Mouths Confronted, Cleansed, and Commissioned by God
Bible Passage: Isaiah 6:1-8
Pastor: Michael Willitz
Sermon Date: May 30, 2021
1In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2Above him stood the seraphim. Each one had six wings. With two they covered their faces. With two they covered their feet. With two they flew. 3One called to another and said,
Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of Armies!
The whole earth is full of his glory!
4The foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of the one who called, and the temple was filled with smoke.
5Then I said, “I am doomed! I am ruined, because I am a man with unclean lips, and I dwell among a people with unclean lips, and because my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Armies!”
6Then one of the seraphim flew to me, carrying a glowing coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs. 7He touched my mouth with the coal and said, “Look, this has touched your lips, so your guilt is taken away, and your sin is forgiven.”
8Then I heard the Lord’s voice, saying, “Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?”
Then I said, “Here I am. Send me!”
Mouths Confronted, Cleansed, and Commissioned by God
Dear fellow redeemed in Jesus Christ, the atoning sacrifice for our sins,
Words are powerful things. You’ve heard the popular playground poem: “Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can never hurt me.” False. Words can cause a whole lot of hurt. Words can do a whole lot of damage. In the book of James the human tongue is compared to a fire that can set an entire forest ablaze. With such capacity for destruction, we have to conclude that words are powerful things.
Words can do a whole lot of good also. Consider the words of those mysterious creatures, those six-winged seraphim flying above the throne of God. As Isaiah describes these heavenly creatures, they resemble the palace guard that would surround an ancient king or an emperor, but we don’t hear of weapons in the hands of these seraphim. Instead, Isaiah tells us of the words that come out of their mouths. As they encircle the throne of majesty in a flurry of wings, they fill the temple with their voice, praising God with a mighty confession: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of Armies! The whole earth is full of his glory!” [3].
Of all the things this angelic host could be doing, they occupy themselves with speaking or singing the praise of God. They confess that he is the I AM, the LORD of Armies, whose glory is seen in all the fullness of the earth. He is “holy, holy, holy.” That word, “holy”, means set apart, or separate. This God is not confined to the categories that confine us. He is the uncreated, the eternal, the all-knowing, the all-powerful, the all-ruling King of all. Earthly kings, like King Uzziah, rise and fall, but this King’s rule endures forever. Earthly kings are defiled by sin, but this King is set apart from all impurity.
“Holy, holy, holy,” the seraphim say about the LORD. Many church fathers before us saw this thrice holy as a confession of degree. In other words, if anything or anyone is holy, the LORD is “Holy, holy, holy.” Many church fathers also saw this as a confession of the Trinity. The seraphim don’t say “holies” in the plural, but they do say “Holy, holy, holy.” It is same kind of pattern that we find in the Athanasian Creed. “The Father is holy, the Son is holy, the Holy Spirit is holy; yet they are not three who are holy, but there is one who is holy.”
So the seraphim use their mouths to make a mighty confession of God, and the power of their words resonates through Isaiah, as the foundations of the thresholds of the temple tremble like an earthquake under his feet. Words are powerful things, dear friends, and God’s will is that we, too, would wield that mighty power of words for good and not for evil. In Proverbs chapter 12, we are told, “Some people wield reckless words like the thrusts of a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing” [18]. Words can bring about great good, but they can also cause grievous destruction. How wrong we would be to think of our words as light and frivolous and inconsequential.
One way that words get misused today is when people speak with mercenary mouths. What I mean by that term “mercenary mouth” is when a person sells-out his speech to the highest bidder. Instead of confessing the truth, instead of saying what will glorify God and do good for his neighbor, he speaks whatever he thinks will be advantageous to himself at the moment. This can happen on a large scale, when those who have the public office to investigate and to bring evil to the light of day instead remain silent, hoping to appease whoever might have the deepest pockets. But it can also happen on a much smaller scale. It can happen on the scale of our own day-to-day lives, when our words on the outside don’t match what we believe on the inside, when we speak what our neighbor wants to hear instead of what he needs to hear, when we don’t say what is right but we say whatever will get us what we want. It is selling out our speech. It is speaking with a mercenary mouth.
But our Lord knows that words are serious, and our Lord warns us of the seriousness of our words. Jesus says in Matthew 12, “I tell you that on the day of judgment people will give account of every careless word they have spoken. In fact by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned,” [36-37]. Is it any surprise that standing before the glorious throne of the holy, holy, holy God, Isaiah is confronted with the uncleanness of his lips? He has not spoken all that he should, and, undoubtedly, he has spoken many things that he shouldn’t. Poor miserable Isaiah! He’s completely vulnerable! He is without excuse. He is in a worse predicament than a bride in a wedding who has spilled red wine all down her dress. Isaiah stands before the LORD, totally stained by his sin, and he has no solution that can make him clean.
Children, maybe your parents would be able to tell you what it was like to have their mouths washed out with soap. Long ago, that was a remedy parents would use for children who spoke with dirty language. It probably made children think twice about saying naughty words. However, no soap in all the world has the power to remove from human lips the deep stain of sinful speech. Before the throne of God, we are in the same situation as Isaiah. But the God who delivered forgiveness and cleansing to guilt-stricken Isaiah, also delivers forgiveness and cleansing to contrite sinners today.
A burning coal is brought from the altar and touched to the prophet’s mouth, and with that tangible sign, the seraph speaks a word of promise, “Look, this has touched your lips, so your guilt is taken away, and your sin is forgiven,” [7]. Doesn’t it resemble the way that our God still combines his promises with tangible means today? In Holy Baptism, he says, “Look, this water has been poured over your head. Your guilt is washed away! You are clean in my sight!” In Holy Communion, he says, “Look, this body and blood has touched your lips. Your sin is forgiven. Your mouth is made new. All the righteousness of your Savior is counted as yours.”
The presence of an altar and of sacrifices in the Old Testament temple taught the Old Testament people that our God saves by substitution. One who has not done the sin takes the penalty in your place. That’s exactly what our Savior, the LORD of Armies, did for us. He came down from his glorious throne. He lived in our place a pure life with clean lips, lips that prayed, a tongue that taught, a mouth that rebuked and corrected, a voice that forgave. Then this pure and holy saint, our Savior Jesus Christ, went to the cross, and suffered our doom, and took on himself our ruin. Now, from that altar of the cross, in Word and in Sacrament, he delivers cleansing to you.
All is done. Everything has been completed on your behalf already. Isaiah has been readied to stand in God’s glorious presence and to hear the voice of the holy, holy, holy LORD. You will be ready, too, to stand before that glorious throne when the Day of Judgment arrives and our risen and ascended Lord returns in glory. You will be ready, because he has cleansed you of sin, and he has given all of his works and all of his words for your own.
Yes, we are ready for the Judgment, though the time has not yet come. The trumpets have not yet sounded, which means the end is not yet here. There is still good work to be done, and there are still good words to be said. So the Lord asks the question, “Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?” [8]. Not all are called to be preachers, but every one of us is commissioned to speak. We are commissioned to confess the faith that has been entrusted once and for all to us. We are commissioned to pray prayers of thanksgiving and intercession. We are commissioned to speak what is good and what is helpful in whatever earthly calling our God has appointed to us in this life. We are commissioned to speak God’s powerful words of forgiveness to all who are cut to the heart with remorse for their sin.
Yes, God has a role for each one of us to use our words in his service. Past failures need not prevent you. Past sins need not stall you. Every day the Lord forgives you he also raises you new. He gives you a new mouth, a purified mouth, like the mouth he gave Isaiah, a mouth that gladly says, “Here am I, send me!” [8].
Amen.
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