Holy! Holy! Holy! Today is Trinity Sunday. It is the time of the Church year when we Christians gather to answer the question; Who is the true God?

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1 May 31, 2015 Trinity Sunday Text: Isaiah 6:1-7 In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train 1 of his robe filled the temple. 2 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. 3 And one called to another and said: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!" 4 And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. 5 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, the LORD of hosts!" 6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 And he touched my mouth and said: "Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for." (ESV) Holy! Holy! Holy! Today is Trinity Sunday. It is the time of the Church year when we Christians gather to answer the question; Who is the true God? Since time immemorial people have had their opinions. The Hindu will say there are gods without number. The Buddhist will search to find God inside himself. The Muslim will say that there is only one God, viz., Allah. And, then they quickly add, And Muhammad is his prophet. The Jehovah s Witnesses teach that only Jehovah is God. Jesus is a god, but one who is inferior to Jehovah. 1 The Mormon will say that there are many gods and that must learn to become one. 2 We Christians do not merely have an opinion about who God is. We know who he is because Jesus, the Son of God in human flesh, has revealed him to us. And on this Trinity Sunday, we boldly confess who the true God really is. In accordance with the Athanasian Creed we just recited, we confess that... The Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God. And yet, there are not three Gods, but one God... that there is one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three Sons; one Holy Spirit, not three Holy Spirits. And in this Trinity none is before or after another; none is greater or less than another. But the whole three persons are coeternal together and coequal, so that in all things... the Trinity in Unity and the Unity in Trinity is to be worshiped. When we look at our text, the prophet Isaiah hears one of the seraphim bring forth a triplet of praise to the only true God, singing, Holy, Holy, Holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory. 3 In this three-fold repetition of holy we cannot help but see the glory ascribed to each of the three persons of the Holy Trinity. Page 1 of 5

2 But before we go any further, let us set forth what we reject as contrary to the saving faith. We reject as false the perverse notion that the Trinity consists of three gods (as Islam, Mormonism, and pagan religions charge). We reject as false that believing in a supreme being is sufficient for salvation (as popular culture teaches). We reject as heretical the doctrine of modalism, the belief that God is one person who sometimes reveals himself as the Father, sometimes as the Son, and sometimes as the Holy Spirit (as taught by Oneness Pentecostalism in this century and by Sabellius in the third century). 4 We reject as false the heresy that Jesus is divine but not truly God (as Jehovah s Witnesses teach in this century and as Arius taught in the fourth century). We reject as heretical the assertion that the Christian Trinity consists of the Father, Jesus, and the Virgin Mary (as Islam teaches). 5 So what do we mean when we speak of the Trinity? To believe in the Trinity is to believe that there is only one God. That is, there is no other God besides the one, true God. We assert, then, that the Christian faith is rigidly monotheistic. Yet, this one God exists as three distinct and indivisible persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The doctrine of the Holy Trinity is incomprehensible to the human mind. But we can think of ways to illustrate it. Think of an egg. It is only one egg, and yet it consists of three parts, the shell, the white matter, and the yolk. Or we can use simple arithmetic. The number of persons can be expressed as =3. That these three persons are only one God, we express arithmetically as 1x1x1 =1. Do you believe in the Trinity? This is important because one cannot deny the doctrine of the Trinity and still be saved. The Athanasian Creed rightly teaches that there is no salvation outside the Trinity. As we look at our text, it begins with these words, In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne. 6 The Lord whom Isaiah sees is God himself, for the prophet uses God's personal name, Yahweh, to identify him. 7 We note, furthermore, that Yahweh manifests himself to Isaiah in human form, for the prophet identifies him as a King, Yes this King sits on a throne and wears a robe. These actions of sitting and wearing can only be ascribed, in a real way, to humans and not to God, for God is spirit, without flesh and bones. 8 But this LORD whom Isaiah sees appears to him as having flesh and bones. Who, then, is this Lord who, in appearance, is a man, but who is also God? Could he be the pre-incarnate Christ? Yes! Is there any doubt about it? No! How can we be so sure? Because the apostle John makes the identification for us! In our text, Isaiah specifically says, I saw the Lord. 9 But now note, St. John--with reference to this same passage in Isaiah--says, Isaiah said these things because he saw his [Christ s] glory and spoke of him. 10 How amazing is that? Page 2 of 5

