Isaiah speaks good words. “Woe is me! I am a man of unclean lips from a people of unclean lips. And I have see the Lord, the God of hosts.”
Isaiah's words are good because he confesses the truth. He knows his sin. He knows a sinner cannot stand in the presence of God and live. Look to the seraphim that surround the ark. They cover their eyes, and their feet. They are holy, confirmed in the grace they received in creation. These are they that cast down Satan and his devils. They are without sin. They are without any reason for fear.
But even they cover their eyes. They bow their heads in reverence. They do not look at the Lord who created them. But Isaiah has seen Him. Isaiah stands in the presence of God. Isaiah, conceived in iniquity. Isaiah, born in sin. Isaiah, the man of unclean lips.
But behold, beloved, the mercy of the Lord. The angel takes burning coal, a coal from the sacrifice being offered whole to the Lord. He touches this coal to Isaiah's lips. He is unclean no more. The angel says so, “Your iniquity is taken away. Your sin is purged.”
And so the Lord sends Isaiah to proclaim a word of judgment to His people. For Isaiah has confessed the truth. He does live in the midst of a people of unclean lips, and they must hear the wrath the Lord has stored from them. They must hear it so that some will repent. And oh, the songs Isaiah will sing to them! Songs of mercy. Songs of life. Songs of the Lord rejoicing in His people. Songs of the coming one. Songs of Jesus.
God knew Isaiah's plight. He knew that His people, mired in sin, could not bear the sight of Him. He knew that if He revealed Himself to His people in His full glory, they would be destroyed. And as it was for Isaiah, so it is for you.
And in to today's Gospel reading, Matthew writes of the great mercy of God. Jesus says, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” Divine authority... authority the Eternal Son has had for eternity. This authority is given in time to the Man who is the eternal Son, to Jesus.
The apostles have already seen Jesus in his full glory, and they have lived. They have seen Him humbly experience the torture, pain, and death that the world had in store for Him.
The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. He came to you who hated Him. He died for you who drove the nails through His holy flesh.
Because God loves you, He has become a man. And that Man has received from the Father all authority in heaven and earth. And so Jesus says to the eleven who are gathered to him, “After you have gone out, make disciples of all nations by baptizing them into the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and by teaching them to obey as much as I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
And the result of God's gracious command is you—the baptized... you, the taught. You, the church. The apostles saw God in His glory on the cross. And after this they preached Christ and Him crucified until all but one died as a martyr.
And so the Lord has established His church. He has established that place where He comes to you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He has established that place where He puts His Triune name on you in water and His Word. He has established the office that forgives your sins, preaches the Gospel, and gives you Jesus' body and blood. He has taught, nurtured and sustained you. And to those who endure in faith unto the end, He will continue to give life that has no end.
God has never desired to be a remote, distant Creator who could not be with those people He loved from eternity.
God is Love, and we see this no place better than in the Trinity itself. The Father eternally begat His Son, and the Love between the Father and the Son is a person, the Holy Spirit. A God who is not acting in love is not the Triune God. A God without love is empty, sedate, and lacking the life from which our life flows!
And so Love is in the very essence of God. Intimacy is in the very essence of God. God cannot be forever remote from you. If He were, it would change who He is.
And so in our worship, the church sings the praise of the Trinity. Holy, Holy, Holy! Blessed is He! Blessed is He! Blessed is He! The Trinity is not to be worshiped on just one Sunday.
The creed confesses it well: We worship one God in three persons and three persons in one God, neither confusing the persons, nor dividing the substance.
This is the catholic faith which, except a man believe faithfully and firmly, he cannot be saved.
And now you stand in the Holy of Holies. God comes to you in this place. The burning coal has already touched your lips, uttered by the lips of Pr. Weedon in your absolution. It will touch them again when you receive Jesus in His body and blood, the sacrifice offered on the altar once for all for the sins of the whole world.
He is with you always, to the very end of the age!
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
