February 9, 2025
Pastor John Hering
Isaiah 6:1–8
Isaiah 6:1–8
6 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each one had six wings. With two they covered their faces. With two they covered their feet. With two they flew. 3 One called to another and said,
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Armies!
The whole earth is full of his glory!
4 The foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of the one who called, and the temple was filled with smoke.
5 Then 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!”
6 Then 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.”
8 Then I heard the Lord’s voice, saying, “Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?”
Then I said, “Here I am. Send me!”
I don’t remember ever smelling them, but I’ve heard about them several times over the years. “That smells like Grandpa’s dirty socks!” Have ever smelled your grandpa’s dirty socks? I suppose back in the day grandpa would wear his socks to milk the cows, or work in the field. Maybe he didn’t have a whole drawer full of socks, so there would be several days where he would wear those socks. Now you’re getting the picture. I remember watching TV with my friends in the dorm basement and one of my buddies took off his shoes and I heard it, “You’re feet smell like grandpa’s dirty socks!” The next time I was on a road trip with Jerome and our girl friends from Minnesota to Oklahoma and someone took off their shoes and I remember someone saying, “That smells like Grandpa’s dirty socks.” And the last time I remember hearing it was at the installation party we had at Hungsberg’s house and Lorin had brewed his special beer for the occasion and June said it, “That tastes like grandpa’s dirty socks!” Don’t worry, Lorin, she’s come a long way since then!
We probably don’t have so many embarrassing experiences with dirty smelling feet like they did years ago. We have closet shelves full of shoes, and drawers full of socks, and we rarely go barefoot anymore. But, back in the day it was different. People walked without shoes, or sandals at best, on dusty roads, or muddy fields and their feet got filthy. Remember what Jesus did in the upper room?
“4 He got up from the supper and laid aside his outer garment. He took a towel and tied it around his waist. 5 Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him”
John 13:4
Jesus was teaching them that there was a whole lot more to life than clean feet. They needed clean hearts and lives. And Jesus was about to do that as he explained,
“6 He came to Simon Peter, who asked him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” 7 Jesus answered him, “You do not understand what I am doing now, but later you will understand.” 8 Peter told him, “You will never, ever, wash my feet!” Jesus replied, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with me.” 9 “Lord, not just my feet,” Simon Peter replied, “but also my hands and my head!” 10 Jesus told him, “A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet, but his body is completely clean. And you are clean, but not all of you”
John 13
Jesus was about to die on the cross to wash away all their sins and they would all “be clean.”
So, back to the feet. You heard Isaiah record,
“2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each one had six wings. With two they covered their faces. With two they covered their feet. With two they flew.”
I think now you better understand why they were covering their feet. The angels didn’t have sin to cover up, but covering their feet became a symbol of the dirt of sin that needs covering because God won’t stand for any sin in his presence. And this Isaiah fully understood!
Isaiah had a bigger problem than feet that smelled like grandpa’s dirty socks! Listen,
“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!”
Isaiah knew his own filth of sin. Do you? I know we said at the beginning of our service, “God, our heavenly Father, has forgiven all your sins.” But that will mean nothing and be as boring as watching paint dry unless we take a good look at our filthy feet that led us astray, our hands that wrote unkind texts, or our eyes that lusted, our throats that drank too much, our ears that accepted gossip, our hearts that sinfully worried and all made us dirty. When we don’t have a keen sense of how dirty we are in God’s sight, then we won’t appreciate what the Lord did to save us from our sin. We’ll get bored with church stuff, stop reading our Bibles, and fall into the pit of thinking we’re all okay on our own with just an occasional sprinkle of God-talk. Today, let’s take a deep smell of our dirty feet to remember how dirty we are!
And what did God do after Isaiah was cut to the core over his sin? God didn’t force Isaiah to try and remove that stench on his own or try to cover up his sin. God went to work for him.
“6 Then 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.”
We know what this miracle is! Jesus Christ came to suffer the wrath of God and endure the punishment of hell as he hung on the cross. Using Isaiah’s comparison, Jesus went through the refiner’s fire to purify Isaiah’s lips with a coal, or King David whose guilt made him feel worthless, but was swept away and made worthy by Nathan’s proclamation, “The Lord has taken away your sin,” or like Peter who denied the Lord three times, and saw his Lord’s forgiving glance. This is what Jesus has done for you! Today
Believe That God Turns Worthless Into Worthy!
