• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Things Above Us

Missions - Evangelism - Theology - Sports

  • About TAU
    • Our Mission
    • The Gospel of Grace
    • Writers
    • Contact Us
    • Comment Policy
    • Attribution/Content Usage Policy
  • Resources
    • Before the Throne
    • From Death to Life
    • Our Tract
  • Articles/Blog Posts
    • Missions
    • Evangelism
    • Theology
    • Sports
    • Book Reviews
    • Kid’s Book Reviews
    • pSaturday Psalms
    • Movie Reviews
    • Go Therefore!
    • Something to Think About
  • Things Above Us Roundtable
  • Evangelio de Cristo
  • Store
    • Cart

God’s Unmatchable Holiness – Part 1

September 21, 2018 by Allen Nelson IV

It’s possible that I will be working on putting another book out in the next year or so. We will see how God’s providence orders things in the coming months (and you can pray about that if you are so inclined!). Regardless, I’d like to share with you a chapter from this book by breaking it into a series of three posts concerning God’s unmatchable holiness.

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” (Isaiah 6:1-3)

God alone is essentially holy. The Hebrew word for “holy” means “to cut” or to “separate.”  God is the wholly other. He is unique in His holiness. He is not just like me or the Seraphim only ‘holier.’ He alone is holy in the purest sense of the word. This is why Moses says “Who is like you, O LORD, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?” (Exodus 15:11). The answer, of course, is no one and nothing. He alone is holy, holy, holy. As Sproul wrote in his classic The Holiness of God “When the Bible calls God holy, it means primarily that God is transcendentally separate.”

Consider the Seraphim

Now, let’s momentarily consider these Seraphim. The idea conveyed is that of ‘the burning ones’ or the ‘fiery ones.’ It’s been said that the light they emanate is a consequence of being so near to the throne of the Lord of hosts. As the moon’s light is simply a reflection of the sun, these 6-winged creatures are burning with the fiery glory of the thrice holy God.

The Bible doesn’t give us a whole lot of detail about the Seraphim but the little we do have to work with would cause us to think that these must be amazing creatures uniquely designed by our glorious God to serve in immediate proximity to His holy throne. These aren’t the kind of ‘angels’ one puts on the bathroom counter to dispense soap. They aren’t floating on clouds playing harps either. I think if we caught a mere glimpse of these creatures we would be simultaneously in fear for our lives and enamored with their beauty. Perhaps one look at these Seraphim and we would never think any sunset or snowy mountain or any created thing on earth was beautiful again because these earthly glories could never match the radiance of these heavenly beings.

How pure these Seraphim are! How beautiful! And yet, look at what our text says: “Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.” These amazing creatures know their place. They understand that they are not the ‘wholly others.’ They are not transcendently holy. They have no words to speak for themselves, but only glory in the King of kings and Lord of lords.

These Seraphim cover their faces as ones who recognize God’s glory will not be shared with another. They understand that “[t]o gaze on the sheer intensity of this flow of triune holy love would be to endanger themselves. They must distance themselves, cover their faces, and be separate.”[1] God is qualitatively distinct from these created beings.

We see also that the Seraphim cover their feet in recognition of being in the presence of the holy of holies. Finally, they fly so as to always be ready to do the bidding of Lord Sabaoth. Simply put, these Seraphim are not to be considered ‘God-lite’. As wonderful as they are, they are not able to compete with God’s holiness. Creaturely analogies fail us. None is holy like our God. His Holiness is unmatchable.

Revelation 4

Similarly, in Revelation 4:6-11, the creatures around the throne give us pause for wonderment. It’s hard to even really fathom what these creatures look like exactly. But as odd as John’s description may sound I don’t think we could rightly come to the conclusion that these creatures are eyesores. I think if we saw them, we would be filled with amazement. But again, John shows us they know their place.  He tells us that “day and night they never cease to say, ‘Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty’” and that they “give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever” (Revelation 4:8-9, emphasis mine).

The response of these extraordinary creatures is never ‘consider me!’ Their focus is always and only on our triune God. They give Him glory, filled with gratitude just to know Him and worship Him unceasingly.

The Seraphim are otherworldly and unblemished by sin. So too are the creatures in Revelation 4. And what we see in these passages is that even they pale in comparison to the holiness of God. The unblemished Seraphim are not ‘closer’ to being holy in terms of God’s holiness than the bacteria hanging around your toilet (first heard from Paul Washer). There is simply no comparison between God and any of the heavenly hosts! He is the God of unmatchable holiness.

In light of this reality, how might you consider meditating on God’s transcendent holiness? Have you become cavalier toward God in anyway? Are there any things in your life that you have allowed to try and “match” His rightful place? Take the opportunity to read Isiah 6 and Revelation 4. Give God glory for who He is and repent of any idolatry you’ve hidden in your heart. Soli Deo Gloria.


[1] Sinclair Ferguson, Devoted to God (pg 3).

Allen Nelson IV

Allen Nelson IV

Allen S. Nelson IV is the pastor of Perryville Second Baptist Church in Perryville, Arkansas. He and his wife Stephanie have been married since 2006 and have 5 children. Besides enjoying time with his family, Allen loves teaching the Bible, reading good books, and time outdoors. He is the author of From Death to Life: How Salvation Works and Before The Throne: Reflections on God’s Holiness He is an avid Dallas Cowboys and Arkansas Razorbacks fan, which means he's always excited about 'next year.' You can follow him on twitter @cuatronelson.

