Holy, Holy, Holy

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory!
Isaiah 6:3b

God appears to the prophet Isaiah in a vision.  Isaiah sees the Lord on his throne, high and exalted.  Seraphim are singing God’s praises, calling out:  

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory!  

These two lines could be the motto for the entire Old Testament.  

We often think of holiness as referring to purity, sinlessness.  But that’s only part of the meaning.  The essence of the word holy is that God is separate, not just from sin, but from everything.  He is separate from all creation, different than all creation, transcendent over all creation.  

He is so far above everything and everyone that nothing can even be compared to God.  God is incomparable!  He is the incomparable God!  That’s what it means to say God is holy.  

Holiness is not just one attribute of God.  More precisely, it is the sum of all God’s attributes.  Because God is infinite, sovereign, eternal, omniscient and much more, he is different.  He is holy.  

Holiness refers to the “God-ness” of God.  All that makes him God and not human is involved in his holiness.  

So holiness refers to God being separate from us, different from us, far above us.  God’s holiness is so important because it is the sum of all God’s attributes, all that makes God, God.  

No wonder the seraphim cry out!  We cry out with them!  

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory!