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Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the text comes from Isaiah’s vision, the Old Testament reading. You may be seated. Although you and I may have difficulty necessarily explaining that we believe in a trinity, three persons, one God, God does not think it all that difficult because of the miraculous revelation that He gave you in your first introduction to Him as a triune God. For all of you who were baptized into the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, whether as infants or as adults… That is when you were introduced to God as revelatory, being God Father, God Son, and God Holy Spirit. Three persons, one God.
And what was confessed at your baptism was that short, simple creed called the Apostles’ Creed. It was not written by the apostles; it was merely a summary of the apostolic teaching drawn from Scripture alone, that the church put together so that there would be a confession to the world we believe in, God Father, God Son, and God Holy Spirit. Satan couldn’t let that thing sit still, though. He attacked the church vehemently and repeatedly, primarily as, who is Jesus Christ? So then they got together, the church did, and wrote another confession of faith that you have been confessing every Sunday. We celebrate the Lord’s Supper. It’s called the Nicene Creed. Christians around the world, whether they speak English or not, whether they are part of the Orthodox Church, meaning Eastern Orthodox Church, or whether they are part of the Western Church, they all confess and believe these creeds.
And the third of the three ecumenical creeds, which means three different creeds that Christians around the world confess, whether in Africa or in Asia or in South America or in North America. And it went into even more detail about who is God. Jesus is God. He is also the Son. He is flesh. He is blood. He is God. The Holy Spirit is God. The Father is God. But there are not three gods; there’s only one God. And so forth and so forth. It is a mistaken notion to think that this concept of the Trinity was only invented during the New Testament era, after Jesus had come. The answer is no.
This morning’s Old Testament reading, the vision of Isaiah, is one of the clearest and most concise declarations that God is triune. There would be no need for the seraphim to cry out, “…holy, holy, holy,” if there were not three persons unto whom he is crying, “…holy, holy, holy.” He cries holy to the Father. He cries holy to the Son. He cries holy to the Holy Spirit. That is why there are those three holies in this revelation that Isaiah was given. And remember, this is not what Isaiah came up with off the top of his head. This was a revelation by God to Isaiah to define himself as God, Father, God, Son, and God, Holy Spirit.
It is not a New Testament teaching; it is a Bible teaching. The entire Bible, both the prophetic and the apostolic scriptures, points to this teaching. It is what separates us from all others in this world. Notice some interesting things about this revelation. First of all, we’ve got this creature known as Seraphim. We don’t know much about what they look like, but we know they have three pairs of wings. With two, they cover their face. With two, they cover their feet. And with two, they fly about.
So even these creatures, obviously not created in the image of God, do not get to look upon God day and night, for they cover their face with their wings. Who alone gets the honor to look upon God with his own eyes but a bag of bones named Isaiah? Created in the image of God, mind you. He gets the honor and the privilege of looking upon this holy scene, but not the seraphim. Very interesting, isn’t it?
Another note to take: this song that the seraphim sing to one another, and sang to Isaiah, and Isaiah wrote down and has been taught among Christians from the Old Testament to now. This holy, holy, holy, you’re familiar with Lord God of Sabaoth, which means Lord God of hosts. That song that the angels are singing is an eternal song. It’s not a song that was sung once and then the seraphim stop singing it and go, okay, we got that done; now let’s move on to another song. It’s continually sung. It’s continually sung. And has been continually sung.
And the beautiful thing is, it has been continually sung not only in heaven, but also on earth by the children of God. What a privilege! When we sing it in our divine service, we enter into that chorus. Because that chorus is going on 24-7. Amen. We get to enter into it when we gather here.
And have you ever thought of when this statement is sung in our liturgy? It is sung right before Jesus’ words of institution, where bread and body are joined together, where wine and blood are joined together, and all four things, body, blood, bread, and wine, are on that altar for you to eat and drink in faith. God is present. That’s when we sing it. That’s why the church placed that song there: to enter into His presence.
But that’s an amazing awe-filled moment to enter into God’s presence. Isaiah, as you read that and heard it read, didn’t flippantly walk into God’s presence and say, “What’s up, God?” When it says he was awe-filled, to be blunt with you, he probably wet himself. I’m not smiling; I’m serious. You and I think of awesome as a word we use so flippantly. To be awe-filled means to be struck with such awe that you are speechless and cannot move. And you know you do not deserve to be where you are at. That’s awe in the right sense of the term that Isaiah experienced.
