Princeton Presbyterian Church (EPC) Sermon # 1680
April 6, 2025
Isaiah 6.1-13 Click here for audio worship.
Dr. Ed Pettus
(This is an extended outline, not a verbatim transcript.)
“Holy, Holy, Holy”
In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.” And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” And he said, “Go, and say to this people: “‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’ Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.” Then I said, “How long, O Lord?” And he said: “Until cities lie waste without inhabitant, and houses without people, and the land is a desolate waste, and the Lord removes people far away, and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land. And though a tenth remain in it, it will be burned again, like a terebinth or an oak, whose stump remains when it is felled.” The holy seed is its stump.
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The Glory of God
In the passage before us this morning, Isaiah has a vision of God on the throne. It is the Lord God who sits on the throne, ruler over all, King of kings, and Lord of lords. There is none like Him or above Him. The throne is a visible manifestation of God’s glory described in terms of being high and lifted up, which also would signify God above all things, above all creation, above all the fray of worldly things. The train of His robe filled the temple. This is probably a reference to the royal garment’s length signifying authority or importance of power. In those times the longer the robe, the more regal the king or leader. God’s robe filled the temple! In this case it probably demonstrates the glory of God’s presence filling the temple to the degree that is complete and exhaustive. It does, at the very least, convey a sense of reverence and awe in the presence of God on the throne. Everything is dwarfed next to the glory of God. God’s majestic glory causes the seraphim, a term that literally means “burning ones”, to call to one another and sing a hymn expressing the glory of God because of His holiness, like no other.
We proclaim and stand in awe of God’s glory because God is holy.
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The Holiness of God
What do they sing? What do they proclaim but the holiness of God. “Holy, holy, holy - because He is holy. One of the Jewish theologians I read years ago wrote a paragraph about God’s holiness in one of his books and the first sentence was two words, “Holiness overwhelms.” (David Blumenthal, A Theology of Protest.) He used other terms about holiness: holiness compels, frightens, comforts, embraces. I would imagine that Isaiah was overwhelmed by God’s holiness as well as God’s glory. I believe that the reason the Old Testament says we cannot see God and live is because God’s holiness and glory would be too much to consume at one time (Exo 33.20). So God appears in other ways so as to not overwhelm His people. He comes in a burning bush, in a still small voice, in the person of Jesus Christ. But God does not come in the fullness of all the holy and all the glory and all the power and majesty. We could not handle it!
Holiness has traditionally been defined as moral perfection or purity. For instance, when we call the Bible the Holy Bible we are setting it apart for its perfection as the Word of God. It is held in a sacred category like no other word. God’s holiness can be understood also through terms like righteousness, goodness, trustworthiness, and wisdom. “Holy” embraces all these things and more, what I would describe as beyond description, partly because we do not have the necessary words to express the depth of God’s holiness or His glory. The Bible can only give us glimpses into the fullness of God’s glory and holiness.
I believe also that is why the songs of the Bible that sing of God have to say it over and over, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” This kind of song comes again in Revelation 4.8, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!” When we sing that hymn, we join the angels and all gathered around the throne of God, “Holy, holy, holy…”
I often emphasize, when teaching the Old Testament, that when the Old Testament authors wanted to emphasize a point or a message, they would use repetition. Normally something is repeated two times to get that point of emphasis across. I read “holy, holy, holy” as a “super” emphasis of the holiness of God that is so spectacular that it needs a triple treatment. Isaiah and Revelation are the only two times this triplet is spoken and no other attribute of God receives this kind of treatment. I think that also signifies that God is the same God through both Testaments and should not be treated or understood in any way differently between the Old and New. Our God is the God who was and is and is to come. God is holy, holy, holy from beginning to end of the Holy Bible which also means that God’s holiness expressed in love or grace or mercy or judgment or in any other attribute, is no different from Genesis to Revelation. Any preacher or teacher who tries to teach differently is either deceived or trying to deceive.
