5th Sunday after the Epiphany (C)
Isaiah 6:1-8
February 9, 2025
Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
The text I have chosen for this morning’s sermon is the OT reading from Isaiah.
I looked at some artistic depictions of God this last week, and they were all basically the same. God is old with a white beard. Doesn’t He look like a kind and gentle grandpa? God is described with a long white beard in Daniel, but most of what we see in the Bible is completely different.
Isaiah describes the God he saw as: “Sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above Him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.” God is so incredibly glorious that the seraphim who serve Him won’t even look at Him! What Saint John sees is definitely not a grandpa: “From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire” (Rev 4:5). John also hears God talk about pouring out His wrath, which doesn’t sound all that gentle. And while there were a couple of exceptions, God says: “You cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live” (Ex 33:20). God appearance on Mount Sinai must have been overwhelming to the people: “On the morning of the third day there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain and a very loud trumpet blast, so that all the people in the camp trembled… Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke because the LORD had descended on it in fire. The smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain trembled greatly” (Ex 19:16-18).
What does this tell us about God? He’s not a weak old grandpa, right? His power is unfathomable. As He tells us, there’s nowhere we can go to escape Him. He rules over Heaven and Earth. His glory is indescribable because even what is recorded in the Bible falls far short of what He really looks like. It’s no wonder that Ezekiel fell on his face and Isaiah cried, “Woe is me! For I am lost!” In Exodus we heard how the people and the mountain trembled when they encountered God and even as His full glory was hidden in the clouds.
That sounds about right, huh? Tremble is certainly an appropriate response for anyone who sees God. But what happens at Mount Sinai? As the cloud and lightning covers the mountain, the Israelites stop trembling and build a golden calf to worship. They saw His mighty works and yet lost their fear of the Lord who promised to punish those who hate Him.
Do you tremble in the presence of God? Do you recognize your sin as Isaiah did when he cried, “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!” Do you fall on your face like Peter who begged Jesus, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” Or do you shrug in apathy and stick with the Grandpa God who won’t punish anyone because He’s nice?
I know that part of the problem is not just seeing God as He really is but not seeing ourselves as we are. We’re conceived in Sin. We’re corrupt and while the glory of God is all around us, we worship powerless false gods. His divine glory is mostly hidden from us, so we don’t think about Him all that much – at least not as the who will judge the whole world and send unbelievers to hell. And because we tend to not see the side of God that Isaiah did, we aren’t too concerned about His reaction to our sins.
Who here hasn’t thought “At least I’m not as bad as they are”? How often do we say the confession on Sunday mornings, while not really thinking about our sins? Do we ever think that because we haven’t murdered or stolen anything we’re doing pretty good? We’re sinful and part of our sinful nature keeps us from seeing our sin and if we don’t see our sin, we don’t see the God of Isaiah but a gray-haired senior citizen.
The seraphim sing, “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!” The triple holy emphasizes how holy God is and because of this holiness, He cannot accept our unholiness. The Bible contains plenty of places where God condemns people to damnation and punishes those who fight Him. In Jeremiah the people are warned that judgment is coming and there’s nothing they can do to stop it. God is disgusted by their sin so they must be punished. There’s no way around it. Sin must be punished.
This is why Peter and Isaiah were terrified. They knew their sinful condition and the punishment they deserved. Isaiah was different than his countrymen who worshipped gods of wood and stone, still he lumped himself in with them. He’s a sinful man among sinful people. You and I are sinful people living among other sinful people, so God’s punishment is what we all deserve.
We begin our service in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. We announce that we’re in God’s presence, and as we sit here in the presence of God, should we be apathetic toward our God and our sin? Why shouldn’t we tremble as we stand here in His holy house? We step in the sanctuary fresh from a week of sin. We stand here and our legs hold up our sinful being. We’re unholy creatures in His holy presence, so what can you say or do other than tremble and wait for the punishment which is coming? Nothing much, right?
Regardless of your state of mind or state of your heart, you don’t have to tremble on wobbly knees. You don’t have to throw yourself down on your face in fear. Were Isaiah and Peter wrong to cower from God? Not at all. However, what happened to both of them? They were absolved. Isaiah with a burning coal and Peter with the promise of discipleship. You too are absolved with the burning coal of God’s Word. Like He said to Isaiah, God says to you, “your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”
God is holy so sin must be punished. It must be punished. Those who reject God will bear the punishment for their sins. You, who are God’s people, can stand confidently knowing that Jesus was punished for you. He absorbed your unholiness so that what was left was only the holiness that God bestows. As Saint Paul says, “And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, He has now reconciled in His body of flesh by His death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before Him” (Col 1:21-23). When you repent, Jesus points His Father to the cross, where everything was accomplished to purge you of your sin, guilt, and defilement. When you stand here on trembling knees, Christ’s simple words of “Fear not” set your mind at ease, strengthen your knees, and chases your fear away. You’re in God’s presence, but don’t tremble, rejoice! Fore I forgive you in the name of the Triune God in whose holy presence you stand.
Amen
Now the peace which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen