Trinity Sunday
Preaching
Preaching And Reading The Old Testament Lessons
With an Eye to the New
Who is Jesus Christ? According to our Gospel lesson from John 3:1--17, he is the Son of Man, who descended from heaven (John 3:13) to become God in human flesh. Jesus Christ is the incarnation of the God of whom we read in our text for today. And what a God he is! If we want to know who Jesus is, then we must understand him also in the light of the revelation given us in Isaiah 6:1--8.
This passage in Isaiah records the call of that prophet to his prophetic mission in 745 B.C. The great king of Judah, Uzziah, during whose reign Judah prospered militarily, agriculturally, and economically, has just died after suffering the illness of leprosy. Now Isaiah is granted the vision of who the real King is over Judah and over all the nations. Isaiah is granted a vision of the Lord of hosts.
The tone that dominates in Isaiah's vision is that of glory. Isaiah, like other prophets, is granted an entrance into the heavenly court or council of God (cf. Jeremiah 23:13; 1 Kings 22:19--23). There he actually sees God (cf. Exodus 24:10), sitting upon his heavenly throne and surrounded by his heavenly court. While it is generally acknowledged throughout the Bible that no man can see God and live (cf. Deuteronomy 5:26), Isaiah is nevertheless granted that awesome sight.
We, in our naivete, would immediately ask, "What did God look like?" But our text describes the indescribable in terms of spatial terms. The throne of God is "high and lifted up," above all things in heaven and earth, and the Lord's overwhelming presence is pictured in terms of "filling." His royal robe "fills" the temple of heaven, and the smoke from the fire of his presence fills the place. Similarly, as is so often the case in connection with the appearance of God, there is thunder or noise that shakes the very pillars supporting the firmament (cf. Exodus 19:16; Ezekiel 1:24). God's indescribable being is set forth in terms of the effects of his presence.
Round about the Person of God Isaiah sees the Lord's heavenly courtiers, and he specifies among them the seraphim, the supernatural fiery beings in serpentine form (Isaiah14:29; 30:6; Numbers 21:6--9), who attend the divine will. Each seraph has six wings. Two are used to cover the face, for even the heavenly beings cannot bear the sight of God's shining effulgence of glory. Two cover the "feet," a euphemism for genitals, and with two the seraph hovers in air, awaiting God's command. When the word is given, the heavenly seraphic messenger speeds off to do God's will. But as the seraphim hover in space, awaiting the Lord's command, they sing an antiphonal song with one another, back and forth across the vast reaches of the heavens. "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts (that is, Lord of all beings in heaven and on earth); the whole earth is full of his glory."
God is glorious, and his glory fills the world. That refers not only to the great esteem and honor possessed by God, because the basic meaning of "glory" is "weight" - God has great weight in the world, supreme influence. His very Person is also glorious, surrounded with light and shining with purity and goodness.
When Isaiah sees the light of the glory of God, then he recognizes the darkness of his own sin and guilt. It is the same with us, isn't it? When we see the goodness of God in Jesus Christ, we realize how shadowed in evil we are. And so the prophet cries out, "Woe is me!" That is, "I am going to die! Because I have sinned with my lips and in my heart, and I live with people who have sinned. Because the King my eyes have seen! (Such is the order of the Hebrew), and my sin deserves nothing but death before this King of pure glory!"
Such is the magnificence and awesomeness of the God who is incarnated in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Yet, this God of Isaiah and of us is not only overwhelming in his glorious majesty. He is also overwhelming in his loving purpose. For at the command of the Lord, one of the seraphs takes a burning coal from the heavenly altar and touches Isaiah's lips, and the prophet's sin and guilt are taken away. And that forgiveness, too, is incarnated in Jesus Christ our Lord. And so in our Epistle lesson for the morning, we have the amazing statement that God adopts us in Jesus Christ as his children and allows us, even us, to call him "Father," as Jesus did. The God of majesty stoops to our weakness and forgives our sin and removes our guilt, and takes us into his heavenly household.
