In previous articles, we have considered the beauty of God as present in his being, found in his attributes, and emphasised in his holiness. We continue to look at two final aspects.
Creation: God’s handwriting
Ralph Waldo Emerson was a 19th century American pantheist who advocated transcendental meditation, but in his early life he was greatly influenced by Christian teaching.
He clearly remembered that when he wrote: ‘Never lose the opportunity of seeing anything beautiful, beauty is God’s handwriting.’ Even the pop singer Michael Jackson knew something of the truth when he said: ‘Wherever you go, man-made things are man-made, but you’ve got to get out and see God’s beauty in the world.’
I shall never forget the experience with our teenage son during a father-and-son weekend in the Lake District. We had climbed the fells above Buttermere and stood looking down on the vista of the shimmering lake below. It was a clear, bright day and we stood in awed silence, taking in the view. I became aware that there were tears running down his cheeks. ‘Are you okay?’ I asked. All he said was, ‘It’s so beautiful!’
Created beauty is a wonderful thing to behold; even the evolutionist and the atheist can see beauty in the natural world. Any viewer of the iconic BBC wildlife documentaries, with commentary by Sir David Attenborough, would agree with us. But it is the Christian, with their Bible open, as well as their eyes and ears open, who sees and hears so much more.
In Psalm 19, the Psalmist David tells us of how the heavens ‘declare’, how the firmament ‘shows’, how the day ‘utters speech’ and the night ‘reveals’. They all have a voice! It is as if they are all speaking loudly, 24 hours a day. They are telling every man, woman, boy, and girl what Solomon tells us in Ecclesiastes 3:11, that God has ‘made everything beautiful in its time’.
Despite its fallen state, creation still speaks of the beauty of the one who created it. Augustine said, ‘If beauty delights you – what is more beautiful than the Maker?’ Even in a fallen and broken world, where sin and its effects are rampant, the Christian can hear and see the beauty of God as declared in his handiwork.
The Apostle Paul tells us that this world is ‘groaning and labouring’ (Romans 8:22), waiting for its final redemption. But it still has a voice that is loud enough, and a brightness that is glorious enough, to speak of the beauty of its Creator. While we have the opportunity, we need to get out more!
The beauty of Christ
Finally, we come full circle to where we began in our first article. The ultimate revelation of God is in the Person of his Son Jesus Christ. The heavens and the earth might declare and speak, but it is Christ as revealed in his Word that is God’s supreme revelation of himself to men and women. The beautiful God is revealed in the beautiful Saviour.
Hebrews 1:1-3 confirms this to us: ‘God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by his Son, whom he has appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the worlds; who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high.’
The revelation of the beauty of God came to earth through the incarnation. The Apostle John expresses it in his declaration of true amazement: ‘…we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth’ (John 1:14). The Apostle Paul helps us further: he is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation (Colossians 1:15).
In using the word ‘glory’ (Greek: doxa), John is expressing an intense ‘beauty’ word, the same expression as that used in Luke 2:9 speaking of the ‘glory of the Lord’ appearing to the shepherds on the night of Jesus’ birth, a beauty that is so glorious that it made the shepherds ‘sore afraid’ (KJV). In all his revealed beauty, Jesus Christ is the ‘pearl of greatest price’.
It is the beauty of Christ, as the heavenly bridegroom, that attracts the bride to him. The church is that bride. One day, the church will be prepared, perfected, and ready to be joined completely and eternally to her Saviour-bridegroom. The final chapters of Revelation fill us with the joy of anticipation of that glorious day to come.
The Song of Solomon, tenderly and intimately, also provides us with a sublime description of the spiritual beauty of both bridegroom and bride. In Song 5:9, a question is asked of us, as lovers of the Saviour: ‘What is your beloved more than another beloved?’ What follows by way of response is a most wonderful poetic and symbolic description of the beauty of the heavenly bridegroom – our Saviour – the Lord Jesus.
My beloved is white and ruddy, chief among ten thousand.
His head is like the finest gold; His locks are wavy, and black as a raven.
His eyes are like doves by the rivers of waters, washed with milk, and fitly set.
His cheeks are like a bed of spices, banks of scented herbs. His lips are lilies, dripping liquid myrrh.
His hands are rods of gold set with beryl. His body is carved ivory inlaid with sapphires.
His legs are pillars of marble set on bases of fine gold. His countenance is like Lebanon, excellent as the cedars. His mouth is most sweet,
Yes, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend.
When we see him face to face in glory, the poetic expressions will be replaced by the eternal reality – a prospect that Frederick Faber speaks of with true wonder:
Father of Jesus, love’s reward,What rapture will it be, Prostrate before Thy throne to lie,And ever gaze on Thee!
Before that time comes, we need to know him more!
