| “Thrice Loved” Isaiah 6:1-8 Pastor Don Baron |
| Sermons |
Some of you may remember Mikko, our blue-green parakeet
who, alas, departed this life a few years ago.
Like most animals, Mikko knew only how to do 3 things:
eat, play, and reproduce.
What if Mikko were to say to me, “I have you ALL figured out.
“You humans don’t do things the same as I do, but I know that
you only do 3 things: eat, play, and reproduce”?
How would you react?
“Mikko, old bird, you’re using your own very limited
experience to try to understand me – how ignorant
you are!”
After all, humans are FAR more complicated than that –
even granting that there ARE some who seem never to
mature beyond eating, playing, & reproducing!
There are dimensions to our lives of which Mikko knows
absolutely nothing.
(FAST) talking with a friend
reading a novel
building a house
thinking
collecting stamps
painting a room
laughing at a good joke
planning a trip
playing Monopoly
putting on a new shirt
taking a walk with someone you love…
…just to name a very vew of the things Mikko wouldn’t
comprehend.
You see, much of what I used to do in Mikko’s presence was
clothed in mystery to him.
Now if such an immeasurable distance lifes between parakeet
and man – both creatures –
would you be surprised to know there’s an INFINITE
gap between Creator and creature? You and God?
Isn’t it a tad arrogant to think we’ve got God figured out?
That’s why Luther spoke about “the hidden God.”
One our own we can discover little about the real God.
The Latin theologians called God the “mysterium tremendum”
If God is truly God, sovereign of the universe…
wouldn’t you be surprised if He were transparent to a colony
of tiny creatures inhabiting a tiny planet off in a corner of
of a galaxy that’s off in a cornerof the universe?
If we are to know anything about the mysterium tremendum, we
must begin from this pretty obvious fact:
From our side we can know very little about Him.
The trouble with so many religions is precisely the claim to
have figured God out…
They’ve placed Him in a box.
The mystery and awe are gone
God has been shrunk down to a size that can be grasped &
manipulated by humans.
Are we to conclude, then, that we cannot know God?
Isaiah 6:1-8 page 680
I’d like you to note 3 things from this passage:
1. This is not Isaiah figuring God out.
This is God invading Isaiah’s life.
If we can’t reach God from OUR side, that doesn’t mean
that God can’t reach US from HIS side.
That’s what’s happening here.
This is God pulling back the curtain a WEE bit for Isaiah
to experience His majesty.
v. 1 – seated on a throne…high & exalted…the temple in
Jerusalem about to burst with His overwhelming
presence.
v. 2 – strange creatures all over the place: “seraphs”
literally “fiery ones” – dazzling beings
v. 3 – shouting to one another something about God being
thrice holy.
v. 4 – the whole building is shaking, the ground beneath
rumbling
filled with smoke that adds to the awe, and hiding
much of what is going on.
You can be sure Isaiah didn’t shout, “God, now I’ve got
You figured out!”
There is mystery here – there is FAR more to God that
Isaiah can begin to grasp.
You’ll never have God nicely wrapped and in a box.
If you do, I assure you, you’ve got a false god.
If you are to know God at all, you can have only what He
chooses to let you see.
But He DOES want you to experience Him…because He
loves you…
…and because your life is a bewildering riddle without
Him.
So the first point is: This is not Isaiah figuring out God; it’s
God condescending to show Himself to Isaiah.
2. His reason for making Himself known is to rescue a
man and a world in trouble.
v. 5 – Isaiah – seeing God enables Isaiah to know himself.
and enabling Isaiah to see the sickness of his own society.
and to take his share of the blame. “I’m ruined…”
v. 6 – the coal that removes guilt.
A once had a growth and the doctor burned it off.
He “cauterized” it.
God “cauterizes” Isaiah’s guilt – the unclean lips the
dirty mouth.
He releases Isaiah.
Isaiah has been part of society’s problem.
Now, as a forgiven man, he is to become part of the
answer.
The guilt that had immobilized him
that ate away within him, and haunted him
that made him useless to God AND to society…
was GONE.
That’s what God definitely wants you to know about
Himself – He loves to wipe slates clean for repentant people.
Yes, God reveals Himself in order to rescue the race that He
loves.
3. For point #3, come back to v. 3 – to the three-fold holy.
Here we have one of the many hints in the O.T. that God –
though He is the one and only God –
- is FAR more complex than we are,
just as we are far more complex than a parakeet.
