PSALM 27:4 – 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.”
In reading today’s scripture, ask the question. . . “Is this my desire come Sunday morning and I get ready for church?” David, known as a “man after God’s own heart”, reveals what is the pinnacle of worship, the height of adoration, the chief pursuit of the Christian life; and will forever be the chief occupation in heaven – to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord.
What is this beauty? First and chief, the beauty of His holiness. This revelation came to the disciples Peter, James and John on the Mount of Transfiguration – And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light (Matthew 17:1-2). Another account of encountering the radiant beauty of Christ’s holiness occurred with the Apostle John in the opening chapter of the Revelation – Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength(Revelation 1:12-16). Yet, how would we really know we are beholding the holy beauty of Christ? I know the real answer is “We just know” and that is true. There is no possible way to mistake being in the Presence of Him who is radiant in holy, holy, holy beauty, but the affirming evidence will be our response. For the disciples on the Mount of Transfiguration? They were terrified (Mark 9:6). This was a terror of humility, of being undone, like Isaiah in chapter six of his book. And for the Apostle John and the Revelation? When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as though dead(Revelation 1:17). If the Lord is revealing Himself to us in the splendor and majesty of His holy beauty, we will be a people of few words, great praise, gripped with a humility that produces true worship. Our times in church will be transforming not boring or enduring.
Another way to bask in the beauty of the Lord Jesus in church or for that matter anywhere is by meditating on His glorious Gospel. Take time soon, alone and undistracted, and read, pray through the clearest definition of the Gospel – Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep(1 Corinthians 15:1-6). Go over and over in our minds what Christ did, how God showed us what He did in the scripture, and then how the Spirit of God applied what He did in changing, saving us. That is beautiful beyond words!
So, the Lord’s Day is coming soon. Let’s come like David with an earnest desire to behold the beauty of the Lord in His holiness and His Gospel.
PRAYER: “Father, grant that I might have a deepening hunger to learn how to behold the glory and beauty of Your Son.”
QUOTE: “The whole of the Christian life is Christ; to marvel over Him, long for Him, to be like Him. He is the Christian life.”
Because of Him,
Pastor Jim