"HOLY, HOLY, HOLY"
"Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts" (Isa. 6.3)
INTRO.: The first three words of this verse form the title and the first three words of each stanza in the hymn, "Holy, Holy, Holy" (#1 in Hymns for Worship, #59 in Sacred Selections for the Church). The text was written by Reginald Heber, who was born in Aor, 21, 1783, at Malpas in Cheshire, England, into a wealthy and cultured family. After his education at grammar school in Whitechurch, Bristow's select school in Neasdon, and Brasenose College in Oxford, he became an Anglican minister and served from 1807 to 1823 with his family's small church at Hodnet, near Shrewsbury, in Shropshire, western England. During these years, he produced nearly sixty hymns, the first one printed in the Christian Observer in 1811, including "The Son of God Goes Forth to War" and "From Greenland's Icy Mountains," most of which he never bothered to have published. About 1819 he began compiling his own collection.
In 1823, Heber accepted the post of bishop of Calcutta in India. His territory included Australia, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), and other islands. The heavier workload and triopical climate seemed to have worn on his health. Just three years after assuming his post, on Apr. 3, 1826, he preached on the evils of the caste system to a large audience at Trichonopoly. The crowd had to be assembled outdoors because of its exceptional size. Apparently suffering a touch of sun without realizing it, Heber returned to the house where he was staying and went for a bath in the guarded swimming pool. When he did not return for a meal sometime later, a servant was sent and found him drowned as the result of an apoplectic stroke at the age of 43. His body is buried in the Anglican Church at Trichonopoly.
The date usually given for this hymn is 1826 because that year it was first published posthumously in A Selection of Psalms and Hymns of the Parish Church at Banbury, third edition. However, it is believed to have been written during Heber's time at Hodnet, probably sometime between 1811 and 1823. A year after his death, his widow and some friends published a collection of 57 of his Hymns Written and Adapted to the Weekly Service of the Church Year as a tribute to his memory, including this one, undoubtedly his best known and most widely used. Tennyson called it the finest hymn ever written in the English language. The tune (Nicea) was composed for this text in 1861 by the noted English church musician and also an Anglican minister, John Bacchus Dyke (1823-1876). It first appeared in Hymns Ancient and Modern in 1861.
Among hymnbooks published by members of the Lord's church during the twentieth century for use, the song appeared in the 1921 Great Songs of the Church (No. 1) and the 1937 Great Songs of the Church No. 2 both edited by E. L. Jorgenson; the 1935 Christian Hymns (No. 1), the 1948 Christian Hymns No. 2, and the 1966 Christian Hymns No. 3 all edited by L. O. Sanderson; the 1963 Abiding Hymns edited by Robert C. Welch; and the 1963 Christian Hymnal edited by J. Nelson Slater. Today it may be found in the 1971 Songs of the Church, the 1990 Songs of the Church 21st C. Ed., and the 1994 Songs of Faith and Praise all edited by Alton H. Howard; the 1978/1983 Church Gospel Songs and Hymns edited by V. E. Howard; the 1986 Great Songs Revised edited by Forrest M. McCann; and the 1992 Praise for the Lord edited by John P. Wiegand; in addition to Hymns for Worship, Sacred Selections, and the 2007 Sacred Songs of the Church edited by John P. Wiegand.
The hymn describes several characteristics of God for which we praise Him.
I. Stanza 1 says that He is holy
"Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty! Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee;
Holy, Holy, Holy, Merciful and Mighty! God in Three persons, blessed Trinity!"
A. The Bible has always described God as holy: Lev. 19.2
B. Thus, men must recognize that He is a holy God: Josh. 24.19
C. And we sing to God because He is infinitely holy: 1 Pet. 1.14-15
II. Stanza 2 speaks of His eternity
"Holy, Holy, Holy, All the saints adore Thee, Casting down their golden crowns around the glassy (crystal) sea;
Cherubim and seraphim, falling down before Thee, Who wert, and art, and evermore shalt be."
A. The Bible speaks of God as being everlasting in nature: Gen. 21.33, Psa. 90.1-2
B. The very name by which God chose to call Himself (Jehovah, which is related to the phrase, "I AM WHO I AM") means the eternal one: Exo. 3.13-14, 6.2-3
C. We adore God because He is the one "Who was and is and is to come": Rev. 4.8
III. Stanza 3 reminds us that He is perfect
"Holy, Holy, Holy, Though the darkness hide Thee, Though the eye of sinful man Thy glory may not see,
Only Thou art holy; there is none beside Thee Perfect in power, in love, and purity."
A. He is perfect in His love: Mt. 5.43-48
B. He is also perfect in His purity or righteousness: Ezra 9.15, Psa. 112.4, Dan. 9.14
C. And because of this perfection, we should give Him "Blessing and honor and glory and power": Rev. 5.8
IV. Stanza 4 tells us that He is omnipotent
"Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty! All Thy works shall praise Thy name in earth and sky and sea;
Holy, Holy, Holy! Merciful and Mighty! God in Three persons, blessed Trinity!"
A. God's omnipotence is seen in the fact that He created all things: Gen. 1.1
B. And the very works that God created praise His name: Psa. 19.1-6, 145.1-7
C. The omnipotent one who "created all things alone" is worthy of such praise: Rev. 4.11
CONCL.: The last line of stanzas 1 and 4, "God in three Persons, blessed Trinity," was first changed to, "God over all, and blest eternally," by the Baptists in their Hymn Tune and Service Book of 1879. Beginning with Great Songs of the Church, many, though not necessarily all, of our songbooks have followed suit, apparently objecting to the term "Trinity" because it is not found in the Bible. If we use the word "Trinity" simply to mean that there is one God existing in three divine persons, which is clearly taught in the scriptures (Matthew 28:19, Acts 17:29), I personally do not see that there should be any problem with it. This eternal, perfect, and omnipotent Godhead or Trinity is certainly worthy of our adoration, blessing, honor, glory, and power, as we sing, "Holy, Holy, Holy."