Imagine
every beautiful thing you can; the bluest sky, the endless ocean; the brilliant
stars; the newborn baby; the highest snow capped mountain; a reunion between a
soldier returning to his mother; an innocent man released from prison; a life
saving operation. Imagine them all lifted high within your imagination and
draped in emotion and sentimental passion. Think about anything and everything
that can be called beautiful. And let your mind collect them all and see them
expanded beyond human comprehension. Let them soar beyond any human thought.
Let them all escape the bounds of mental and emotional understanding and like a
dove set them free from limits.
Even if the
word beautiful is stretched out until it rolls beyond the horizons of our
closed eyed creativity, it can never even brush up against the resplendence,
the loveliness, and the eternal beauty we will see that first moment when we
open heavenly eyes and look upon Him. Only by His grace and power will we be
able to stand under the weight of His matchless glory.
O worship the Lord in the beauty
of holiness: fear before him, all the earth.
His beauty is powerful, and
awesome, and fearful, There is none like Him and all created beings will come
before Him and bow. Look upon His face and you will see power and glory and
blessing and grace. And His beauty will be the force of heaven. On that day we
will reject everything we had thought was beautiful in our former lives. But if
you gaze upon the beauty of His face and allow your new eyes to squint as you
worship, this beauty will seem to be magnified again and again. And in His
beauty you will find its source.
Love…framed in blood.
Pastor Rick, I was just imagining this morning what I am going to experience the very first time I lay eyes on our Lord and Savior, with His majesty and beauty... and about two hours later, I open your website and see the title of today's commentary - The Beauty of Jesus. Amazing!!!!!!!!!!! Hayley Westenra has the voice of an angel. This music brought tears to my eyes. Beautiful! Thank you for your message.
ReplyDeleteI recall a sermon I heard once about last days prophecy. It was about the multitudes from the great tribulation who John saw in heaven, which no one could number, of all nation's, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, aying, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!"
ReplyDeleteWhat the minister was trying to show us was how magnificent it would be to witness this and to stand at the throne....."And He who sits on the throne will dwell among them. They shall neither hunger anymore nor thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, not any heat, for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."
The verse this minister focused most on was....."When He opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour."
I believe the truth was so powerful that no one could move a thought or a muscle. This happens just before the angels blow the seven trumpets. But what is so striking about how awesome God is, is that no one could make a sound for half an hour. No worship, speaking, singing, just silence, because God is so ???? (no words that I can describe here). I always remember this and thought what God must be like for all of heaven to remain silent. And the fact that the world was about to see His coming soon after these events, was no doubt overwhelming. And this is what is to happen.
Just thought I'd share. In my little mind, I can't fathom beauty like this.
We are made for Him alone and He is our home.
ReplyDeleteUntil we see Him face to face...
the Living Water quenches our thirst,
yet we thirst for more.
the Bread of Heaven satisfies our hunger,
yet we hunger for more.
the Light of the world pierces our darkness,
yet the darkness threatens.
Until we see Him face to face.
We are made for Him alone and He is our home.
Kim K.