Isaiah sees Seraphim in his vision. These are angelic beings whose sole purpose is to worship God. That they cover their face and their feet as they fly calls to mind a significant moment in covenant history. The Holy One called Moses to the burning bush. As Moses drew near, he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses then, like Isaiah now, hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God (Exodus 3:5-6).

We witness in this chapter a physical representation of a spiritual reality. In the throne room of the Most High God, like a huge orchestra hall with wonderful acoustics, are these majestic creatures flying about and speaking to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” (Isaiah 6:3). Back and forth it reverberates and resounds forth, filling the cosmos: Kädōsh, Kadosh, Kadosh!

This threefold repetition is unparalleled in the Hebrew Scriptures.

It is the first word and the last word about God. It is the concept that defines everything else we come to know about him. Above all else, God is intrinsically and infinitely holy. He has many attributes revealed in Scripture: he is merciful, just, loving, faithful, and so much more. None of them is repeated in a pattern like this. Yet all of them are defined by it. His is a holy mercy, holy justice, holy love. This threefold repetition serves to reinforce and intensify the truth and reality that the One Jesus taught us to call our Father is Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh.

As a result of God’s holiness, “the whole earth is full of his glory!” The Hebrew word for glory (kävōd) refers to the luminous manifestation of his holiness. It is the tangible, visible emanation, the radiance of the living God. As we have seen, the author of Hebrews calls YHWH a consuming fire, and Paul describes him as unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see (1 Timothy 6:16).

What happened when the God who is Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh descended on the earthly temple he commissioned Solomon to build according to the heavenly pattern? The house of the Lord, was filled with a cloud, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the house of God (2 Chron 5:13-14). A pattern we have seen before in Exodus 40.

And so it is with Isaiah’s encounter: And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.

There is an inherent challenge in our study for both me, as a teacher, and you, as a learning, growing disciple.

Speaking about such weighty matters risks lessening them in our finite understanding. Isaiah’s is an encounter with, not an exposition of, The Holy One. My prayer is that what we are doing here will deepen our knowledge of God, and that our knowing him will be relational, according to the new covenant promise in Jesus: For they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more. (Hebrews 8:11-12).

The point is so that we live, with him, the kind of holy life he envisions and desires for each of us. Lives of worship and ministry, characterized by the good works he has prepared for us to walk in. I a word, to be found faithful. To that end, it is imperative that we understand what his holiness entails in order to worship him appropriately, obey him completely, and serve others faithfully—in his holy name.

Back to our formative text in Isaiah 6. What does it mean to say that God is holy? What does kadosh mean? And why is it repeated three times?

When we talk of God’s holiness, we typically mean his moral perfection.

The LORD God is completely set apart from sin. Not only is he separate from sin in all its manifestations and defilements, but he hates it. He opposes it. He is good and therefore set apart from and set against all evil. That is true; the Bible clearly teaches this ethical view of holiness. It is, however, a secondary level of understanding. One derived from a primary level of meaning, one that Isaiah’s encounter focuses our attention upon.

When the Bible speaks of God’s holiness, it reveals his very essence. That God is holy is a profound revelation at the ontological level. Ontology is a philosophical term referring to being. The primary, core, foundational meaning of holiness tells us something deep about the very being of God—before any discussion of ethical or moral behavior. That essential truth gives needed clarity to the refrain: “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” (1 Pet 1:16, Lev 11:44). One flows from the other.

Our study, Encountering the Holy, will address the ontological level. Kädōsh, the Hebrew root repeated three times in Isaiah’s vision of the heavenly temple, means “other than.” It indicates something set apart from something else. How does this apply to God? Yes, he is certainly set apart from evil. But it is so much more than that. He is other than the works of his hands. He is distinct and separate from creation and all he has created.

The one true God is transcendent. Because he is completely other than, he is incomparable.

YHWH reigns; let the peoples tremble! He sits enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth quake! YHWH is great in Zion; he is exalted over all the peoples (Psalm 99:1-2).

Exalted over all speaks to the idea of transcendence. The literal meaning of exalted is high above. The God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob … and Jesus, is high and lifted up, exalted over all. What is the fitting response? Let them praise your great and awesome name! Holy [kadosh] is he! (99:3).

Do you see my foundational point? Because God is holy, other-than, he is exalted, greater-than. He is the origin of all, and everything flows from him: For us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist (1 Cor 8:6). How can we finite mortals within this created sphere possibly comprehend or circumscribe his existence and essence with our mere mortal minds? No, God—the Holy One of Israel—must reveal himself to us.

He is the Mysterium Tremendum to philosophers. To us, his people, he is God of gods and Lord of lords. He is supremely transcendent and therefore incomparable. He exists both before creation and will exist after creation. He is the maker of space and time, yet he is above both. He is sovereign; he rules and reigns over all he has made. He is so radically other and different from us that the only way to know him is by self-disclosure.

And because he has revealed himself to us in Messiah Jesus, we, with Isaiah of old, fall to our knees before his throne of grace (Hebrews 14:6) and cry, Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, Yahweh Tzeva’ot, melo khol ha’aretz kevodo.