"One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple."
Psalm 27:4
"On the glorious splendor of your majesty, and on your wondrous works, I will meditate."
Psalm 145:5
“In your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore”
Psalm 16:11
Two of my favorite places in the world and the most beautiful places I have ever been are Hanalei Bay on the island of Kauai and in Kings Canyon National Park by Boyden Cave. Oh how many days I have surfed at Hanaleiand and sat out in the water looking out over the panorama all across the western horizon with beautiful waterfall cascades throughout the majestic green mountains of the North Shore of Kauai coupled with the beautiful perfect waves of Hanalei Bay and all the sea life. Many times I would sit on my surfboard out in the water with a smile on my face and just breathe it all in and take it all in all the colors and the life and the feeling of being so alive.
The other place is on the Boydon Cave trail in Kings Canyon National Park. When hiking there you pass the cave and walk about 2 miles through this narrow canyon full of cascading pools each a little higher than the next that lead to a beautiful waterfall. It used to be the highlight of all the retreats I took youth groups, college groups, singles groups, and my church for 33 years. I'd lead the group to hike up to these pools and we'd spend the day there. Sometimes the trail was overgrown with poison ivy and it was always an adventure to get there but it was well worth it. Once we reached the main pool where people would sun, dive, and swim I would always spend precious and unforgettable time observing the majestic surroundings al around the pool. As I observed the forest and the majestic mountains that surrounded and created the hidden solitude of these pools, I cannot explain the affect that taking this all in had upon me. I would often be left breathless by the splendor of those mountains and trees and pools surrounding me and my vision. It's as though I'd been granted a brief glimpse of the splendor of the new earth would look like in the ages to come. The best description I could say of what would happen to me was that I was captivated by such beauty. No matter how many times I spent at those pools I never stopped being drawn and moved by such beauty.
There are many things viewed by our eyes that have the power to evoke delight in our hearts. We could say the same thing about things we hear such as a beautiful song. There is also the beauty of a scent such as that of a flower, perfume, or the fragrance of the ocean when you know you are close to it.
What makes something beautiful? Sam Storms defines it this way:
"Whatever is done is that surprises and takes our breath away; whether it is the golden glow of a lingering sunset, the cavernous depths of the Grand Canyon, or the inaugural steps of a firstborn child. Beauty is whatever causes our hearts to beat with increasing repeatedly and sends chills down our spines or causes goosebumps to rise on our arms. Beauty is whatever stirs up worth in the human Spirit and enables us to feel the dignity of self in the hope of tomorrow."
But beauty can also be acts of courage, compassion, kindness, virtue, generosity, or self-sacrifice. But what of God? Can we speak of him as beautiful?
To me God is beauty itself, the source of all beauty. Augustine put it this way: "God is my father, supremely good, beauty of all things beautiful."
Our response to a beautiful sunset, an inspiring action, the grandeur of the mountains, or a captivating song stir in me the realization that God desires no less, and indeed far more, from all of us in our relationship with him. God's revelatory manifestation of himself in creation, providence, in scripture, and preeminently in the face of his son, Jesus Christ, is designed to evoke within our souls the breathtaking delight and incomparable joy to which God alone is worthy. Beauty is that in God which makes him eminently desirable and attractive and quickens in our soul a realization that it was made for a different world.
God, the source of all beauty, suddenly pulled back the curtain on his glory, which is his beauty made manifest. He has disclosed Himself into the creation and redemption in order that we might stand full of wonder in his presence, beholding the sweet symmetry of his attributes, pondering the unfathomable depths of his greatness, amazed by the wisdom of his deeds, and awestruck by the limitless extent of his goodness. This is his beauty!
God's beauty is perfect, absolute, and independent. All other beauty is is a derivative of the creators beauty. Therefore,as beautiful as it is, it is only beautiful in a secondary sense and only to the degree that it reflects the excellencies of God and fulfills the purpose but which he made what is beautiful. The Spirit of God communicates God's beauty to this world through creation.
"The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard."
Psalm 19:1-3
But whatever beauty we see now is what I feed echo of the invisible realm from which it came, a dim fortaste in anticipation of the beauty of the world to come. Fourth century church father, Gregory of nicer put it this way:
"Hope always draws the soul from the beauty which is seen to what is beyond, always kills the desire for the hidden to what is constantly perceived. Therefore, the ardent lover of beauty, although receiving what is always visible as an image of what he desires, he longs to be filled with a very stamp of the arch type. And the bold request which goes up the mountains of desire asks this: to enjoy the beauty not in mirrors and reflections, but face to face."
It was never God's plan for me to worship Kings Canyon, Hanalei Bay, or anything that he has made; but to see in and through all these things a glimpse of the glory that yet awaits me.
CS Lewis reminds us that,
"the books are the music in which we thought the beauty was located will betray us if we trust to them; it was not in them, it only came through them, and what came through them was longing. These things, the beauty, the memory of our own past, are good images of what we really desire; but if they are mistakes for the thing itself, they turn into dumb idols, breaking the hearts of their worshipers. For they are not the thing itself; they are only the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of the tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never visited."
When we encounter divine beauty, it is more than merely enjoyable, it is profoundly transforming. The apostle Paul says that this encounter of seeing Christ is the very means a change or is John piper put it be holding is the way of becoming. Paul alluded to this in 2 Corinthian's 3:18 when he says, "And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit."
His point is that what we see is what we be! When you see the beauty of Christ his beauty takes hold of is and awakens us to the reality of it being whode beauty we are being called to and conformed to by his gracious initiative. God's beauty has the power to dislodge from our hearts all that is ugly and unattractive and awakens us to embrace all that is beautiful, lovely, and God like. God's beauty has the power to dislodge from our hearts the grip of all moral and spiritual ugliness. When we engage with heavenly beauty it elicits love and forges us new affections that no earthly power can ever overcome. Light of Christ beauty also exposes all those things that once captivated our hearts but we find out our incomparable to the beauty that we find in him. Not only that we discover the destructive powers of all those lesser beauties that once captured the desires of our hearts.
King David's passion was to see and behold this beauty. I am not trying to take away the joy and delight that you have in seeing, hearing, and sensing beautiful things. What I'm challenging you to do this is to see that the essence of Christianity is raising your eyes to the source of all beauty the beautiful one Jesus Christ!
Jonathan Edwards said it this way,
"there is a very great delight the Christian enjoys in the sight he has of the glory and excellency of God. How many arts and contrivances have men to delight the eye of the body. Men take the light in the beholding a great cities, splendid buildings, and stately palaces. And what delight is often taken in the beholding of a beautiful face. May we not well conclude that great delights may also be taking in pleasing the eye of the mind in seeing the most beautiful, most glorious, the most wonderful being in the world?
The answer is YES! That sort of true happiness and sin killing spiritual delight rises from the sight or apprehension of the most beautiful being in the universe who is preeminently excellent.
To be continued...
No comments:
Post a Comment