Bible Passage: Isaiah 6:1-8
Pastor: Joel Jenswold
Sermon Date: May 26, 2024

Bulletin May 26, 2024

In the name of, and to the eternal glory of, Jesus,

Trivia question:  What do the following actors all have in common?  Groucho Marx.  George Burns. Whoopi Goldberg. Morgan Freeman.  Rodney Dangerfield.  If you guessed that all these actors have portrayed God in the movies, you are correct.  I think that is significant.  The persons mentioned tend to be comedy actors.  Each of their portrayals of God made God out to be a bit quirky, a bit silly, a bit of an oddball.  In typical human and Hollywood fashion, it is an irreverent and  unserious portrayal of God.

How different from what we see in our text this morning!  Isaiah sees the Lord God.  And what he sees is not quirky, silly, or odd.  The God Isaiah sees is serious, majestic, awesome!  He is, as one commentator put it, the “completely Other.”  He is the holy God.  So holy in fact, that the holy angels who are his throne room attendants say the word three times as they praise him!  God is not just holy; he is holy cubed!  “Holy, Holy, Holy is the LORD of Armies!”

What we have before us today is Isaiah’s call into the prophetic ministry.  It takes place, according to the first verse of our text, in the year that King Uzziah died. (v. 1)  King Uzziah was king in the southern kingdom of Judah.  He died in about the year 740 B.C.  This was a time of spiritual unfaithfulness in Judah.  The Lord God would call Isaiah to deliver his message.

And so he gets Isaiah’s attention.  Isaiah says, I saw the Lord. (v. 1)  The Lord makes an appearance to Isaiah.  Isaiah sees the Lord sitting on a really, really high throne.  A peculiar feature of this throne is that it is in a temple.  The train of the Lord’s kingly robe cascades down the high throne and completely fills the temple!  What king ever wore a robe like this?  Isaiah notices the honor guard of the King.  He calls them seraphim (v. 2)  Seraphim are angels.  Their name comes from the Hebrew word “seraph” which means “to burn.”  Evidently these angels were fiery, or burning in their appearance.  These seraphs each had three pairs of wings.  With two wings they covered their feet.  With two they covered their faces.  And with two they flew in midair.  And they were calling one to another, Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of armies!  The whole earth is full of his glory! (v. 3)  At their praise, the foundations of the temple shook.

What we have in these verses is called an “anthropomorphism.”  An anthropomorphism is when God ascribes human characteristics to himself.  The triune God in his essence is a spirit.  He doesn’t sit on a throne.  He doesn’t wear a robe.  So what is God impressing on Isaiah, and us, in this text?  Is it not majesty?  Look at the God of the Bible, the one, true and living God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit!  He is not an oddball like Groucho Marx.  He is not a quirky little man like George Burns.  He is not a goof like Rodney Dangerfield.  He is a King the likes of which this world has never seen before!  Even the holy angels in heaven cover themselves before the One who is holy, holy, holy!

The absolute “otherness” of the Lord is not lost on Isaiah!  He is terrified.  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! (v. 5)  This holiness of God drives home to Isaiah his own “unholiness.”  Isaiah knows he is a dirty little object in God’s presence.  And he is especially aware of his unholy talk, and the unholy talk of the people around him.  “I am doomed!”  He figures this holy King will dispatch him directly.  Maybe a lightning bolt will flash from the throne and make it quick!

There is something for us to learn in this.  When God is thought to be silly, odd, quirky, goofy, “chummy”, dopey, and unserious, then we lose all sense of sin and its gravity.  It’s not intimidating to stand before God if he is silly, odd, or dopey.  But put me in the presence of the God who is holy, holy, holy, the God who says to you and me, “Be holy, holy, holy as I the Lord, you God am holy,” and now my conscience remind me what I truly am, “Unholy, unholy, unholy!”

So what can be done?  Look what happens with Isaiah in our text.  One of those seraphim flies to the altar that is there in the temple and grabs a red-hot coal with tongs.  He flies to Isaiah and touches his lips.  Your guilt is taken away, and your sin is forgiven. (v. 7) Some translations have, “Your sin is atoned for, or covered.”  That is really the point.  Isaiah’s sin and guilt was covered!

And so is yours!  This is what the holy, holy, holy God does.  He is not a silly God who forgets about sin.  He is not a bargaining God who makes deals with sinners, “Tell you what, if you can…”  He forgives sin.  He atones for it.  He covers it.  The book of Romans tells us, God presented [Jesus] as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. (Romans 3:25)  Hebrews 2:17 tells us that Jesus took on flesh so that he might make atonement for the sins of the people.  Jesus’ cross is the altar!  And there we find not red-hot coals to grab with tongs, but we find the red blood of Jesus to grab with faith!  And that red blood of Jesus covers our unholy lips, and eyes, and thoughts, and hearts, and hands, and feet.  What the angel said to Isaiah, God says to you in Jesus, Your guilt is taken away, and your sin is forgiven. (v. 7)

Now look at the change in Isaiah!  The Lord says, Whom shall I send?  Who will go for us? (v. 8)  And now, with his sins forgiven, Isaiah is like a little boy in the back row of class with his hand in the air almost jumping out of his seat.  “Me!  Me!  Call on me!  Pick me!”  Forgiveness will do that to a person!  Let that be you!  You are not doomed and damned by the Lord.  You are forgiven by him!  Raise your hand!  Lift your voice!  Say with Isaiah, “Me!  Me!  I’ll do it!  I will thank and praise, serve and obey this God!”

Amen.