Isaiah 6,1-8 3023
Tag der heiligen Dreifaltigkeit (Trinitatis) 46
Quirinus, Bishop of Syscia in Pannonia (Croatia), Martyr 304 (Diocletian, 284-311/12; persecution 302-11)
4. Juni 2023
1. ℣ O Yahweh, our Adonai:
℟ How excellent is Thy Name in all the earth! (Psalm 8,1).
O Blessed Yahweh, who dwells between the cherubim; guide us by the Holy Spirit, so that we may learn to praise and adore Jesus Christ now and forever. Amen. (Liturgical text Gradual).
2. »In the year that King Uzziah died [740/39 bc] I saw Adonai seated upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above Him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said: „Holy, holy, holy is Yahweh Sabaoth; the whole earth is full of His Glory!“ And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said: „Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, Yahweh Sabaoth!“ Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: „Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.“ And I hear the Voice of Adonai saying: „Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?“ Then I replied: „Here am I! Send me.“«
3. Isaiah 6 tells of the prophet’s call by Yahweh to be His messenger to rebellious and unrepentant Judah. The nation is described as sinful, the people laden with iniquity, who have forsaken and despised Yahweh (Isaiah 1,4). This had been Judah’s nature for generations, but now it was reaching its breaking point. Yahweh through Isaiah tells Judah: repent and return to Yahweh or refuse and rebel (Isaiah 1,19-20). Repentance would bring redemption, but refusal would bring rejection. Judah chose refusal and remained a rebellious nation that worshipped idols. In response Yahweh removed them from the land and they lived in Babylonian exile for 70 years.
4. 800 years later the apostles called upon the Jews to repent and receive Jesus as their Messiah. At Pentecost 3000 Jewish men repented and were baptized (Acts 2,36.38). Through Isaiah Yahweh says: »Let us reason together: though your sins are like crimson (purple), they will be made white as snow; though they are scarlet, they will be made white like wool« (Isaiah 1,18 lxx). Jesus is the Lamb who redeems from sin and whose blood forgave iniquity.
5. One cannot stand before the presence of Yahweh with unclean lips. Our God is holy and He makes us holy by taking away our guilt and atones for our sin. John summarizes it in his Gospel: »For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life« (John 3,16). In Jesus we see God’s holiness and glory manifested for the redemption of the world.
6. We live in a broken, fallen world. Sin and wickedness abound around us. Fallen men and women are even proud of their sin. 21st century mankind is no better than the generation of Noah or the generation of Isaiah. The human heart, our heart, delights in wickedness. In His written Word, God the Holy Spirit calls us to repent, reminding us that He is a merciful steadfast loving God.
7. The Prophet Isaiah speaks of this throughout his book. »Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other« (Isaiah 45,22). »„Draw near to Me, hear this: from the beginning I have not spoken in secret, from the time it came to be I have been there.“ And now the Adonai Yahweh has sent me, and his Spirit. Thus says Yahweh, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: „I am the Yahweh your God“« (Isaiah 48,16-17). »For He said: „Surely they are My people, children who will not deal falsely.“ And He became their Savior. In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the Angel of His presence saved them; in His love and in His pity He redeemed them; He lifted them up and carried them all the days of old. … Like livestock that go down into the valley, the Spirit of Yahweh gave them rest. So You led Your people, to make for Yourself a Glorious Name.”« (Isaiah 63,8-10.11.14).
8. While the actual word Trinity or Triune does not appear in the Holy Scriptures, the concept is there throughout the pages of the Old and New Testaments. The Prophet Isaiah mentions three distinct Persons who all have the Divine nature: Yahweh, the Angel of Yahweh and the Spirit of Yahweh; these would be the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit as we confess them in the Creeds. Isaiah writes that each person of the Trinity is involved in mankind’s salvation. Thus in the Athanasian Creed we confess: And in this Trinity none is before or after another; none is greater or less than another; but the whole three persons are coeternal with each other and coequal, so that in all things, as has been stated above, the Trinity in Unity and Unity in Trinity is to be worshiped (§ 24-25).
9. The Triune God created men and women in His Image and Likeness. He created us to be in fellowship with Him. Adam’s fall into sin ended that fellowship between God and man, but God would not see that fellowship sundered or lost; He promised to restore it. In Christ, God entered our time and space as both God and man: 2 natures in 1 person. By his crucifixion and resurrection Jesus reestablished fellowship with men and women and freed us from sin and the curse. If you would see God, behold His Glory and know His will, then look to Jesus who is the Word and Wisdom of the Triune God. Christ brings us God’s mercy, forgiveness and eternal life. It is the will of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit to redeem fallen men and women, for in Christ Jesus the Triune God has indeed redeemed us and the entire world.
10. The seraphim’s cry of holy, holy, holy is a trinitarian litany of praise to God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The significance of this praise reveals the holiness of God, which is His absolute purity, perfection and separateness from sin and evil. The threefold holy emphasizes the intensity and completeness of God’s holiness. God tells His people: »You shall be holy, for I Yahweh your God am holy« (Leviticus 19,2). God declares it and has made it so through Christ Jesus: Jesus’ sacrifice has made us holy.
11. God Father, Son and Holy Ghost,
O fountain of blessings, ever-flowest:
Through our heart, mind and conduct flow,
That with Your praise and blessing we fully glow! (Brunn alles Heils, dich ehren wir elkg 494,5 2021 Gerhard Tersteegen 1745).
This is most certainly true.
12. The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4,7). Amen.
13. Let us pray. O merciful God, fill our hearts, we pray Thee, with the graces of Thy Holy Spirit, with love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance; teach us to love those who hate us, to pray for those who despitefully use us, that we may be the children of Thee, our Father, who makest Thy sun to shine on the evil and on the good and sendest rain on the just and the unjust; in adversity grant us grace to be patient, in prosperity keep us humble; may we guard the door of our lips; may we lightly esteem the pleasures of this world and thirst after heavenly things. Amen. (Trinitatis, Vespers Collect 2. The Daily Office.)
To God alone be the Glory
Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm
✠
All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4. Edition © 1990 Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, Septuaginta, Vol. I and II 2. Revised Edition © 2006 Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 28. Revised Edition © 2012 Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.
Evangelisch-Lutherisches Kirchengesangbuch. Copyright © 2021 Selbständige Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche, Hannover.
The Daily Office. Copyright © 1965 Concordia Publishing House.
litany to the holy spirit
God the Father in heaven:
Have mercy upon us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world:
Have mercy upon us.
God the Holy Spirit, Sanctifier of men’s souls:
Have mercy upon us.
God, the Father, Creator and Preserver:
Sustain our life in Thee.
God the Son, born in the flesh, who didst come down from heaven for us men and our salvation:
Cleanse us by Thy blood.
God of the Holy Ghost, promised Paraclete:
Dwell in our lives with Thy holy fruits.
Lord God Almighty, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit:
We praise Thee for Thy revelation to us of love and mercy.
Three Persons, equal in power, majesty and glory:
One God, which wert and art and evermore shall be.
Blessed be the Holy Trinity and the undivided Unity:
Let us give glory to Him because He hath shown us His mercy.
Thou who art perfect in love, power and unity:
Keep us in fellowship with Thee eternally.
Holy, Holy, Holy, of whom and through whom and to whom are all things:
Bless us with thankful hearts;
Fill us with joyful hearts;
Save us with faithful hearts.
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