Three Revelations of God

Trinity Sunday, June 15, 2014


Isaiah 6:1-8 [Isaiah’s Vision of Heaven and Commission]
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. 2 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. 3 And they were calling to one another:
“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”
4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.
5 “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.”
6 Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”
8 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!”

Today is Trinity Sunday. Let's look at three revelations of God in the Bible. First, of God the Father.

Isaiah the Prophet saw a vision of God in Isaiah 6. It is a glorious scene, but very fearful at the same time. God is high and lifted up on the throne. His train, or the flowing material of his beautiful garments cover the floor of the temple. Above the throne there are two Seraphs ( seraphim) who are like body guards. They are not the regular angels like Gabriel, but more like six-winged, fire-breathing dragon-like beings which guard the throne. (In Hebrew, the root of the word seraph -- serap -- means "to burn." cf. Numbers 21:6, the firery serpents were poisonous snakes that bit the Israelites.) Hovering about the throne, the Seraphs shout back and forth the praises of God: "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory." The thunder of their voices shakes the foundations of the temple and the smoke from their fiery breath fills the temple. And Isaiah who sees this says in fear, "Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips." His eyes have seen the Holy King, the Lord of heaven, and Isaiah knows his own sinfulness. But his sins are then forgiven by the burning coal from the altar. Now forgiven, Isaiah heard the call to proclaim the word of God, a word of judgment and warning. He answered, "Here am I! Send me!"

We are shown a revelation of God the Son in the Gospels when Jesus is on the cross. It is not a glorious scene, but fearful. Jesus is lifted up high on the throne of the cross. Not the heavenly temple, but a place of execution. No longer clothed in beautiful raiment, rather his clothes are divided among the soldiers. There are no angels to rescue him. There are no seraphim to guard him. Rather there are soldiers to guard the crucifixion. However, there are two thieves on either side of him. They have no wings to fly, but they are fixed on crosses and lifted up high. Rather than holy praises, there are insults and blasphemy. "If you are the King of the Jews, come down from the cross." There was no smoke to fill the temple, but the earth was covered with darkness; and like the shaking of the foundation of the heavenly temple in Isaiah’s vision, there was an earthquake and the temple curtain was torn (Mk 15:38). Seeing this scene, the Centurion said, "Truly this man was the Son of God." (15:39). When we see this scene, we can say, "Woe is me! For I am a sinner, and Jesus died because of me." But the blood of Christ that was shed on the cross forgives our sin. Now forgiven, like Isaiah, we answer the call to proclaim the word of God, the Gospel of forgiveness. "Here am I! Send me!"

We are shown a revelation of God the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. This is not a fearful scene, but a very joyous scene. The Holy Spirit comes as a mighty wind that fills the room where the disciples were. In Isaiah 6, the temple was filled with smoke, but I don't know if the room on Pentecost was filled with smoke from the flames of fire over the disciples or not. There were no seraphim to sing “Holy, Holy, Holy,” but there were the disciples who praised the Lord. Peter said, "Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved" (Acts 2:21). And "This Jesus God raised up and of that we all are witnesses" (32). When the people heard this, they reacted like Isaiah. They knew they were sinners. Acts 2:37 says, "Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, 'Brethren, what shall we do?'" The answer was not a hot, burning coal from the altar, but rather, the cooling water of Baptism. Peter said, "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Sprit." And on that day, 3000 people heard the call of God and were baptized.

We have seen the revelation of the Triune God in our Baptisms. We have seen it in our Sunday Worship. In the communion liturgy, we remember the cries of the seraphim, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;" and the shouts of the crowds that welcomed Jesus into Jerusalem, "Hosanna, hosanna, hosanna in the Highest!" Then with hearts filled with the faith given by the Holy Spirit, we pray the prayer that Jesus taught us, "Our Father who art in heaven. Hallowed and Holy be your name."

In the presence of Holy God, like Isaiah, we too should say, "Woe am I, a sinner." But also like Isaiah, our sins are forgiven when we are in the presence of Holy God. The Holy Spirit now comes to us. He calls out to us telling us that now we are holy. We are precious and holy to God. We are his seraphim to sing his praises. We are his apostles to tell the Good News. We answer the call and say with Isaiah, "Here am I! Send me."

Amen.

Michael Nearhood, Pastor
Okinawa Lutheran Church


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