Epiphany 5C, 2004

Text: Isaiah 6:1-8

In God’s Presence: From Fear to Courage

Those of you who have visited or actually lived in Europe for a while know how remarkably compact Europe is. When I lived in Germany it was easy for me to do things like hop on a bus in Cologne, Germany, on a Friday evening, travel on the bus for a few hours, pass through Luxembourg and Belgium and then arrive in Paris, France, where I'd spend the weekend before going back to Germany on Monday morning. Hop in a car in many places in Europe, drive in any direction you want for about as long as it takes to get from Toronto to Ottawa, and you may very well find yourself in a completely different country. Britain is smaller yet. It takes only a part of day to get all the way from London, England, to Edinburgh, Scotland.

All of that contributes to some humorous misunderstandings when European friends come to visit. Occasionally you'll hear such people propose that maybe the next day they could drive over to Nova Scotia for a little look around, perhaps swinging through Newfoundland on the way back. British writer N.T. Wright used to experience this a lot when his family lived for a while in Montreal, Canada. They, too, had British visitors who would propose impossibly long trips in the mistaken impression that North American geography was as compact as European layouts.

So Dr. Wright bought a map of Canada which had an inset labeled "England on the Same Scale." So on the side of the big map of Canada British visitors could see that the whole of England was so small that it could almost fit into lake Ontario. But just imagine the reverse, Wright once observed. Suppose you were in England with a map of England showing "North America on the Same Scale." If you had a full-size map of Britain with a same-scale map of North America on the side, you'd have to fold out that other map and then just keep on folding it out and out and out until it filled up the whole room.

Something like that happened to Isaiah one day. Something like that needs to happen to us too each time we gather for worship. Here we all are gathered in a fairly good-sized church. The sanctuary alone is probably the largest single room most of us enter many weeks. But we're pretty comfortable here--we're accustomed to it. So we walk in here casually much of the time. We slide into the pew, adjust our suit coat or skirt and then look through the bulletin. And before the first hymn is over we may already be wondering about what we will be doing once church is over.

The Vision

But what if while we were casually looking around at one another and at this room someone suddenly showed us "God on the Same Scale"!? What if someone could flip up half of the roof here the way a child's dollhouse may open up on a hinge so that we could see the God of all glory, high and exalted? Such a vision would likely unmake us, rattle us, make us feel small and puny. That was Isaiah's reaction when he saw God. Everything else in the world, everything else in his life, everything else that had previously been occupying Isaiah's mind shrank down in comparison to the vision he had of God on his holy throne.

Isaiah’s world was a world in political turmoil. King Uzziah had died. Alliances with neighbouring superpowers were shaky. This all seemed large and important until the day he saw God on the same scale. Suddenly Isaiah found all of his perception of reality re-aligned and changed.

When you come to church are you expecting to meet God? When we come our thoughts are often preoccupied with other things. But just imagine the glory of God, which fills the whole universe becoming visible in this place. All of a sudden we see reality for what it really is. For God is really present here among us. The fact that we cannot “feel” or “see” His presence does not change that reality.

The reason we cannot see God is that He has hidden himself. Ever since our first parents sinned, God has withdrawn His presence so that it would not destroy sinful mankind. So whenever God would show Himself to the people of the Old Testament, they could only see His glory indirectly, hidden in a dark cloud, in thick smoke or in a bright burning fire.

The Fear of God’s Presence

When Isaiah saw the majesty of God and heard the three-fold “holy, holy, holy” he suddenly felt completely filthy and unclean. He knew he could not survive one moment in the presence of God’s perfect holiness. For no one can see God and live. “Woe to me! I am ruined!” he cries out.

As we come before God’s presence today we also confess our sin and complete unworthiness in much the same way as Isaiah: “…I, a poor, miserable sinner, confess to You all my sins…” We then continue with the threefold “Lord, have mercy.” Before God we can only admit that we are poor beggars with nothing to offer. We can only depend on God to show us mercy we do not deserve.

Atonement For Sin

God’s glory appears to Isaiah, but miraculously he does not die. One of the angel-like creatures above God’s throne flies over to him and touches his lips with a burning coal taken from the altar, saying: “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”

From certain death Isaiah is given a new life. One moment he is a condemned sinner and the next he is holy like God, able to stand before the presence of God. How did this happen? The coal that touched his lips was taken from the altar of incense that stands before the Holy of Holies in the temple. Everything that touches that altar becomes holy. So the coal upon the altar was holy. But Isaiah was a sinner. As soon as that coal touched Isaiah’s sinful lips he should have died. Why not? Because upon that altar was also sprinkled “the blood of the atoning sin offering” for the people of Israel (Exodus 30:10). The blood upon the altar turned the burning coal from a destroying fire of judgment into a purifying fire of atonement (payment for sin) and sanctification (making holy).

The blood of atonement on that altar stood for the blood Jesus. The blood he would ultimately shed on the cross for the sins of the whole world: For Isaiah 2700 years ago and today for me and for you. In a few minutes we will join the angels in heaven in singing the threefold “holy, holy, holy.” Then our lips will also touch something very holy, something that has paid for our sins and has the power to make us holy; something that makes you able to stand without fear before the presence of God. It is not a burning coal. It something far more wonderful and mysterious: The real body of Jesus that hung on the cross and the real blood of Jesus that poured out of his wounds. Here we have the real thing. Here our sinful lips taste the bread of life. Here we are transformed from “condemned sinners” into God’s “blessed saints”.

Courage in the Presence of God

As a result we no longer fear being in the presence of God. Instead we have courage as we trust in Jesus and we rejoice, for God is gracious to us. That the Creator of the universe has come down to us and touched our lips with love and forgiveness changes us. It changes us from people who are burdened by sin and powerless to people for whom nothing is impossible. God’s love transforms us and energizes us for mission, for making a difference in this world.

Being in the presence of God prepared the prophet Isaiah for a confrontation with the leaders and the people of Israel. His mission was to announce God’s judgment upon Israel –that they would be defeated and deported from their land. It was a very negative and politically incorrect message. It was a message that would eventually cost him his life. If I remember correctly, Isaiah was stuck into a hollow tree and cut in half with a saw. Yet Isaiah was not afraid, for He was one of God’s holy ones. Living or dying in this world no longer mattered. In the presence of God there is only eternal life. Standing before God, Isaiah has courage.

We too live in a world that is opposed to God. As God’s holy ones, we too must confess our Lord before unbelievers. We too must suffer as we follow Christ in this world. But we do so with joy and courage, for we do it as the holy ones of God who stand before His presence.

And may God grant us eyes of faith to see His majestic and gracious presence unfold among us and lift us from fear to courage. Amen.

Return to Trinity Homepage