1. Revelation 4:8 (ESV)
  2. Exposition

Why is "holy" repeated three times?

Revelation 4:8 (ESV)

8 And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!”

Through their repeated reference to holy (the threefold is the Hebrew way of saying most holy), these four living creatures described God as separate and different from them, totally unique and in a class completely of his own. And it is precisely because he is in a class of his own that he is worthy of the throne and the adoration of those around the throne.