3 There is another point to be observed. The holy, holy, holy of the seraphim caused the thresholds of the temple to quake and the temple itself to be filled with smoke. But the prophet did not join the angels in this hymn of praise. He couldn't. Standing before the perfect holiness of Christ, he suddenly becomes aware of depths of his sinful depravity. And he is terrified! Thus, he bursts out in an agonizing cry, saying Woe is me! This one piercing utterance is the spontaneous response of a soul that needs no convincing that it is ripe for judgment and worthy of death. So he cries, Woe is me, for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts! 11 Let us learn well from Isaiah. A proper sense of God always brings with it a terrifying sense of sin. Where there is no sense of sin, there is no proper sense of God. But returning to Isaiah, he cries out, Woe is me! And no sooner does he do so than God dispatches an angel with a live coal. The angel says to him, Behold, this has touched your lips; your iniquity is taken away, and your sin is forgiven. 12 God also forgives our sins today. But not with a live coal. He forgives through faith alone in Christ. Such faith is worked by means of Baptism and the Word. It is popular today for people to believe that there are many ways to heaven. But this is a lie. For Jesus himself says, I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6). The idea that there are many roads to heaven is foolish. Let me explain. Suppose you want to go to London. If so, you have several Londons to choose from. There s a London in Canadian province of Ontario, a London in the South Pacific nation of Kiribati, and a London in Ohio. There s one in Arkansas, another in Nigeria, and still another in South Africa. In fact, there are over 25 places all called London. 13 If you want to go to London, England, you won t get there by booking a flight to any of the other Londons. You must be sure that you are on one that is going to the London which is specifically in England. The same is true with God. Only Jesus will take you to the one, true God. Muhammad will take you to his god (one who, in reality, does not even exist). So will a Hindu Brahmin, or a Jewish rabbi, or Buddhist priest. If you want to get to heaven, however, only Jesus will get you there. All others will get you to an eternal nightmare. But to you and me who trust in Christ, the Lord delivers his forgiveness to us through Word, water, bread and wine. We may not feel forgiven, but we are abundantly forgiven for God has so promised. Cling to his promise, beloved. And so we say... Tell us again, Holy Spirit, that we are forgiven -- because sometimes we forget. Page 3 of 5

4 Tell us again, Jesus, how much you love us. Tell us again, dear Father, how we look to you wrapped in the robe of Christ s righteousness... that you don t see our sin because it is hidden under the cover of his purity. Tell us again, Oh God of Triune majesty, of the treasures that await us in eternity. Yes, tell us again and again. And he does, for Jesus says to us, For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life (John 3:16, KJV). On this Trinity Sunday, we shout from the mountaintop, Our King Reigns: Three in One and One in Three to all eternity! In nomine Jesu: Amen. Soli Deo Gloria! Endnotes 1 In their New World translation, their translation reads, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god. See 2 Joseph Fielding Smith ed., Teachings of The Prophet Joseph Smith, ). 3 See Isaiah 6:3, ESV. 4 Until recently T.D. Jakes of Potter s House Church in Dallas denied the doctrine of the Trinity. But according to an interview with Christianity Today, Jakes seems now to be moving toward a Trinitarian confession. But he prefers to call the Persons of the Trinity manifestations. This is somewhat worrying to me because a manifestation of the Son is not the same as the person of the Son. See Accessed 05/27/ The Qur an is mistaken in its portrayal of the Trinity as Mary and Jesus being two separate gods besides Allah. The Qur an says, O Jesus, son of Mary! Didst thou say unto mankind: Take me and my mother for two gods besides Allah? (Surah 5:116); How can He [God] have a child, when there is for Him no wife? (Surah 6:101); They indeed have disbelieved who say: Allah is the Messiah, son of Mary (Surah 5:17); Far be it removed from His transcendent majesty that He should have a son (Surah 4:171). This portrayal of Christians as believing that God took Mary as His wife and she and their baby Jesus became two separate gods is as offensive to Christians as it is to Muslims. 6 Historians date King Uzziah s death at 740 B.C. 7 See verse 5 where Isaiah calls him the LORD [Yahweh] of hosts. Page 4 of 5

5 8 On Easter Sunday, Jesus appeared in the upper room. We read, As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, Peace to you! But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit. And he said to them, Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have (Luke 24:36-39, ESV). 9 Isaiah 6:1. 10 See John 12:41, ESV. See Edward J. Young, The Book of Isaiah, Vol. 1 (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1965) p. 237; H.C. Leupold, Exposition of Isaiah, vols. 1 and 2 in 1 vol. (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1977), pp ; F. Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament in Ten Volumes: Isaiah, trans. James Martin (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Company, n.d.), p. 190; R.C.H. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. John s Gospel (Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1943) pp ; F.W. Wenzel, The Wenzel Commentary: An Exegetical Study Based on a Harmony of the Gospels, ed. Martin H. Wenzel (Bemidji, Minnesota: Arrow Printing, 1986), p Taken from Isaiah 6:5, KJV. 12 Taken from Isaiah 6: See Google search at Page 5 of 5