Trinity Sunday is the one Sunday in the church year when we do something a little different. Instead of talking about Old Testament stories or Jesus’ teachings or healings, we talk about the Trinity-God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. The Trinity is not specifically mentioned in the Bible, but it is there. Trinity is not an easy concept to understand or explain. In fact, many preachers decide to take Trinity Sunday off!

In order to understand the Trinty, we have to understand both the Old Testament and the New Testament. The time of the Old Testament was the time of God the Father, and that is referred to indirectly in Isaiah 6:1-8. The New Testament era was the time of God the Son in the form of Jesus Christ, followed by the time of God the Holy Spirit, who dwells in the hearts and minds of all believers.

Isaiah’s vision is one of the most powerful witnesses to man’s encounter with the divine, or God’s breaking into human life in a life-changing way. God is always present in our lives. Sometimes He moves gently, and sometimes He moves dramatically. In any event, there are moments that change everything-moments that take us beyond the normal and horizontal to a deeper naturalism in which the heavens declare God’s glory and the whole earth is filled with God’s presence.

Every symbol in Isaiah’s vision of God is significant. In the first five chapters of the Book of Isaiah we learn that Israel had become too complacent in its security to heed God’s warnings and too corrupted in its prosperity to escape God’s wrath. In addition, King Uzziah, who was a good king for 52 years, had become arrogant, profaned the temple, contracted leprosy, and died in shame in 740 BC as judgment for his arrogance in entering the temple to burn incense-a job only the priest was allowed to do.

All of Israel needed to be shaken up by the vision of God sitting on a throne with the train of His robe filling the temple. The symbols of the title Lord-the throne, the lofty position, and the all-encompassing robe-reinforced His sovereignty over all of the universe, over all its kings, over all of their nations, and over all peoples, including the chosen children of Israel. God’s sovereignty is pronounced in Isaiah. Nations turn against Him, but His will prevails; kings compete with Him, but fall in shame; people turn from Him to worship idols, but their false gods crumble. Even His people refuse to trust Him, but they do not escape punishment.

Ca we see ourselves in this place? Well, we are in this place because we are always in the presence of the holy through the Holy Spirit living in us. We have been set free from guilt and shame through Jesus, who took our sins to the cross. Our relationship with God was restored.

Sovereignty is not the primary revelation of God’s character in Isaiah’s vision. It is the holiness of the Lord that Isaiah senses. Sovereignty is the powerful nature of God; holiness is the moral character of God. He is pure; He is complete; He is whole. We understand why the seraph use their wings to cover their feet and faces. Even without sin, they cannot stand to have the holy God look upon their created nature.

The moral character of the holy God is more than a matter of “being”. Isaiah sees that God’s holiness is also a matter of “doing”. As His holiness can’t tolerate sin among the people or the nations, wherever His holiness touches down we see the ethical imprint of His character in the glorious work of God. In God’s sovereignty we encounter the fact that His will can’t be known; in His holiness we learn of His purity that can’t tolerate sin; but in His glory we learn of His mercy that promises a remnant out of which will come a Saviour who will redeem the world and all nations.

How did Isaiah respond to God’s presence? He was both afraid and fascinated. We have the same reactions when we meet God. We tremble with fear and awe, but at the same time we are fascinated by His holiness. That is attractive, desirable, promising, and compelling. Worship should not begin with a focus upon ourselves and our own needs, but upon the character of God; we should not proceed without the expectation of the visitation of His Spirit but wait in His holy presence until He comes; we should not assume there is nothing new under the sun that we have not seen but come expecting a glimpse of His glory.

In the presence of the Holy Spirit, Isaiah’s heart caused him to cry out, “Woe is me, for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips.” This confession confronts us with three uncomfortable and unpopular truths:

1. When we see the holy character of God, we feel anguish for our own sin. Whenever we see the King, the Lord of Hosts, our sinfulness is exposed.
2. When Isaiah saw God, he accepted responsibility for his sin. He did not shift the blame. Isaiah said that he had no place in the presence of God, no right to praise God, and no authority to speak for God. Jewish people saw lips as reflecting the motives of the heart and the decisions of the will.
3. After confessing his own sin, Isaiah went on to say, “I dwell in the midst of people of unclean lips.” Although sin is primarily personal, we can’t deny that sin has a social impact. When we see the holy character of God, we also see the pervasive influence of our sin. The phrase, “a people of unclean lips” represents corruption at the very heart of the culture.

Why all of this emphasis upon sin? Why not move on quickly to the anointing of Isaiah? The answer is in the Biblical qualifications for prophetic or apostolic ministry. In the early church, two qualities served as the credentials for ordination in what is called the apostolic succession. One quality was to be blameless in character; the other was to be true to the word of God. Later on, as the church drifted from its biblical foundations into institutional corruption, ordination became an end in itself so that even a scoundrel or a heretic could serve as an instrument for the means of grace.  Corrupt popes, priests, preachers, and pastors are a blight upon the history of the church. Isaiah’s encounter with God calls us back to the biblical requirements for ministry. Ordination seals the qualifications of a person who is blameless in character. Until Isaiah confessed his sin, he was neither ready nor worthy to be called a prophet of God.

