Embrace Worship: Holy, Holy, Holy

As we come to the close of our summer series on worship, I’d love to end where we began and with what has tied every facet of worship together: holiness. We know that God alone is inherently holy, a trait that is near impossible to define because it is so rare and absolutely unattainable by any earthly means. In fact, God’s holiness begins to capture His total ‘otherness’ from anything else in all of creation.

When Adam and Eve chose to follow their own desires rather than trusting God, the holy bond between them and their Creator was broken forever. Thus began humanity’s exile into the unholy world. Left alone, humans defiled everything – their relationships, their planet, their bodies – until they held “only evil all the time” in their hearts (Genesis 6:5). And God cleansed the earth to start again. He covenanted with Noah then Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Later with Moses then David. 

Every time, the holiness of God’s presence, practices, and purposes were scorned.
Every time, the worship of God was forsaken for gods, whose promises were as void as their sculpted hearts.

And still, God did not give up. His promises held fast. His Word remained true as He sent Messiah, His one and only Son, to save the world. The Holy One of Israel gave us the Holy Lamb of God – the final and full sacrifice to redeem all who would believe in Him, for all time. 

In this way, God’s holy altars of old take us to the cross on which the Prince of Glory died,¹ which now becomes our means for entering the Holy of Holies, the place of God’s presence.

This holy way is how wells throughout redemptive history become markers of grace – places of digging deeper into our faith and the person of Jesus, leading us into holy worship based on Spirit and truth.

It’s how Jesus’ ascension made way for the coming of Holy Spirit – and how our bodies become the holy dwelling place of our Lord and King. 

It’s how God’s holy love becomes the soil in which we root ourselves and find a place of abiding that brings with it stability, grace, and a means for growth and good fruit.

And it is with Holy Spirit power that we are able to move forward despite what we face or how we feel. Such power is our means of inward transformation and outward demonstration, of becoming Who we behold, and of returning to our Father each and every day with our sacrifices of surrender and the offerings of our hearts.

Just as with altars, God calls us to come toward Him, to join Him at tables – places for the partaking of His goodness, the remembering of His sacrifices, and the encountering of His presence.

And so it is with our whole hearts that we move in closer to our God in heaven as we lift our voices and sing, repeating the throne room refrain as we worship Him:

Holy, holy, holy!

“Holy! It is the oldest song in the book because it’s older than the book. It’s the song of the angels and archangels, of the elders and the living creatures.
Holy! It’s the song that transcends time – before the past and beyond the future. 
Holy! It’s not the song of God’s activity but of God’s identity.” 

Chris Tomlin² 

Holy – Past Revelations

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty;
    the whole earth is full of his glory.”
Isaiah 6:3

Swept up in a vision, Isaiah became an eyewitness to God’s throne room. Despite his role as prophet, in the presence of God’s holiness, Isaiah became acutely aware of his sinfulness.³ He knew his unworthiness, as well as the price for standing in the presence of such holiness – his life (v.5). 

But God had more in mind for Isaiah, so He sent an angel with a hot coal to cleanse His prophet of impurity, to atone for his sin (vv.6-7). 

All the while, the multi-winged angels continued to sing their “thrice holy” song in adoration of the One on the throne (v.3).³ Such a three-peated pattern was a common practice among Jewish writers, denoting emphasis and connoting intensity. And so it is that as we read the angelic praise, “Holy, holy, holy,” we’re meant to feel their passion, as well as the “truth of the supreme holiness of God, that essential characteristic which expresses His awesome and majestic nature.”³ 

While the triple reiteration of ‘holy’ expresses the profound and multifaceted nature of God’s holiness, it also points to the triune nature of God – Father, Son, and Spirit, “each equal in holiness and majesty.”³ As such, when we sing the nineteenth century hymn entitled, “Holy, Holy, Holy,” we, like the seraphim, acknowledge our “merciful and mighty, God in three Persons, blessed Trinity!” 

Isaiah’s vision granted a pre-Messianic glimpse behind the curtain, into the actual Holy of Holies – a view that established for all time a picture of God’s glory and power. And offered a song of worship that has been repeatable throughout all history. And beyond. 

Holy – Present Abandon

“Holy, holy, holy
is the Lord God Almighty,
who was, and is, and is to come.”
Revelation 4:8

A second biblical glance into the throne room of heaven gets documented in the final book of the Bible by its firsthand witness, John. Revelation four and five paint with a broader, yet similar, stroke of worship in heaven; this time the angels are joined by four living creatures continually singing the same song as the seraphim of Isaiah’s vision (v.8).

