"In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. ²Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. ³And they were calling to one another: 'Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.' ⁴At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. ⁵'Woe to me!' I cried. 'I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.' ⁶Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. ⁷With it he touched my mouth and said, 'See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.' ⁸Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, 'Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?' And I said, "Here am I. Send me!'"

"In the year that King Uzziah died" doesn't mean anything to us. But King Uzziah had been a good king and had been able to keep Israel's enemies at bay. When he died, there was grief, confusion and worry about the future-like when President Kennedy was assassinated. (What's going to happen now with the Communists and the Cold War?) Isaiah went to the house of God to seek comfort and direction.

In the Temple, Isaiah experiences the awesome presence of almighty God. I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. He could not fully see God, but above God were the worshipping six-winged Seraphs. They gave Isaiah guidance about how to experience God.

I. In God's presence I learn am unworthy to see God.
"With two wings they covered their faces"

In the natural, we are not worthy to see God face to face. In a sense, God the Father is God beyond our ability to "see" God-God bigger than the human mind could begin to grasp or understand. God is covered from our natural eyes by the brightness of God's awesome glory.

As we celebrate Trinity Sunday today, one of the things we need to do is restore our having an awesome sense about God. Through Jesus we have an intimacy with God-and that is good. But we must keep in the balance the overpowering sense of God's glory, holiness and total OTHERNESS-lest we lower God to being our "buddy" and no longer almighty God. Proverbs 9:10 - "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding." People today don't have much of a sense of awe about anything. We're cynical, skeptical, and know-it-all. God should be above that.

This is why the Jews called the name of God, "YHWH"-God's personal. It means "I AM." It is written without any vowels and therefore unpronounceable on purpose. It was thought too holy to be spoken. The Hebrews had a sense of awe about God that we need to restore today. In God's presence we learn we are unworthy to see God-that God is God and only God is God (we are not!)

II. In God's presence I learn I am unworthy to serve God.
"with two they covered their feet"

We can't serve God on our own. We don't know God, we don't understand God, we don't have the character to represent God. Proverbs 16:25 - "There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death." Our feet are covered with sin and weakness and unable to walk the path to which God calls us.

That is why it is good that we know God the Son. Jesus is God so we can see Him. John 1:18 - "No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known." Jesus not only shows us God, but enables us to link-up with God and be privileged to work with and serve God.

Jesus is God touching us with the forgiving and purifying blaze of God's holy love and justice. God's justice must deal with our sins-they deserve death. But God's love steps between us and death from our sins and takes that death Himself-He died for us on the cross so that we can live freed from our obligations to sin and death.

Only holy God can make me worthy to serve holy God. Jesus Christ is God visibly doing that, not just purifying what we do (covering my feet), but purifying who we are inside, overcoming my original sin, my natural bent to sinning, and the separation from God that it has caused.

It is an awesome privilege to be enabled to fellowship with and to serve God. We must never take it for granted, but always be deeply grateful, both in heart and life.

III. In God's presence God enables me to live for Him.
"with two they were flying. ³And they were calling to one another: 'Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory'"

This is the work of God the Holy Spirit. God the Holy Spirit is not God
beyond our experiencing, not God we can see, but God so that we can feel or experience God-present and supporting us. The Holy Spirit is God helping me each day and each night. He is God never leaving me along or orphaned. He is God giving me Jesus' teaching, truth, character, desires, strength and abilities.

Romans 8:1-2 - "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, ²because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death."

God the Holy Spirit is God "moving in" and becoming my Life-partner so that together I can do the will of God. He is God who I receive and God who lives in me to empower and direct my life from my conversion on. This is different from and more than just my conscience or my "up-bringing." Before I accept Jesus, I do not have access to this opportunity.

Because of the indwelling presence of God the Holy Spirit, I have wings to be God's vessel of witness and testimony to the God-less of the world. I can go wherever God calls me and complete God's work. 1 Peter 2:9 - "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light."

What will you do now?

• Experience the total OTHERNESS of God-exalted high and lifted up. As you can see from this picture explanation of the Trinity-it is only sort of understandable. The Trinity-God-is a mystery. And that is good!
• Continually yield yourself to Jesus and experience the amazing grace of God. Trying to live for God without being prepared by God to do it won't work.
• Experience the abiding empowering of God. God is in you and ready to fill you if you will yield to Jesus. It is like a glove. Without a hand in it is useless. But when the hand fills the glove, both can do great things.

Having experienced God, in gratitude for all that God is to us, let us each say to God, "Here am I, send me." Amen.