[Machine transcription]
The cherubim called to one another and said, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory. You may be seated.”
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
Dear saints, we have inherited from the Church that’s gone before us not only the prophets and apostles but also our fathers in the faith a very careful and precise confession of the Holy Trinity. Father, Son and Holy Spirit. One God, one substance, one essence in three persons. And this Athanasian Creed, this beautiful Athanasian Creed is given to us to protect that clarity. Now there’s a reason why. I mean the practical reason is there’s all sorts of heresies that have always from the very beginning tried to creep into the church. The heresies that want to say that the Son of God was created, not the Creator. Or that the Son of God was finite and not infinite. Or that Jesus was god sort of part of God and the Father was part of God and the Holy Spirit was part of God or that God first showed up as Father then a spirit and then a son and so forth and so on. Or even in regards to our Lord Jesus that he had a human body but the divine soul and things like this.
And so you can see it as we confess the 44 verses of the Athanasian Creed, I wonder if you have the sense, I do, is that each confession, each line, you think to yourself, well, there’s a story here. There’s a lot of fighting here. There’s some confession and some figuring out what was going on behind each one of these very precise articulations of this doctrine. And we want to maintain it. We want to treasure it. In fact, our confession, our church, our Lutheran church is one of the few that is holding this forth and confessing this truth, that there is God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as co-equal, co-eternal. That there’s one infinite, there’s one uncreated, there’s one Almighty, there’s one God, one Lord, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. That the Father is distinguished from the Son and Spirit because He begets the Son, and because the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son.
And this beautiful articulation of the truths of our faith are held here and protected by us, but they are not given to us just so that we would study them and then confess them. I mean, we should do these things. We should study and confess and consider them. But mostly they’re given to us so that we might worship. That, after all, is what we see the angels doing who are before the glory of God in heaven and behold the face of their Father and they sing out: “Holy! Holy! Holy!”
Isaiah saw that marvelous vision. And remember what happened to him? He was in the temple one day it was the year King Uzziah died. Isaiah was a priest and he was there in the holy place where there was the showbread and the lamps and then in front was the incense altar and he was there tending to the incense when all of a sudden that curtain that separates the holy place from the most holy place, when that curtain just disappeared in a vision. And he could see the glory of God. And the train of his robe was filling the temple and the four living creatures were flying around the altar crying out their three holy’s. And Isaiah sees it.
And what does he do? He falls to the ground. He covers his face. He says, “Woe is me.” It’s a double woe. I’m a man of unclean lips. And I live in the midst of a people of unclean lips. He’s totally undone. He knows that he is unworthy to stand in the presence of God. Isaiah, I’ll tell you what Isaiah doesn’t do. Isaiah does not start singing with the angels. He covers his mouth. He covers his face. He covers his eyes. He hides because he knows the glory of God, the wonder of God, the marvel of God is dangerous to him a sinner. But what happens? It’s tremendous.
We have it in the window. The angel comes and gets the coal from the altar, probably the incense altar, maybe the sacrifice altar, and he takes the coal and he touches it to Isaiah’s lips. And he says, “Your sin is atoned for. Your sin is put away. Your sin is forgiven.” And now the Lord calls Isaiah to preach His name, to take His holy name upon those sinful, forgiven, washed, made holy lips and to carry it out into all the world. So that Isaiah is the one who teaches us this angelic song, holy, holy, holy. Lord God of Sabaoth, heaven and earth are full of your glory.
The same thing happens in the Revelation because John also, remember he was an exile on the island of Patmos, and he also saw that heavenly vision, and there the living creatures are flying around the throne, and they’re singing the same song, and John falls down on his face, and the angel lifts him up again, and says that the presence and the glory of God is not to destroy you, it’s not to abate. Obliterate you. It’s not to condemn you and cast you off, but in fact it is to lift you up and to give you life so that you can stand before him.
Now this is the impulse, the import of the gospel lesson from John chapter 3. It’s an amazing text. Only John gives it to us, this early ministry of Jesus when he’s down in Jerusalem and he’s visited one night by Nicodemus who’s a Pharisee, a leader of the Jews. He’s probably part of the Sanhedrin. That’s the equivalent I’m trying to figure out. I think the Sanhedrin would be some sort of combination of like the United States Senate and the Supreme Court all in one. I mean, it’s a big deal. You have to think that when Nicodemus knocked on the door and John runs to open it to see who it is, and Nicodemus is standing there, John sort of backs away. Whoa! What are you doing here?
