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And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!” (Revelation 4:8, ESV)
When the Apostle John was invited into heaven, what were the first words that he heard?
Holy, holy, holy!
The prophet Isaiah also peered into heaven, and what were the first words that he heard?
In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” (Isaiah 6:1-3, emphasis added.)
The first words that both Isaiah and John heard were, “Holy, holy, holy!”
In first-century culture, repeating a word twice meant emphasis. When Jesus answered Nicodemus, He said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3).
We don’t double down on individual words today. In a conversation, we might begin a sentence by saying, “Seriously,” but we don’t say, “Seriously, seriously.” However, the Gospel of John, which emphasizes the teachings of Jesus, quotes Him as saying, “Truly, truly” 25 times.
In the first century, repeating a word increases the “seriously seriously” level, but saying a word three times hits it out of the Jerusalem Temple area. And both Isaiah and John, when they first entered heaven, heard the phrase, “Holy, Holy, Holy!” They didn’t hear, “Love, Love, Love!” or “Truth, Truth, Truth!” or “Judgment, Judgment, Judgment!” or “Welcome, Welcome, Welcome — just as you are.”
Both the Hebrew and Greek words for holiness mean “set apart.” Only God is God; only God is all-knowing, ever-present, all-powerful, and eternal; only God created and sustains the universe. He is “set apart.” He is unique, different, with unexpected transcendence. We must cry out when we see Him…
Holy! Holy! Holy!
And because of His holiness, one commentator wrote…
You cannot rush into the presence of God. He doesn’t permit it. You come to the Father through Christ. This is the only way He can be approached. You can never come into the presence of the Father because of who you are. You come into His presence because you are in Christ. The Lord Jesus made that very clear when He said, “No man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” If you are His child, you can come with boldness to the throne of grace, but you cannot come to Him on any other basis.
Let’s remember those words of Jesus again, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
Come quickly, Lord Jesus. Let’s shout, “Holy, Holy, Holy!”