The God who is three times Holy!

Isaiah, the Old Testament prophet, had a vision wherein he saw God. He described the Creator of all as being in the presence of many angels, each of which had six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet and with two they were flying. As the angels were flying and covering their faces and feet, they were crying out, "Holy. Holy. Holy."

I recently heard a preacher from Ecuador preach a message on this passage. His perspective, whether a result of the differing languages or otherwise, prompted some deep thought on my part and some tremendous awe of God as well. I had always thought that the angels were repeating themselves because their sole purpose in existence was to announce the holiness of God to any who would come near. Or, perhaps they were just redundant for some less noble reason. Perhaps it was the only word in their vocabulary.

It never occurred to me that the repetition of this word had a meaning in and of itself. When this Ecuadorian preacher was being translated, he interpreted this as, "The God who is three times holy!" He emphasized (as the angels were apprently doing) that God is holy but He is also much more than that. He is holier than holy. In fact, He is holier than holier than holy. He is THREE TIMES HOLY!

A friend of mine used to like to describe God's omnipresent quality by saying that, "He's more here than we are." He was saying that God is not limited to a single space like we are; rather, that He is everywhere at once and at once He is everywhere. He doesn't fit into a space, He defines space. He created the space that we are in and He is more here than we are.

I think that this is the point of what Isaiah was hearing from the angels. God isn't just holy. He is the very essence of all that is holy. He is more holy than holiness. He is more pure than purity. He is more righteous than righteousness. He is not defined by these terms; rather, these terms are defined by Him.

The conclusion of this is simple. We cannot and dare not define God in terms of our own existence or understanding. We MUST define our existence, our wisdom, our understanding, our goodness or righteousness, our holiness and purity by Him. If we do not understand Him as He really is, then we cannot understand ourselves as we really are. Hence Solomon's wisdom,

Proverbs 1:7

The fear of the LORD is the beginning ^F4 of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction. (taken from Crosswalk.com on October 18, 2007)

Let's stop fooling ourselves and begin to seek his face; learn of Him and from Him. It is only as we begin to gain real knowledge of the God who is really there and who really cares that we can begin to see ourselves for who we really are.

I may have a few days when I can legitimately claim some goodness, some holiness; however, I can never attain to the heights of holiness which the Lord God inhabits, even though He has instructed me to be like Him. May God grant us courage to face our own shortcomings, true knowledge of Him and wisdom to behave as he wants us to behave. Amen.