Above it — Or, rather, above him, as ממעל לו might be better rendered; stood the seraphim — As ministers attending upon their Lord, and waiting to receive and execute his commands. iv., p. 110; J. Keble, Sermons from Ascension Day to Trinity Sunday, p. 364; J. H. Newman, Parochial and Plain Sermons, vol. These beautiful words from Isaiah 6:3 have inspired countless songs, poems, and sermons. Glory - Of the effects and demonstrations of his glorious holiness, as well as of his power, wisdom, and goodness. God"s glory refers to the outshining of His person. my son, my son;‘ see also the repetition of the form of benediction among the Jews, Numbers 6:24-26: Jehovah make his face to shine upon thee. Rashi (the 12th century French commentator), quoting the Talmud (Hagigah 14a), says that these curses mount up to a climax, the worst of all of them being: "The child shall behave insolently against the aged." But when the doctrine is "proved" from other places, it may be presumed that the heavenly beings were apprized of it, and that the foundation of their ascriptions of praise was laid in that. We consider holiness as essential to the very being of God. In accordance with this, the Psalmist, in a most beautiful composition, calls upon all things to praise him; see Psalm 148:1-14. And to this agrees the prophecy which immediately follows, (verse 10,) about the blinding of the Jews, which opened up for the Gentiles admission into the Church of God; for they occupied that place which the Jews had forsaken and left empty. Glory. The Chaldee has rendered this, 'Holy in the highest heavens, the house of his majesty; holy upon the earth, the work of his power; holy forever, and ever, and ever, is the Lord of hosts.' Their joy in God"s presence was evident in their calling out to each other ascribing supreme holiness to Yahweh of armies. Thus, Genesis 14:10 : 'The vale of Siddim, pits, pits of of clay,' that is, was full of pits; see Nordheimer's "Heb. It is “holy and just and good.”. Though the angels of God have seen their fellow angels changed from holiness to sin in heaven, yet they have never seen any of their fellow creatures changed from sin to holiness anywhere but in this world; which is a distinction among equally guilty creatures that eminently displays the awful and glorious sovereignty of God. II. His promise, His covenant, His commandment, His law, His sabbath, His people, His prophets, His angels, His Son, His Spirit, are all respectively called holy in numerous passages. Though the rays are broken and the image is obscured, the moral glory of the Creator shines in the world; it is reflected in the verdict of the individual conscience; it is latent in the ethical sanctions upon which the permanence and welfare of society depends. 2. To earnest supplications for the sanctifying influences of the Holy Spirit. And, further, the psalmists and prophets never lost sight of the universal hope; they looked forward to the Gospel times, when the Lord of Israel should sustain the same relation to the whole world which He sustained to His chosen people in their time. . Only let him trust what he has seen, and it will become to him a guiding star till he rests in the unveiled presence of Christ. The whole expression is a most sublime ascription of praise to the living God, and should teach us in what manner to approach him. It is visible, 2. He who has inspired human nature with true impulses of justice and generosity, of sympathy and love, with admiration for the heroic and noble, with scorn for the ignoble and the mean, cannot but be possessed of a kindred character Himself. Ezra 3:11. Try it free for 30 days. The word “Holy” by which He is so constantly described means “Separate”; and God was to them the Separate One, far removed in His purity from a sinful world. Detailed studies of the words used in the book support this understanding, since some uncommon words are repeated in … As made known to the inhabitants of earth in the moral law and in the glorious Gospel. Thus, in Revelation 1:4; Revelation 3:1; Revelation 4:5, the phrase, 'the seven spirits of God,' occurs as applicable to the Holy Spirit, denoting his fullness, completeness, perfection. [Revelation 4:8] The ancient Rabbis, as R, Simeon Ben Joai, proved the trinity of persons from this text, saith Galatin, (a) appointing their posterity to repeat these words twice a day at least - viz., at the rising and setting of the sun, which also they do to this day, and when they do it they leap three times. And one cried unto another — Divided into two choirs, they sung responsively one to the other; and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts — “God’s holiness,” says Lowth, “or the superlative purity of his nature, implies in it all the rest of his attributes, especially his justice and mercy, which are dispensed by the most exact rules of rectitude. S. R. Driver, The Anglican Pulpit of To-Day, p. 456. 30:23–24). The vision of God is the call of the prophet. 1. 3. 1 In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. It is more than the particular attribute of power or wisdom; it is the entire fulness of the Godhead, visible to the eye of faith, if not to the eye of sense, in the concrete works of nature, arresting the spectator and claiming from him the tribute of praise and homage. God is in Himself the Holy One ( kaÌdoÌsh ), i.e., the separate One, beyond or above the world, true light, spotless purity, the perfect One. Isaiah's Vision of the Lord - They were calling out to each other, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies! In the Millennium God will send … rain, and crops will be plentiful (cf. They have been friendly to God, and taken pleasure in contemplating the displays of His glory. The holiness of God may be established--. Isaiah 6:3 Isaiah's Vision of the Lord. This is a great deep where faith must receive mysteries on the authority of God, and reason be satisfied with the fact that He has revealed it. There has been no increase of either good or bad angels; but there has been an immense increase of mankind for nearly six thousand years. then how base and sinful is the hatred of holiness! And here we are standing at the source from which it sprang. But when the doctrine is “proved” from other places, it may be presumed that the heavenly beings were apprized of it, and that the foundation of their ascriptions of praise was laid in that. Holiness is originally in God. But when God made man, He constituted an intimate and important connection between him and all that should proceed from him, to the end of time. It occurs twenty-nine times (including Isaiah 10:17; Isaiah 43:15; Isaiah 49:7), viz., twelve times in chapters 1-39, and seventeen times in chapters 40-66. Assuming that that doctrine is true, it cannot be doubted, think, that the seraphs laid the foundation of their praise in that doctrine. It has long puzzled interpreters that the apparent call of Isaiah is not recounted until chapter 6. Notwithstanding these considerations, the providence of God affords the most abundant testimony to His holiness. Hebr. 1. THE ANGELS OF HEAVEN HAVE ALWAYS BORN WELL ACQUAINTED WITH THIS WORLD. 