Holy, Holy, Holy

I love God’s names. In fact, I have a Names of God Bible where God and LORD are replaced with Elohim and Yawheh, but it doesn’t end there. It’s so much richer in this Bible. You will find names like Yawheh Yirah (the Lord Will Provide) and El Roi (the God who Watches Over Me) and Yawheh Tsebaoth (LORD Almighty, the LORD of Armies, or LORD of Hosts) and Go’el (Redeemer; Defender).

They don’t have to be Greek to me for me to love them. I mean, come on…He’s our Redeemer, Healer, Lord Almighty, Defender, Savior, and King as the song Your Great Name reminds us. Shield. Love. Protector. Strong Tower. Prince of Peace. We could go on and on…

But then, there’s Qedosh Yisrael.

The Holy One of Israel.

Holy.

It’s the name we sing in the old hymn, “Holy, Holy, Holy.” It’s one of His names, that if we’re honest, might not seem as “warm blanketish” as Prince of Peace and Love. But, yet, He is.

Holy. Holy. Holy.

One of our Sunday School teachers brought this to light in his lesson last Sunday. What does this attribute truly mean? Set apart and great were just a few definitions tossed around as the room ruminated on the word.

To further reflect on the topic, we turned to Isaiah Chapter 6. The chapter begins, “In the year King Uzziah died…” I didn’t know until recently the significance of this loss. Isaiah and the king were actually cousins, so Isaiah was more than likely often in the presence of the king (lower case k). Isaiah was familiar with the flamboyance of royalty. His father, Amos, and another King, King Amaziah, were brothers. His cousin King began his kingship at age 16. I can’t imagine myself at sixteen sitting on a throne and being expected to rule a kingdom. His reign lasted 52 years. Think of one of our presidents (I won’t mention which one…you be creative) maintaining their presidency for 52 years! Their death would be significant even if you weren’t from the same family tree.

So, Isaiah was familiar with royalty-he ran in the elite circles…and he was grieving the loss of his cousin king.

This is the foundation, the set up, for what happens next in verse 1…

“I saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne, and the hem of his robe filled the temple.”

Again, Isaiah was used to seeing his cousin on a throne, but as we read, we realize that for him, this vision of the Lord wasn’t like anything he’d experienced before. King Uzziah probably wore a kingly robe, but did its train fill the palace?

I did a quick Google search and found images of the late Queen Elizabeth’s 1953 Coronation Robe. It was made of purple-silk velvet and a little over 21 feet long from shoulder to tip of the train. Eighteen different types of gold thread were woven through it and it took a whopping 3,500 hours to complete.

That’s earthly impressive…and long…but it didn’t fill the cathedral. Yes, to the more than 8,000 guests in attendance, it represented royalty. However, compared to Isaiah’s vision of the Lord on his throne, Queen Elizabeth’s robe might appear more like one you wear after a bath (i.e. bath robe). In other words…there is no earthly comparison to Isaiah’s vision of the Lord on His throne.

Verses 2-4 read, “Seraphim were standing above him; they each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. And one called to another:

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Armies;
His glory fills the whole earth.

The foundations of the doorways shook at the sound of their voices, and the temple was filled with smoke.”

Angels, these Seraphim, who are continuously in the presence of the LORD were covering their faces. I don’t think anyone was covering their face when Queen Elizabeth gracefully walked down the aisle at her coronation. Even though fog machines are popular at concerts these days, and I’m sure Taylor had an era of smoky performances, a machine has to produce the condensation…the arena stage doesn’t just start “smokin’” you Swifties! 

It’s also significant that these angels are echoing the word of the hour “holy” more than once. Not twice. But three times. This number, Biblically, means wholeness, completeness, and perfection. The number was used in the Bible to put a “divine stamp of completion or fulfillment on the subject” (Victorville Daily Press).

Let that marinate…

And then, there’s Isaiah’s response to his vision- a man accustomed to the presence of royalty.

Isaiah says, “Woe is me for I am ruined, because I am a man of unclean lips and live among a people of unclean lips, and because my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Armies.”

I am ruined. I am unclean.

Isaiah saw himself for who he truly was, because he saw the Lord for who He truly is.

Singer/Songwriter Nicole Nordaman has a song titled, “Forget to Tremble,” that so captures our wrestling match with this attribute of God we can so familiarly sing of in the hymn, “Holy, Holy, Holy,” but yet not understand until we see the Lord as Isaiah did.

“Have I come too casually? because it seems to me there's something I've neglected. How does one approach a deity with informality and still protect the sacred?

‘Cause you came and chose to wear the skin of all of us and it's easy to forget you left a throne, and the line get's blurry all the time between daily and divine and it's hard to know the difference.

Oh let me not forget to tremble, oh let me not forget to tremble, face down on the ground do I dare to take the liberty to stare at you, oh let me not forget to tremble.”

But yet.

Although our one response should be face down on the ground in the presence of our King, He is also the one who tore the veil. From top to bottom. Also something physically impossible except when God gets ahold of the fabric.

And, because He’s torn the veil, He, the Holy, Holy, Holy, invites us into His habitat.

”Therefore, let us approach the THRONE of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in time of need. (Hebrews 4:16)

So, we wrestle between bold and trembling..the only response to this Holy, Holy, Holy God. God. The Only God, who is Holy, Holy, Holy, yet put on skin, crying the helpless cries of an infant, then dying a criminal’s death.

So, we could approach Him.

Face down…in His very throne room.