I Saw The Lord.

The Gospel Acording to Isaiah: Part 2

I Saw the Lord

Isaiah 6:1-8

March 3, 2012

Rev. Stephen Aram

Have you ever heard someone ask the question “Is there nothing sacred anymore?” Have you ever asked it yourself? We are living in an unusual era in the history of the world, an era when secularization is a powerful movement and at an all time high. Some of that is appropriate. We don’t have public school teachers leading prayers in class. That’s a protection for families who may not want their children to be indoctrinated in a religion that the parents don’t follow. It’s a protection for the church because I don’t want just anybody leading in prayers with my grandkids if their hearts aren’t in it and the public schools are just not equipped to ensure that every teacher is spiritually qualified.

But secularization has spread much farther than just practical separation of church and state. As a culture we are losing any sense of the holy. You can hear it in the increasingly public use of profane language. Profane language takes things that are beautiful, for example parts of the human body that was created and blessed by God, and talks about them in demeaning ways. It takes the sacred union of husband and wife and talks about it in demeaning ways. It was way back in 1972 that comedian George Carlin made his monologue, “Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television.” I’m not going to list off the 7 words for you, I’m sure you can guess most of them. Some of them you do hear on television now. That monolog got him arrested for disturbing the peace at the Summerfest in Milwaukee. But now profane language, language intended to demean the human body, is much more public. It’s much more commonly accepted.

But there is something much more serious about secularization. In the late 1800s the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche announced that God is dead. That’s an extreme secularization. And what happens when you deny the presence of God, the presence of anything holy? Nietzsche predicted that the 20th century would be the bloodiest century in history and a sort of universal madness would break out. And he was right. The 20th century gave us the 2 great world wars, the ideology of atheistic Marxism that went to such extremes to impose an atheistic society in the Soviet Union, China, and Cambodia, that it just slaughtered millions of people who refused to accept militant atheism.

The founders of our country recognized that all humans “are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Take the creator out of that equation and what do you have?

Christians believe that all humans are created in the image of God and that makes human life sacred. We are to respect all persons. We are to care for those who are hurting and do it with compassion. Take away the concept that we are made in the image of God and human life becomes cheap. It becomes anything you want it to be.

Our text today describes a moment in the year when Uzziah, one of the greatest kings of Judah, died. It was a scary year. Uzziah had kept them strong and free for many years. Now he was gone. The superpower of that era, Assyria, was on the march. It had already swallowed up many of Judah’s neighbors. Would Uzziah’s son, the new king be able to stand against the Assyrians? People in Jerusalem were really anxious.

Now hear the word of God, as written by the prophet Isaiah, as he had an amazing encounter with the Holy God of Israel.

1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. 2 Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. 3 And one called to another and said: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory." 4 The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke. 5 And I said: "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!"

6 Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. 7 The seraph touched my mouth with it and said: "Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out." 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!"