For what were his words? “Woe is me.” He didn’t self-deprecatingly say, “Oh, woe is me.” He said, “Woe is me,” because he knew he did not have any reason to stand and see what God was revealing to him. His ears should not have heard this holy song that he couldn’t even sing because what was wrong with his lips? Unclean. “I am a man of unclean lips. I am lost.” He’s not talking about lost as in God doesn’t know where he’s at. He is looking at himself and assessing himself in the presence of God.
Do you remember Matins and morning prayer where we quote from the Psalms? “Oh Lord, open my lips, and my mouth shall show forth thy praise.” Why in the world is David asking God to open his lips? The same reason Isaiah is: for he cannot take God’s name upon his lips unless God places it there to begin with.
We love to think of what we’re doing here as our worship. It isn’t; this is the divine service. This is God coming to you. Look at this text. Does Isaiah say, “Oh, I’m ready to worship you, oh God”? He is pushed into the worship that’s been going on. So when we come here, we’re being thrust into the worship that’s been going on long before we were conceived in our mother’s wombs and long after our bones are being destroyed in the grave. Isaiah was thrust into that worship that’s eternal.
And Isaiah was given lips that were made clean, not because Isaiah made them clean, but because God made them clean. Just consider what goes across your lips. Notice that Isaiah did not say, “I am a man of an unclean heart.” For Jesus himself said, “Out of the heart comes all evil desires, lusts, and so forth.” The lips just become the place from which those things come out into the world and are confessed.
And when you consider what is confessed by your lips, at the same time we’re here confessing these things, why would we even consider this our worship? That’s why we call it God’s divine service. This is God serving us. We’re just entering into it, the same as Isaiah. Because Isaiah knew among whom he dwelt a people of unclean lips. That’s everybody in this congregation sitting in these pews and standing before you. We are all people of unclean lips. God served Isaiah by cleansing Isaiah’s lips that he may declare God’s name.
Take that song that’s going on eternally and make it His song, that it would be His declaration along with the church on earth and in heaven. You know another song that we’re privileged to enter into that’s eternal as well, that’s been going on since the angels first sang it to those goofy shepherds on the plains of Bethlehem? “Glory to God in the highest!” That’s an eternal song that you and I get to have placed upon our lips because it was not taught by man but by angels. Just as holy, holy, holy was not taught by man but by angels. And we get to have that on our lips.
Enter into that worship that’s been going on long before we came and will be going on long after we have died. Peter, in this morning’s epistle reading, talks about this Trinity being expressed here. He knits it together in a very beautiful way. It puts meat and bones to what Isaiah said, holy, holy, holy, because Peter says, “This Jesus,” meaning the Son of God, God, meaning the Father, “raised up, and of that we are all witnesses,” those apostles who had seen Him crucified and had seen Him risen.
“…being therefore exalted,” that is Jesus, “…at the right hand of God.” And this is Jesus not in spirit; this is Jesus’ flesh and blood. Remember, he was ascended into heaven as a body, flesh and blood body. And he will descend from heaven on the last day in a flesh and blood body. And he brings himself to us in a flesh and blood body. For whoever eats his flesh and drinks his blood has eternal life, Christ himself said in John 6.
Therefore, exalted at the right hand of God, as who is both flesh and blood, having received from the Father, the Son received from the Father, the promise of the Holy Spirit. He, the Son, has poured out that Holy Spirit that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. You received that outpouring at your Baptism. No, you were not able to completely explain the intricacies of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and yet you believed in Him. Jesus never said, “Become intellectual that you may attain the kingdom of God.” He said, “Become like little children that you may inherit the kingdom of heaven.” Not childish, childlike. Trust in what was revealed to him.
We’ve had this revealed to us. We do hardly have the ability at service to try to explain it, but it is true. These are mysteries, articles of faith. Not articles of reason or thought. Our dust, our flesh, has been redeemed by the one who became flesh for us. And right now, He’s given us the eyes of faith to see Him revealed to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit only through that Word and through those sacraments. That’s it.
And then one day, the flesh and blood will be raised from the dead and restored to glory. And then, with your own physical, fleshly eyes, you will see God as He is.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The peace of God which passes all understanding. Keep your hearts and your minds on Christ Jesus to life everlasting. Amen.
