Wednesday within the Octave of the Feast of the Holy Trinity
Posted on June 7, 2023 by under
Scripture: Isaiah 6:1-13 (NKJV)
6:1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. 2 Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one cried to another and said:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory!”
4 And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke.
5 So I said:
“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 my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.”
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar. 7 And he touched my mouth with it, and said:
“Behold, this has touched your lips; Your iniquity is taken away, and your sin purged.”
8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying:
“Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?”
Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.”
9 And He said, “Go, and tell this people:
‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; Keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’
10 “Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; Lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and return and be healed.”
11 Then I said, “Lord, how long?”
And He answered:
“Until the cities are laid waste and without inhabitant, the houses are without a man, the land is utterly desolate,
12 “The Lord has removed men far away, and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.
13 “But yet a tenth will be in it, and will return and be for consuming, as a terebinth tree or as an oak, whose stump remains when it is cut down. So the holy seed shall be its stump.”
Devotion
The seraphim who attend Almighty God cried aloud to each other the words we recognize from our service of Holy Communion: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!” Like other passages from this week, we particularly pay attention to the threefold repetition of the word “holy,” an indication that God is Three in One.
Isaiah is terrified at this vision; he knows he has seen something that is not common for mortal men to see. But God was calling him to the office of Prophet, an especially thankless task as the southern kingdom of Israel would be conquered and taken into captivity in Babylon during Isaiah’s ministry.
Despite Israel’s continuing rebellion, and despite the earthly judgment that was coming to them, Isaiah’s call still holds hope for God’s people. “But yet a tenth will be in it … whose stump remains when it is cut down. So the holy seed shall be its stump.” This hope does not rest on our efforts or striving, but only in the promises and faithfulness of God Himself. Since Christ had not yet come, the location and lineage of Israel were still very important. God was reminding them, through Isaiah, that He had not forgotten His promises of the Seed of the Woman and Seed of Abraham, in whom all the nations of the earth would be blessed!
Prayer: Almighty and Everlasting God, Who hast given unto us, Thy servants, grace, by the confession of a true faith, to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity, and in the power of the Divine Majesty to worship the Unity: We beseech Thee, that Thou wouldest keep us steadfast in this faith, and evermore defend us from all adversities; Who livest and reignest, One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
