True Beauty

We declare it in song all the time:

“Come see the beauty of the Lord!”
"Oh Lord You're Beautiful!"
"Jesus, how can I tell you how beautiful you are to me?"
"Beatutiful one I love!  Beautiful one I adore!  Beautiful one I adore!"
"O Beautiful of Heaven, O Sovereign God transcendent"
"There is no other God but You; There is no other more beautiful."

We proclaim Christ to be the "lily of the valley," "the fairest of ten thousand," and "altogether lovely."

But, when I first think of the "beauty of Christ" the first verse that pops into my head is Isaiah 53:2:

"He had no form or majesty that we should look at him,

and no beauty that we should desire him."

According to this Jesus was not physically attractive--nothing striking or gorgeous about him as he dwelt on earth.  But, all of heaven is enamored with his beauty.  Isn't it a wonderful, sweet paradox!?! 

As I think about the Beauty of Christ, I find myself woefully incompent to write about it.  As my fingers search out the keys to hit, my heart swells with adoration that cannot be expressed in ten thousand words.

So, let me share some quotes I enjoy on this topic:

Words cannot depict the preciousness of the Lord Jesus Christ to His people, nor can they fully tell how essential He is to their satisfaction and happiness!



As the river seeks the sea, so Lord Jesus, I seek You!

O let me find You and melt my life into Yours forever!
(Spurgeon)

~*~*~*~

There is a thing called 'beauty', which prevails upon the hearts of men. Mighty men, not a few, have bowed before it and paid it homage. But if you want true beauty, look into the face of Jesus,for there you have the concentration of all loveliness.



There is no beauty anywhere but in Christ.

O sun, you are not fair, when once compared with Him.

O fair world and grand creation of a glorious God, you are but a dim and dusky blot compared with the splendors of His face.

When we shall see Christ, we shall be compelled to say that we never knew what loveliness was before. When the clouds are swept away, when the curtains which hide Him from our view are drawn aside, we shall find that not anything we have seen or heard of, grand or graceful, in the wide universe, will bear a moment's comparison with Him, who was once seen as a root out

of a dry ground, but shall presently fill heaven and earth with luster and gladden all hearts with His glory.

(Spurgeon, emphasis mine)

~*~*~*~

The longer we look on 'created gaieties', the leaner and less lovely they
grow; so that, by
the time we have viewed them forty, fifty, or sixty years--we see nothing but vanity in the creature! But when ten thousand ages are employed in beholding the perfection and beauty of Jesus--He still appears more and more lovely--even altogether lovely!

(James Meikle, emphasis mine)

~*~*~*~

Not only is his teaching attractive, his doctrine persuasive, his life irreproachable, his character enchanting, and his work a self-denying labor for the common good of all his people, but he himself is altogether lovely.



Do not look for anything lovely outside of Jesus, for he has all the loveliness.



All perfections are in him making up one consummate perfection; and all the loveliness which is to be seen elsewhere is but a reflection of his own unrivalled charms.



Jesus is the monopolizer of all loveliness.



He is the engrosser of all that is admirable in the entire universe.

(Spurgeon, emphasis mine)

And, let me end with more of Meikle's words because they capture my sentiments exactly:

Alas! I can say nothing of His true excellencies! They overwhelm my laboring thought, and are too vast for my feeble conception to bring forth!