Not only do “the two visions of the angels around the throne…indicate that God is the same in both testaments” but that He is the same always.³ God never changes. He “who was” remains the same today – and forever shall be (Revelation 4:8; Malachi 3:6; Hebrews 13:8; James 1:17). 

And so, the heavenly song reverberates over us, instilling within us a truth that we’re tempted to overlook or even ignore: God is unchanging. Immutable. Nothing about Him has changed since the first covenants with Adam and Noah – not His plans nor His responses. And certainly not His mind. God’s unchanging nature gifts us with a stabilizing, faith-building truth – God is trustworthy. He will always, always, always keep His word. He will never, never, never leave or forsake us. He will be with us and for us forever and ever and ever.

The vision of God’s throne room also demonstrates for us worship with reckless abandon:

“Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say:

‘You are worthy, our Lord and God,
    to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
    and by your will they were created
    and have their being.’”   

Revelation 4:9-11

The elders, who hold great honor, wearing crowns and sitting on thrones, don’t simply nod in assent to the living creatures’ worshipful proclamations. They don’t sway to their tune. They don’t close their eyes and lift their arms. 

They get up, lay down their crowns before God, and fall prostrate before the throne.

There’s no worry about looking foolish. There’s no consideration of being judged by eye-rolling scoffers. There’s only the worship of wholehearted abandon – the kind King David showed the day the Ark of the Covenant was rolled into Jerusalem. He was “dancing before the Lord with all his might” (2 Samuel 6:14), willing to “become even more undignified than this, and…humiliated in [his] own eyes” (v.22) – because his heart was sold-out to his God.

And that’s the expectation for our worship in this present age. Because of Jesus, “we can now—without hesitation—walk right up to God, into ‘the Holy Place.’ Jesus has cleared the way by the blood of his sacrifice. …So let’s do it—full of belief, confident that we’re presentable inside and out” (Hebrews 10:19-20,22 MSG). And as we step through the curtain that is Christ’s body (v.21), we fall before the throne with wholehearted worship because “[this is] the praise entrusted to us to bring to God this side of eternity.”⁴ 

Holy – Future Hope

“And the angels cry holy
All creation cries holy
You are lifted high, holy
Holy forever”  
(From Chris Tomlin’s song “Holy Forever”)

From the pages of the Bible’s final revelation, we are encouraged and called to persevere in our faith, to worship the One True God with all that we are, and to continue placing our hope in the return of Christ, our King of Kings. Peter dubs this kind of faith a “new birth into a living hope” – one we’ve attained by our belief in Resurrected Jesus and will fully inherit on the day of His return (1 Peter 1:3-5). 

God has done all of this for His children. And yet, this is not why we worship Him. 

Revelation also paints a picture of our future hope – where John saw…

“a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice:

‘Salvation belongs to our God,
who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb.’” 

Revelation 7:9-10

The elder speaking to John went on to give him a picture of what life after Christ’s return will be like for those who love Jesus:

“Never again will they hunger;
    never again will they thirst.
The sun will not beat down on them,
    nor any scorching heat.
For the Lamb at the center of the throne
    will be their shepherd;
he will lead them to springs of living water.
    And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

Revelation 7:16-17

God will do this for all His children, yet this is not why we worship Him.

In John’s final vision, he does not see a temple in the New Jerusalem “because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple” (Revelation 21:22). In this place of eternal holiness, there will also be no need for the sun or moon “for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp” (v.23). Every nation and king on earth will walk by this light, and never will the city’s gates be shut “for there will be no night there” (vv.24-25). No one dwelling within God’s city will ever have to fear anything impure or shameful or deceitful because “only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life” will be allowed inside (v.27). 

Even though God promises this final, glorious life with Him, this is not why we worship Him.

Rather, we worship Him for who He is. “Worship begins and ends with the sheer beauty, awe, and glory of God,” where we become “captured and enraptured by the greatness of God.”² My friends, we worship God because He is holy!

Let us worship!

