And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts
The holiness of God
We consider holiness as essential to the very being of God.
Holiness is originally in God. If angels are holy, God made them so. If believers are holy, God made them so. But the holiness of God is not derived; it was eternally, originally and unchangeably in Him. Let us now produce some evidence of this truth.
1. The holiness of God appears from the positive, uniform, repeated testimony of the sacred writers.
2. We refer to the original state of all rational and immortal beings. When formed by God they were holy.
3. Consider the nature of the law, originally given to man in paradise, and, long after, renewed at Sinai. It is “holy and just and good.”
4. Let us take a view of the holiness of God as awfully displayed in His anger against sin and sinners.
5. But we must visit Calvary if we would behold at once the most awful and the most engaging display of the Divine holiness. It was because He was infinitely displeased with sin that the Lord was pleased to bruise His Son and put Him to grief.
6. The holiness of God appears in the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of believers, and in all the means appointed for that purpose.
Practical inferences--
1. Is God so holy? then how base and sinful is the hatred of holiness!
2. Is God so holy? then what cause is there for humiliation!
3. Is God holy? then let us also be holy. (G. Burder.)
The holiness of God
I. THE SUBLIME REPRESENTATION WHICH IS MADE OF THE HOLINESS OF JEHOVAH. Holiness is the glory of God’s nature, and that which entitles Him to the supreme love, confidence, and worship of all His creatures. We may view the holiness of God more particularly--
1. As that which He has Himself declared and made known in the sacred Scriptures.
2. As that which is displayed in the representations given us of the heavenly world.
3. As exhibited in the punishment of rebellious angels and lost spirits in hell.
4. As made known to the inhabitants of earth in the moral law and in the glorious Gospel.
II. THE EFFECTS WHICH THE CONTEMPLATION OF IT SHOULD PRODUCE ON US. It has been revealed for our benefit, and in proportion to its importance and glory should be its influence on our minds and characters. With what feelings of adoring reverence and humility was it beheld by the holy inhabitants of heaven! What was the effect which the vision of it had on the prophet Isaiah? “Then said I, Woe is me!” etc. A similar impression was made on the mind of Job. (Job_42:5-6) If such impressions were made on the minds of these eminent saints by the discovery of Jehovah’s holiness, what effects should it produce on us? It should lead--
1. To the deepest humiliation and contrition of soul.
2. To an immediate application to the blood of sprinkling.
3. Such a believing view of the character of God will produce love to holiness and earnest desire to possess it. The contemplation of the holiness of God should lead--
4. To earnest supplications for the sanctifying influences of the Holy Spirit.
5. To active efforts for the diffusion of His glory. (Essex Congregational Remembrancer.)
The holiness of God
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. The holiness of God may be established--
I. BY APPEARING TO THE CONDUCT OF GOD AS IT MAY BE FREQUENTLY OBSERVED IN PROVIDENCE. It is of essential importance to remark that, although Divine providence affords many proofs of the holiness of God, yet there are many reasons why we may presume that the whole displeasure of God against sin is not thus exhibited. The present life, amid other purposes, serves that of a state of trial; it is impossible, therefore, that in it a complete exhibition of His holiness can be made. Notwithstanding these considerations, the providence of God affords the most abundant testimony to His holiness. 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.
II. BY APPEALING TO THE CONDUCT OF GOD AS IT IS RECORDED IN THE SCRIPTURES.
1. The event which first claims our regard, as being the first in the order of time, is the condemnation of the apostate angels.
2. The fate of our first parents.
3. The destruction of the world by an universal deluge.
4. The sufferings and death of Jesus Christ.
III. BY APPEALING TO THE EXPRESS TESTIMONY OF REVELATION. 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. He is said to sit upon the throne of His holiness, to dwell in the most holy place. The hills on which His people meet to worship Him are said to be holy mountains. 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. (J. F.Denham, M. A.)
God’s holiness and God’s glory
Two of the Divine attributes form the theme of the seraphs’ hymn.
I. GOD’S HOLINESS AS INHERENT IN HIMSELF. Holiness denotes, fundamentally, a state of freedom from all imperfection, specially from all moral imperfection; a state, moreover, realised with such intensity as to imply not only the absence of evil, but antagonism to it. It is more than goodness, more than purity, more than righteousness; it embraces all these in their ideal completeness, but it expresses besides the recoil from everything which is their opposite.
II. AS IT IS MANIFESTED IN THE MATERIAL WORLD. “The fulness of the whole earth is His glory.” By “glory” we mean the outward show or state attendant upon dignity or rank. The glory, then, of which Isaiah speaks, is the outward expression of the Divine nature. Pictured as visible splendour, it may impress the eye of flesh; but any other worthy manifestation of the being of God may be not less truly termed His glory. 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.
