12/01/02 -- Advent 1 INI Isaiah 6:1-7
Dear Fellow Redeemed, and Friends in Christ,
Throughout man's history the coming of every great king has been announced by his heralds who would blow the trumpet or ride ahead to prepare the people for his glorious arrival. As the Christian Church begins a new year with the Advent season, we also think of those servants of our Lord Jesus who heralded His coming. Naturally we think of the New Testament Herald Angels, who announced the Savior's birth to the shepherds: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace, good will toward men." Their message heralded the coming of the King of Grace -- His Grace.
But long before Jesus' birth, God's servants used various
means to proclaim the Advent of His Grace. One such witness
was the prophet Isaiah. No one in either Testament has seen
more of the glory and the grace of Christ better than Isaiah.
May we therefore be encouraged and strengthened by his
testimony this morning.
The people of Judah at the time of King Uzziah's death were greatly in need of both the law and the gospel. From this point in the history of Israel the spiritual condition God's O.T. people continued to fall into ruin, as did their material prosperity. They needed a jolting revelation of God's uncompromising holiness, that they might be led to repent of their sins and their dead, hypocritical religion. They needed to seek salvation in His grace alone.
Put yourselves in the sandals of the prophet. Isaiah saw the Lord in veiled form, sitting upon a very high throne. His sweeping robe was filling the entire temple in this vision.
Constantly hovering about the throne of God were "seraphs." These were holy angels which served God perfectly every moment of their existence. Even as Isaiah views the scene these Seraphs are crying out to one another: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts heavenly armies), and "the whole earth is full of His glory."
It must be a great privilege to serve God perfectly every moment of every day! And yet, they cover their faces and hide the nakedness of their feet in the presence of their God. What are we to understand by this? That, by comparison to the three-times holy God, even these angels are imperfect!
When these "flame-like" beings sang of the glory of God's holiness, Isaiah noticed that the entire building, even the foundation of the door frame, shook and trembled at the sound of their voices, and the whole place was filled with smoke!
How could the holiness of our God and His hatred of sin be more terribly displayed before the prophet and to the people? If even the holy angels are portrayed in this vision as having to cover themselves because of the surpassing glory of God's holiness, then what about mankind, the Jews, Isaiah, and you and me? As Job 15 asks:
"What is man that he should be clean, or he who is born of a woman, that he should be righteous? Behold He, (that is the Lord) puts no trust in His holy ones and the heavens are not pure in His sight; How much less one who is detestable and corrupt, (like) man, who drinks iniquity like water!"
No wonder Isaiah cried out: "Woe is me! For I am
undone (gone dissolved) because 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 heavenly armies!"
Was it the song of praise which Isaiah heard from the lips of
the holy angels that caused him to think of the many sins of
the tongue which had stained his own lips? Surely you and I
don't need a vision of holy seraphs before the Most Holy God
to confess: "I am a man of unclean lips," or "I am a woman of
unclean lips." One thing is sure, Isaiah knew he had come far
short of the glory of God and was therefore in danger of being
consumed by the fiery wrath and judgment of God!
But no sooner had Isaiah come to this moment of self-despair, when one of the seraphs was sent to him. The seraph took one of the hot coals from the altar in the heavenly temple. As he touched the mouth of the prophet with the hot coal he said: "Behold, this has touched your lips; your iniquity is taken away, and your sins is purged." The confession of the trembling prophet was followed immediately by forgiveness out of heaven! This forgiveness was confirmed to him by tangible, visible means!
Like no other passage of the O.T. this record describes the glory of God above every human conception of divine glory. This is the glory of God which none of the gods of human religion can match. The glory of our God is revealed in His infinite and unapproachable holiness and judgment of sin. But the ultimate revelation of His glory is that He, the almighty king of creation, Lord of heavenly armies, comes in loving grace and mercy in order to freely impart holiness to sinful mankind!
In the vision this holiness was given to Isaiah by means of the seraph and the purging fire of the hot coal. But John, in the 12th chapter of his N.T. Gospel (v. 41) writes that Isaiah "saw Christ's glory and spoke of HIM." This vision represents the glorious working of God through Jesus Christ to make sinners acceptable to Him. God found a way to cleanse you and me from the filthiness of our lips, hands, hearts, and all our members! "For you know," Peter wrote, "that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold, . . . but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you who through Him are believers in God, Who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God." (I Peter 1:18-21)
The eternal God gave up NONE of His own personal holiness to save us. He did not lower His standards one bit, as some think. He has made no compromises with sin, whatever. No one "slips" into heaven -- no one make it by the skin of his teeth! But by means of the whip striped skin of our Savior, God has declared us righteous!
The seraph in Isaiah's vision was a herald of God's grace in Jesus Christ, even as he announced and brought forgiveness and righteousness to trembling Isaiah by means of the hot coal. For Jesus of Nazareth, Mary's Son, is the One who came in the name of the Lord, and is coming to sinners through His blessed gospel of forgiveness.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, in a few minutes you and I will do what we have done so many times before. We will use hearts and lips which overflow with all kinds of evil thoughts, lusts, slanderous and hateful words, to sing the hymn of the New Testament heralds of grace. We will sing "Glory to God in the highest! -- Gloria in Excelsis Deo!"
If we tremble at the thought of how poor, weak, and unworthy we are before the glory of the holy God in heaven, we should also lift up our hearts with joyful expectation! For as those, who place their faith and hope entirely in "His Grace," we know that His glory finds its highest expression in the forgiveness of our sins -- the cleansing and saving of sinners as vile as we are.
In a few moments, Jesus Christ -- "His Grace" -- the Son of God Himself, will come to us in the Sacrament with His body and blood. As we receive Him with our mouths, the Lord our Savior will be saying to our hearts:
"Behold, this has touched your lips! Your iniquity is
taken away and your sin is purged!" Amen