God Is Beautiful
For many years (a phrase which seems to introduce almost everything I say or write these days), I have thought about and preached on the subject of the beauty of God. I have never heard anyone teach on the subject, but I did through the decades come across two written sermons on the topic, “The Beauty of the Lord” by J. D. Jones and “Are There Shortcuts to the Beauty of Holiness?” (the short answer is “No!”) by A. W. Tozer. More recently, I read a review of a scholarly article about the American preacher Jonathan Edwards (of “sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” fame) that mentioned in passing that the beauty of God was one of the great themes in his preaching. I was thus encouraged that I have not headed off on an unprofitable tangent. In simple terms, beauty is that which attracts, causes a favorable interest, and creates an affinity. Such real, eternal beauty is found in our God. (I will be using this opening paragraph for each of the brief messages in this series. The following material will change daily.)
Yesterday, we saw from Isaiah 53:2 that beauty is not primarily physical. Of course, since God is God of all, external beauty can redound to the glory of God. May wife is, obviously, the great modern example, and all God’s people said, “Amen!” We find an Old Testament illustration of this principle in Exodus 19:21. On Mt. Sinai, God said to Moses, “Go down, charge the people, lest they break through unto the Lord to gaze, and many of them perish.” The people were drawn by the physical manifestations of God’s immediate presence – by the sheer physical beauty – and wanted to see more. This desire was not sinful; however, it was not the time to see God face to face, as we will in heaven (I Corinthians 13:12) if our faith is in God the Son, Jesus Christ. The people were, though, being prepared for the beautiful revelation of God’s character that was and is found in the Mosaic Law. Thus, physical beauty was being employed by God to ready the people to receive the written spiritual beauty of His Law. May we admire and adore this God Who is so blessedly and consistently beautiful.