Isaiah 6:1-6 (Holy Trinity)
St. John, Galveston 5/26/24
Rev. Alan Taylor

+ In Nomine Jesu +

Grace and peace to you, from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

In Jerusalem, there is a limestone plaque inscribed in Aramaic, with these words, “Hither were brought the bones of Uzziah, king of Judah. Not to be opened.” The great king’s bones were most likely moved there sometime in the 1st century AD. The plaque, which sits in a city that is rife with instability and turmoil, marks the burial place of one of Judah’s most long standing, successful and beloved kings.

In the year that King Uzziah died. So it is that Isaiah’ vision begins. Certainly, the reference to Uzziah’s death, is a significant historical reference. It’s not just the year though (740 BC, as it were) that is significant, rather, it is, in many respects, the fact that Uzziah died, that he was gone. The kings and kingdoms of this world come and go. The prophet Daniel made that abundantly clear when he prophesied about the great kingdoms of the ancient world, the Babylonians, the Persians, Alexander’s Greek Empire and ultimately the empire of the Anti-Christ, all of which would come and go.  

Isaiah’s reference to Uzziah sets him and all of kings and powers of this world in stark contrast to the King whose Kingdom is everlasting. Again, Daniel referred to the King of kings as well. “Behold (says the prophet), with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages 
should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.”

In his vision, Isaiah stood before the King who reigns from everlasting to everlasting, the One whose kingdom has no end, the Son of man, the Ancient of Days. While Isaiah may have had opportunity to stand before Uzziah during the course of his reign, nothing about that experience would compare to him standing before the King of kings, the Great I am. There are certain physical events in the narrative of Isaiah 6 that describe for us the other worldly nature of what Isaiah experienced. He says, “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.”

The physical events that Isaiah experienced, were, of course, enough to bring anyone to their knees in awe and adoration, but perhaps it was the song of the Seraphim that brought Isaiah to the realization of what was actually happening to him in his vision. “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts.” According to the angels own testimony, Isaiah was standing before the Thrice Holy, God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. “Woe is me (he said)! For I am undone; 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!”

The word in the Hebrew language (qodesh) that is often translated as holy, literally means separate. The Holy One of Israel is separate from His people in many respects. He is holy in perfection, in power, and in loving-kindness, as well as, in many other characteristics. He is uncreated and unique. He is the only source of holiness. He hallows time, place, people, and the things and rituals that belong to them. These things belong to God because He selects them, not because of their own qualities. In the OT, there are degrees of holiness; what stands closest to God is “most holy.” What is not holy is “common” or “unclean.” These truths stand behind NT teaching about salvation as well, as (1) purification from sin and (2) election by God’s grace in Christ Jesus.

Isaiah was right when he said, “Woe is me, for I am undone,” just as we too are right to say the same thing, as we find ourselves exposed, revealed as it were, before the holiness and the separateness of Almighty God. At the same time, we, like Isaiah, are right to find consolation and solace in the words of our God, “This, this (coal, this bread, this wine) has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.” Indeed, as we have often sung,

“The holy Lamb undaunted came
To God’s own altar lit with flame; 
While angels hid their eyes, 
This Priest became a sacrifice.”

The Gospel rests upon tangible things and objective facts like an angel touching Isaiah’ lips, or Jesus dying on a cross, which is to say, the Gospel is a historic fact, whether one believes it or not. But the Gospel is much more than the facts. It is much more than the events of history. In fact, unless the Gospel is preached, a single event in the narrative of our Lord Jesus’ life might be considered both Law, that is condemning, and Gospel, that is, liberating and freeing. The cross, the crucifixion of Jesus, for instance; is that event Law or is it Gospel? Does it trouble your heart, or does it comfort you? It could, of course, do either. The sweetness of the Gospel is not so much in the event itself, as it is in the fact that what God did, what Jesus did in the unfolding story of His life and death in this world, He did FOR YOU.

Isaiah couldn’t stand before the holiness, the separateness of God, without God intervening on his behalf. And so, God, by way of an angel, and a hot coal from the altar in the Temple, interceded FOR THE PROPHET. “Behold (said the seraph), this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”

With the forgiveness of His sins, Isaiah had a new standing before God. Too reconcile Isaiah to Himself, God didn’t diminish His own holiness, His own separateness, rather, by way of holy absolution, He brought Isaiah, cleansed and redeemed into His holiness. No longer was Isaiah undone. To the contrary, he was able to respond to God’s call of service. He heard God say, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” To which Isaiah, responded, “Here I am! Send me.”

In response to God’s grace in Christ Jesus, we ask the same thing for ourselves. “O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare Your praise.” Teach me, O Lord,  to hear and receive the ever so subtle distinction that is your Gospel of grace, that what you did in life and in death, you did FOR ME, for MY SALVATION. And, once again, here, at this time and in this place, let Your holiness, Your separateness, touch my sin parched lips again, that I might know the full consolation of your forgiveness and of your peace.

“The body of God’s Lamb we eat,
A priestly food and priestly meat;
On sin parched lips the chalice pours
His quenching blood that life restores.”

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting. Amen.

+ Soli Deo Gloria +