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.)
John 6:44 is a lovely statement of God’s beneficent beauty: “No man can come to Me, except the Father Which hath sent Me draw him, and I will raise him up at the last day.” This beauty is more than skin-deep; in fact, it penetrates not only our thick skin but also our thick skulls. God works within each one of us through the conscience to convict of sin and to convince of the need for the Savior, Jesus Christ. The Bible makes it clear that the conscience can be corrupted. I Corinthians 8:7 tells us that the conscience can be “defiled,” and I Timothy 4:2 warns us of a “conscience seared with a hot iron.” Certainly, then, we can ignore the conscience. However, the good news is that we can be “sprinkled from an evil conscience” (Hebrews 10:22) and can “purge [the] conscience from dead works to serve the living God” (Hebrews 9:14); moreover, “a good conscience” (I Timothy 1:5) can become what I Timothy 3:9 calls “a pure conscience.” It should not surprise us that God’s beauty reaches into the very being of each person. We should, though, reflect upon the beautiful thoroughness of God, Who leaves no stony heart unturned as He seeks to attract us to Himself.