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June 15, 2003
1st Sunday after Pentecost
Isaiah 6:1-8
Pastor Ben Berger

You Are Standing in the Presence of God

Imagine, for a moment, that you have received an invitation to meet the President at the White House. How will you dress? What will you say? Will you give something to him? Will you get something from him? How would you act if you were standing in the presence of the President? That really depends on what you think of the President, doesn't it? Now I want you to come back to reality and realize that you have already received an invitation. In fact, you have already accepted the invitation to meet God at his house. You Are Standing in the Presence of God right now. How you act, how you dress, what you say, what you give, what you get, all depend on what you think about God. Today, as we stand in the presence of God, we, along with Isaiah, get to see God as he is. You Are Standing in the Presence of God. 1) He is a holy God. 2) He is a gracious God.

Before God sent out Isaiah as a prophet to represent him to the people of Israel, God revealed himself to Isaiah. First he revealed himself as a holy God. In God's revelation to Isaiah three main things show us that God is a holy God.

First, the setting shows us a holy God. We don't have the luxury of actually seeing this as Isaiah did, so I'm going to ask you to use your imagination. Children, maybe you can try to draw what Isaiah saw. High in the top corner of the page God sits on his throne. He is a king, the King of kings. He holds all authority and power over everything because he created everything. His throne is high and exalted because he rules over everything. This throne is in God's house or his temple, and his holiness fills the temple. God is wearing a robe. The train of his robe fills the temple. It's like a bride's gown that reaches all the way down the aisle. And there are angels.

The angels declare God's holiness. They are called Seraphim. They each have six wings. God is so holy that even they do not deserve to stand in his presence. So, they use two wings to cover their faces. They use two wings to cover their feet. They use the other two wings to fly above God. The angels declare God's holiness with their voices. There are some on one side of the throne and some on the other side. Like dueling choirs they call back and forth to each other, "Qadosh, Qadosh, Qadosh Adonai Sebaoth - Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory." They call him holy; they acknowledge his strength. The say that not only does his robe fill the temple, but his glory fills the entire earth. And, as they speak the windows rattle and the doors shake and the room fills with smoke. What a scene!

As Isaiah stands in the presence of God, he too knows that God is holy. He cried out, "Woe to me! I am ruined!" Isaiah thought that he was going to die. He did not deserve to stand in the presence of God. He knew that he was unworthy. "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." Isaiah recognized his sin. Isaiah knew that he was an unholy man standing in the presence of a holy God, and he couldn't take it. He was just waiting for the lightning to come down and destroy him. I'm sure that he covered his eyes like the angels and shook like the windows and doors.

Isaiah learned firsthand that no one deserves to stand in the presence of the holy God. To be worthy to stand before the holy God means to be holy oneself. God demands holiness. The minute Adam and Eve sinned and lost their holiness, they lost their right to stand in the presence of God. God has simply declared, "Be holy, because I the LORD your God am holy," (Leviticus 19:2). Many before Isaiah recognized their unholiness when face to face with God. Moses had to remove his sandals at the burning bush. Later Moses would hide in a crevice as the LORD passed before him. The people of Israel begged Moses to represent them before God because they could not stand before him themselves. They felt death when face to face with the holy God.

And yet, here we are, standing in the presence of God. Like Isaiah we must admit that we are people of unclean lips and that we live among people of unclean lips. Everyday sin pours out from our hearts as if it were the lifeblood in our veins. Everyday we fill back up with the sin and filth of this world. How dare we stand in the presence of the holy God! We ought to cover our eyes and our feet and look for a place to hide at the nearest sight of God. We ought to shake and tremble at the sound of his voice. Our sin condemns us to the point of death so that all we can do is beg for God's mercy.

And we shall have it. Our God is a holy God, but he is also a gracious God. As Isaiah stood in the presence of God he did not die but found life, and an invitation. So also, God reveals himself to you as a gracious God who offers you life and an invitation.

After Isaiah had seen God's holiness, God revealed himself to Isaiah as a gracious God. Now if you're drawing this, you need to get a new sheet of paper. Much of the scene stays the same. God is still in his throne and the angels are still flying above praising him. But, the mood has changed. God revealed himself as a gracious God two ways: by his words and by his actions.

In the dream God communicated his words and actions through the angels. The seraphim told Isaiah who God is. He is holy. He is the LORD Almighty. Then the angels showed Isaiah the gracious God. As Isaiah was crouching in fear, one of the angels used tongs to pick up a hot coal from the altar in the temple. He then flew over to Isaiah, and touched that hot coal to his mouth. Finally, he announced to Isaiah that he had been made holy; the hot coal took away his guilt and covered his sin.

Remember, this was only a picture, but Isaiah knew the reality. He himself would proclaim God's message of forgiveness to the people. He would tell them how God would make them holy and worthy to stand in his presence through the Suffering Servant, Jesus Christ. God used this picture to show Isaiah that though he was not worthy to stand in God's presence on his own, God would graciously make him worthy by making him holy.

God again showed his graciousness by extending an invitation to Isaiah. The first part of the invitation was implied. The gracious God essentially invited Isaiah to stay and worship him by not putting him to death. By making him holy with the hot coal God was showing Isaiah that he now had access to stand in his presence. More directly, God invited Isaiah to go and represent him. He asked who would be willing to go for him, and gave Isaiah the opportunity to offer himself. What grace! That Isaiah would be made holy to stand in the presence of God and to go to others on his behalf!

Now the same gracious God reveals himself to you. He reveals himself to you by his words and by his actions. In his word he tells you his name and what he's like. He is the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost - all three Holy, Holy, Holy. At your baptism God put his name on you; the Father gave you his Spirit so that you might die and rise again to live as co-heirs with Christ.

These three, the triune God, show you that they are a gracious God by their actions. The Father created you; he created you in his own image. Though you lost that image because of the sin you inherited from your parents, the Father restores his image in you through the living waters of holy baptism, the same water he used to put his name on you. There, through that water and word, the Father sends the Holy Spirit to create faith in your heart. Still today the Father sends the Holy Spirit as daily you remember your baptism, drowning the old sinful nature in you and raising up a new self through repentance. All this is possible because of the Son. Jesus lived the holy life that you could not; he died on the cross to take away your guilt and atone for your sin. The Father now credits his holy life to you. You are holy! You are now worthy to stand in the presence of God!

So here you are, standing in the presence of God. Though he is a holy God and you do not deserve to be here, he extends an invitation to you because he is a gracious God. Because the Father was willing to send his Son, because Jesus was willing to die for your unholiness, because the Spirit works daily to show you God's grace in his words and actions, you have been invited to stand right here in the presence of your holy and gracious God. You have been invited by God himself to continually return to this holy temple to learn more and more about who God is and what he has done for you. You have been invited to continually return to God's throne and worship him.

Before long you will also hear another invitation. You will hear God ask, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" You will hear God ask you to represent him before others: before your family and friends, before those at work and school, before all who see you, before the world. God wants you to communicate to others that he is a holy God and that he is a gracious God. God wants you to extend the invitation for all to stand in his presence.

Finally, God invites you to stand in his presence for eternity. Made holy by the blood of Jesus, God invites you to join the angels in singing, "Qadosh, Qadosh, Qadosh Adonai Sebaoth - Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory."

You may never receive an invitation to stand in the presence of the President in the White House, but you have a standing invitation from God - an invitation to stand in the presence of your holy and gracious God now and for eternity. Amen.