Isaiah: "Holy, holy, holy"

Have you ever felt really small? Standing at the edge of a cliff, caught in a huge storm, or lying under the night sky far from city lights? It can be scary and amazing at the same time.

Now imagine meeting not a storm or an ocean, but the God who made them. That's what happened to a young man named Isaiah, at a time when his whole country felt shaken. The experience wrecked him, and then it remade him. This lesson is about that moment, and about a word most people misunderstand: holy.

What you'll learn

• What "holy" really means, and why Isaiah reacted the way he did
• The four movements of Isaiah 6:1–8: vision, confession, cleansing and commission
• How the Gospel of John connects Isaiah's vision to Jesus

What does "holy" mean?

We hear the word in lots of ways: holy cow, holier-than-thou, holy water. Many people think it means "very religious" or a bit "goody-goody". But in the Bible, holy means set apart: utterly different from us in power, purity and goodness. God isn't just a bigger, better version of us. He's in a category of his own.

The year King Uzziah died

King Uzziah ruled Judah for 52 years. He was strong and successful, but pride brought him down: he barged into the temple to do the priests' work and was struck with a skin disease until he died (2 Chronicles 26:16–21). He died around 740 BC, just as the Assyrian empire was rising. A long, stable reign was over, and the future looked uncertain.

"In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted; and the train of His robe filled the temple." (Isaiah 6:1)

Notice the contrast. The earthly king is dead, but the true King is still on his throne. When your own world feels shaken (through a death, a family change, moving house, a friend leaving), that's worth remembering.

Isaiah 6 in four movements

1. Vision (look up). Isaiah sees the Lord on a high throne. Around him are seraphim (the name means "burning ones"), heavenly beings who cover their faces and feet and call out:

"And they were calling out to one another: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of Hosts; all the earth is full of His glory.’" (Isaiah 6:3)

In Hebrew, repeating a word is a way of saying "the most". Holiness is the only quality of God the Bible repeats three times like this. The temple shakes and fills with smoke. Even perfect heavenly beings hide their faces.

2. Confession (look in). Isaiah's reaction isn't "Wow, cool!" It's this:

"Then I said: ‘Woe is me, for I am ruined, because I am a man of unclean lips dwelling among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of Hosts.’" (Isaiah 6:5)

Isaiah was a good person by most standards, and a prophet, so his mouth was his job. But seeing God clearly showed him himself clearly. He doesn't point the finger at everyone else; he admits that he himself is lost.

3. Cleansing (grace). God doesn't leave Isaiah there, not even for a moment. A seraph flies to him with a burning coal from the altar, touches his lips, and tells him his guilt is taken away and his sin is atoned for (Isaiah 6:6–7). The coal comes from the altar, the place of sacrifice. Cleansing comes through sacrifice, and it comes from God's side.

4. Commission (look out). Then God asks a question, and Isaiah answers:

"Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying: ‘Whom shall I send? Who will go for Us?’ And I said: ‘Here am I. Send me!’" (Isaiah 6:8)

Isaiah volunteers after he's forgiven, not in order to be forgiven. Service is a response to grace, not a way of earning it.

Isaiah's message would be hard, and mostly rejected (6:9–13). But even then, God promised that like a stump left after a tree is cut down, a "holy seed" would remain. Hope survives.

Shame or conviction?

There's an important difference between shame ("I am worthless") and conviction ("I've done wrong and I need cleansing"). Shame leaves you stuck. Conviction leads somewhere. Isaiah's cry in verse 5 isn't God's final verdict on him; it's the moment just before grace arrives. If you ever feel like Isaiah in verse 5, remember that the story doesn't stop there. The coal comes next.

Key words

• Holy: set apart; utterly different from us in power, purity and goodness.
• Seraphim: "burning ones"; heavenly beings who worship God.
• Atone: to deal with sin and restore a broken relationship.
• LORD of Hosts: a title for God as commander of heaven's armies.
• Commission: being given a job and sent to do it.

How this points to Jesus

In John's Gospel, after quoting Isaiah, John adds a surprising line:

"Isaiah said these things because he saw Jesus’ glory and spoke about Him." (John 12:41)

John says the King Isaiah saw on the throne was the glory of Jesus. Just before this, Jesus had said that when he was "lifted up from the earth" he would draw everyone to himself (John 12:32), talking about his death on the cross. The King on the throne is the one who would be lifted up on a cross. And the coal from the altar pointed to a greater sacrifice: Christians believe Jesus' death is what truly takes away guilt (1 John 1:7).

Think about it

Take it further

This week, when something feels shaky, try remembering Isaiah 6:1: the King is still on the throne. And think about what Isaiah's "Here am I. Send me!" might look like for someone your age: helping, speaking up, being kind to someone who's overlooked. Your worksheet helps you storyboard the four movements of Isaiah 6.

If you'd like to, you could pray: Holy God, you are on the throne when my world shakes. I'm not clean enough to stand before you, but you have made a way through Jesus. Cleanse me, and send me. Amen.