Sermon: “Holy Encounter”
November 15th, 2020 Rev. Betsy Perkins
Scripture passage: Isaiah 6:1-8 First Baptist Church, Delavan WI
One of the things that David and I loved to do with visitors when we lived in Arizona was to take them to the Grand Canyon. I remember a day we took a young friend to see it for the first time. He was 19 years old and had grown up in India, the son of missionary colleagues of ours. As we entered the park, before getting our first glimpse of the canyon, we were having a discussion in the car about the difference between the park on the south rim of the canyon versus the one on the north rim of the canyon, and how it would take us another 6 hours to drive around to the north rim. Our friend wondered aloud why they hadn’t just built a bridge across. “In a few minutes, you’ll see,” we told him. We parked at the first lookout and walked toward the rim. One of the things I love about visiting the Grand Canyon is that you don’t see it at all as you drive there, or even as you park and walk towards it. In most places, it’s not until you get quite close, that the canyon suddenly comes into view. At that moment, we heard Zach take a breath and say, “Oh!” And with him, I experienced again the wonder of seeing it for the first time – the vastness of the canyon, the depth and length, the grandeur of the layered rock faces and jagged formations. Far below, the Colorado River – looking like a thin line, but in reality a raging force. The majesty and the beauty! It’s staggering. It takes your breath away. I’m always filled with a sense of awe, followed by a sudden realization of how small I am, how insignificant in comparison. And then, looking down, loose rocks under my feet, an overwhelming, sobering awareness that only one small misstep could lead to disaster, a fall to certain death. If you haven’t seen the Grand Canyon, maybe you have had similar experiences on another cliff edge or a mountain top or even under the vast night sky.
Isaiah’s Encounter with God
Isaiah’s immediate impression on being transported into God’s presence is to be stunned by the immensity of God – the Lord extending high and exalted on a throne. The Jerusalem Temple, probably the largest structure Isaiah would have known, and the train of God’s robe, just the hem, filling the entire place. Think of a huge building you have been in, a grand cathedral or a massive convention center – imagine it filled with folds of thick, glittering fabric. And all that fabric is just the bottom, the hem, with the rest of the robe extending miles and miles beyond.
There are seraphs, a heavenly kind of creature, flying and singing, a dazzling choir of movement and sound. Seraphim are not cuddly, chubby baby angels. In other places in the Bible they are described as fierce, firey beings, that may be serpent-like, dragon-like. Wings, covering their faces because God is too holy to look upon. Wings, covering their feet because God is too holy to expose your lowly parts to. Wings, carrying their songs and praises. “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty,” they sing, “the whole earth is full of His glory!” Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, the King James translates it. It’s a military term. More recently it is conveyed as the Lord of ‘heaven’s armies’, the Lord of ‘heavenly forces’, the Lord ‘who rules with power and might’.
This title for God is especially significant, especially meaningful, given the events going on in the world around Isaiah at the time of this vision. It is the year that King Uzziah died – 740 B.C. Uzziah had become king of Judah at the age of 16 and reigned for 52 years (2Chr.26:3). He had provided good, stable leadership for most of that time. Uzziah loved the land, and led in innovative, strategic ways. He loved God and had tried to lead the people in God’s ways. But at the end of his reign, things began to fall apart. The attacks of Assyrian forces into Judah and surrounding areas were a growing threat, triggering a movement of refugees fleeing to Jerusalem and other Judean cities. It was causing fear and hardship. Also, toward the end of Uzziah’s reign, fame and power went to his head. He decided that not only could he be king, but he could act as a priest too. He entered into the holiest part of the Temple. His pride and presumption led to his downfall. He was punished with an infectious skin disease that forced him into quarantine until his death. All this led to questions of the legitimacy of his leadership, to more national security threats, and to a serious leadership vacuum. With King Uzziah’s death the vulnerability and uncertainty of the nation loomed large.
