The Latin verb incarnare meant “to make flesh.”
When we say
that Jesus Christ is God “Incarnate,”
we mean that the Son of God took on a fleshly, bodily form (John 1:14).
However, when this happened in the
womb of Mary, Jesus’ earthly mother,
He did not stop being deity.
Although Jesus became fully human
(Hebrews 2:17),
He retained His status as God (John 1:1, 14).
How Jesus is able to be both man and God simultaneously is one of the great mysteries of Christianity but is nevertheless a test of orthodoxy (1 John 4:2; 2 John 1:7).
Jesus has two distinct natures, divine and human.
"Believe me when I say
that I am in the Father
and the Father is in me”
(John 14:11).
The Bible clearly teaches the deity of Christ by presenting His fulfillment of numerous Old Testament prophecies (Isaiah 7:14; Psalm 2:7), His eternal existence (John 1:1–3; John 8:58), His miraculous virgin birth (Luke 1:26–31), His miracles (Matthew 9:24–25), His authority to forgive sin (Matthew 9:6), His acceptance of worship (Matthew 14:33), His ability to predict the future (Matthew 24:1–2), and His resurrection from the dead (Luke 24:36–39). The writer of Hebrews tells us Jesus is superior to angels (Hebrews 1:4–5) and angels are to worship Him (Hebrews 1:6).
The Bible also teaches the Incarnation--
Jesus became fully human by taking on human flesh.
Jesus was conceived in the womb and was born
(Luke 2:7), He experienced normal aging (Luke 2:40), He had natural physical needs (John 19:28) and human emotions (Matthew 26:38), He learned (Luke 2:52), He died a physical death (Luke 23:46), and He was resurrected with a physical body (Luke 24:39). Jesus was human in every way except for sin; He lived a completely sinless life (Hebrews 4:15).
When Christ took on the form of a human,
His nature did not change, but His position did. Jesus,
in His original nature of God in spirit form, humbled Himself by laying aside
His glory and privileges
(Philippians 2:6–8).
God can never stop being God because He is immutable (Hebrews 13:8) and infinite (Revelation 1:8). If Jesus stopped being fully God for even a split second, all life would die (see Acts 17:28).
The doctrine of the Incarnation says that Jesus,
while remaining fully God, became fully man.
The phrase “holy, holy, holy” appears twice in the Bible, once in the Old Testament (Isaiah 6:3) and once in the New (Revelation 4:8).
Both times, the phrase is spoken or sung by heavenly creatures,
and both times it occurs in the vision of a man who was transported to the throne of God:
first by the prophet Isaiah and
then by the apostle John.
Before addressing the three-fold repetition of God’s holiness, it’s important to understand what exactly is meant by God’s holiness.
The holiness of God is the most difficult of all God’s attributes to explain, partly because it is one of His essential attributes that is not shared, inherently, by man. We are created in God’s image, and we can share many of His attributes, to a much lesser extent, of course—love, mercy, faithfulness, etc. But some of God’s attributes, such as omnipresence, omniscience, and omnipotence, will never be shared by created beings. Similarly, holiness is not something that we will possess as an inherent part of our nature; we only become holy in relationship to Christ. It is an imputedholiness. Only in Christ do we “become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). God’s holiness is what separates Him from all other beings, what makes Him separate and distinct from everything else. God’s holiness is more than just His perfection or sinless purity; it is the essence of His “other-ness,” His transcendence. God’s holiness embodies the mystery of His awesomeness and causes us to gaze in wonder at Him as we begin to comprehend just a little of His majesty.
Isaiah was a firsthand witness of God’s holiness in his vision described in Isaiah 6. Even though Isaiah was a prophet of God and a righteous man, his reaction to the vision of God’s holiness was to be aware of his own sinfulness and to despair for his life (Isaiah 6:5). Even the angels in God’s presence, those who were crying, “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty,” covered their faces and feet with four of their six wings. Covering the face and feet no doubt denotes the reverence and awe inspired by the immediate presence of God (Exodus 3:4–5). The seraphim stood covered, as if concealing themselves as much as possible, in recognition of their unworthiness in the presence of the Holy One. And if the pure and holy seraphim exhibit such reverence in the presence of the Lord, with what profound awe should we, polluted and sinful creatures, presume to draw near to Him! The reverence shown to God by the angels should remind us of our own presumption when we rush thoughtlessly and irreverently into His presence, as we often do because we do not understand His holiness.