The seraph touched Isaiah’s lips with a coal from the sacrificial altar. God gave the people of Israel the sacrificial system as a symbol of what Christ would do for them at the cross. Jesus had not yet come and so God gave them the symbol of the substitutionary death of an animal as payment for their sins. In reality it was the great sacrifice of Jesus for us that would make a way for our sins to be “taken away” and “atoned for.”

In the image of a coal of fire upon Isaiah’s lips, there is more uncomfortable truth for modern Christians. If our spiritual cleansing is partial, our spiritual consecration is dull, and our spiritual commitment is shaky. God has a word for us in Isaiah’s vision. The coal from the altar served as a symbol of sacrificial purification. When the coal touched Isaiah’s lips, he became purified in speech to thereby proclaim the words of God to Israel. Any doubt about the reality and frailty of human sin is erased in this image of cleansing fire. Only the fire of God can take away our guilt and only the white heat of a live coal from His altar can atone for our sin. A live coal from the altar of God reminds us that behind the love that takes away our guilt and the forgiveness that atones for our sin is a Cross that extracted a cost no less than the life of the Son of God Himself.

We will never deal effectively with our sin without first realizing who God is. When we study His Word and begin to grasp His holiness, a deep reverence for Him grows in our hearts. We, like Isaiah, are humbled before Him and realize that we fall far short of His holiness.

God first prepared Isaiah for service, then Isaiah offered himself to serve. God will never call us to do something for which He hasn’t equipped us, nor will He force us to serve Him. He wants equipped, willing servants. Every time we enter God’s presence in prayer and praise, we should feel as humbled as the prophet Isaiah. We should stand in awe of His holiness. We should feel overwhelmed with gratitude and thankfulness.

There are times when opportunities to serve are suddenly thrust upon us, We may not feel ready for them; but God isn’t obligated to ask our permission or opinion about who or how He wants us to serve. We often pray for God to use us for His purpose and then, when He interrupts our lives to answer our prayer, we start listing all our inadequacies. Moses did this when he spoke with God at the burning bush. He doesn’t ask us to cross the street because we have the capacity in and of ourselves to rescue or help people He asks us because He does. He doesn’t ask, “Are you capable?” He asks, “Are you willing?” For us today to answer the call of God there must be an awareness and acceptance of the pain and suffering that comes with the call. It is a tough place to live, especially in a world engrossed in comforts and pleasures.

Can we communicate the reality of God’s power, glory, and holiness to a world that considers the church irrelevant and/or corrupt? What does it mean for us that Isaiah paints a picture of God so large and imposing that the lower half of the divine robe filled the heavenly temple? Is that vision more real than the problems of the world and the infighting of the church itself?

We can’t afford to drown out the voice of God calling His people into action, nor can we drown out the one who is inspired to answer the call, no matter how much faith they have. We are called to be God’s witnesses by what we see in our world and by what we do in our world.  Seeing God’s power requires prayer; doing God’s will requires honesty and purpose.

It is impossible to compare anyone or anything to God. He is not like anyone or anything. God is God. He is separate. Because God is triune, we see reflections of His triunity in everything He created.  He created space, and space is height, width, and depth. We can’t get dimensions without width, or width without depth, or depth without height. They are all part of the same thing. Each is distinct, and yet each is indistinguishable and inseparable. Let’s also consider time. Time is past, present, and future. We can’t have a past without a present, or a future without a past. They are all indistinguishable, but each is part of the same thing. A man is body, soul, and spirit.

These are not illustrations of the Trinity, but reflections of the Trinty in creation. We have the Father above us, the Spirit within us, and the Saviour who died for us. The Trinity is not a far-off concept; it is a present reality to all who believe.

Bibliography

1. Jeremiah, David: The Jeremiah Study Bible: New King James Version (Brentwood, TN: Worthy Publishing; 2013; p. 887)
2. McKenna, D., & Ogilvie, L.J.: The Preacher’s Commentary Series, Vol. 17: Isaiah 1-39 (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc.; 1993; pp. 106-116)
3. Stanley, C.F.: The Charles F. Stanley Life Principles Bible: New King James Version (Nashville, TN: Nelson Bibles; 2005)
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6. Christine Caine, “Across the Street.” Retrieved from no-reply@christinecaine.com
7. “Ready or Not, Here I Come.” Retrieved from support@leadlikejesus.com
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9. Adrian Rogers, “Seeing the Trinity Reflected in Creation.” Retrieved from devotions@lwf.org
10. The Rev. Billy Graham, “Isn’t the Old Testament still relevant today?” Retrieved from www.arcamax.com/healthandspirit/religion/billygraham
11. Judy Bullock, “Isaiah 6:1-8.” Retrieved from communic@luthersem.edu
12. Bruce Epperly, “The Adventurous Lectionary, Trinity Sunday, May 26, 2024.” Retrieved from http://www.patheos.com