Note v. 8: “whom shall I send” (this is the one God speaking)
“and who will go for…US.”
Hint: this one God is, within Himself, MORE than one as
we know oneness.
To understand the Bible, we must remember that God spent
2,000 years – from Abraham to Jesus – to reveal
Himself progressively.
who, alas, departed this life a few years ago.
Like most animals, Mikko knew only how to do 3 things:
eat, play, and reproduce.
What if Mikko were to say to me, “I have you ALL figured out.
“You humans don’t do things the same as I do, but I know that
you only do 3 things: eat, play, and reproduce”?
How would you react?
“Mikko, old bird, you’re using your own very limited
experience to try to understand me – how ignorant
you are!”
After all, humans are FAR more complicated than that –
even granting that there ARE some who seem never to
mature beyond eating, playing, & reproducing!
There are dimensions to our lives of which Mikko knows
absolutely nothing.
(FAST) talking with a friend
reading a novel
building a house
thinking
collecting stamps
painting a room
laughing at a good joke
planning a trip
playing Monopoly
putting on a new shirt
taking a walk with someone you love…
…just to name a very vew of the things Mikko wouldn’t
comprehend.
You see, much of what I used to do in Mikko’s presence was
clothed in mystery to him.
Now if such an immeasurable distance lifes between parakeet
and man – both creatures –
would you be surprised to know there’s an INFINITE
gap between Creator and creature? You and God?
Isn’t it a tad arrogant to think we’ve got God figured out?
That’s why Luther spoke about “the hidden God.”
One our own we can discover little about the real God.
The Latin theologians called God the “mysterium tremendum”
If God is truly God, sovereign of the universe…
wouldn’t you be surprised if He were transparent to a colony
of tiny creatures inhabiting a tiny planet off in a corner of
of a galaxy that’s off in a cornerof the universe?
If we are to know anything about the mysterium tremendum, we
must begin from this pretty obvious fact:
From our side we can know very little about Him.
The trouble with so many religions is precisely the claim to
have figured God out…
They’ve placed Him in a box.
The mystery and awe are gone
God has been shrunk down to a size that can be grasped &
manipulated by humans.
Are we to conclude, then, that we cannot know God?
Isaiah 6:1-8 page 680
I’d like you to note 3 things from this passage:
1. This is not Isaiah figuring God out.
This is God invading Isaiah’s life.
If we can’t reach God from OUR side, that doesn’t mean
that God can’t reach US from HIS side.
That’s what’s happening here.
This is God pulling back the curtain a WEE bit for Isaiah
to experience His majesty.
v. 1 – seated on a throne…high & exalted…the temple in
Jerusalem about to burst with His overwhelming
presence.
v. 2 – strange creatures all over the place: “seraphs”
literally “fiery ones” – dazzling beings
v. 3 – shouting to one another something about God being
thrice holy.
v. 4 – the whole building is shaking, the ground beneath
rumbling
filled with smoke that adds to the awe, and hiding
much of what is going on.
You can be sure Isaiah didn’t shout, “God, now I’ve got
You figured out!”
There is mystery here – there is FAR more to God that
Isaiah can begin to grasp.
You’ll never have God nicely wrapped and in a box.
If you do, I assure you, you’ve got a false god.
If you are to know God at all, you can have only what He
chooses to let you see.
But He DOES want you to experience Him…because He
loves you…
…and because your life is a bewildering riddle without
Him.
So the first point is: This is not Isaiah figuring out God; it’s
God condescending to show Himself to Isaiah.
2. His reason for making Himself known is to rescue a
man and a world in trouble.
v. 5 – Isaiah – seeing God enables Isaiah to know himself.
and enabling Isaiah to see the sickness of his own society.
and to take his share of the blame. “I’m ruined…”
v. 6 – the coal that removes guilt.
A once had a growth and the doctor burned it off.
He “cauterized” it.
God “cauterizes” Isaiah’s guilt – the unclean lips the
dirty mouth.
He releases Isaiah.
Isaiah has been part of society’s problem.
Now, as a forgiven man, he is to become part of the
answer.
The guilt that had immobilized him
that ate away within him, and haunted him
that made him useless to God AND to society…
was GONE.
That’s what God definitely wants you to know about
Himself – He loves to wipe slates clean for repentant people.
Yes, God reveals Himself in order to rescue the race that He
loves.
3. For point #3, come back to v. 3 – to the three-fold holy.
Here we have one of the many hints in the O.T. that God –
though He is the one and only God –
- is FAR more complex than we are,
just as we are far more complex than a parakeet.
