“And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.”
My Notes
What Does Isaiah 6:3 Mean?
The seraphim cry to one another in antiphonal worship: Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts. The triple repetition is the only time in Scripture an attribute of God is stated three times. Not love, love, love. Not power, power, power. Holy, holy, holy. Holiness is the attribute that defines all others.
The word holy (qadosh) means set apart, other, fundamentally distinct from everything created. The tripling is the Hebrew superlative — the highest possible degree. God is not just holy. He is holy to the ultimate degree.
"The whole earth is full of his glory" — the holiness that is concentrated in heaven overflows to fill the earth. The glory is not contained. It spills out of the throne room and saturates everything. The earth is full of it — you are standing in it right now.
Isaiah heard this and was devastated (v.5). The appropriate response to encountering God's holiness is not casual admiration. It is undoing. The seraphim cover their faces. Isaiah cries woe. The doorposts shake. The holiness is not gentle. It is glorious and terrifying.
Reflection Questions
- 1.Why is holiness the only attribute of God repeated three times — what makes it the defining quality?
- 2.How does 'the whole earth is full of his glory' change your awareness of where you are right now?
- 3.What does the seraphim covering their faces teach about appropriate reverence before God?
- 4.Where has your approach to God become too casual for the holiness this verse describes?
Devotional
Holy, holy, holy. Three times. The only attribute God receives in triplicate. Everything else God is — loving, powerful, just, merciful — flows from this. Holiness is the foundation. The root system. The thing that makes everything else about God trustworthy.
The whole earth is full of his glory. Right now. The earth you are standing on. The sky above you. The room you are sitting in. Full of his glory. Not partially. Full. You are swimming in it — even when you cannot see it.
The seraphim — the most exalted angelic beings, the ones who stand closest to God's throne — cover their faces. They cannot look directly at the holiness. The beings who have been in God's presence since before time still shield their eyes.
If the seraphim cover their faces, what should you do? The casual approach to God that modern culture encourages is foreign to everything this verse describes. The God who is holy, holy, holy is not your buddy. He is the one whose holiness makes the doorposts tremble.
And yet — this same holy God invites you near. The holiness that devastated Isaiah also cleansed him (v.6-7). The fire that shook the temple purified the prophet's lips. The holiness is not meant to keep you away. It is meant to transform you as you approach.
Holy, holy, holy. Let those words do their work on you.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
And one cried unto another,.... This denotes the publicness of their ministry, and their harmony and unity in it; they…
And one cried to another - Hebrew ‘This cried to this.’ That is, they cried to each other in alternate responses. One…
The vision which Isaiah saw when he was, as is said of Samuel, established to be a prophet of the Lord (Sa1 3:20), was…
And one cried unto another (frequentat. impf.). Cf. Rev 4:8.
Holy, holy, holy is Jehovah of Hosts:
That which fills…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture