Pastor Tom Johnson, June 3, 2012
Isaiah has a vision of the Lord sitting on his throne, high and lofty. The hem of his robe fills the temple. Those mysterious creatures—the seraphim—fly with one set of their three sets of wings. They worship and proclaim the uniqueness, grandeur, and wonder of the Lord: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.”
“Holy, holy, holy”—three times because the holiness of God transcends our language, understanding, and human experience. “Holy” means unique, special, unlike anything in creation—sacred—set apart from all that is of this world. Isaiah is in the very presence of God and sees him in all his glory. Once Isaiah experiences the holiness of God, he is never the same. In fact, no one who sees God is supposed to be able to physically withstand the experience. To see God, or be in his presence, is a near death experience. It began with our first parents Adam and Eve.
You’ll remember that God said the day they ate of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil they would die. They ate. Their eyes were opened. They heard the Lord walking in the Garden of Eden. They hid themselves in shame and fear wondering what God might do—probably expecting immediate death. Instead, they were promised a Son who would one day undo the curse of death (Gen 3).
You’ll remember Jacob who feared for his life and spent the night in prayer wrestling with a Man who later identified himself as the Lord. He survived with a dislocated hip. Jacob called the place “The Face of God” and says, “I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved” (Gen 31).
You’ll remember Moses who wanted to see the Lord’s glory. God put him into the cleft of a rock to protect him and gives him this warning: “you cannot see my face; for no one shall see me and live” (Exod 33).
That is why Isaiah starts to talk about his own demise and the demise of his people when he sees the Lord. “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” The fear of God holding us morally responsible for our actions is at the very core of what it means to be a human being. God held Adam and Eve accountable with one rule: you cannot eat of that one tree. God gave Moses the Ten Commandments to govern all our actions with dire consequences if we break even one command. For Isaiah, it was his lips and his peoples’ lips that let him know they all failed to please God. Perhaps they were taking the Lord’s name in vain, teaching false doctrine, or were malicious gossips.
Lips are small organs that produce words that can either build up or tear down. Lips can either bless or curse. Isaiah’s lips and his peoples’ lips are what caused Isaiah to see his own sinfulness and his own mortality. There may be a particular area of our lives that constantly reminds us of our brokenness, frailty, mortality, and sinful condition as human beings. For Isaiah, it was his lips. When we creatures stand before the holy, eternal, righteous, and perfect Creator, what area of our lives keeps reminding us of our sin? What secret in our hearts are we hiding that causes us shame, guilt, and fear before God who knows it all?
Isaiah says, “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” Just as we begin our service in confession, so Isaiah begins true worship with these honest and transparent words. That’s when God does what he planned to do. God does not reveal himself to Isaiah to make him cower in shame or run away in fear. God wants Isaiah to hunger and thirst for healing, restoration, and forgiveness. And then he delivers.
One of the seraphs flies to Isaiah, with a red-hot coal in a pair of tongs. Like a surgeon sterilizing his equipment with heat to prevent infection, God heals Isaiah’s whole being. He puts the burning coal on his lips and says, “Your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out”—not just clean lips but redeemed body and soul. Like Isaiah, we too can know full forgiveness through a particular sin plaguing our lives.
An angel goes to the altar where animals are sacrificed to get a burning coal to place on Isaiah’s lips for forgiveness. And so we receive the crucified and resurrected Body and Blood of Christ when the bread and wine are placed on our lips also for the forgiveness of all our sins.
Once we know God’s bountiful forgiveness, like Isaiah, we are ready for mission. It is then that Isaiah hears the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” And Isaiah says, “Here am I; send me!” We experience the grace of God and are ready to tell our own stories. We are ready to tell the world about the Lord who is holy beyond human understanding. We are ready to tell the good news of God who takes away our guilt and blots out our sin.
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