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Holiness (1) Pristine Inviolable Purity

 
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Holiness (1) Pristine Inviolable Purity
by David Denninger - Saturday, 23 March 2024, 3:05 AM
 

“In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. Seraphim stood before Him, each having six wings; with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called out to another and said, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is Yahweh of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory.” And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke (Isa 6:1-4).

Isaiah sees the Lord, Who reveals Himself as robed and seated on a high and exalted throne attended by Seraphim.

The prophet’s attention is directed to the seraphim. Uncompromised in their own derived goodness, the seraphim respond to God’s absolute purity with rejoicing wonder and exalting antiphonal worship that shakes the foundations of the temple. 

In the presence of Yahweh’s intrinsic purity, they do not look directly, but cover their faces and the reflected light of their own innocence in awe and worship. With two wings they cover their feet in reverence.

With two wings they fly, crying out to one another of the overwhelming power and beauty of Person they are witnessing. The feature they extol and declare and over which they exclaim is purity — the blinding glory of God’s absolute righteousness. 

As His robe fills the entire expanse in Isaiah’s view, the Seraphim shout to one another of the glory of this Holy Person filling the whole earth.

Isaiah’s immediate reaction to the vision is acute awareness of his own uncleanness. 

“Then I said, ‘Woe is me, for I am ruined!
Because I am a man of unclean lips,
And I live among a people of unclean lips;
For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts’” (Isa 6:5).

The man shrinks back, desperately aware of his need for cleansing from his words, his ways, and his heart. His confession releases heaven’s will and power to forgive and welcome. A seraph flies to touch his mouth with a burning coal and to announce the removal of all his iniquity.

The unspeakable preciousness our souls realize in considering such sure and enduring Personal wholesomeness and receiving His welcoming provision of cleansing that draws us near moves us, as it did Isaiah, to worship and to glad and total surrender. 

“Extol Yahweh our God,
And worship at His holy hill;
For Yahweh our God is holy” (Ps 99:9).


Responding to the Holy One:

As you consider the seraphim’s response to God’s being, please reflect on your own regard for Him.

                              (Spotlight 1, Lesson 8 in Doctrine 101: Learning about God)