Isaiah 6:1-8
Holy, Holy, Holy Is the LORD Almighty!
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the LORD seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.” Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.” Then I heard the voice of the LORD saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” (NIV1984)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
Have you ever tried to picture heaven in your mind? I have— many times! In fact, I can’t count the number of times that I have tried to help people visualize heaven— by using the pictures that holy Scripture provides to us. If someone is coming to the end of their journey here on this earth I encourage them to remember the picture of heaven that Jesus Himself has given to us. Jesus pictures heaven as His heavenly Father’s mansion in which our Lord Himself has “prepared” a room specifically for them! (John 14:1-4) If I’m talking to a person whose loved one has been called Home to heaven I encourage them to picture heaven as a place where their loved one has now joined the “great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language” (Revelation 7:9), a place where all the saints are wearing white robes as they stand before the throne of God and joyfully serve Him day and night, a place where all their pains and all their troubles are gone, a place where they experience only joy and happiness, glory and perfection. (Revelation 7:14-17) I encourage them to remember that heaven is pictured as a city where the gates are made out of pearls and the streets are made out of pure gold. (Revelation 21:21) The pictures of heaven that we are given in Scripture remind us that heaven is where we all want to be because heaven is our Home!
Our sermon text for today places before us an amazing picture. The picture that Isaiah gives to us is designed to help us understand and remember a number of very powerful truths. It helps us to understand and remember who our God is. It helps us to understand and remember what our God has done for us. And it helps us to understand and remember what our God has called us to do for Him!
Who is our God? What picture can we use to help us understand and remember who the one and only true God is? It is the picture that was granted to Isaiah and recorded for us in the opening portion of our text. Isaiah tells us, “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.’ At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.”
This picture helps us to understand and remember that our God is the Majestic God who sits on a throne “high and exalted” as King over heaven and earth, as the Creator of all things seen and unseen, as the Judge of the living and the dead. Our God is the God who is surrounded by thousands upon thousands, ten thousand times ten thousand holy angels— including “seraphs,” “fiery beings” who are ready, willing and able to carry out the King’s commands. Isaiah reminds us that even though these seraphs are high-ranking angels they cover their faces and they cover their feet out of great reverence for and in great humility before the One who is sitting on the throne. These “seraphs,” these “fiery beings,” these high-ranking angels make it crystal clear who the true God is. In their majestic antiphonal hymn of praise they describe Him as three-times “holy.” Not only does this emphasize that our God is “set apart” infinitely separate and above all creation, but it’s not difficult for us to see a testimony to the Trinity as the “seraphs” sing, “Holy, holy, holy.” They also proclaim that the true God is “the LORD Almighty,” or “the LORD of hosts.” Our God is “Jehovah,” the great “I AM,” the God of absolute perfect justice, the God of amazing boundless grace. (See Exodus 34:6-7) Our God is the Almighty Commander of the “hosts of heaven.” Our God is unique. Our God is without equal. Our God is without peers.
What was Isaiah’s reaction when he was given the privilege of seeing the one true God? When Isaiah saw God in all of His splendor and majesty and glory did he become giddy with delight? Did he experience an emotional high from his personal encounter with the Lord God Almighty? We see and hear Isaiah’s response in his own words: “’Woe to me!’ I cried. ‘I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.’”
When Isaiah found himself in the presence of the great “I AM” he instantly recognized what so many people refuse to recognize right down to this very day: m Isaiah saw what he truly was— a sinner! He was a sinner who lived among sinful people. He was a sinner who deserved only ruin and destruction at the hands of the holy, majestic, almighty God who was seated on the throne in front of him. Once Isaiah was convicted of his sin he realized that he had absolutely nothing to deserve God’s favor, nothing to appease God’s wrath, nothing to earn God’s forgiveness.
