“Heaven tourism” as it’s been deemed is a genre where people write about being taken to heaven, seeing great things, and then returned to earth to proclaim them to the rest of us, selling a few million books as a bonus. To be up-front, I believe it to be a genre of fiction.
With one exception. I only know of one ‘heaven tourism’ book that’s real and that is God’s own book and in particular the Revelation of Jesus Christ to the Apostle John. Revelation 4:1 begins with what John saw when he was taken to the throne of God. Isaiah also saw heaven as described in Isaiah 6, but his sounds like a vision where John sees a door open in heaven and the command from the other side is “come up here and I will show you.”
What struck me as I read these words this morning, and they rang so true, is the very first words a human hears (John or Isaiah) in God’s presence at the throne of heaven are not about us. The very first recorded words they hear in heaven are the thrice-repeated superlative:
“Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty,
Rev. 4:8b ESV
who was and is and is to come!”
I understand these older languages handle superlatives by repetition, as in when Jesus wanted to emphasize an important point, he would start with “Truly, truly I say to you…”. As R.C. Sproul stated in “The Holiness of God”,
On a handful of occasions the Bible repeats something to the third degree. To mention something three times in succession is to elevate it to the superlative degree. Only once in Scripture is an attribute of God elevated to the third degree. The Bible says that God is holy, holy, holy. The Bible never says that God is love, love, love or mercy, mercy, mercy or justice, justice, justice.
R.C. Sproul “The Holiness of God”
That speaks volumes. It means “set apart” to the highest degree. Separate, separate, separate. Other, other, other. In a class by himself; there is none like him. Vastly greater than and distinct from all else. Creator as separate and set apart from all created things. As set apart in essence as the potter is from a clay pot he creates.
Reminds me of Psalm 50, a psalm about God’s “set apartness” as well has his judgment on the wicked. He confronts them in verse 21 with a very revealing statement, “You thought that I was one like yourself.”
The next recorded words in heaven reflect his superlative ‘set apart’ distinction as well.
“Worthy are you, our Lord and God,
Rev. 4:11 ESV
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they existed and were created.”
Note the worthiness of God due simply to the fact that He is the almighty Creator of all things. Everything else is his creation, for his will.
Reminds me of Isaiah 40, or God’s “answer” to Job in Job 38 and 39, or this from Isaiah 44:
6 Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel
Isaiah 44:6-8 ESV
and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts:
“I am the first and I am the last;
besides me there is no god.
7 Who is like me? Let him proclaim it.
Let him declare and set it before me,
since I appointed an ancient people.
Let them declare what is to come, and what will happen.
8 Fear not, nor be afraid;
have I not told you from of old and declared it?
And you are my witnesses!
Is there a God besides me?
There is no Rock; I know not any.”
His holiness isn’t an attribute “above” the others, it is the superlative descriptive attribute because of the perfection of all his other attributes. As He is perfectly all of his attributes at once, he is vastly set apart from all other beings. Everything else owes its existence, its very ability to “be”, to the great I AM. The ones singing these words heard in heaven are glorified, sinless, created beings, and it is they who are proclaiming the holiness of God. It is not just that He is set apart from sinful man, but even from these glorious beings in heaven.
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.