In addition, people’s faith and behavior had seriously deteriorated. The book of Isaiah does not start with this story of his vision and encounter with God. It starts with 5 chapters of the message Isaiah was commissioned to deliver to God’s people – a message in which God says, “I’m sick of your religion, your empty worship and prayer-performance, while you go right on sinning. You’ve been tearing people to pieces and your hands are bloody. Clean up your act. Sweep your lives clean of evil-doings. Say no to wrong. Learn to do good. Work for justice. Help the down-and-out. Stand up for the homeless and go to bat for the defenseless.”(Is.1:14-17, Msg)
God wants to warn the people about the road to destruction they are heading down with corruption and greed, with religious failure, moral failure, political failure, the failure to care for one another. So God offers Isaiah a vision of God’s strategy: God’s defense against the power of evil is God’s holiness. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty. Holy is the Lord of heaven’s armies over human armies. God’s holiness is a powerful force. It stops everything else in its tracks. Certainly Isaiah is stopped in his tracks, and as he takes in God’s glory.
Isaiah’s Encounter with Himself
Then comes that sudden realization of who he is in comparison. A new awareness, as Isaiah sees himself more clearly in the light of God. In his encounter with God, Isaiah encounters himself, his true self. He cries out, “Holy moly, I’m doomed! I’m gonna die.” In the light of God’s holiness, Isaiah recognizes his insignificance, his un-holiness, his short-comings, his sinfulness.
The same thing happened to some of Jesus’ disciples. They had been out fishing without any catch, but at Jesus’ signal, they throw the nets in one more time and bring in the biggest haul of their lives. Looking at Jesus over the mountain of fish, Peter has that moment of recognition. He falls at Jesus’ feet and says, “Please leave me, Lord; I am such a sinful man.”(Lk.5:8)
I wonder if this is how every relationship with God, every discipleship journey with Jesus, has to begin. It starts with an encounter with God, an experience of God’s greatness, God’s goodness, God’s holiness, which enables us to recognize our lack. A view of God’s awesome-ness exposes our awful-ness. Without that we easily convince ourselves we’re good and decent people. Without that we convince ourselves there’s no need for God, we can make it with enough hard work, with our own ingenuity and strength. But in God’s light, that lie is exposed.
Good News!
And that is where the Good News begins! The Good News is that God is not waiting for us to become perfect to claim us as His children and give our lives meaning and purpose. We simply acknowledge our imperfection, and God takes it from there. Isaiah confessed, “I am a man of filthy lips, and live among people with filthy lips.” Then one of the seraphs picks up a live coal from the fire of the altar – a coal too hot to touch even for a seraph, for he uses tongs. The hot coal is placed on Isaiah’s lips.
Fire and heat have the ability to cleans, to burn off impurities, to sterilize. The hot coal of God’s holiness serves to cleanse Isaiah of his sin, to make him holy and acceptable, ready to serve God. That doesn’t sound like such good news if you’re still cringing at the thought of the biting pain of a hot ember on tender lips, recalling scalding coffee burning the roof of your mouth. The cleansing of sin is not easy, it comes at a cost. The Good News for us is that while it still takes that painful awareness of our sin, the painful suffering to achieve forgiveness had now been borne by God Himself. Jesus endured the burning pain of death on a cross, so that evil could be defeated, and the only thing that needs to touch our lips is the bread and cup of communion, the body and blood of Jesus our Lord, as we confess our need for Him. We confess and God does the rest.
After Isaiah is cleansed, he hears the Lord’s voice speaking, calling for volunteers, “Who can I send? Who will go for us?” Isaiah volunteers and is given a gospel message to share. It’s a hard message of the mess people have made of things and the consequences of those choices. But it was also a message of hope – that if they recapture the awareness of their sin, then they can also recapture the gift of forgiveness God offers, they can recapture the privilege of being invited to serve God and recapture the joy of living.
God tells Isaiah that in the last days many people, from many nations, will say, “Come, let us climb God’s mountain, let us go to God’s house. God will teach us so we can walk in His ways.” God promises that in those days, disputes will be settled fairly, things made right between people, swords will be transformed into plows, spears into shovels. Nations will not train for war anymore, but live in peace. “Come,” we will all say, “Let us walk in the light of the Lord!”(Is.2:2-5)
Let’s pray: Lord Almighty, God of Holiness, we come to You, confessing our need for You in these days. We have failed, we have sinned. Come, to us, we pray. Cleanse us through the saving work of Jesus. Claim us as your children. Put the words of your Good News in our mouths to share with others. Prepare us and make us holy for the tasks given us this week to serve You, guided by your Holy Spirit. Amen.
Closing Song: “Sanctuary”
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