What is the Holiness of God?

[Isaiah 6:3 NKJV]

3 And one cried to another and said: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!"

Isaiah saw the throne room of heaven the year King Uzziah died.

Seraphim, angelic beings with six wings, flew above God's throne. Two wings covered their faces. Two covered their feet. Two they used to fly.

Their song was singular: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts!"

In Hebrew, repetition is emphasis. To say something twice is strong. To say it three times is the ultimate superlative, as extreme as language allows.

Scripture never says God is "love, love, love" or "power, power, power" or "wisdom, wisdom, wisdom."

Only holiness receives the triple declaration.

Holiness is not merely one attribute among many. It is the atmosphere in which all other attributes exist.

Holiness (Hebrew: qodesh) means "set apart", utterly distinct, completely other. God is not simply a better version of us. He is different in kind. Wholly other. Beyond category.

Isaiah's response wasn't worship in the comfortable sense. It was collapse.

"Woe is me! I am undone! For I am a man of unclean lips..."

The seraphim didn't argue. They didn't tell him he was fine. One flew with a burning coal from the altar and touched Isaiah's lips: "Your iniquity is taken away, and your sin purged."

The same fire that exposed also cleansed. The holiness that terrified also healed.

When did you last experience genuine awe in God's presence? Not casual familiarity. Not comfortable religiosity. But holy, trembling wonder at the One who is set apart from everything you have ever known?

May the grace of God through Christ be with you.