"And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting Gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come; and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters." (Revelation 14:6-7) "He has made everything beautiful in its time." (Ecclesiastes 3:11) "He that planted the ear, shall He not hear? He that formed the eye, shall He not see? He that chastises the nations, shall He not correct, even He that teaches man knowledge?" (Psalm 94:9-10) "All the gods of the nations are idols; but the Lord made the heavens. Honor and majesty are before Him; strength and beauty are in His sanctuary." (Psalm 96:5-6) "One thing have I desired 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 behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in His temple." (Psalm 27:4) "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork." (Psalm 19:1) "You are fairer than the children of men; grace is poured into your lips." (Psalm 45:2) "His visage was so marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men." (Isaiah 52:11) "He has no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him." (Isaiah 53:2) "I will be as the dew unto Israel; he shall blossom as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon. His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree." (Hosea 14:5-6) "Let your work appear unto your servants, and your glory unto their children. And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us; and establish the work of our hands upon us." (Psalm 90:16-17) "Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin; And yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?" (Matthew 6:28-30) "For the Lord takes pleasure in His people; He will beautify the meek with salvation." (Psalm 149:4) "Awake, awake; put on your strength, O Zion; put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city; for henceforth there shall no more come into you the uncircumcised and the unclean." (Isaiah 52:1) "O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness." (Psalm 96:9) "Your eyes shall behold the King in His beauty." (Isaiah 33:17) "And there shall be no more curse; but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and His servants shall serve Him; And they shall see His face." (Revelation 22:3-4) "As for me, I will behold your face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with your likeness." (Psalm 17:15)
The invisible things of God, even His everlasting power and Divinity, are seen in the things that He has made. (Romans 1:20) "The heavens declare the glory of God." (Psalm 19:1)
So in the things that God has made, we see His own presence revealed. God puts himself into all His works. The Word which was in the beginning with God, and which was God, (John 1:1) and in which was life, (John 1:4) is the Word that made all things. "He is before all things, and in Him all things consist." (Colossians 1:17)
That is, they hold together. So it is from the life of the Lord that everything comes, and in that life that everything is upheld. "we are His offspring," (Acts 17:28) and the mountains, as well as the whole earth, were "brought forth" from His very being. (Psalm 90:2) Thus it is that everything that God has made bears His impress. "[He] has set His glory upon the heavens." (Psalm 8:1,RV)
Every faculty that any man has is but the working of God in him. If we do not put anything in the way,--if we do not refuse to be used by the Lord,--God will so work that everyone of our faculties shall be perfect. "He that planted the ear, shall He not hear? He that formed the eye, shall He not see? He that chastises the heathen, shall He not correct? He that teaches man knowledge, shall He not know?" (Psalm 94:9-10)
From this we learn that whatever faculties man has, God has them infinitely more perfect. Whatever man can do, God can do better. We see because God gives us sight--a portion of His own power of seeing. We hear because God uses our ears as instruments of His power to hear. So to the questions, "He that planted the ear, shall He not hear? He that formed the eye, shall He not see?" (Psalm 94:9)
We may add, "He that made all things beautiful, must He not be beautiful?"
Just as the invisible things of God are seen in that which He has made, and everything bears the stamp of His own life, in spite of the curse, so all the beauty that is seen in the universe is but the shining through of the beauty of the Lord.
Men's judgment concerning beauty has been very much perverted. They call many things beautiful, which are really ugly; and many things in which men see no beauty at all, are the very soul of beauty. "The Lord sees not as man sees; for man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart." (1 Samuel 16:7)
That is why when Christ, who is "fairer than the sons of men," (Psalm 45:2) came to this earth, He had "no beauty that men should desire Him" (Isaiah 53:2) when they looked upon Him. They looked at what He appeared to be, and not at what He really was.