But we must notice in our text that Isaiah is forgiven not just so he will feel good about himself. He is forgiven in order that he may carry out a task for God. Like one of the heavenly seraphim, Isaiah is made a servant of the Lord. God removes his sin and guilt, specifically cleansing his lips so he can be the Lord's prophetic spokesman. For the first time now, as a forgiven sinner, Isaiah can hear God speak. God addresses his heavenly court and asks who will carry out a mission for them. And Isaiah, made a new man, volunteers his service. "Here am I! Send me." Isaiah becomes a prophet to Judah, and all 39 chapters of his book preserve the account and words of that prophetic mission for us. (Isaiah 40--55 and 56--66 are considered to be from other prophets in the Isaianic school.)
We usually end our reading of this text with verse 8, and that is what the lectionary prescribes. As a result, we never read on to find out what Isaiah is to do. But the amazing thing is that he is told here at the beginning of his ministry to fail! "Go and preach to this people," he is told in so many words, "in order that their hearing of the Word of God and their disobedience of it may become even more unheeding and stubbornly sinful." Then they will deserve even more the judgment that the Lord of hosts is bringing upon Judah in the form of destruction from Assyria. God has determined to judge his people, and Isaiah is an instrument of that judgment. "Your prophesying won't convert anyone," Isaiah is told, "but it will carry out God's purpose." And Isaiah, hearing that awful assignment, cries out, "How long, O Lord?"
You and I are not prophets. But we worship the God of the prophet Isaiah in Jesus Christ. We are forgiven by that God through the work of Jesus Christ. And we are sent on the mission of the same God, to be servants of his purpose. Will we be successful, popular? Will our witness and our message be accepted? Well, Jesus wasn't what we would call successful and popular as he hung on that cross, and certainly most did not receive his message. But we are his servants, called to be instruments of his purpose in our world. Guiding us always is the God of glorious majesty, glorious in purity, glorious in love, Lord over heaven and earth. And we can trust that God of glory to be with us, to sustain us, and to use our faithful labors finally for the fulfillment of his loving purpose for his world.
.
This passage in Isaiah records the call of that prophet to his prophetic mission in 745 B.C. The great king of Judah, Uzziah, during whose reign Judah prospered militarily, agriculturally, and economically, has just died after suffering the illness of leprosy. Now Isaiah is granted the vision of who the real King is over Judah and over all the nations. Isaiah is granted a vision of the Lord of hosts.
The tone that dominates in Isaiah's vision is that of glory. Isaiah, like other prophets, is granted an entrance into the heavenly court or council of God (cf. Jeremiah 23:13; 1 Kings 22:19--23). There he actually sees God (cf. Exodus 24:10), sitting upon his heavenly throne and surrounded by his heavenly court. While it is generally acknowledged throughout the Bible that no man can see God and live (cf. Deuteronomy 5:26), Isaiah is nevertheless granted that awesome sight.
We, in our naivete, would immediately ask, "What did God look like?" But our text describes the indescribable in terms of spatial terms. The throne of God is "high and lifted up," above all things in heaven and earth, and the Lord's overwhelming presence is pictured in terms of "filling." His royal robe "fills" the temple of heaven, and the smoke from the fire of his presence fills the place. Similarly, as is so often the case in connection with the appearance of God, there is thunder or noise that shakes the very pillars supporting the firmament (cf. Exodus 19:16; Ezekiel 1:24). God's indescribable being is set forth in terms of the effects of his presence.