Filed Under: Theology Tagged With: Holiness, Holy God, Lord Sabaoth

Liked what you read? Subscribe!


Views expressed in posts are those of their individual authors and may not be shared by all writers on Things Above Us.

Primary Sidebar

On Sale Now

  • From Death to Life $14.99 $13.99
  • Before the Throne $17.00 $14.99

Subscribe To Things Above Us

Sign up for our RSS newsfeed and stay up-to-date with the latest blog posts on Things Above Us!

Things Above Us Roundtable

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Android | Google Play | Stitcher | Email | RSS

Pull up a chair to the TAU Roundtable as the writers from ThingsAbove.Us and other special guests discuss current events, theology, missions, evangelism, and sports!

The Bible Memory App - Bible Memory Verses
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent Posts

  • Go, Therefore: Family Worship
  • “Antiracism” Deserves a Capital Letter: A Preview of Voddie Baucham’s Fault Lines
  • Rightly Understanding John 3:16
  • 2 Peter 1 in the Legacy Standard Bible
  • 5 Reasons Baptist Churches Should Associate

The Team

Michael CoughlinMichael Coughlin

Michael Coughlin lives near Columbus, OH, and leads local outreaches to glorify our Lord and reach the lost with...

Go, Therefore: Family Worship
Tim BatesTim Bates

Tim lives in Akron, Ohio with his wife, Melanie and two children, Calvin and Caroline. He serves as a deacon, teacher...

Reflections on a World Without Sports
George AlvaradoGeorge Alvarado

George Alvarado is an almost retired member of our Armed Forces (yes, he's older than he looks). He has a beautiful w...

A Open Letter to Afflicted Saints
Allen Nelson IVAllen Nelson IV

Allen S. Nelson IV is the pastor of Perryville Second Baptist Church in Perryville, Arkansas. He and his wife Steph...

Rightly Understanding John 3:16
Garrett O’HaraGarrett O’Hara

Garrett appears to have originated the term, but not the theology, "dispybapticalvinistic-expialidocious." He ...

“Antiracism” Deserves a Capital Letter: A Preview of Voddie Baucham’s Fault Lines
Chuck IveyChuck Ivey

By God’s grace, Chuck Ivey grew up in a Christian home and came to know Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior at a y...

The Living Logos and True Mythos: A Response to “Satanic Panics and the Death of Mythos”

Click a term to see related posts.

Adoption atonement Bible book review Cessationism children Christ Christian Life Christmas Chuck Ivey church conversion Culture Devotional discipleship evangelism Foster Care From death to life Genesis gospel grace imputation Jesus Justification local church love Marriage mercy NFL preaching Psalm 119 Psalms reformed baptist Reformed Baptist Theology reformed theology Roundtable sanctification scripture sin sola scriptura Something To Think About Suffering theology Things Above Us worship

Click the image below if you got one of these cards.

Other Posts You May Like…

No More Holding Back — Kat Armstrong (book review, part 4)

In part 1 of this review, we saw Armstrong’s argument that Mary Magdalene is the “second Eve,” thereby meaning that the curse of women being easily deceived ceased at the resurrection. In part 2, we examined Armstrong’s treatment of Ephesians 5:22 and the Hebrew term ezer (“helper” or “companion”) from Genesis 2:16. In part 3, we examined Armstrong’s treatment of Lydia as the ideal […]

Luther at the Diet of Worms

Not by Faith Alone: What is James’ Justification? (book excerpt)

As I attempt to dedicate more time towards completing my evangelistic book, I’ve adapted a short excerpt here for the benefit of ThingsAbove.us readers. As with most of my book, the biblical translations are my own. The character ‘ᴾ’ indicates a second person plural. One popular apologetic among Roman Catholic apologists against justification by faith […]

Religion or Relationship?

Is Christianity about religion or a relationship? I understand what folks mean when they try to say Christianity is about a relationship, not religion, to a point. We need to understand, though, two things: first, that Christianity is a religion. Even in the early church false teachers were creeping in and trying to teach an […]

SBC Resolution on A Reformation of Corporate Worship Practices

True, just two years ago I wrote a piece on my apathy toward resolutions. And while I still feel that, as a whole, resolutions don’t “do much” in terms of reforming the SBC, I do think they can at least be a tool of assessing where we already are as an association of churches and […]

Christians and Privilege

The idea of one needing to check his privilege first came across my eyes and ears a few years back. I remember thinking, quite naively in hindsight, that this was just a few college students who are professionally and perpetually outraged being coached by some untenured professor trying to make a name for herself. “Such […]

An Invitation to Watch IndyCar This Season

This year’s IndyCar opener happens this Sunday, March 11th (12:30pm EDT on ABC, YouTube upload sometime later; don’t skip church), and this is a friendly invitation to non-fans to give it a shot. Update on March 12th, 2018: The 30-minute “Fast Forward” version of the race is uploaded and posted below. It was quite a […]

2018 © Things Above Us

Copyright © 2021 · Things Above Us on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in