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Today's reading
December 2, 2025
Isaiah 6:1-3
He was just a man mourning the death of a friend in a temple that had been a place of clarity, comfort, and rest. As he kneeled in this sacred place his mind was fixed on a contradiction that had become his new reality. Uzziah, the good king who had led with stability, was gone—and the one who now sat on the throne was wicked. How could he reconcile this cruel twist? As the intensity of his focus and prayer grew, the veil that the physical world casts over the spiritual was ushered away.
"I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up,
and the train of His robe filled the temple."
Isaiah 6:1b (NKJV)
Smoke wound its way through the temple, widening into the train of the robe of the King of Heaven. In the ancient world, kings displayed their greatness by the length of their robes. Long trains made ordinary movement impossible—because such a king did not need to move; others moved for him. So, when Isaiah sees the train of God’s robe filling the temple, it declares that the Lord reigns supreme over all creation. Everything that exists lives to serve Him.
"Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face,
with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew."
Isaiah 6:2 (NKJV)
Throughout scripture angels of this type are called the or Creatures shrouded in mystery and majesty. Yet even these radiant creatures hide their faces before the One who is pure light.
Spurgeon wrote,“For the seraph remembers that even though sinless he is yet a creature,
and therefore he conceals himself in token of his nothingness and unworthiness in the
presence of the thrice Holy One.”
Then, Isaiah hears them sing—not to him, and not even directly to God, but seemingly about Him,
as though swept up in endless wonder:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
The whole earth is full of His glory!”
Isaiah 6:3b (NKJV)
For something to be Holy means that it is incomparable, unrivaled, incorruptible, unequalled. It is not merely an attribute that God has, it is His essential nature. The angels do not cry, “Good, good, good,” or “Love, love, love,” though God is both. They cry “Holy,” because nothing in heaven or earth can compare with Him.
These are the same beings who witnessed creation’s dawn, and images in the universe that our minds cannot imagine—yet not for a minute do they confuse the creation with the creator. Heaven sings that of all the creatures of earth and the panoply of heaven there is no one like our God. Under the immense pressure of the holiness of God, Isaiah realizes that even as a prophet, he falls short of God’s holy standard. This encounter ends with Isaiah being purged of sin, and invited into God’s redemptive plan for the world. This Angel song reminds us that -
we have an incomparable King in heaven, our world is under His command, and we have been invited into His plan.