Do we recognize that same reality, my friends? When we look into the mirror of God’s holy Law, when we hear Jesus Himself proclaim to us that the two greatest Commandments are, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” and “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37-38), when we see God’s perfect justice poured out full strength on God’s Son as He innocently suffered and died in our place (Pointing to the cross), do we humbly recognize and confess that we are sinners? Or, do we naively try to maintain that we aren’t really “all that bad”? Do we vainly agree with those who say that deep down inside everyone has at least a “little bit of good”?
“Woe to me! I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.” Isaiah’s confession serves as the basis on which our text pivots from helping us to understand and remember who our God is to helping us to understand and remember what our God has done for us. Isaiah tells us, “Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, ‘See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.’”
Sin creates an uncrossable chasm between each and every sinner and the one and only true God. No sinful hand can reach out to the holy Almighty God, no human effort can find a way to cross the gulf that sin has created. That’s why it is such a comfort to know that God’s perfect hands lovingly reached out to take hold of us! That’s why it is such a comfort to lift up our eyes to the cross (Pointing to the cross) and see the “effort” that God put into securing our eternal salvation! Our forgiveness for all of our sins, our redemption from sin, death and the devil are all God’s work— not ours! That glorious truth is found in the glorious words that the “King, the LORD Almighty” proclaimed to Isaiah through the “seraph”— “Your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”
These precious words apply to us today just as much as they applied to Isaiah so many years ago. While the Lord God Almighty doesn’t send a “seraph” to touch our lips with a coal from God’s altar and assure us that our “guilt is taken away” and our sin is “atoned for” through His pastors the Lord God Almighty touches our lips with the true body and the true blood that His Son sacrificed for us on the altar of the cross and proclaims to us the exact same truth that He proclaimed to Isaiah, “Your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.” That’s why the Sacrament of Holy Communion is so precious to us! That’s why we want to receive the holy Supper as often as we can! In a visible tangible way the Lord’s Supper assures us of what the Lord our God has graciously done for us!
Once we understand and remember who our God is, once we understand and remember what our God has done for us, then we will be able to understand and remember what our God calls us to do for Him! Look at the closing verse of our text. Isaiah writes, “Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying,, ‘Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?’ And I said, ‘Here am I. Send me!’”
Notice the powerful transformation that had overcome Isaiah after he had received the assurance, “Your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.” Isaiah went from a terrified sinner crying out, “Woe to me! I am ruined!” to a courageous forgiven child of God who is eager to serve his Lord! God’s grace, God’s mercy and God’s forgiveness had worked a miracle in Isaiah’s heart. Isaiah was now ready to take what he had heard and seen, take what he had experienced and received there in God’s throne room and share it with others.
What God did for Isaiah He has also done for you and for me. Through His powerful message of Law God has convicted us of our sin. Through His powerful message of Gospel God has guaranteed that our guilt has been taken away and our sin has been atoned for— right there on the cross. (Pointing to the cross) Through the power of the Holy Spirit working through His holy Word and His holy Sacraments God has worked the miracle of conversion in our hearts. Will we respond to God’s grace and God’s mercy and God’s forgiveness in the same way Isaiah responded— with a willingness and an eagerness to take what God has done for us and share it with others?
On an individual level God has called us to be His “witnesses” in this world. (See Acts 1:8) God has also graciously provided each and every one of us with His holy revealed Word— the Word that enables us to fulfill the command God gives to us through His servant Peter, “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have” (1 Peter 3:15). On a congregational level and on a Synodical level God has called us to work together as one so that together we can carry out the mission that He (Pointing to the cross) has given to us— “Go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19). We need to strive with God’s help to do what He has called us to do. We need to strive with God’s help to follow the example Isaiah gives to us and say, “Here am I. Send me!”
I am convinced that the Bible is filled with pictures so that people like me can understand and remember the amazing, wonderful truths that only our God could reveal to us. My prayer this morning is that the picture of Isaiah standing in the throne room of God surrounded by “seraphs” singing,, “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty” will help us to understand and remember who the true God is, what the true God has done for us, and what the true God has called us to do for Him!
To God be the glory!
Amen
