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.)
God is beautiful, attracting us to Himself in multiple ways. Jesus spoke about this lovely truth in John 6:44: “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.” One method that God employs to attract us is the accuracy and reliability of the Bible. Many of us have read through the entirety of God’s Word, faithfully plodding through genealogies and geographical descriptions, struggling to pronounce the unusual names and hoping to gain some insight that has eluded us in past readings of these passages. We know that this level of detail is important, and we are strengthened in our faith as we contemplate the fact that God knows each person and place completely. For some, though, history is a primary means of God’s drawing power. For example, a cousin of mine always loved history. Even after high school, he read book after book about history. One day, he picked up the Bible, with which he was unacquainted. After reading for some time, he said to himself, “This is history!” Eventually, he placed his faith in Jesus Christ, God the Son. God took this man’s interest in history and used it to draw him to eternal salvation. God’s mastery of history was especially beautiful to this man. May we rejoice in our God, Who seeks and saves.