Note v. 8: “whom shall I send” (this is the one God speaking)
“and who will go for…US.”
Hint: this one God is, within Himself, MORE than one as
we know oneness.
To understand the Bible, we must remember that God spent
2,000 years – from Abraham to Jesus – to reveal
Himself progressively.
Most of that time was spent in a world of rampant, corrupt
polytheism – i.e., many gods, thousands of gods…
the kind that you can figure out & manipulate.
God is busy revealing Himself as the one God over all –
high…awesome…ruler…King of the universe…
…not some puny tribal god.
…not the gods of the Greeks who lived on Mt. Olympia
and who competed, and argued, and fought with
one another.
…these were all gods made in man’s image.
But Jehovah, or Yahweh, is totally different.
The great creed of the OT was called the Shema:
“Hear, O Israel, Yahweh our God, Yahweh is One.
And for those who turned from the man-made pagan godlets
to the living Lord over all…they found Him to be
personal:
He is God over us
cause of joy
some one is in charge, and He loves us
He keeps order
He steps in and acts when we’re in trouble
What a life-changing things that was in a world of cruel,
impersonal, unpredictable gods!
Then one day, Rabbi Y’shua appeared on the scene.
He called 12 men to live with Him and to know Him well.
Were THEY in for some mind-boggling experiences
One day on Lake Galilee, which was famous for sudden storms,
a raging storm broke out.
Rabbi Y’shua stood up and shouted, “Quiet!”
The storm stopped & the life-threatening waves were
calm.
“Who IS this? Even the wind and waves obey Him.”
Yes, who is this indeed!
Later, during a discussion about Abraham, who had lived
2,000 years before Jesus,
Jesus said, “Before Abraham was, I AM.”
“I have ALWAYS been around,” He said.
And, by the way, “I AM” is an OT name for God.
Yes, who is this indeed?
Later, a disciple, Philip, said, “Show us the Father…
Jesus: “What? You don’t know me? He who has seen
me has seen the Father.”
Yes, who is this indeed?
A new dimension of the Mysterium Tremendum has
broken out with the coming of Jesus.
We knew about God OVER us – yes, how wonderful!
But now we meet God WITH us – more wonderful yet.
God walking beside me.
God being personal – even human!
God entangled with my life…
intervening when I need Him.
The Bible calls them Father and Son
not because one existed before the other.
both are eternal God
God the Son never stopped being God, but also became
human – born of a virgin
Mysterious? Yes! The Mysterium Tremendum.
Are you surprised?
And here’s the proof of His love
When we were lost and self-destructing, God didn’t say,
“I’ll send some one else.”
No, He said, “I’ll go myself.”
But there is more yet to the mystery:
In Jesus’ Baptism, there was the Son in the water;
And the Father from above: “This is my Son.”
No something else:
The Spirit of God descending upon Jesus.
Later, Jesus gave us the Pentecost promise that the Holy
Spirit would be IN us.
So we have one more dimension to the god who wants us
to know Him:
God over us; God with us; God IN us.
However, the Creator and the creature are never to be
confused.
Shirley McClain notwithstanding, who says she is God,
and the Mormons notwithstanding, who say that we are
all intended to be gods.
No, I am not God…You are not God…and you never will be.
YET: you have a relationship that could not be more intimate:
God Himself a guest in your body.
The early Church invented a word to express this threefold
Mystery of God over us, with us, and in us:
Trinity – 2 words, “Tri” and “unity”
The word is not in the Bible.
But what it represents is clearly taught there.
How deep & wonderful that the mysterium tremendum –
the hidden, undiscoverable God walks into your life
because He loves you and wants you to experience Him.
You come to know Him as the one God in 3 persons.
God over you – the Father whom you can trust to work out
everything – even the worst things – for good.
God with you – God the Son, Jesus.
Because He became man, He is able to share your anguish
and to take on the consequences of your sins in
His human body on the cross.
God in you – God the Holy Slpirit who knows you from the
inside.
- know your deepest feelings & thoughts
- places in you all His authority and resources so as to
- do His bidding.
Do you remember the bottom line in Isaiah’s encounter
with the living God?
“Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?”
There’s a world out there that I love.
It’s full of hurting, bewildered people far from Me.
I want an army of people who know me to infiltrate that
world as my ambassadors.
Remember Isaiah’s ready answer, awed as he was by his
fresh experience of God?
“Here I am; send me.”