Have you never had the experience of meeting with a person who at first seemed ugly, but who, after intimate acquaintance, was really beautiful? The first sight was not prepossessing, but when you saw what the person really was, the ugliness of feature was entirely forgotten. This shows that beauty of character is the only real beauty. The saints of God may be very plain outwardly, but when the hidden things are brought to light, then shall they shine forth in the beauty of holiness.
The beauty of Israel is as the beauty of the olive tree. An olive tree is one of the most gnarled, twisted, and ungainly of trees. It grows on hard, stony soil, and more often than not will have the appearance of an old willow tree that has been torn by storms until it is almost dead. Its beauty is the abundant crop of fruit that it bears, in the evidence that it shows of the richness of life in it. So the life of God in the soul is the real beauty of men, and that alone will constitute their beauty in the ages to come. "Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of ... the lilies of the field. ... Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, ... shall He not much more clothe you?" (Matthew 6:29,28,30)
"If God so clothe the grass." How does He clothe the lily? With His life that is in it, making it grow. The beautiful clothing of the lily is but the outward manifestation of the life within. The beauty is not put on from without, but comes from within. It is an essential part of the lily itself. Take the beauty away, and the lily is no more. Its beauty is God's life in it shining forth. Even so God will clothe all His children.
Strength and beauty are in the sanctuary of the Lord, because He is the perfection of beauty. So the one thing that the Psalmist desired was to "dwell in the house of the Lord,...to behold the beauty of the Lord." (Psalm 27:4)
He said, "I shall be satisfied when I awake, with your likeness." (Psalm 17:15)
Not, as some misread it, "When I awake in your likeness." No; the Psalmist had such a true sense of the beauty of the Lord, that he knew that the sight of the Lord's face would alone be perfect satisfaction. To be permitted to look at that face throughout eternity, will be the highest blessing that can be bestowed on men. Eternity will not be long enough to cause one to become tired of gazing on the face of the Lord. Each moment will reveal some new and glorious feature.
How may we form some idea of the beauty of the Lord? By looking at the things that He has made, and looking by faith, so that we can see Him in them.
Learn first that there is no real beauty in the universe except the beauty of the Lord. Then think of all the beauty of the grass, trees, and flowers. Add together the beauty of the forests and the meadows, the colors of the rainbow, and the glorious tints caused by the setting sun. In thinking of these, one almost forgets the beautiful plumage of the birds, but that must be added in, too. Who can conceive the marvelous beauty of all these combined?
But as these are only "parts of His ways," so all the beauty that is revealed in this earth, is but a single feature, as it were, of the beauty of the Lord. All the beauty of the stars, not simply as their many colors are revealed through the telescope, but as a close acquaintance would reveal it, and the beauty of the infinite number of worlds that cluster round these beautiful suns, is but the manifestation of the beauty of the Great King.
Ah, how much more meaning we can now see in that statement concerning the redeemed, "They shall see His face." (Revelation 22:4)
Not only when they stand in the place where the seraphim veil their eyes from the splendor of the glory, will the ransomed ones see His face, but wherever they wander in the great universe, the face of their Redeemer will shine out to them in all the wondrous beauty that everywhere appears. Who will not be satisfied?
What is the practical benefit of this lesson to us? Is it merely a matter of curiosity? Far from it. "We all, with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." (2 Corinthians 3:18)
It is the beholding of the beauty of the Lord as it is revealed to us in the things that He has made, that prepares us for the sight of His face when He comes. "He will beautify the meek with salvation." (Psalm 149:4)
The more we see and know of the marvelous beauty of the Lord, the more do we know of the power of His salvation. As we see the beauty that God has put into and upon the lower creation, we may form some idea of the beauty with which man, who was made to be creation's lord, will be clothed when he is restored to his own dominion.
And as we think of that, it is that we may know the perfection of the beauty of holiness which God has for us even now. Let us then pray with new and more enlightened faith, "Let your work appear unto your servants, and your glory unto their children. And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us; and establish the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish it." (Psalm 90:16-17)--Present Truth, December 15, 1898.