision but it’s not without great fear and trembling which we will see in the passage. What does Isaiah see and say about God, and what particularly relates to us today?
There are so many truths that we can observe from this chapter alone that we could spend a month of sermons on, but I want to draw our attention just to that which I think most relates to the world we find ourselves living in right now. Let’s press on.
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. 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. And one called to another and said:
“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory!”
And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.
This vision is richly descriptive. He saw the Lord seated on a throne that was elevated and his kingly robe was so long the hem of it filled the room. Seraphim above called to one another with expressions of highest praise. The place shook at the voice of the Seraphim. In a way it’s an awesome vision conveying power and might. It’s frightening as well. Seraphim are understood to have been like flaming angelic beings. People in Isaiah’s day did not have Hollywood films to show us what this might look like, but the description paints a powerful picture. Let’s make our first observation here.
1. God is alive! King Uzziah may be dead but the eternal king, the Lord almighty is alive and seated on his throne. The Psalmist says, “From everlasting to everlasting, you are God”. There are no rulers on this planet who will be ruling 50 or 75 years from now. God is alive and will be ruler still. In 100 years, most of us will be gone but not God. He never had a beginning and therefore depends on nothing for his existence. He always has been and always will be alive.
2. God is sovereign. He is ultimately the ruler. My understanding of the word sovereign was enhanced by living in England. Sovereign means to rule over. England has a queen who sits on a throne and rules over the United Kingdom. Even though her role is seen often as symbolic, she actually has significant power and influence. The queen must approve major leadership appointments. No one becomes a bishop in the Church of England without her approval for example. She does not control the daily lives of her subjects, but they know that she can intervene when necessary.
God is seated on his throne as Lord of all creation. As creator he has the right to rule the world. We do not give God authority over our lives. He has it whether we like it or not. We don’t make him Lord of our lives. God can do as he pleases when he pleases. We don’t always understand his ways because he’s looking at a much longer perspective than we can see. Why is God allowing the world to be so divided and messed up today? When we look at the long trajectory of history, God has used the toughest of times to do miraculous things and draw people to himself. My personal perspective is a mere half a century. Of course, I don’t understand his plans. But I do know that he is sovereign.
3. God is Holy. What does this mean exactly? The seraphim cried holy three times. Twice was a normal repetition to emphasize a word. Three times is over the top. More is being conveyed here. God is holy in that he is God and not man. When Moses asked for his name in Exodus 3, the Lord said, “I am who I am.” His being and his character are not determined by anything outside himself. He is not holy because he keeps the rules. He wrote the rules! God is not holy because he keeps the law. The law is holy because it reveals God. God is absolute. Everything else is derivative.
Now the display of God’s holiness has another term. Notice the angelic beings cry “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord” and they don’t say the earth is filled with his holiness. It is filled with his glory. His glory is the revelation of who he is. It is the pinnacle of the Lord who is holy. In Leviticus 10:3 God says, “I will show My holiness to those who are near Me, and I will reveal My glory before all the people.”
When the Seraphim say, “The whole earth is full of his glory,” it is because from the heights of heaven you can see the end of the world. From down here the view of the glory of God is limited. It’s limited by our own distractions.
God is alive. God is sovereign. God is holy. But after seeing the Lord, what is Isaiah’s response? God’s holiness is so expansive that the whole earth is filled with his glory. It’s a beautiful vision, and Isaiah is terrified by it. In Verse 5 he says, “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!”
When we see God’s holiness, we realize and confess our unholiness. Given a glimpse of the throne room of heaven, we might think our response would be “That’s so cool! Awesome!”. We would not expect to be terrified. But the holiness of God exposes the sin in our hearts.
Isaiah, coming to grips with the state of his heart says three things. It’s interesting to note that in the previous 5 chapters, Isaiah himself does not speak. He only utters the words the Lord gave him to say. For five chapters he was denouncing the sins of the nation around him and suddenly he identifies himself with them. He was pronouncing woes to Judah and now turns his woe to himself. He first says, “I am lost”. Some translations say, “I am undone”. Between those two expressions you get a sense that he feels exposed. It’s like a verbal falling to the knees. Then he says, “I am a man of unclean lips”. I believe Isaiah is expressing a general sinful nature here. He immediately follows it up by declaring the sinfulness of the nation around him. All of this because his eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.
In the year that King Uzziah died, Isaiah sees his true king in a vision. He comes to understand his own impurity in the midst of the holiness of God. Now he has a problem. He is a sinner in the presence of God who is holy. He is out of place, and he knows it. But God has an answer to sin. He has a cure for unclean lips. Guilt can be taken away as we see in vv 6-7, and sin atoned for. With a burning coal from the alter, the seraph purifies him of his sin. Problem solved.
Then (v8) Isaiah hears the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Isaiah’s response is “Here I am, send me”. From there the Lord commissions Isaiah and gives him a message for his people.
It is important, vital even to understand what has happened in this passage. We started with a vision of heaven and the throne room. We saw who was seated, the Lord high and lifted up, the Lord of hosts, the King. No longer was Uzziah his king. Isaiah now sees that his God is the true king. But Isaiah also sees he has a problem. It’s the same problem we all have. We are broken, imperfect, sinful people who cannot remain in the presence of a holy God. The solution to the problem is provided by the Lord. It is he who atones for Isaiah’s sin. He is the one who takes away his guilt.
Only because of what God has done can Isaiah respond to the call to be sent. God’s grace leads Isaiah from “Woe is me!” to “Here I am!” Now Isaiah is qualified to proclaim the only hope of the world—the overruling grace of God.
What does all this mean for us in 2022? How do we connect lessons from 740BC to life today? Two thoughts briefly.
First, we live in a time when fear is dominating the news. From virus to climate to economy to mass shootings, the news is filled with a sense of impending doom. We dwell amongst a people of unclean lips, and we are one of them. This is creating immense anxiety, stress and generally poor mental and spiritual health.
God is alive, in control, and His holiness calls us to look to Him as our king, to recognize that he alone can save us. Through Jesus’ work on the cross, God in his grace has taken away our guilt and atoned for our sins. Isaiah realized his unholiness and confessed it. He then received this gift of grace. We can receive the same grace. And in doing so, live under the kingship of God as citizens not of this world but of God’s kingdom.
Second, we live in a time of increasing hostility towards the Christian faith. The message that Isaiah was given to proclaim was in a time of increasing rebellion and unfaithfulness to God. Uzziah’s reign had started faithful to the Lord but ended destructively with pride. God’s people were headed into exile, though they did not know it yet. Just a few more kings and God would hand over Judah to its enemies. Hostility toward God means people get aggressive towards anyone they perceive as representing God. The glimpses of holiness they see in our lives angers them because they are rebelling against God. Their hearts are hardened. They fit the description in the message that Isaiah was given to proclaim.
What do we do with that? I think the healthy response to hostility towards our faith is loving kindness, and grace. Remember that we did nothing to deserve God’s gift of atonement. We can show others where to find God’s grace. Which brings me back to a comment I made at the very beginning. We are more familiar with this prophet Isaiah than most others because later in his life he speaks very specifically about the Lord Jesus. If there is anything we ought to show the world around us it is the goodness of Jesus. People need to see that we follow Jesus because he is loving and good to us.
God is alive. God is sovereign. God is holy. Isaiah’s main message was that God is salvation. We got a great glimpse not only into the nature of God but the reality of his grace from this chapter. May it lead us to desire God more and live our lives as people of his grace. Amen!
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