But Jesus gives him an audience, and it’s beautiful. Nicodemus tries to start by buttering him up. We know that no one can do the signs you do unless he’s from God. And Jesus says, look, you can’t see the kingdom unless you’ve been born again. You can’t see it, and you haven’t been born again. You need to be born again. And Nicodemus says, What are you talking about? Born again? How can you go back into your mother’s womb and be born a second time? And Jesus says, I’m talking about being born from above, being born of water and the spirit. I’m talking about baptism. Remember, I mean, here’s a little background. Remember, Jesus was saying how you Pharisees are trying to stop John from baptizing. That’s what I’m talking about. That’s what it means to be born again and to be adopted as a child of God and to be ready for his coming.
And Nicodemus just sort of throws up his hands and says, What are you talking about? And Jesus responds, “How can you a teacher of Israel? I’m trying to teach you earthly things and you don’t understand. How are you going to understand when I tell you heavenly things?” All right, look, I’ll give you a picture.” And he gives him a beautiful picture. I kind of want to preach the whole sermon on it but I guess we’re halfway started and we’ve got to say some other things too. So just real quick, he gives them the picture from numbers. You remember what he says? He says, “Just like Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the son of man be lifted up.”
Do you get that, Nicodemus? Remember how all the people were being destroyed by the serpents and God gave these specific strange instructions to Moses to make a bronze serpent and lift it up, and all you had to do to be saved was look at that bronze serpent, and then the Lord would rescue you. That’s what I’m doing here, he says, so that everyone who looks at me won’t be condemned. All the serpent bit dying remnants of humanity still staggering out of the garden of Eden, tilting over towards their death, all they need do is look to me, lifted up from the earth, lifted up on the cross; and instead of dying, they will live and live forever.
And let me make it plain for you: Nicodemus, Jesus says it like this: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have a life that will never ever end.” For the Son of man did not come into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might have life through him. Now, we know, by the way, I mean, we don’t know if Nicodemus believed right away, but we know he eventually did. By the time Jesus’ tomb was being purchased and he was being laid in there after his death, that Joseph of Arimathea had Nicodemus helping him do the burial work so that those words spoken to Nicodemus did their work by the Holy Spirit, and Nicodemus did believe it would be one of those things to meet Nicodemus in the resurrection and talk to him about this night. Remember when Jesus told you the most famous words ever spoken? Nicodemus, wow! That’ll be great.
But those words are not just for Nicodemus. They’re also for us. And here’s the point. The God who is eternal wants to be known by us according to his birth in Bethlehem and his death in Jerusalem. The God who is Almighty wants to be known by you as the one who was nailed to the cross and pierced with a spear and breathed out his last. The God who created all things wants to be known by you as the One Who took on humanity, your flesh and your blood, so that He might be Your brother and Your friend and Your Saviour the Lamb Who takes away the sin of the world. The One Who dwells in unapproachable light wants to be known by you as the One Who says: ‘Come to Me, all You who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.’
The one whose holy, holy holiness threatens to consume us wants to be known by us as the One who touches our lips and says: Your sins are forgiven. They’re put away. The One Who is uncreated wants to be known by us as the God Who Is Love. And look, not just love in some abstract way. He wants to be known as the God Who loves you. Now, it’s not obvious to me as we think about the mystery of the Holy Trinity, the wonder and awe and magnificence and glory of God, it’s not at all obvious to me that that God would want anything to do with me or with you for that matter. But with us, let’s say that, that makes it fair. But he does. He loves you.
The Father gives himself to you with all of creation and sustains and keeps you and protects you. The Son has come into your humanity to be your substitute and saviour, and forgive all your sins. The Spirit who hovered over the waters, who created the universe, He comes to dwell with you to bring the word of God and the mercy of God and the kindness of God and the gentleness of God to you. So this doctrine of the Holy Trinity is not simply for us to confess, not simply for us to study, not simply for us to wonder about, but most especially for us to worship.
We worship the Trinity in unity, and the unity in Trinity. We worship the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit; we worship and praise God together with the angels, singing that “Holy! Holy! Holy!” Because He has come to us, and redeemed us, and claimed us, and called us His own.
It isn’t an accident that the clearest articulation of the doctrine of the Trinity in all of the Holy Scriptures is connected with the gift of Baptism. First, at Jesus’ baptism. There’s the Son in the water and the Spirit like the dove and the Father speaking from heaven. This is my beloved son with whom I’m well pleased. And then at the end of the gospel of Matthew when Jesus says: All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me therefore go and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I’ve commanded look, I’m with you always to the end of the earth.
In other words this is your God dear saints this is your God the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit for you now and forever. To him be all glory and praise amen.
And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.” Thank you.