Turning Our Mortality Into Immortality
When have you experienced the vastness of the universe? Maybe it was on a boat in Alaska? Or maybe on the beach in Florida? Or maybe just watching a sunset and thinking about how vast our universe is. Then hold a newborn in your arms. Those times might give you a little sense of our mortality and the greatness of God. Isaiah was given a vision to help us dig deeper into this sense.
“I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each one had six wings. With two they covered their faces.”
In covering their faces even the angels understood how unworthy they were to be in God’s presence. You heard Isaiah’s gut reaction: “I am doomed! I am ruined!” Isaiah was keenly aware of his mortality before the Holy Lord God. He got a glimpse of what it was like to be in his presence, not some gurgling volcano, not some cross-legged statue sitting at the end of an incense filled hallway, or some AI 3D VR Headset created creature. This is the unchanging, omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, Lord of Armies that controls everything to infinity and beyond! No wonder Isaiah keenly felt his mortality! I know you’ve felt like this, too.
And what did God do after Isaiah was cut to the core over his feeling of mortality? We see his answer when we listen to the words of the angles,
“3 One called to another and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Armies! The whole earth is full of his glory!”
In a world filled with worthless mortals, God connects his glory to us! Isaiah made this connection with his response, “my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Armies!” God connected his glory to a mortal human and revealed immortality to him!
What a miracle! The Lord of Lords did not ignore Isaiah or swish him like a bug. Instead he turns Isaiah and us from mortal into immortality by his care for us! Listen to Jesus talk about this miracle.
“Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air. They do not sow or reap or gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?”
Matthew 6:25-26
We are shocked! Like Angels covering their faces or Moses at the burning bush, or the disciples on the Mount of Transfiguration because the Lord comes to least qualified mortal humans like us and brings us his gracious gift of forgiveness and eternal life in heaven! Yes, we sit here today with “dirty feet” and through faith in Jesus Christ Believe That God Turns Worthless Into Worthy Turning Our Mortality Into Immortality! But, there’s more! God also goes to work by
Turning Fear Into Freedom
We have talked about the two wings that covered the angel’s feet, and the two that covered their faces, but there are two more wings: “With two they flew.” Sadly, we all know what happens to an airplane that has trouble with its wings. But, these angels had no trouble flying because they had a job they love to do. They are sent by God to deliver an important message, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Armies! The whole earth is full of his glory!” They have no Fear or hesitation to be God’s messengers because they were created to serve the Lord. In fact, the word, “angel” means, “messenger.” When angels appeared to people on earth they would appear and often the first words out of their mouths were, “Do not be afraid” (Luke 1:13) Zechariah, Joseph, Mary, Shepherds…. “For behold, I bring you good news of great joy, which will be for all people” (Luke 2:10).
So, would you be afraid if you saw an angel today? We can’t deny our sins, we can’t deny our “dirty feet that smell like grandpa’s dirty socks.” And yet God is gracious to us and comes to turn our Fear Into Freedom. Since you stand before God as his dearly baptized children and heirs of eternal life, you have no fear in Christ! Then why is it that we often have fears about being witnesses for Jesus Christ to others? Or if not fears then excuses? Too often we sound like Moses, “I don’t know what to say.” Or like Jeremiah, “I’m too young.” Or like Jonah, “I don’t like the people you want me to tell.”
And what did God do after Isaiah was fearful? He didn’t reject him, but he called him to be his messenger, “8 Then I heard the Lord’s voice, saying, “Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?” There was Isaiah surrounded by angelic messengers and feeling as insignificant and fearful as one could imagine. But, the Lord pardons his sin and that pardon for his sin was like rocket fuel! “Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am. Send me!” What a miracle! God turned his Fear Into Freedom to proclaim the wonderful works of God to others!
And what a miracle God has performed in this room to empower us sinners who smell like grandpa’s dirty socks to be God’s spokespeople to our community! Just think of our name: Divine Peace Evangelical Lutheran Church. We know our salvation was God divine work by sending Jesus to suffer and dies to wash away all our sins. Our salvation in Jesus Christ gives us Peace! The peace is “evangelical” that is the good news of Jesus is proclaimed to every person. Yes, we are Lutheran because what we share with our community is the truth of God’s Word. And we will never forget that we are a church—people called out of darkness into his marvelous light. God grant all of us the burning desire to be like a soldier who is willing to defend their country, or a police officer who is willing to put his life on the line to protect us, or like a mother and father who would run into a busy street to rescue a toddler that has wondered into heavy traffic. May the Lord fill all of us with the same desire to proclaim Jesus so others can Believe That God Turns Worthless Into Worthy, turning Mortality into Immortality, and turning Fear into Freedom. Amen!
