Beholding The Beauty Of Christ: A Blessed Paradox

Beholding the Beauty of Christ: A Blessed Paradox

I. Introduction

A. 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."

B. The word "Beauty" as used here by David is the

word "noam" which means splendor or

agreeableness.

C. 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.

II. Paradox 1: Infinite Glory and Lowest Humility

A. 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."

B. First, let us consider the infinite glory of

Jesus.

1. 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."

2. 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.

3. Romans 8:34 Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father.

4. 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.

5. Rev. 5:12-13 The Lamb who was slain is worthy to receive all glory.

C. The Lowest Humility

1. John 5:30b "I do not seek my own will but

the will of the Father who sent me."

2. 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.

3. Jesus humbled Himself to the point of the

cross. He allowed us to beat, bruise, whip,

and crucify Him all for love.

4. 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.

5. 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.

III. Paradox 2: The God-man Jesus

A. Jesus was fully God

1. 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."

2. John 1:14 He is the only begotten of the