NOTES for Isa 6:3

In the Jerusalem temple the prophet Isaiah beholds the heavenly worship, in which bodiless beings eternally glorify the holiness of the Lord of Hosts. This angelic praise is precisely the fullest and complete opposite of sin. The life of heaven is concentrated in it because each of those who see the Lord sees all His beauty. The glorification of this beauty and holiness makes those who praise Him themselves partakers of the divine life. It is not that God forces the angels to praise Him. He does not need this song of praise. On earth, when we see something truly beautiful, we exclaim: "What a wonder! How wonderful!" The song of the seraphim is of exactly this kind; it is born of admiration and amazement at the divine perfections.

And it is also worthy of admiration and amazement that the seraphim say the whole earth is full of God's glory. This already has a direct bearing on us, on human beings. As the life of heaven passes in praise, so human life can pass in contemplation and wonder before the glory of God that fills the whole earth. The fact that the human gaze sees mostly what is bad, sees the world's imperfection and its damaged state, is the result of our own sin. Our heart is directed not toward seeing the good and giving thanks for it, but toward making claims. We can free ourselves from such a way of seeing and seek the manifestations of God's glory, and then the world will shine with utterly astonishing colors we had not even suspected.