John’s vision of the throne of God in Revelation 4 was similar to that of Isaiah. Again, there were living creatures around the throne crying, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty” (Revelation 4:8) in reverence and awe of the Holy One. John goes on to describe these creatures giving glory and honor and reverence to God continually around His throne. Interestingly, John’s reaction to the vision of God in His throne is different from Isaiah’s. There is no record of John falling down in terror and awareness of his own sinful state, perhaps because John had already encountered the risen Christ at the beginning of his vision (Revelation 1:17). Christ had placed His hand upon John and told him not to be afraid. In the same way, we can approach the throne of grace if we have the hand of Christ upon us in the form of His righteousness, exchanged for our sin at the cross (2 Corinthians 5:21).
But why the three-fold repetition “holy, holy, holy” (called the trihagion)? The repetition of a name or an expression three times was quite common among the Jews. In Jeremiah 7:4, the Jews are represented by the prophet as saying, “The temple of the Lord” three times, expressing their intense confidence in their own worship, even though it was hypocritical and corrupt. Jeremiah 22:29, Ezekiel 21:27, and 2 Samuel 18:33 contain similar three-fold expressions of intensity. Therefore, when the angels around the throne call or cry to one another, “Holy, holy, holy,” they are expressing with force and passion the truth of the supreme holiness of God, that essential characteristic which expresses His awesome and majestic nature.
In addition, the trihagion expresses the triune nature of God, the three Persons of the Godhead, each equal in holiness and majesty. Jesus Christ is the Holy One who would not “see decay” in the grave, but would be resurrected to be exalted at the right hand of God (Acts 2:26; 13:33-35). Jesus is the “Holy and Righteous One” (Acts 3:14) whose death on the cross allows us to stand before the throne of our holy God unashamed. The third Person of the trinity—the Holy Spirit—by His very name denotes the importance of holiness in the essence of the Godhead.
Finally, the two visions of the angels around the throne crying, “Holy, holy, holy,” clearly indicates that God is the same in both testaments. Often we think of the God of the Old Testament as a God of wrath and the God of the New Testament as a God of love. But Isaiah and John present a unified picture of our holy, majestic, awesome God who does not change (Malachi 3:6), who is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8), and “with whom is no variableness nor shadow of turning” (James 1:17). God’s holiness is eternal, just as He is eternal.
The specific phrase highway of holiness is found only once in Scripture, in Isaiah 35. In this chapter, God promises that, in the future, the land of Israel will be blessed with fertility and “the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose” (verse 2). Isaiah’s prophecy of the messianic kingdom also encourages the weak and fearful to be strong, for God will come with vengeance to save the long-oppressed people of Israel (verses 3–4). There will be gladness and shouts of joy when the new, restored Zion will see God’s glory, experience His presence, and be guided and protected by Him.
At the time the kingdom is established, “a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness” (Isaiah 35:8). The highway of holiness does not need to be a literal highway; the point of the prophecy is that God will remove all obstacles and “smooth the way” for His people, enabling them to access the blessings of the kingdom. Some point to the fulfillment of this prophecy as the Jews’ return from captivity in Babylon and Persia. But the language of Isaiah 35 gives it a broader context, including physical healing and environmental blessings (verses 5–7). The highway of holiness could also be seen to refer to the Way that is Christ (see John 14:6), the way of sovereign grace that redeems us from sin.
The highway of holiness has three important characteristics.
The first is found in Isaiah 35:8: “It will be for those who walk on that Way. The unclean will not journey on it; wicked fools will not go about on it.” The highway of holiness is a place of holiness.
It is reserved for those who are righteous in
God’s sight.
No one entering the kingdom will be foolish or sinful. Christ alone provides the way of holiness, having exchanged His perfect righteousness for our sin (2 Corinthians 5:21). His righteousness is imputed to us, enabling us to be holy, even as He is holy. The highway is reserved for His people alone.
Second, the highway of holiness is a place of safety,
reserved for the redeemed of the Lord.
“No lion will be there, nor any ravenous beast;
they will not be found there.
But only the redeemed will walk there,
and those the Lord has rescued
will return”
(Isaiah 35:9–10). This is indicative of the safety and security God’s people will experience on the highway. No wicked persons, symbolized by lions and ravenous beasts, will be allowed on the highway. The redeemed of the Lord will walk there in peace and safety.
Third, the highway of holiness will be a place of joy:
“They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy
will crown their heads.
Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow
and sighing will flee away” (Isaiah 35:10).
Just as the ransomed captives
would return joyfully from Babylon,
all the redeemed of the Lord will enter
the millennial kingdom rejoicing.
Isaiah’s mention of a “highway” occurs again in Isaiah 40:3,
referring to the first
advent of the Messiah:
“A voice of one calling:
‘In the wilderness prepare
the way for the Lord;
make straight in the
desert a highway for our God.’”
This prophecy was fulfilled by John the Baptist
(see Matthew 3:3).