Beholding The Beauty Of Christ: A Blessed Paradox
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Beholding the Beauty of Christ: A Blessed Paradox
Introduction
Central verse Psalms 27:4 “One thing have I
desired of the Lord, That will I seek: That I
may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days
of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord,
and to inquire in His temple.”
The word “Beauty” as used here by David is the
word “noam” which means splendor or
agreeableness.
What makes Jesus Christ so admirable, precious,
so beautiful, and so glorious is what Jonathan
Edwards calls “an admirable conjunction of
diverse excellencies.” The beauty and excellence
of Christ is not a simple thing. It is a unique
coming together in one person of extremely
diverse qualities. Jesus has a glory in Himself
that has a combing of attributes that would seem
impossible in one person. He is unique, one of a
kind. There is no one and nothing we could
compare Him to. He is “Incomparable because in
Him meet infinite glory and lowest humility,
infinite majesty and transcendent meekness,
deepest reverence toward God and equality with
God, infinite worthiness of good and greatest
patience to suffer evil, supreme dominion and
exceeding obedience, divine self-sufficiency and
childlike trust.” The Beauty and Excellency of
Jesus is a coming together in one person of the
perfect balance and proportion of extremely
diverse qualities. He is a blessed paradox. I
would like to explore 3 paradoxes of Jesus.
Paradox 1: Infinite Glory and Lowest Humility
Phil 2:5-7 “Let this mind be in you which was
also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of
God, did not consider it robbery to be equal
with God, but made Himself of no reputation
taking on the form of a bondservant, and coming
in the likeness of men.”
First, let us consider the infinite glory of
Jesus.
John 1:1,14 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Vs. 14 “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”
Jesus was as much God as the Father and Holy Spirit. He testified of this in John 8:58 when He was being questioned by the Jews, He states “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.” He is the word of God made Flesh.
Romans 8:34 Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father.
Rev. 4:8-11 The living creatures give no rest day or night praising Him who sits on the throne. The 24 elders cast down their crowns in adoration saying that He is worthy to receive glory and honor and power.
Rev. 5:12-13 The Lamb who was slain is worthy to receive all glory.
The Lowest Humility
John 5:30b “I do not seek my own will but
the will of the Father who sent me.”
Isaiah 53 He is the suffering servant. He
humbles Himself to be despised and rejected
by men. He would bear our sins and not
raise His voice. And not only that but vs.
10 says that it pleased the Father to crush
Him and put Him to grief that Jesus
soul would be made an offering for sin.
Jesus humbled Himself to the point of the
cross. He allowed us to beat, bruise, whip,
and crucify Him all for love.
Jesus was the God-man. He was worthy to
receive all praise, honor, and glory. He
was, is, and will eternally be God. He
deserved nothing but praise because He is
infinite glory yet He came in lowest
humility as a servant to us and the supreme
sacrifice for us all.
We can see His beauty in the blessed
paradox of His worth but His willingness to
put on flesh, humble Himself to death on a
cross, and become our Great High Priest.
Paradox 2: The God-man Jesus
Jesus was fully God
We established this somewhat in the
previous point but lets go a little
deeper. Colossians 2:9 states “For in Him
dwells all the fullness of the Godhead
bodily.”
John 1:14 He is the only begotten of the