Holy, Almighty, Father God, how great You are. Your holiness is beyond our true comprehension, yet it is your very nature that compels us to fall down before your throne and worship You with all that we are. We are certainly grateful for all that You have done, are doing, and will do, but we begin to awaken to the truth that to worship You in Spirit is to worship You for who You are. Holy Lamb of God, we recognize that it is by your sacrifice that we have access to God’s presence, that we have the promise of abundant life in the here and now, and that we hold the future hope of eternal life with You – and yet, it is because of your holiness that we bow before You with hearts overflowing with awe and reverence and love. Holy Spirit, the One whose presence within us makes it possible for us to worship with wholehearted abandon – because You remind us constantly of who God is. ‘We pray that today You would breathe in us so that our thoughts may be holy. We pray that You would act in us so that our work may be holy. And we pray that You would draw our hearts to love what is holy.’⁵ Lord Jesus – the Lamb on the throne of God – we cry out to You with full abandon, singing with the angels, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. The whole earth is full of His glory!” In your holy name we pray, amen.
(inspired by Revelation 4:8-11, 7:9-17; John 4:24; Hebrews 10:19-22; John 10:10; 1 Peter 1:3; John 14:26; the Holy Spirit Prayer of Augustine; Isaiah 6:3)

Resources: I love sharing with you the books, podcasts, articles, and anything else that has inspired, encouraged, or taught me. These are humble offerings with no expectations.

• 1 – Quoted from the first verse of the hymn, “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross” by Isaac Watts
• 2 – Quoted from Chris Tomlin’s book, How Great Is Our God^ 
• 3 – This Got Questions article about what it means that God is holy, holy, holy.
• 4 – That Sounds Fun with Brooke Ligertwood, episode #499
• 5 – Holy Spirit Prayer of Augustine, adapted and modernized 
• So many songs on our Embrace Worship Spotify playlist speak to God’s holiness. In fact, I had a lot of fun searching for them and putting some of them together to form a bit of a ‘holy’ section in our playlist. Songs like: “Holy” by Bristol House, “Holy Forever” by Chris Tomlin, “Throne Room Song” and “Holy Ground” by Charity Gayle, and, of course, “Holy, Holy, Holy” by TAYA with Hillsong. Often, I’ll scroll to that section and just sit with it all, letting the words pour over me and pull me into the throne room.
  • Holy, holy, holy Lord
    God Almighty, over all
    You were, You are, and You’ll be forever
    The King, enthroned, in glorious splendor
    Holy, holy Lord
    (“Throne Room Song” chorus)
• Each Wednesday I upload a “Teacup” teaching video that carries on the topic here. You can find all the videos on my Facebook Author Page, Instagram, and YouTube.
• Many of you have found me on Substack. Thank you so much! And, if you’d rather listen to (than read) these weekly posts, you can do so on Substack, as well. It’s easy to see and use the audio bar across the top of each post. While you’re on Substack, check out the ministry I’m blessed to be part of, the Devoted Collective.
• My monthly newsletter, The Abiding Life, goes to email inboxes the first week of each month to those who have subscribed on my website. I also post them on Substack. My most recent edition can be found there, and you can subscribe for future newsletters on Substack, here.

Rhythms: As my newsletter’s title infers, we seek to develop an abiding life in this space — a place where we can get informed but also be transformed as we learn to abide in God’s presence throughout our days. I like to think that developing rhythms is one way to aid us in our desire to become more Christlike. These next three months we’re focusing on the rhythm of worship (surprise!).

• Each week we ‘highlight’ and ‘tab’ a section in our Prayer Bibles. This summer we’ve been marking significant passages about the various facets of worship so that we can find them easily, put them to memory, and apply them in our abiding lives. These are words we can pray with a little personalization. They can also become words of reverence-filled worship. Isaiah 6:3 seems like the perfect passage for this week because it’s the first (of only two) ‘holy, holy, holy’ verse of worship in the Bible. Feel free to mark Revelation 4:8, as well.
  
  “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies!
      The whole earth is filled with his glory!” –Isaiah 6:3
  • Since this is our final week, I want to extend an invitation to go through Revelation and highlight and ‘tab’ each of the prayer/worship passages. Here are the ones I’ve marked: Revelation 1:5b-8; 4:8b,11; 5:9-10,12,13b; 7:10,12; 11:15,17-18; 15:3-4; 16:5b-7; 19:1b-3,5,6b-8; 22:7,12,16,20-21.
• We’re all called to share the truths about the work of Jesus. One way you can do that is by sharing this site and telling others your own stories of faith experiences. Believe it or not, we worship God each time we share our stories of faith! We use our whole selves to tell about our holy God!!

Featured Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash. “All the Bits and Pieces” photo by Aleksandra Sapozhnikova on Unsplash.
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