Prophet Isaiah (right) has a hot coal held to his lips by an angel with blue skin wielding a pair of fire tongs. Depiction of the celestial purification described in Chapter 6 of the Hebrew Bible / Old Testament Book of Isaiah. Stained glass window in the Oude Kerk or Old Church in Delft, South Holland, Netherlands. One of 25 windows by renowned stained glass artist Joep Nicolas (1897-1972) installed in the Oude Kerk in the 20th century.
Delft, South Holland, Netherlands: a blue-skinned celestial being, a six-winged angel holding a pair of fire tongs, purifies the biblical Prophet Isaiah by touching his lips with a glowing hot coal, taken from the altar of the Throne of God and held in a pair of fire tongs. This modern stained glass depiction of a passage in Chapter 6 of the Hebrew Bible / Old Testament Book of Isaiah was created for one of the windows lighting the medieval Oude Kerk or Old Church in Delft. In the King James Bible version of Isaiah 6, the prophet describes a vision in which he sees God sitting on a high throne, attended by six-winged high-ranking angels or seraphim. He cries out: “Woe is me for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. “Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.” The Gothic former Roman Catholic Oude Kerk, founded in 1246, is Delft’s oldest church. A devastating fire in 1536 and the Dutch Thunderclap, a massive gunpowder explosion in 1654, destroyed all of its medieval stained glass; most of the windows were then either bricked up or filled with plain glass. A total of 27 new stained glass windows were inserted as the church underwent years of restoration beginning in 1949. Renowned stained glass artist Joep Nicolas (1897-1972) was responsible for 25 of the colourful designs, with the final two completed after his death. They depict Dutch historical events as well as biblical stories.
Size: 3008px × 2000px
Location: Delft, South Holland, Netherlands.
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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