“We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far.” That’s a quote from the American author H.P. Lovecraft, in his 1928 book “Call of Cthulhu.” It’s kind of interesting that the titular monster in the book has become much more famous than the book itself, but that’s because even if the story isn’t that great, the idea intrigues people. The characters are obsessed with uncovering the secrets of Cthulhu, but what they discover is a monster so horrible and beyond human comprehension that just encountering him causes people to lose their minds.
For as long as humans have thought about thinking, they have thought about the limits of human thought. “If you eat the fruit,” Satan told Eve, “You will be like God, knowing good and evil.” A humanist philosophy is one that says that if we put our minds to it we can solve anything. But are there limits? Are there things that will always be too big for our minds to grasp? Might there be things that are dangerous for us even to contemplate, a black sea of infinity into which we are not meant to voyage far? As Shakespeare wrote, “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”
If you could see God right here and now, do you think it would be wonderful, or terrible? That’s not a question that is so easy to answer as it might first seem. Everyone wants to see God, right? Who would turn that down if given the opportunity. God is great and glorious. He’s the source of all beauty. What could be more wonderful than to see God? But God is holy. His glory does not tolerate sin and imperfection, not one speck, not one spot, not one wrinkle. To come into his presence unworthily is to invite destruction more violent than the annihilation that results from smashing together matter and antimatter. And to contemplate God, who is Three in One and One in Three, so big that universe fits in the palm of his hand and yet so mighty and involved that his will upholds the twisting and turning of every individual atom, this is something that truly could drive a person mad. What could be more frightening, more terrible, than to see God?
Yet on this Holy Trinity Sunday, dear brothers and sisters, our holy and glorious God reveals himself to us. He does not do this to terrorize our guilty consciences and strike fear into our mortal hearts. He does not do this to boggle our feeble minds and destroy our sanity. He reveals himself that we may know the love of our Triune God. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord. With a glory beyond our understanding. With a glory that forgives our sin. With a glory that calls us to new life.
“In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord.” That’s how Isaiah begins chapter 6 of his book, in which he describes his call from God to be God’s prophet. There’s a beautiful drama to the way this begins, so much better than saying something like, “It was the year 740 BC.” Big things were happening in the world at this time. Rome was founded in 753. The Assyrian Empire was on the warpath. Uzziah had, for the most part, been a good king. He ruled for 52 years and Judah prospered under him. But all good things in this world must come to an end, and Uzziah’s death brought with it the end of a good period in Israel’s history.
But Isaiah’s eyes weren’t on the king. Even the greatest kings, like the flowers of the field, whither and fade. No, in this time of change Isaiah saw the one who is eternal and unchangeable. “I saw the Lord.” He writes. And what a sight this was. It was a vision, seemingly not of the earthly temple in Jerusalem but of the temple of heaven, in which there was a throne, and the Lord sitting on that throne, “high and exalted.” His robe had a long train that filled the entire temple so that there was nowhere to stand, and so not standing on the ground but flying above him were seraphim. These angelic beings had six wings. They covered their faces with two in humility. They covered their feet with two in modesty. And with two they were flying. And they called, one to another, in a voice that shook the temple,
Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of Armies!
The whole earth is full of his glory!
This is truly a wondrous sight. People throughout history have longed to see God. But because of our sin, it is not what we are meant to see. Isaiah knew this. And so his reaction to this sight and sound was not one of joy, but of terror. He writes
5Then I said, “I am doomed! I am ruined, because I am a man with unclean lips, and I dwell among a people with unclean lips, and because my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Armies!”
A person wanting to see God in this sinful world doesn’t realize what it is that he’s asking for. It’s like wanting to be an eyewitness to an oncoming tornado, or a volcano erupting, or a nuclear explosion. You might wonder what it’s like, but you don’t really want to see that. And God’s glory is far greater than them all.
In a way, it’s the inverse of those things, because unlike natural disasters and man-made weapons God’s glory is not evil or disordered, it’s perfect and holy and we’re the ones who are evil and disordered. Isaiah thinks just of one thing, one part of the body. “I am a man with unclean lips.” How could he praise God with the holy angels as was right and good and necessary, with lips like his? He couldn’t stand there silently. But he also couldn’t join in their song. And if his lips were too unclean to praise God, what did that mean for the rest of him? “I am ruined!”
When we look at Isaiah we can see why it is that a lot of people do decide that they’re better off not knowing God. God is too great. Once you’ve seen him you can’t go back. I like my placid island of ignorance. I like the opinions I’ve gathered as truths and built into a snug little house for myself. To know God might be to show my favorite truths to be nothing more than a house of cards. It might mean learning horrors I can’t unlearn. It might mean facing my doom.
And though we might “Tsk tsk” the unbelieving world, the truth is that we also dwell among these people with unclean lips and our own lips are no more righteous to enter God’s presence and sing his praise. We may not be living in placid ignorance, but do not think that your knowledge makes you safe from God’s all-consuming glory and judgment. God is one. The Devil knows that, and shudders.
But Isaiah was not destroyed by God’s glory. Instead, he writes
One of the seraphim flew to me, carrying a glowing coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs.** 7**He touched my mouth with the coal and said, “Look, this has touched your lips, so your guilt is taken away, and your sin is forgiven.”
From God’s altar comes purification for sin. Isaiah was expecting doom and ruin. He was expecting to be burned up by God’s fiery judgment. But instead of burning him, this coal from the altar signifies his uncleanness being purged away.
That angel, that great messenger of God, reassures Isaiah and every one of us. It is not God’s will that you be destroyed. It is not his will that you die in your sins. It is his will that you know him and his forgiveness. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord, and that holiness is the holiness with which he redeems you and clothes you and purifies you. It’s brought to you by his messengers. It’s delivered to you from his altar.
And the altar then and now signifies Christ.
Our thrice-holy Lord is too great and wise and powerful and glorious for us to understand. He’s too holy for people with unclean lips. And so he humbled himself and entered into our world in a way that we can understand. God the Son obeyed the Father’s will. He became true man, our holy substitute. He became the sacrifice for our sin. From him comes forgiveness and purification, for our unclean lips and our unclean hands and our unclean hearts. Because of him we are not doomed, we are not ruined, but in God’s presence we have the joy of salvation.
Who is this Triune God? He is not someone who is far and distant. He is not someone whose revelation will drive you mad and whose glory will drive you to despair. John says in chapter 12 of his Gospel, “Isaiah saw Jesus’ glory.”
This is not a black sea of infinity into which we are not meant to voyage. No, it’s exactly what we are meant for. God made us to know him as he reveals himself. He redeemed us that we might sing his praises with cleansed and pure lips. And he sanctifies us so that we might live out in every way the new life of peace and joy that he supplies to us.
8Then I heard the Lord’s voice, saying, “Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?”
Then I said, “Here I am. Send me!”
Go in the life you have from God –Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Praise his name as his holy people, with lips cleansed by Jesus’ blood. Share the joy of your salvation by your words and you works.
Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of Armies!
The whole earth is full of his glory!
Amen.
— Pastor Seth Georgson