When the prophet Isaiah had the privilege of peering into the heavenly realm of the Almighty God and to see Him sitting on His throne and to see the activity of the heavenly beings around Him, the prophet was overwhelmed with awe at what he saw and heard. The cry of those in the presence of Jehovah penetrated the ears and the heart, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!” (Isa. 6:3). Isaiah’s immediate and instinctive response was to yield to the Lord, “Use me!” What an experience! What a heart!
The apostle John apparently saw the same awe-inspiring scene and heard the same glorious praise. The ceaseless cry of those in the presence of Jehovah penetrates the ears and the heart, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!” (Rev. 4:8). What an experience that must have been!
In both the Old Testament and the New Testament, we find only one quality of God in triplicate: His holiness. He is almighty and gracious and loving and faithful. But none of these characteristics are shouted in triplicate around His throne. His holiness is His defining quality—identifying both who and what He is. It is that quality, above all others, that ought to impact and shape my life in striving to serve Him.
There are certain things that my holy God calls upon me TO DO. He tells me to submit to Him (Jas. 4:7), to yield my will to His will (Jas. 4:15), to seek His church first in my life (Matt. 6:33), to worship Him every week (Heb. 10:25; 1 Cor. 16:1-2; 11:17-34), to put others ahead of myself (Phil. 2:3-4), to serve my brethren (Gal. 5:13), to honor my elders (Heb. 13:17), to seek the lost (Luke 19:10), to teach others the gospel of Christ (Mark 16:15), etc. There are a number of reasons for me to do these things, but perhaps above all others is that my God is holy, holy, holy! If I want to be like Him and honor Him, then I must also be holy in all of my conduct (1 Pet. 1:15). That impacts my thoughts, my choices, my words, my actions—my whole life.
Likewise, there are certain things that my holy God calls upon me NOT TO DO. He tells me to abstain from fleshly lusts (1 Pet. 2:11), sexual immorality (1 Thess. 4:3), alcoholic beverage (Eph. 5:18; 1 Pet. 4:3), filthy language (Col. 3:8), covetousness (Heb. 13:5), anger (Col. 3:8), hatred (Gal. 5:20), yes, every form of evil in general (1 Thess. 5:22). I will be eager to refrain from these things because my God is holy, holy, holy, and I want to (1) please Him and (2) be like Him. Striving to be holy, like Him, impacts my thoughts, my choices, my words, my actions—my whole life. May my instinctive response to God’s holiness be like Isaiah—a yielding heart that says, “Here am I, Lord. Use me!”