Do you know what an ultra violet camera does? A UV camera can record the spectrum of light that we can’t see with our naked eyes. Inspectors use UV cameras to look for gas leaks at refineries lest the gasses escape unnoticed and harm the surrounding environment.
It’s not just refinery gas leaks that are normally invisible, God is invisible too. But even UV cameras can’t help us see God. From time to time though God did reveal himself. One such person that saw God was the prophet Isaiah. Through Isaiah’s eyes today we’ll get to see God as he is. We’ll learn that he is awesomely holy, totally forgiving, and mightily motivating.
Our sermon text begins with the words: “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord…” (Isaiah 6:1a). Notice Isaiah did not say, “Once upon a time,” or “In a galaxy far, far away…” Isaiah ties his vision of the Lord to a real event in history: the death of one of the kings of Judah. In other words the details that I am about to relate to you are fact not fiction.
Well let’s get to it then. Isaiah said he saw the Lord. What did God look like? I don’t know. Isaiah doesn’t tell us. The most he said about God was that he was seated on a throne that was high and exalted and that the train or hem of his robe filled the temple. Isaiah did see angels whom he describes as seraphs, which means something like “burning ones.” These seraphs each had six wings. With two they covered their eyes, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. As they did so they called out to one another with words of praise for God, their voices shaking the whole temple as the sanctuary filled with smoke. At times our choir’s singing has shaken our director but never the walls of this church. That would be something to experience wouldn’t it – a choir that could literally rock this place with its eight-inch concrete walls?
Although Isaiah doesn’t really describe God he doesn’t have to for us to form an accurate impression. The lofty throne, the booming seraphs, and the pungent smoke all tell us that he is awesome. It might be what you think when you see a limo drive by. You may not be able to see the person riding inside but you know that it must be someone of importance – especially if there is a police escort with lights flashing and sirens blaring.
But God is not just awesome; he’s awesomely holy. The seraphs said or sang about God: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory” (Isaiah 6:3). What does it mean that God is holy? It means that he is totally set apart, or as we might say today, in a different league than us when it comes to power, wisdom, AND morality. What’s more the seraphs said that God’s glory wasn’t just hovering above Jerusalem; it fills the whole earth including Alberta, Edmonton, St. Albert, your house, your bedroom… God’s holiness is everywhere…even if you can’t see it.
How does that make you feel? I’ll tell you how Isaiah felt. “Woe!” he cried out. Not as in “Whoa, this is awesome,” but “Woe to me! 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” (Isaiah 6:5). Isaiah was scared. His neighbors may have thought him a pretty good guy but the awesomely holy God wasn’t some neighbor with problems of his own. He is holy, holy, holy - the original triple threat. And now Isaiah was standing in the spotlight of this awesomely holy God with no one else to hide behind. Like an ant caught in a magnify-glass-concentrated beam of searing sunlight, Isaiah seemed doomed for destruction.
But I wonder why, of all the body parts, Isaiah confessed: “I am a man of unclean lips”? Would we readily make the same confession or do we think that our white lies, for example, are no more staining than a milk moustache? “So I didn’t tell my teacher or parents the truth about why I didn’t get that assignment finished. Sure, I stretched the truth about why I was late for work. Big deal.” Speaking the truth, the whole truth, is a big deal to the holy, holy, holy, Lord Almighty, for he is Truth. But the thing is we don’t even have to open our lips to make them impure. Just by smiling at a dirty joke, or selfishly frowning when someone asks for a minute of our time we show ourselves to be sinfully unclean as Isaiah confessed to be.
Friends, there is one thing that God wants you to learn or re-learn about him today: while an ant may be able to scurry away from a concentrated beam of sunlight but we can’t hide from God’s holiness. You might not feel the heat of his holiness now but you will come Judgment Day. What are you going to do about it? What did Isaiah do about it? What could he do about it? Nothing.
So don’t you think his heart must have leapt out of his chest when a six-winged seraph flew at him with a hot coal in his hand? It’s amazing Isaiah didn’t scream as the seraph pressed that coal to the prophet’s lips but it’s a good thing he didn’t. Otherwise he might not have heard the angel say: “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for” (Isaiah 6:7b), or as another translation puts it more succinctly: “Gone your guilt, your sins wiped out.” (Message translation)
How amazing! Isaiah not only learned firsthand that day the God is awesomely holy, he learned that God is also totally forgiving. Did you notice how Isaiah didn’t even have to ask for forgiveness? Nor did he even have to reach out and grab it. God brought forgiveness to him. And mark how God conveyed that forgiveness. He could have boomed: “Stop your sniveling! I forgive you.” Instead he transmitted that truth in a way that Isaiah not only heard but “felt” the forgiveness as the coal was pressed to his lips. Why a coal? Well where did it come from? It came from the place where animals were offered to God as a foreshadowing of the payment that the Lamb of God would make upon the altar of the cross.
A six-winged seraph has never pressed a coal to your lips to assure you of forgiveness but many of you have the privilege of experiencing something even more awesome than that. In the sacrament of Holy Communion, Jesus, the Son of God presses himself to your lips through bread and wine. With every bite and every swallow he whispers, “See, I have taken away your sin.” Isaiah must marvel at how blessed we are to have this sacrament. He experienced God’s forgiveness in a tangible way only once but Jesus invites us to come to his table often. Why would we not eagerly look forward to every opportunity to do so? Is it because we don’t think that we’re people with unclean lips, hands, and hearts? If so, we need to spend more time with Isaiah in the glare of God’s holiness, for only then will we run for the cover that Holy Communion provides.
As soon as the prophet was assured of forgiveness he heard God himself speak for the first time. God said, as if to no one in particular: “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” (Isaiah 6:8) God needed a volunteer. But what was the mission? How difficult would it be? How long would it take? How much would it cost? None of that mattered to Isaiah. Before he even knew what he was signing up for Isaiah said: “Here am I. Send me!” (Isaiah 6:8)
Here’s the third important truth we learn about God today: he’s mightily motivating. And note how he does the motivating. He didn’t guilt Isaiah into action. Nor did he scare him into obeying. He simply reminded Isaiah of who he, the true God, is: awesomely holy yet totally forgiving. How could Isaiah not want to serve a God like that? It’s how you would respond when a friend who, not only towed home your truck after you smashed it but also fixed it up for free, mentions that he has a couch that needs moving. You would gladly volunteer to move your friend’s couch in your newly-fixed truck.
Like Isaiah we have been totally forgiven by the awesomely holy God. He now calls us to serve him. What does God want us to do? Does it matter? It didn’t matter to Isaiah and he was given a difficult job. He was to preach to stubborn Israelites. Right up front God said that they wouldn’t listen (Isaiah 6:10-12). Nevertheless Isaiah was to preach to them and he did.
We too have been called to witness to an increasingly stubborn world. It’s not an easy job but when we’re tempted to ask long it will take or how much it will cost, we need to look again at God through the eyes of Isaiah and see him as he is: awesomely holy and totally forgiving. This will mightily motivate us to cheerful service – no matter what the mission God places before us – even if that mission is forgive a hurt, or to keep serving those who never offer a word of thanks.
A UV camera that would allow us to see God’s invisible glory would seem a pretty cool gadget. The truth is it would only scare us to see firsthand how awesomely holy God is. Thankfully the holy God comes to us through the gentle whisper of his Word. There he says: “You’re totally forgiven…and so is the rest of the world. Go tell them for me.” By his grace we will respond like Isaiah: “Here am I. Send me! Today! Every day!” Amen.
