Holy, Holy, Holy

Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of armies… – Isaiah 6.3, CSB

In the same year when Judah’s King Uzziah died, after reigning over Judah for 52 years, Isaiah “saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne” (Isaiah 6.1, CSB). Uzziah’s throne was filled by his son, Jotham, and so Judah had another king in power by the time that Isaiah had this experience. And Jotham would reign for the next 16 years. And while there would have been a transfer of power as Jotham took the throne, God revealed to Isaiah that all power was still his. Between the reign of Uzziah and Jotham was a brief interregnum, a gap between rulers. However, with God, there is no such thing; there is no gap between rulers because there are no other rulers. He alone is the only Sovereign King.

As Isaiah looked upon the Lord, seated on his throne, with glory and splendor filling the temple, he saw the fiery angelic beings called seraphim flying with faces and feet covered by extra wings. And then he heard them call out to one another, “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of Armies; his glory fills the whole earth” (Isaiah 6.3, CSB). And as they shouted this to each other about the complete and supreme holiness of God, the foundations of the doorway of the temple shook, with smoke filling the temple.

As the seraphs cried out, Isaiah saw the temple shake and then it was filled with smoke (Isa. 6:4). The thresholds (cf. Amos 9:1) were large foundation stones on which the doorposts stood. The shaking (cf. Ex. 19:18) suggested the awesome presence and power of God. The smoke was probably the cloud of glory which Isaiah’s ancestors had seen in the wilderness (Ex. 13:21; 16:10) and which the priests in Solomon’s day had viewed in the dedicated temple (1 Kings 8:10–13).

Martin, John A. “Isaiah.” The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, edited by J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 1, Victor Books, 1985, p. 1045.

In the year when Judah lost their king, the King of kings reminded Isaiah that God, the only and true Sovereign, still occupied the throne of heaven. And maybe as you read this, you need to be reminded of this same truth. Is this your year of loss? Has the chaos of life caused worry and fear to overwhelm you, leaving you feeling anxious and lacking joy? Or have you found yourself overly consumed with the affairs of our world that you are tossed back and forth by waves of uncertainty and frustration? The thing that angels have over us right now is that they are not worried about who is in charge. They don’t wonder who will take the throne of power because God is the only one who occupies his throne. They aren’t consumed by worry or uncertainty because they stand before God and see his majesty and might. They are witnesses to his limitless power and beauty as they serve him in the courts of heaven. And while we worry and fret about what’s next, they shout out to one another, “Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of armies; his glory fills the whole earth.” 

And so in our struggle and pain, amid uncertainty and chaos, may we stop and look to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith (Hebrews 12.2). Let’s, for a moment, gaze upon the beauty and majesty of Jesus. Let’s stare at the only true and Sovereign King of all things. And then, with rapturous joy and passionate conviction, amid our pain and worries, scream out with the seraphim of heaven to one another, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of armies; his glory fills the whole earth.”