Blessed and Holy: Understanding Them Better Through Isaiah 6 plus Revelation 4 (Part 2 of 5)

There is only one set of words that get this kind of attention in the Bible: "Holy, Holy, Holy" is Yahweh God Almighty".  It somehow is stronger and more dramatic than "Love, Love, Love" as sung by the Beatles.  In fact, the contrast between the two statements of core "greats" may signal what is core problem: "Do Christians and Jews know their biblical core?"

"Love, Love, Love" is continuously brought up as that which can be used as foundational for everything.  But this raises an interesting question in light of Isaiah 6.  Why then does love not receive the attention of being repeated 3 times like holy?

The positive argument biblically for love being the Bible's core is usually promoted on the basis of the "Greatest Commandment" passages in the Gospels and Paul's reference to the summary of the law in Romans.  It is implicit too that in Jewish tradition, it also held to the centrality of love in relation to the question of what is the greatest commandment.  So let's look more closely at these in terms of their relationships to each other.  Who is more central as a character trait?  Is it love or is it holiness?  Which one shows the most signs of being at the core?

One unique aspect of both "Holy, Holy, Holy" and "Love, Love, Love" is the close proximity of the same words to each other.  The question has been what is that close proximity and repetition intended to signal.  Here is a longer portion of Isaiah 6, to give us some wider perspective:

Isaiah 6

New King James Version (NKJV)

Isaiah Called to Be a Prophet

6 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. 2 Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.3 And one cried to another and said:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
The whole earth is full of His glory!”

4 And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke.

5 So I said:

“Woe is me, for I am undone!
Because 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.”

6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar. 7 And he touched my mouth with it, and said:

“Behold, this has touched your lips;
Your iniquity is taken away,
And your sin purged.”

8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying:

“Whom shall I send,
And who will go for Us?”

Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.”

9 And He said, “Go, and tell this people:

‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand;
Keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’

10 “Make the heart of this people dull,
And their ears heavy,
And shut their eyes;
Lest they see with their eyes,
And hear with their ears,
And understand with their heart,
And return and be healed.”

11 Then I said, “Lord, how long?”

And He answered:

“Until the cities are laid waste and without inhabitant,
The houses are without a man,
The land is utterly desolate,
12 The Lord has removed men far away,
And the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.
13 But yet a tenth will be in it,
And will return and be for consuming,
As a terebinth tree or as an oak,
Whose stump remains when it is cut down.
So the holy seed shall be its stump.”

This repetition of holy, holy, holy in tight succession is not just found in Isaiah.  It is also found in Revelation:

Revelation 4

New King James Version (NKJV)

The Throne Room of Heaven

4 After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, “Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this.”

2 Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne set in heaven, and One sat on the throne. 3 And He who sat there was[a] like a jasper and a sardius stone in appearance; andthere was a rainbow around the throne, in appearance like an emerald. 4 Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and on the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white robes; and they had crowns[b] of gold on their heads. 5 And from the throne proceeded lightnings, thunderings, and voices.[c] Seven lamps of fire were burning before the throne, which are the[d] seven Spirits of God.
6 Before the throne there was[e] a sea of glass, like crystal. And in the midst of the throne, and around the throne, were four living creatures full of eyes in front and in back.7 The first living creature was like a lion, the second living creature like a calf, the third living creature had a face like a man, and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle.8 The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying:

“Holy, holy, holy,[f]
Lord God Almighty,
Who was and is and is to come!”

9 Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying:

11 “You are worthy, O Lord,[g]
To receive glory and honor and power;
For You created all things,
And by Your will they exist[h] and were created.”

So the step we are going to take on the topic of which is more central - holy or love - is to look at the context of each.  What is critical for "Holy, Holy, Holy" is the critical words included in the nearest context to its use.

Likewise when it comes to love, the important thing is to understand the context of commandment.  Or in the case of another text like 1 Corinthians 13, what is the  meaning that among faith, hope, and love that love is the greatest.  People can forget that the context is very important.  Jesus was not asked what is the greatest in the entire word, but what is greatest among the commandments.  He also was not asked what is the greatest among the law, etc.  So we must pay attention to those distinctions.  

[What I need to do now is put in front of your eyes the outline of the passages in the text and then an outline that transfers the message of that time into our time.  Then I will need to examine the set of words that surround holy and those that surround love and those that surround commandment.

He is an example of why all that work is required.  If I were to ask who is the greatest player in baseball history or what is the greatest game in baseball history, then we all can see the importance of knowing how player and game relate to each other.  The two comparisons are not the same though they both concern the broader set of words concerning baseball.  ]


In Christ,

Jon