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Humbled By The Holy

Have you ever taken a walk in nature among the trees or along a shore? If you have, there’s a good chance that you stood amazed. There are few experiences more beautiful and powerful than being in the presence of something much bigger and more ancient than you. There are living trees in California’s redwood forests that were alive when Jesus walked the earth. Imagine the stories those trees would tell if they could talk. And what can we say of the oceans and seas? Their waters are as ancient as the earth itself. 

But there is something even more humbling than the most majestic sight in creation. It is the holiness of the Creator. When Judahite King Uzziah died, the prophet Isaiah’s spiritual eyes were opened, and he beheld Yahweh, the God of Israel and Maker of heaven and earth. He saw God “sitting upon a throne, high and exalted; and the train of his robe filled the temple,” (Isaiah 6:1). Though Isaiah’s king had died, the prophet was now beholding the King of glory. Yahweh’s exalted seat signifies his supreme authority, and his long train represents his many victories.

The angelic seraphim, in all their beauty and wonder, responded to the presence of God with reverent worship. They covered their faces and their feet, representing the submission of the highest and lowest parts of themselves. And they cried one to another, “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory,” (v. 3). The word “holy” here signifies “otherness.” To be holy is to be wholly different or set apart from other things. We understand angels themselves to be holy beings, yet they are in awestruck wonder at the glory, beauty, and authority of the LORD of hosts. What does it tell us about God if even angels are humbled by his holiness?

It’s all too much for Isaiah. He suddenly becomes acutely aware of his own imperfection and cries out, “Woe to me! I am ruined,” (v. 5). But God never reveals himself to leave us the same. One of the burning seraphim take a burning coal from the altar and touch Isaiah’s mouth – the sinful part of him – with it. And immediately after Isaiah’s unclean lips are purged of sin and guilt, Yahweh commissions those same lips to be his mouthpiece on earth.

Our affections, attitudes, and actions become holy as we behold the One who is holy. It’s not a matter of force; it’s a matter of focus. Staring at the perfection of God will lay bare every imperfection in you. And as the light of God exposes the darkness of mind and heart, that light also expels the darkness and establishes itself in its place. 

Hundreds of years after Isaiah’s vision, John the apostle of Christ has a vision of his own. He sees four angelic living creatures crying out day and night, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!” (Revelation 4:8). I suspect that they have not stopped crying “Holy!” ever since. 

Like Isaiah, you can have a life-altering encounter with the holiness of God. Ask the Holy Spirit for this revelation, for an awareness of the utter “otherness” of God. When you see him for how holy he is, your life will never be the same.

Listen to the song wherever you find music!