LIVING THE CHRISTLIFE

WAYNE BARRETT

MAY 28, 2025

Isaiah 6

v. 3

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!”

______________________

“And one called to another…”

This may have been something like antiphonal singing (although these would be “soloists”).

Antiphonal – alternating between choirs

Split chancels, the “choir” in historic churches, reflect and accommodate this type of 

choral music

Much choral music has been written for double-choir

See Nehemiah 12, the dedication of the wall. “…31 Then I brought the leaders of Judah 

up onto the wall and appointed two great choirs that gave thanks. One went to the 

south on the wall to the Dung Gate….38 The other choir of those who gave thanks 

went to the north, and I followed them with half of the people, on the wall, above the 

Tower of the Ovens, to the Broad Wall…”

Hebrew poetry, a main feature of which is parallelism, also lends itself to being sung 

antiphonally, or some version thereof.

However …

There is nothing to indicate that there were only two seraphim.

In the case or more than two, the alternation may have been more complex

This is also reflected in choral music, particularly during the Renaissance and (to a lesser 

extent) Baroque periods, in poly-choral music

And in addition …

It is not clear that they were calling to one another in alternation. But the most apparent reading 

would seem to be that they were calling to one another one at a time, and not simultaneously.

And finally …

The Scripture says that they “called to” on another; it does not say that they sang.

The Scripture has similar wording for the NT Canticles (“songs”), which are not reported as 

actually “sung,”—and may not have been sung. This includes the angels’ “Glory to God in 

the highest…”

It is interested that “seraph” is particularly associated with song.

It could be that the voices of heavenly beings giving praise to God sound like music, or 

something beyond music, to our ears.

Still … Isaiah could have reported that they sang, but he does not.

“call” -- qara' – it is translated in many ways, and here it certainly bears the character of 

proclaiming, of “calling out”

2

“Holy, holy, holy …”

The word “holy” most literally means “set apart,” or “different,” or “other.”

When used about and unto God, it is a word of worship and adoration, recognizing that

• God is “Other” than all of his creation. He is above everything and different than everything that 

he has made. He has no beginning and no end. He is the Creator of all that exists—all. He is the 

Source of all we know as “reality.” No one is like unto him. No one can look on his face. He is 

above all things now and always has been and always will be.

• Perfect love and goodness and purity are aspects of his very nature and being. These are everpresent attributes of God to which the word “holy” points and for which we praise him and 

adore him.

o Anything that goes against God’s will is not only an offense to his sovereignty, but it is 

an offense to these attributes of his very nature

o We can seek why Paul would write “Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual 

immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, 

rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn 

you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom 

of God (Galatians 5:19-21). 

o Sin is a corruption, a polluting of the very holiness of God, and God will never support 

or abide or enable sin. 

o Those who do not take God seriously or who would try to trifle with him do not even 

begin to understand his holiness—and this is the state of many.

“Holy” is also used often in the Scriptures to refer to things that God has himself set apart for his 

exclusive use and purposes or service unto himself or that he has directed to be set apart for these 

purposes.

The very same words translated holy (whether in Hebrew or Greek), in their different forms, are 

also often translated sanctify, consecrate, set apart, ….

The OT is filled with instructions of things set apart, beginning with the Sabbath—that God 

made it holy (or sanctified it). Offerings are holy. Implements of worship are holy. Even the 

perfume and garments of the priests are holy—only for their use.

Any violation of something that was holy carried a severe penalty. For example, “You shall keep 

the Sabbath, because it is holy for you. Everyone who profanes it shall be put to death. 

Whoever does any work on it, that soul shall be cut off from among his people” (Exodus 

31:14).

The most wonderful understanding of holy in this sense, for us who are in Christ, is that we 

ourselves are holy unto the Lord. We are set apart exclusively for him. We belong to him.

The Greek word translated “holy” is hagios.

In the NASB Translation, here is the breakdown of the translation of hagios: Holy (92), holy 

(62), Holy of Holies (1), holy one (5), holy ones (1), holy place (7), most holy (1), saint (1), 

saints (59), saints' (1), sanctuary (2).

Note that the word “saints,” appearing 59 times in the NT, in the Greek, reads simply hagios. So 

“the saints” in the Greek is “the holy.”

The word “church” means “called out ones.”

“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, 

that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his 

marvelous light.”—1 Peter 2:9

3

Our call to holiness is a constant Biblical theme.

And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and 

say to them, You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy. Leviticus 19:1-2

What follows is a summary of the ten commandments along with some other teachings 

concluding with “You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own 

people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD” (v. 18).

Here, our holiness is clearly wedded to a call to righteous living.

“You shall be holy to me, for I the Lord am holy and have separated you from the peoples, that

you should be mine.”—Leviticus 20:26

We are called to “holiness” throughout the NT (see notes).

And teachings on “sanctification”—are the same thing, usually the same word.

The holiness of God—and our being made holy by him—is the ongoing perspective of the Bible 

but, unfortunately, it may be a perspective—a wonderful one—that we have failed to speak 

about and emphasize as we should.

“the LORD of hosts…”

LORD – Yahweh, God’s name that he himself gave us (rendered “Jehovah” in the KJV).

“Of hosts.”

“hosts” –tsaba' - more lit. “armies,” not merely “many”; sometimes translated “war”

“the whole earth is full of his glory!”

Glory – Heb. kabowd, splendor, wealth

Those (many) things about God that display his magnificence and for which he receives praise

The praise of the seraphim given here is echoed throughout the Scripture.

Psalm 24 is a psalm to the King of Glory—and it begins: “The earth is the LORD's and the 

fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein.”

Psalm 19 begins “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his 

handiwork”—and the latter part of the psalm is about the law of God.

God’s glory is revealed in all of creation—it is too much to be expressed. And his glory is also 

revealed in his law, his moral order, his love and goodness and truth.

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, 

with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.—James 1:17