The Long-Expected Beauty of Jesus Messiah

The Long-Expected Beauty of Jesus Messiah: Meditations from the Hebrew Bible.

“To meditate is to read a text and to learn it ‘by heart’ in the fullest sense of this expression, that is with one’s whole being: with the body since the mouth pronounced it; with the memory which fixes it; with the intelligence which understands its meaning; and with the will which desires to put it into practice.” (Jean Leclerq).

BEAUTY: The quality of outstanding excellence in appearance, in usefulness, in moral character, in creative expression; brings delight to the senses; well-designed and constructed; a harmony that reflects creation; extremely attractive; that which inspires awe, wonder, admiration, praise; profoundly pleasing; an act of pure goodness; the presence of loveliness and grace; something exquisite in form, function, and proportion; that which contains glory and splendor.

Towb. The Hebrew word “towb” is translated many times as good, beautiful, excellent, life-giving, or perfectly useful.  Thus, God’s refrain in the creation story of Genesis 1-2 could be translated as “And God saw that it was beautiful, excellent, exactly the way I wanted it!” God’s creative handiwork has been accepted by believers ever since as an absolute standard for beauty. Also, when Yahweh told Moses that His “goodness” would pass before him there on Mt. Sinai (Ex. 33:19), a legitimate alternative reading would be that Yahweh Lord caused all of His “beauty” to pass before Moses. Lord Yahweh then proceeded to reveal His essential character of mercy, compassion, patience, forgiveness, and faithfulness (Ex. 34:6-7). Ever since, God’s moral character centered on His love has been another absolute standard of true beauty. God’s beauty is truly His goodness. Because God is worshipped as beautiful, we are taught to “Taste and see the beauty of the Lord” (Ps. 34:8). It’s clear to anyone with eyes of faith that Creator God is the source of the world’s beauty, as He is with truth and goodness. Carrying this further, the Son of God, Jesus Christ, was God in the flesh and was likewise filled with beauty and went about doing beautiful things on earth.

(A prayer before reading the Word) “God of truth, I ask that I may receive, so that my joy may be full. Meanwhile let my mind meditate on it, let my tongue speak of it, let my heart love it, let my mouth preach it, let my soul hunger for it, my flesh thirst for it, and my whole being desire it, until I enter into the joy of my Lord, who is God, one and triune, blessed forever. Amen.” (St. Anselm).

Thoughts from the Hebrew Bible on the beauty of the coming Messiah:

“In that day the Branch of the Lord will be beautiful and glorious, and the splendor of the earth will give dignity and majesty to the remnant, the fruit will be excellent and appealing to the remnant of Israel. And it will come about that he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy – everyone who is written for eternal life in Jerusalem.” (Isaiah 4:2-3).

“At that time the LORD of the Angel Armies who rules over all will Himself be a glorious crown of splendor. He will be a beautiful wreath for the remnant of his people. He will be the spirit of justice to their judges, and He will give great courage to their warriors who stand at the gates” (Isaiah 28:5).

‘Your eyes will behold the King in His perfection of beauty. The Lord in majesty will be for us a place of broad rivers and streams, and they will behold a land that stretches far. For the Lord is our King; He will save us.” (Isaiah 33:17).

“I am pleading with the Lord Eternal for this one thing – this is my soul’s desire: To dwell with Him all of my days in the shadow of His temple, and to gaze with complete focus upon the sweet and delightful beauty of the Lord as I ponder His wisdom in the company of His people.” (Psalm 27:4).

“O Lord our God, let your sweet loveliness and delightful beauty rest upon us and give us favor.” (Psalm 90:17).

Dwelling on His Beauty. It’s not enough to simply appreciate or admire the beauty of Christ. Instead, we need to fix our eyes on Jesus and His beauty, to gaze upon Him and worship His beauty, to allow His beauty to be formative in our lives. David exclaims in Psalm 24:7 that he has ‘one thing’ he wants more than anything else, there is one thing that would help form and direct his life… “to gaze with complete focus upon the sweet and delightful beauty of the Lord.” There’s a good chance that centering our life on the beauty of Christ, of worshiping His beauty, of allowing His beauty to change our lives into one like His, is indeed our ‘one thing most needful.’