1. Wherein does the world so reflect the being of God as to be the expression of His glory? It is visible
(1) in the fact, as such, of creation;
(2) in the means by which an abode has been prepared for the reception of life and intelligence, and the majestic scale upon which the process has been conceived and carried out;
(3) in the rare and subtle mechanism which sustains the world in every part, and the intrinsic adequacy and beauty of the results.
2. Can we trace any evidence of the moral character of God, or is the earth full merely of the tokens of His power? It is difficult to think that we are mistaken in tracing it in the constitution of human nature, in the affections and aspirations which it displays, in the conditions upon which social life is observed to depend. 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. 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. (Prof. S. R. Driver, D. D.)
The doctrine of the Trinity
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. The objection that it is contrary to reason is weak, for nothing can be contrary to reason except what lies within its boundary. This lies in a region far above it. We can only know so much of God as He reveals. He would not be God if His nature were not mysterious to us. We are mysteries to ourselves. God’s works are often mysteries to us. Can we expect to comprehend Himself!
I. THE DOCTRINE IS INTERWOVEN WITH THE WHOLE TEXTURE OF REVELATION. Indications of plurality in unity meet us in the first chapter of the Bible (Gen_1:26-27), “Our image.” “His image.” This becomes more definite as we advance (Num_6:22-27). Threefold mention of Jehovah, yet “My name” (see Isa_61:1). These Old Testament indications are remarkable because given to a people prone to polytheism. They are inexplicable except on the ground that a mysterious trinity existed in the unity of the Godhead, This mystery was breaking out amidst the shadows of the darker dispensation. A seed of truth only needing fuller light to develop it. It came out most distinctly in the New Testament. Besides many passages which assert the Deity of Christ and of the Spirit take three cardinal passages (Mat_3:16-17; Mat_28:19; 2Co_13:14). At Christ’s entrance on His ministry this truth shines out not so much as dogma but as fact. The very porch of the church, facing the world, has “the name” (not names) of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost inscribed on it. Dedication to the Trinity in baptism is dedication to the one God. The apostolic benediction invokes a Divine blessing from each Person; indicates their equality and their unity.
II. THE SCRIPTURES PRESENT THIS MYSTERY IN A PRACTICAL ASPECT. It is interwoven throughout with the living realities of faith; presented to the heart for affectionate embrace, rather than to the head for intellectual apprehension. Explanations of the infinite would be lost on finite minds: so the Bible reveals the Persons of the Trinity, not in their incomprehensible relations to each other, but in their appreciable relation to us. We find the doctrine underlying every truth, every hope of the Gospel. Take as illustrations Rom_8:9; Rom_8:16-17; 2Co_3:3; Ga Eph_2:18; 2Th_2:13-14; Tit_3:4-6; Heb_9:14; Rev_22:1. Thus each person cooperates in our redemption: the Father planning, the Son performing, the Spirit applying the work of redeeming love. If angels bowed and adored, with what reverence and gratitude should we exclaim, “Glory be to the Father,” etc.
1. How much they reject, who reject the Gospel! A whole Trinity of grace, and love, and power!
2. How much they secure, who embrace the Gospel! What a Father, Saviour, Sanctifier!
3. Not a mere orthodox profession will bless us, but the sanctifying power of this creed in our hearts. Christ found and received by faith, through the Spirit, as the Son of God and our Redeemer, will unlock that mystery to the heart, which is beyond our poor reason to comprehend. (W. P.Walsh, D. D.)
The Holy Trinity
The doctrine of the Trinity teaches us to think of God not in singularity or individuality, but as a harmony of Persons or manifestations. This is best seen when we look at the Divine working in nature, and especially in that human life which is the crown of nature and which He has united with His own. The Jewish Church is often thought to have worshipped God only in His lonely, distant majesty. 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. But there is another side to this teaching. Jehovah was separate or withdrawn from the world--not as a material world, but as a sinful world. Where sin is not, there He abides; and His people are a kingdom of saints--a holy nation. They go with Him, so to speak, into the place into which He is withdrawn, that He may abide among them. 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. Thus it is that Isaiah in our text represents the seraphim as saying of the Holy or Separate God that the whole earth is full of His glory. What is the glory of God? It is the glory of Love. We are not to think of God as One resting in the self-complacency of a solitary majesty, but as Love, which goes forth continually to its object. When we read the highest expression of the conscious union of our Lord with His Father, this doctrine of love again and again appears. “The glory which Thou gavest Me I have given them; that they may be one, even as We are one: I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one.” And surely it is a worthy conception of the Divine nature which the doctrine of the Trinity presents to us, when it makes us think of the Godhead not as chiefly glorious because of certain abstract qualities which a lonely individual nature might possess within itself, but rather as a fellowship which was self-involved and self-embraced in mystic, eternal love. This Divine love, I repeat, as being the very nature of God, was felt by the prophets of Israel to be dwelling in them, immanent in their nation. “The Lord his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them.” Observe what this teaching or this consciousness implies. It is that the Divine nature of love is the soul of man’s social life, that this is the binding power which draws men together. By unity God realises Himself among men, or draws them into Himself, that He may live out His life of love in their relationships. In this sense it is that the whole earth is full of the glory of the Holy One. When, then, we treat of the Christian doctrine of the Church, or social union of men in God, we are guided by the experience of the older dispensation, which in this, as in all things, finds its completion in our Lord. If God was to the Jews Immanuel, God with us, in Jesus Christ He has come yet closer to us. The loving embrace of the heavenly Bridegroom has taken the human nature into God. The twain are one. He abides in us and we in Him. (W. H.Fremantle, M. A.)