Round about the Person of God Isaiah sees the Lord's heavenly courtiers, and he specifies among them the seraphim, the supernatural fiery beings in serpentine form (Isaiah14:29; 30:6; Numbers 21:6--9), who attend the divine will. Each seraph has six wings. Two are used to cover the face, for even the heavenly beings cannot bear the sight of God's shining effulgence of glory. Two cover the "feet," a euphemism for genitals, and with two the seraph hovers in air, awaiting God's command. When the word is given, the heavenly seraphic messenger speeds off to do God's will. But as the seraphim hover in space, awaiting the Lord's command, they sing an antiphonal song with one another, back and forth across the vast reaches of the heavens. "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts (that is, Lord of all beings in heaven and on earth); the whole earth is full of his glory."
God is glorious, and his glory fills the world. That refers not only to the great esteem and honor possessed by God, because the basic meaning of "glory" is "weight" - God has great weight in the world, supreme influence. His very Person is also glorious, surrounded with light and shining with purity and goodness.
When Isaiah sees the light of the glory of God, then he recognizes the darkness of his own sin and guilt. It is the same with us, isn't it? When we see the goodness of God in Jesus Christ, we realize how shadowed in evil we are. And so the prophet cries out, "Woe is me!" That is, "I am going to die! Because I have sinned with my lips and in my heart, and I live with people who have sinned. Because the King my eyes have seen! (Such is the order of the Hebrew), and my sin deserves nothing but death before this King of pure glory!"
Such is the magnificence and awesomeness of the God who is incarnated in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Yet, this God of Isaiah and of us is not only overwhelming in his glorious majesty. He is also overwhelming in his loving purpose. For at the command of the Lord, one of the seraphs takes a burning coal from the heavenly altar and touches Isaiah's lips, and the prophet's sin and guilt are taken away. And that forgiveness, too, is incarnated in Jesus Christ our Lord. And so in our Epistle lesson for the morning, we have the amazing statement that God adopts us in Jesus Christ as his children and allows us, even us, to call him "Father," as Jesus did. The God of majesty stoops to our weakness and forgives our sin and removes our guilt, and takes us into his heavenly household.
But we must notice in our text that Isaiah is forgiven not just so he will feel good about himself. He is forgiven in order that he may carry out a task for God. Like one of the heavenly seraphim, Isaiah is made a servant of the Lord. God removes his sin and guilt, specifically cleansing his lips so he can be the Lord's prophetic spokesman. For the first time now, as a forgiven sinner, Isaiah can hear God speak. God addresses his heavenly court and asks who will carry out a mission for them. And Isaiah, made a new man, volunteers his service. "Here am I! Send me." Isaiah becomes a prophet to Judah, and all 39 chapters of his book preserve the account and words of that prophetic mission for us. (Isaiah 40--55 and 56--66 are considered to be from other prophets in the Isaianic school.)
We usually end our reading of this text with verse 8, and that is what the lectionary prescribes. As a result, we never read on to find out what Isaiah is to do. But the amazing thing is that he is told here at the beginning of his ministry to fail! "Go and preach to this people," he is told in so many words, "in order that their hearing of the Word of God and their disobedience of it may become even more unheeding and stubbornly sinful." Then they will deserve even more the judgment that the Lord of hosts is bringing upon Judah in the form of destruction from Assyria. God has determined to judge his people, and Isaiah is an instrument of that judgment. "Your prophesying won't convert anyone," Isaiah is told, "but it will carry out God's purpose." And Isaiah, hearing that awful assignment, cries out, "How long, O Lord?"
You and I are not prophets. But we worship the God of the prophet Isaiah in Jesus Christ. We are forgiven by that God through the work of Jesus Christ. And we are sent on the mission of the same God, to be servants of his purpose. Will we be successful, popular? Will our witness and our message be accepted? Well, Jesus wasn't what we would call successful and popular as he hung on that cross, and certainly most did not receive his message. But we are his servants, called to be instruments of his purpose in our world. Guiding us always is the God of glorious majesty, glorious in purity, glorious in love, Lord over heaven and earth. And we can trust that God of glory to be with us, to sustain us, and to use our faithful labors finally for the fulfillment of his loving purpose for his world.
.