“Awesome, loving Triune God,
I’m learning to love the world’s people as you do.
Where in the world do You want me to serve?
I’ll go where you want me to go, Lord.
Here I am; send me.”
Prayer: thrice loved…
polytheism – i.e., many gods, thousands of gods…
the kind that you can figure out & manipulate.
God is busy revealing Himself as the one God over all –
high…awesome…ruler…King of the universe…
…not some puny tribal god.
…not the gods of the Greeks who lived on Mt. Olympia
and who competed, and argued, and fought with
one another.
…these were all gods made in man’s image.
But Jehovah, or Yahweh, is totally different.
The great creed of the OT was called the Shema:
“Hear, O Israel, Yahweh our God, Yahweh is One.
And for those who turned from the man-made pagan godlets
to the living Lord over all…they found Him to be
personal:
He is God over us
cause of joy
some one is in charge, and He loves us
He keeps order
He steps in and acts when we’re in trouble
What a life-changing things that was in a world of cruel,
impersonal, unpredictable gods!
Then one day, Rabbi Y’shua appeared on the scene.
He called 12 men to live with Him and to know Him well.
Were THEY in for some mind-boggling experiences
One day on Lake Galilee, which was famous for sudden storms,
a raging storm broke out.
Rabbi Y’shua stood up and shouted, “Quiet!”
The storm stopped & the life-threatening waves were
calm.
“Who IS this? Even the wind and waves obey Him.”
Yes, who is this indeed!
Later, during a discussion about Abraham, who had lived
2,000 years before Jesus,
Jesus said, “Before Abraham was, I AM.”
“I have ALWAYS been around,” He said.
And, by the way, “I AM” is an OT name for God.
Yes, who is this indeed?
Later, a disciple, Philip, said, “Show us the Father…
Jesus: “What? You don’t know me? He who has seen
me has seen the Father.”
Yes, who is this indeed?
A new dimension of the Mysterium Tremendum has
broken out with the coming of Jesus.
We knew about God OVER us – yes, how wonderful!
But now we meet God WITH us – more wonderful yet.
God walking beside me.
God being personal – even human!
God entangled with my life…
intervening when I need Him.
The Bible calls them Father and Son
not because one existed before the other.
both are eternal God
God the Son never stopped being God, but also became
human – born of a virgin
Mysterious? Yes! The Mysterium Tremendum.
Are you surprised?
And here’s the proof of His love
When we were lost and self-destructing, God didn’t say,
“I’ll send some one else.”
No, He said, “I’ll go myself.”
But there is more yet to the mystery:
In Jesus’ Baptism, there was the Son in the water;
And the Father from above: “This is my Son.”
No something else:
The Spirit of God descending upon Jesus.
Later, Jesus gave us the Pentecost promise that the Holy
Spirit would be IN us.
So we have one more dimension to the god who wants us
to know Him:
God over us; God with us; God IN us.
However, the Creator and the creature are never to be
confused.
Shirley McClain notwithstanding, who says she is God,
and the Mormons notwithstanding, who say that we are
all intended to be gods.
No, I am not God…You are not God…and you never will be.
YET: you have a relationship that could not be more intimate:
God Himself a guest in your body.
The early Church invented a word to express this threefold
Mystery of God over us, with us, and in us:
Trinity – 2 words, “Tri” and “unity”
The word is not in the Bible.
But what it represents is clearly taught there.
How deep & wonderful that the mysterium tremendum –
the hidden, undiscoverable God walks into your life
because He loves you and wants you to experience Him.
You come to know Him as the one God in 3 persons.
God over you – the Father whom you can trust to work out
everything – even the worst things – for good.
God with you – God the Son, Jesus.
Because He became man, He is able to share your anguish
and to take on the consequences of your sins in
His human body on the cross.
God in you – God the Holy Slpirit who knows you from the
inside.
- know your deepest feelings & thoughts
- places in you all His authority and resources so as to
- do His bidding.
Do you remember the bottom line in Isaiah’s encounter
with the living God?
“Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?”
There’s a world out there that I love.
It’s full of hurting, bewildered people far from Me.
I want an army of people who know me to infiltrate that
world as my ambassadors.
Remember Isaiah’s ready answer, awed as he was by his
fresh experience of God?
“Here I am; send me.”
“Awesome, loving Triune God,
I’m learning to love the world’s people as you do.
Where in the world do You want me to serve?
I’ll go where you want me to go, Lord.
Here I am; send me.”
Prayer: thrice loved…
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