The term holy is also used to set aside certain things for sacred use or to set something apart in connection with God. Holy Sabbath sets the Sabbath day apart from the other days. Holy people sets God’s people apart from others. Holy water has more significance that tap water. But these things are only holy in the sense that God has sanctified them out of His holiness, out of His grace, and out of His desire for holy things and a holy people to share in a touch of His holiness, that is, to be related to the Holy God. That holiness comes to fulfillment in Jesus Christ who gave Himself for His people to make them holy by His sacrifice and grace and love.
I know that some people are not into the media production called The Chosen, but there is a wonderful line the writers put in the mouth of Mary Magdalene about Jesus and those who followed Him. Mary says, “I don’t think He’s waiting for us to be holy. I think He’s here because we can’t be holy without Him.” It is not a biblical line or verse, but it does speak to the understanding that God makes us holy by justification and sanctification through Christ and the Holy Spirit. We cannot be holy without the holiness of God. Isaiah is so deeply aware of this that his first response to the Holy God is to say, “Woe is me!” Isaiah becomes keenly aware of his unholiness, his sinfulness, and his status as lost. There was probably a fear of dying for having seen the Lord of glory, – holy, holy, holy.
We proclaim and rejoice in God’s holiness because God is holy!
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The Message of God
But there is something special going on here that is not just a vision of God on the throne high and lifted up, there is a message for the prophet. There is a call going out and Isaiah, who has just been cleansed of all guilt and sin, calls out, “Here I am! Send me.” The dreadful fear of coming into the presence of holiness and sensing the sinfulness of his own existence is wiped clean and Isaiah has had his own encounter with holiness through the cleansing fire of God. Isaiah is given this prophetic message which is truly and indictment against Israel.
“‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’ Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”
Prophets have come and gone and Israel refused to listen. They have ears and eyes but they refuse to hear or see the truth. With every refusal of God’s call to follow, they become more and more hard of heart. I suspect that the idolatry of Israel was the culprit in this deafness and blindness precisely because people become like that which they worship. Psalm 135.15-18,
The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of human hands.
They have mouths, but do not speak; they have eyes, but do not see;
they have ears, but do not hear, nor is there any breath in their mouths.
Those who make them become like them, so do all who trust in them.
We will, like Isaiah, do our best to tell others of God’s love and of salvation in Christ, but many will not hear or see it because they are blinded by their own idolatry. The apostle Paul years later in the book of Acts repeats Isaiah’s message which leads Paul to reach out to the Gentiles since the Jews refuse to listen.
Acts 28.25-28, And disagreeing among themselves, they departed after Paul had made one statement: “The Holy Spirit was right in saying to your fathers through Isaiah the prophet: “‘Go to this people, and say, “You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive.” For this people's heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed; lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.’ Therefore let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles; they will listen.”
The proclamation of the gospel is given because God is holy.
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The Promise of God
There is a brief reference to hope at the end of our reading for today. When all is laid waste, when all is burned in judgment for the idolatry practiced, when the deaf ears and blind eyes are crushed, a promise still remains – The holy seed is its stump. This is the promise of One to come, the Messiah, because God is holy! This is the promise of the seed, the promise given to Abraham and passed down generation to generation and despite the unfaithfulness of Israel, God is faithful because God is holy and God will keep His promise. A shoot from the stump will come. Isaiah will reiterate this promise in chapter 11.1-2, There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him…
If you ever wondered why Matthew traced Jesus’ line all the way back to Abraham, it is because of this “seed” that will never be lost, this shoot that will come from a felled tree, a stump. The Promised Messiah will come, not because of anything Israel has done or because of the Gentiles, but out of the Holy One who seeks to make for Himself a holy people. In Christ we are made holy. We are set apart. We are God’s own.
1 Peter 2.9-10
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Amen and amen and all because – holy, holy, holy, is He, the Lord our God.
