Three People who Witnessed the Trinity

Trinity Sunday, May 31, 2015


Isaiah 6:1-8 [Isaiah’s Vision of Heaven and Commission]

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3 And they were calling to one another:
“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”
4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.
5 “Woe to me!” I cried. “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.”
6 Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”
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!”


The Holy Trinity is a mystery. But God at times has revealed himself to people. Today let’s look at three people who witnessed the Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Ghost. First the Father.

In the Old Testament there is Moses who met God at the burning bush. But today’s Old Testament reading is the vision of the Prophet Isaiah, so let’s look at this account, Isaiah 6:1-8.

“In the year that King Uzziah died” was a time of political change in Jerusalem. There was war with the Northern Kingdom of Israel and Syria. King Uzziah was succeeded by his grandson, Ahaz, but there was still turmoil. At such a time, God gave Isaiah a vision and mission. The vision is symbolic, of course, but it tells us something about the nature of God. He is pictured like a king, but much, much greater than any earthly king like Uzzaih. The Lord God is seated high and exalted on his throne. His royal robe, which is so large that it fills the temple, shows the power and richness of God. At the time of Moses in the wilderness, Numbers 21:6 says, “So the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many of the people of Israel died.” In this passage, the Hebrew word used to describe the “fiery serpents” is “seraph.” (The Hebrew word “seraph” means “to burn,” and the plural is “seraphim.”) In Isaiah Chapter 6, the seraphs are like God’s body guards, or like his heralds who announce his presence. I think they might have looked like flying serpents or dragons with hands and feet. They have 6 wings: 2 to fly above the throne, 2 to cover their faces so that they cannot look directly onto the glory of God, and 2 to cover their body in humility before God.

They call out with loud thunderous voices,

“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”

We Christians like to think that saying the word “holy” three times points to the Holy Trinity, but it probably means that God is very, very, very holy. Or may like in modern English when we cheer someone we say “Hip, hip hooray” three times. Anyway, the booming voices of the seraphs shook the whole building like a big bass drum. Isaiah said that the temple was filled with smoke. That smoke was either from the altar in the temple or, if the seraphs were like fire-breathing serpent-dragons, then their breath would fill the temple with smoke.

And Isaiah who sees this says in fear, "Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips." His eyes have seen the Holy King, the Lord of heaven, and Isaiah knows his own sinfulness.

Fear is the correct reaction when seeing God. We too know that same fear when we think of our own sin. In humility, we know the holiness and purity of God. When we see Christ on the cross, every Christian feels the seriousness of sin. In shame, we wish that we had wings to cover our eyes and our bodies and to fly away from the awesome and fearful glory of God. We can say with Isaiah, “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.” But there is no escape: our whole world is unclean, lips and mind and hearts and deeds.

And then we see the mercy and love of God. “6 Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 With it he touched my mouth and said, ‘See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.’” We too have seen the love and mercy of God. It is the fire of the Holy Spirit. It is the water of Baptism. It is the bread of the Lord’s Supper. Our guilt is taken away, our sin atoned for by the sacrifice of Christ.

Then Isaiah’s life was changed. Now forgiven, Isaiah heard the call to proclaim with blessed and purified lips, the word of God, a word of judgment and warning and hope. He answered, "Here am I! Send me!" When our hearts are blessed and purified, we no longer fear the judgment of God, but become eager to become his prophet to our world today. "Here am I! Send me!"

The Second member of the Holy Trinity is Jesus Christ. In the Gospel, many people met Jesus, but there are only a few stories where people grasped the divinity of Jesus: For example: Peter, James and John on the Mount of Transfiguration; the Centurion at the crucifixion who said, “Surely this is the Son of God” (Mt. 27:54), and Thomas a week after the Resurrection who said, “My Lord and my God” (John 20:28). Let’s talk about Thomas. Thomas did not see a vision or a dream—he saw Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Second Member of the Holy Trinity in the flesh. He heard the Good News, not proclaimed by seraphs, but by Jesus himself. He did not see the glory, but rather he saw the gory, the pain and suffering of Christ. Jesus told him, (John 20:27) “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” In those words Jesus forgave his doubting. In those words he gave the mission to believe. And he confessed his faith, “My Lord and my God” (John 20:28). It is interesting to note that when Jesus met with the disciples after his resurrection, he gave them the authority to forgive sin. (John 20:22-23) “And he breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.’” Just like the seraph which touched the lips of Isaiah with a burning coal and forgave his sin and sent him to preach to the people of Jerusalem, so also the disciples have been forgiven so that they can preach the forgiveness of sins to the people of the world starting in Jerusalem.

This blessing comes to us, also. Sometimes we have doubts like Thomas. Sometimes we have fears like the disciples did. Sometimes we realize that it was our sin that caused the death of Jesus. Sometimes we feel like Isaiah in the presence of God and say, “Woe is me.” Then we realize that we have been touched by the Word of God. In baptism our sin has been removed. Forgiveness means relief. It means peace. It means life.

And finally, the Third member of the Holy Trinity is the Holy Ghost.

On Pentecost many people met the Holy Spirit who came as a mighty wind and as flames of fire that gave the disciples the power to speak the Gospel in many languages. They are all witnesses of the Holy Spirit, but I am going to choose a person who was not in Jerusalem that day, St. Paul. (Acts 9). Paul was persecuting the Church. He went to the city of Damascus to arrest Christian believers, but on the road he met Jesus in a vision of a light that blinded him. In great fear he fell to the ground and heard the voice of Jesus say, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” (Acts 9:4). Later, when he believed, he could see again, he received the Holy Spirit and was baptized. In that vision, like Isaiah and Thomas, he was given a mission. He traveled and preached the Gospel of forgiveness and salvation. Like the Prophet Isaiah who wrote down his prophecies to encourage the people of Jerusalem, so St. Paul wrote letters to encourage believers then and now. And so we finish with his words that we read in the Epistle lesson. In these words the Holy Spirit first spoke to the church in Rome, and the Holy Spirit speaks these words to us today, too, because we too need to hear them.

Romans 8:14-17

“Those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.”

Amen.

Michael Nearhood, Pastor
Okinawa Lutheran Church


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