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.)
Following upon yesterday’s study of Psalm 90:17, we turn to Psalm 110. In verse 3, David, the bard of battle, sings of “the beauties of holiness.” The word picture of this verse is of a mighty, vigorous army, ready to serve the Lord God. The context of the entire Psalm is Messianic; for example, verse 1 is quoted 18 times in the New Testament, all pointing to Jesus. I sometimes refer to this psalm as the Jesus Psalm or the Song of Jesus. Clearly, Jesus’ beauty of holiness is the basis for any spiritual attractiveness in His people. Verse 1 reveals the beauty of Jesus because He is fully God and became fully man (while retaining His full deity, of course). “LORD” is the Hebrew “Yahweh”; “Lord” is “Adonai” in Hebrew. David poses a dilemma: who could be His “Adonai”? David was king of all Israel; who could possibly be his “Lord”? Jesus answers this perplexing problem in Matthew 22:41-46. Jesus is a descendant of David (verse 45 “his son”); however, He is also “Lord,” meaning that He is God. Note the dumbfounded response of the people in verse 46. Their reticence is understandable: who could have thought of this unique joining of human flesh and divine nature? Not David, for he did not have a comprehension of the Trinity. Only the actual Authur of Scripture (II Peter 1:21), God the Holy Spirit, could know of the eternal relationship of God the Father (“LORD”) and God the Son (“Lord”); Acts 2:32-36 specifically connects Father, Son, and Spirit in the foretelling and fulfillment of Psalm 110:1. The intricacy and simplicity of Jesus’ explanation is stunningly attractive.