4. To active efforts for the diffusion of His glory. 5. Knobel contents himself with saying that the threefold repetition of the word “holy” serves to give it the greater emphasis. The sufferings and death of Jesus Christ. The proof I allude to is this, that evil and misery invariably, in the common course of things, follow the practice of those actions, and of those actions only, which God has declared to be sinful. Their bodies, their minds, and all their external circumstances are perpetually changing. The Jewish Church is often thought to have worshipped God only in His lonely, distant majesty. Glory â Of the effects and demonstrations of his glorious holiness, as well as of his power, wisdom, and goodness. But we must visit Calvary if we would behold at once the most awful and the most engaging display of the Divine holiness. Holy, holy, holy - This hymn performed by the seraphim, divided into two choirs, the one singing responsively to the other, which Gregory Nazian., Carm. Such a believing view of the character of God will produce love to holiness and earnest desire to possess it. The people also, being warned by this vision how great and how dreadful was the majesty of God, by whom this condemnation was pronounced, had good reason for being alarmed. v., p. 363; Clergyman's Magazine, vol. 3. To an immediate application to the blood of sprinkling. As that which is displayed in the representations given us of the heavenly world. We are mysteries to ourselves. But all mankind, from their birth to their death, are perpetually subject to great, sudden and unexpected changes. I do not disagree with their opinion; but if I had to contend with heretics, I would rather choose to employ stronger proofs; for they become more obstinate, and assume an air of triumph, when inconclusive arguments are brought against them; and they might easily and readily maintain that, in this passage, as in other parts of Scripture, the number âthreeâ denotes perfection. A triple appellation of holiness, a "trisagion," indicated that Yahweh"s holiness is superlative, the greatest possible, and complete. Practically all of the liberal and radically critical writers make it the beginning of all of Isaiah's prophetic writings, identifying it with his original call to the prophetic office. Assuming that that doctrine is true, it cannot be doubted, think, that the seraphs laid the foundation of their praise in that doctrine. 2. 2. 2. For our strengthening and for our purifying, we must seek for ourselves, and strive to spread about us the sense of the awfulness of being, as those who have seen God at Bethlehem, Calvary, Olivet, and on the throne encircled by a rainbow as an emerald; the sense, vague and imperfect at the best, of the illimitable range of the courses and issues of action; the sense of the untold vastness of that life which we are content to measure by our feeble powers; the sense of the majesty of Him before whom the angels veil their faces. 3. These Old Testament indications are remarkable because given to a people prone to polytheism. As Luzzatto has well observed, “the prophet, as if with a presentiment that the authenticity of the second part of his book would be disputed, has stamped both parts with this name of God, 'the Holy One of Israel,' as if with his own seal.” The only other passages in which the word occurs, are three times in the Psalms (Psalms 71:22; Psalms 78:41; Psalms 89:19), and twice in Jeremiah (Jeremiah 50:29; Jeremiah 51:5), and that not without an allusion to Isaiah. (h) This often repetition signifies that the angels cannot satisfy themselves in praising God, to teach us that in all our lives we should give ourselves to the continual praise of God. The event which first claims our regard, as being the first in the order of time, is the condemnation of the apostate angels. He is in a different category. Everything too that has the slightest relation to Him is said to be holy, as partaking of this essential perfection of His nature: hence, His name is said to be holy. 2 Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. They go with Him, so to speak, into the place into which He is withdrawn, that He may abide among them. To gain a fuller appreciation … Continue reading "Commentary on Isaiah 60:1-6" 16.). We consider holiness as essential to the very being of God. His glory was not restricted to the throne room or to heaven, however, but it filled the whole earth. Each had u six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. ), God has been pleased to declare to mankind His views as to what constitutes a holy or an unholy action; consequently, when we say that God is holy, we mean that He is both by nature and character originally, essentially, and infinitely inclined to the approbation and performance of those actions which He has Himself thus pronounced to be holy; and, by converse, that He is originally, essentially, and infinitely removed from the approbation of any action or disposition which He has declared to be sinful. [1 Timothy 3:16], I. The Sending of Isaiah. And now … - This is an appeal which God makes to the Jews themselves, in regard to the justice and propriety of what he was about to do. my son, my son;' see also the repetition of the form of benediction among the Jews, Numbers 6:24-26 : Jehovah make his face to shine upon thee. 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