Introduction: This evening as I arrived back at my work location after a brief blessing of time with family, church, friends, and fellow soldiers, I was eager to reread one of the most profound books of Scripture–Isaiah. This evening I was struck once again by Isaiah 57:15:

15 For thus says the One who is high and lifted up,
who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy:
“I dwell in the high and holy place,
and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit,
to revive the spirit of the lowly,
and to revive the heart of the contrite (Isaiah 57:15, ESV).

Doctrine: God is transcendent; he is ‘above’ us creatures and all of creation in every sense. But he is simultaneously ‘amidst’ us via his immanence. He came to us via the incarnation. He is both exalted and also knowable. He is terrifyingly beautiful and powerful, but at the same time, he calls us sinners to himself.

He is, in sum, both above and amidst. And when we come to understand that, and be gripped by that, it satisfies hungers we have to worship the majestic and be known by the One who knows us better than we know ourselves, and yet still loves us. Christ came to the world for sinners:

15 The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. 16 But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life (1 Timothy 1:15-16, ESV).

Encouragement: God is both above and amidst, and he calls us sinners to respond in repentance and faith, and he bids us welcome.