This weeks Notes – 5-30-21
ISAIAH 6:8. HERE I AM. SEND ME!
I heard the Lord’s voice, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?”
Then I said, “Here I am. Send me!”
Isaiah is speaking, confessing his guilt. Then God speaks, addressing the heavenly council (the seraphim and other angelic host that might be present. “The throne room of God is the policy room of world government. There is business to conduct. There is creation to manage. There are messages to be sent.”
God asks, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Isaiah is only a bystander, overhearing God’s question. God never says where they are to go nor what they will be doing. God does not ask Isaiah to volunteer.
Isaiah caught up in the moment, gives Yahweh a blank check. Isaiah offers to go wherever and to do whatever. This is unusual in the call stories of the Old Testament, where people often object to their call. Read Exodus 3:11; 4:10; Judges 6:15; Jeremiah 1:6, to see the objection to God’s call.
But something like Isaiah’s response happens yet today whenever a person of faith commits him/herself to God’s service. When making such a commitment, the person cannot say, “I will serve God as long as I can do it here”—or “I will be happy to serve God in this way but not in that way.” The commitment must be to serve God, and the person making such a commitment can only wonder where God will lead.
God called the Prophet Isaiah to an incredible mission: call the People to repentance and give the hope of Christ to purify the Chosen People. When we meet God, things happen. Whenever we come face-to-face with the Lord Almighty we begin to see who we are and who God is and we are, like Isaiah, undone. When we encounter the resurrected Christ, it shapes the way we live. Such a glorious meeting controls our tongue. Such a time with God guides our decisions. Have you come to know this living Christ? Will you not leave this present evil age for only a moment and consider the vision that Isaiah gives to us in this passage?
When we meet God, we encounter prioritized living. This powerful passage is a picture of the saving mercy of God come down to humanity in the person of our God and Savior Jesus Christ. It shows his kindness and his love and his desire to cleanse us from our sin. And what happens?
When Isaiah receives the forgiveness of God, the prophet recognizes that God desires a relationship with him even though there is a vast cosmic distance from God’s holiness to Isaiah’s condition. It is in this place of recognition that Isaiah receives his vocation. Instead of commanding that Isaiah go to the people of Israel and declare God’s word, the thundering sound of the voice of God comes to Isaiah and reverberates throughout heaven and through the mind and heart of Isaiah, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” On this Trinity Sunday, we see evidence of three Persons in one God. God says “whom shall I send” and who will go for “us?” Once more, we are humbled in our interpretation of this mysterious mixture of pronouns. We recognize the Trinity from the fullness of the word of God, and it may very well be that there is the reality of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, three persons in one God.
We experience the vision of God through God’s word and the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. The transforming vision of God changes us. And when we meet our Lord Jesus Christ we, experience the transformative power as perfected glory, which moves us to a piercing humility that brings about prioritized living.
Thanks Be To God!
Join us at 11:00 Sunday morning as we wrestle with God’s call on our lives.
We thank God for all of you being a part of service and love to our community.
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“I don’t know how, but I know WHO!”
Grace and Peace, Pastor Nelda
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