The whole earth is full of His glory
God most fully displays His glory on earth
It is certain from the language of these holy beings that they delightfully contemplate the glory of God; and especially in this world, where it is most clearly displayed.
I. THE ANGELS OF HEAVEN HAVE ALWAYS BORN WELL ACQUAINTED WITH THIS WORLD. Though these exalted spirits have always been invisible to mankind except on particular occasions, yet we have abundant evidence from Scripture that they have always been acquainted with the objects and events of this world. When God laid the foundation of the earth, they sang together and shouted for joy. And from that day to this, they have been more or less concerned in executing the purposes of God respecting” mankind. They are “ministering” spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation. It is natural to conjecture that many of them continually reside here, while others are alternately employed on great and extraordinary occasions. (Psa_68:17; Luk_2:8-14; Mat_26:53; Luk_13:43; Mat_28:2; Act_5:19.)
II. THEY HAVE DISCOVERED MORE OF THE GLORY OF GOD IN THIS WORLD THAN IN ANY OTHER PART OF THE UNIVERSE. It may be presumed that they have explored the whole circle of creation, which, though widely extended, is certainly limited, and capable of being surveyed by finite beings. They have been friendly to God, and taken pleasure in contemplating the displays of His glory. They have always possessed great intellectual powers and capacities, which have enabled them to receive, retain and digest the most extensive and sublime ideas of their Maker and His works. And being spirits, unencumbered by such gross bodies as we have, they have always been capable of passing from world to world, and from one part of the universe to another, with inconceivable ease and rapidity. They say, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;” i.e., the Lord of the whole vast number of created beings, in every part of His extensive dominions. They add, “The whole earth is full of His glory”; by which they intimate that, after surveying heaven and hell and the whole empire of God, they discover greater displays of His glory in this world than in any other.
1. God has established such a connection between one creature and another in this world as He has not, as we know, anywhere else established. Angels were all created at once, and stood independently of each other. And while some maintained their integrity and attachment to God, others renounced their allegiance and rose in rebellion against their supreme Sovereign. 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.
2. The method which God has devised and adopted to save the guilty and perishing children of men from destruction has given a display of His glory which He has not given in any other part of the universe.
3. In this world God has been constantly increasing the number of His moral subjects. 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. If the glory of a prince consists in the multitude of His subjects, then the glory of God must be displayed by the vast numbers of rational and immortal beings which He brings into existence in this part of His dominions.
4. God subjects mankind to greater, more numerous and more surprising changes than He does any other of His intelligent creatures. The angels of light have never been subjected to any great or peculiar changes since their creation; and evil angels have experienced but one great and dreadful change. But all mankind, from their birth to their death, are perpetually subject to great, sudden and unexpected changes. Their bodies, their minds, and all their external circumstances are perpetually changing. Still greater changes and revolutions are frequently passing over whole nations and kingdoms. And as all these are ordered and Drought about by God, so He here gives peculiar displays of His glory, which are not to be seen in any other part of the universe.
5. The angels of God behold Him here forming the moral characters of men for eternity. 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.
6. The angels of God see Him, in this world, continually calling off mankind from the stage of life and from the state of probation into their eternal states.
Improvement--
1. If angels discover more of the glory of God in this world than in any other part of the universe, then we may justly suppose that this world is, on the whole, better than it would have been if neither natural nor moral evil had ever entered into it.
2. If angels discover the brightest displays of the glory of God in this world, then it is certain that He treats all mankind perfectly right, in all His conduct towards them in the dispensations of providence and grace.
3. If angels view this world as the most important and interesting part of the creation, then secure sinners are extremely stupid. They see the same world, the same objects, the same persons, and the same changes, which angels admire; but they take no notice of the glory of God manifested by them, though they are far more deeply concerned in the objects with which they are surrounded, and the scenes through which they are passing.
4. If the angels of heaven discover the brightest displays of the glory of God in this world, then all real Christians have great advantages, while they are passing through the changing scenes of life, to make constant and swift advances in Divine knowledge.
5. If angels see and admire the glory of God in His conduct towards mankind in this world, then there can be no doubt but they will see and admire the glory of God in His conduct towards them, in their eternal state.
6. If God gives brighter displays of His glory here than anywhere else, then all men, in this life, are in the most important stage of their existence. (N. Emmons, D. D.)
