BEAUTY
BEAUTY
Song of Songs 5: 9-16; Genesis 37: 1-3; Isaiah 52: 1
I want to say a few words as to beauty. A person would have to be blind to be ignorant of the fact that beauty marks all the works of God. The scripture says that He has made everything beautiful in its time, Ecclesiastes 3: 11. He knows how long a thing is to last, and if its time is an hour, a day, a week, a few years, or eternity — He has made everything beautiful in its time. Apart from the power and the height and the ordinances, how beautiful are the heavens! We read, “By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens,” Job 26: 13. David says, “When I consider thy heavens,” and what a spectacle the heavens present on a clear night! God intends us to look at them and to consider them. David says, “When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers,” Psalm 8: 3. Some of the stars are blue, some red, and some golden when seen more clearly than with the naked eye. They are gems set in the heavens in evidence of God’s regard for beauty. Then what beauty there is on earth! — Whose hand has ordered it all? Think of the majesty of the mountains, the beauty of the valleys, the charm of the ever-flowing streams, and the verdant foliage that God has made. Can we question His delight in the beauty of His handiwork? The Lord said, “Consider the lilies... how they grow.” Why should God put into a flower such amazing beauty? Take the insects; especially in tropical countries, there is beauty in the butterflies that baffles mankind, and no one can imitate it. Think of the tropical sea, where the sun’s power is mighty; there are fish there radiant with such blending of colour that it is almost unbelievable, but it is the work of God. If God has done thus with that which is but for time, what must be the beauty of that which will last for ever? God is forming beauty now that will last for eternity. He has finished the material worlds, “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.” They have never been added to or altered, for they are God’s handiwork, and He is still working, as the Lord said, “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work,” John 5: 17. This great work has been going on for nearly six thousand years.
All the beauty that will be seen in the new heavens and the new earth is concentrated in the Person of Jesus. The beauty with which God will garnish the spiritual heavens, that which will yet be seen in every heavenly family, as well as that which will be seen only on the earth, was all concentrated in the Person of Jesus in manhood. God is wonderful in His ability to concentrate, it is part of His divine glory to do so. He says, “Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise,” Proverbs 6: 6. Think of what God has concentrated in the ant, so tiny an insect, yet possessing profound wisdom, so that she knows she must gather her food in summer, and store it up in places she provides for herself, and keep it there for the winter. So in His wisdom God has concentrated in the Person of Jesus in manhood all the beauties of the new heaven and the new earth.
What is so amazing, and what should challenge every heart is, that when all this beauty came down to earth in the Person of Jesus, the language of the world, and of the religious part too, was “there is no beauty that we should desire him,” Isaiah 53: 2. Is this what you would say, dear friend? The truth is that all the beauty of heaven and of earth is in Jesus. “Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty.” The King in His beauty is Jesus — “another king, one Jesus,” Acts 17: 7. This King opens the eyes of men to see His beauty, blessed be His name. That is what the blind beggar wanted when he said, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.” “Lord, that I might see,” and he followed Jesus in the way, glorifying God. He glorified God because he saw the King, and everyone does so who sees Him, because they have seen the beauty with which God will fill eternity.
I do not know that I can touch much on this scripture in the Song of Songs, but it came before me as a description, from the heart of the bride, of features of beauty that she knows to be in the bridegroom. This is what she is able to say about Christ when she is challenged: “What is thy beloved more than another beloved, O thou fairest among women?” The previous part is full of the greatest instruction: they say, “what is thy beloved more than another beloved, that thou dost so charge us?” And she answers, “if ye find my beloved” — she has lost touch with Him. Has anyone here lost touch with Him? She says, If ye find him...; and she cannot finish the sentence because of the depth of her feeling. Is He more than another beloved to us? With whom can you compare Him? Think of the various objects that engage the human heart, but what are they compared with Christ? He is more than another beloved, He is more than any other object could be, and in this connection He is not prepared to be merely first, any more than He will be second — He must be all, One alone. When the heart says, “my beloved,” there is no idea of anyone else. With many Christians He is One of many, alas, all dividing the heart with Him, but this bride says of Him that “he is altogether lovely,” “the chiefest among ten thousand.” He is the only One to her heart now, whatever has been her experience before.
We will look at her description of Him as bringing before us what beauty is and where it is. In verse 10 it says “My beloved is white.” That could not be said of any other man, that he is inherently white. If we are white individually it is because we have been washed, by “him that loved us, and washed us from our sins.” We were not white naturally, but covered with stains. “My beloved is white,” He was “that holy thing” from the outset. “My beloved is white and ruddy.” If we are now ruddy it is as having been healed, “Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases,” Psalm 103: 3. Each of us has needed a physician, but the Lord had no need of one, for no trace of the moral diseases and sicknesses that assail mankind ever touched Him. He was ruddy, without any trace of disease, He is inherently vigorous.
“His head is as the most fine gold.” The head is the seat of intelligence, and the bride is distinguishing His head from His eyes and cheeks and mouth. There are in His holy and blessed mind, thoughts that are in keeping with the finest gold, thoughts that are more precious than tongue can tell, the very thoughts of God. The Psalmist says, “How precious... are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them,”
Psalm 139: 17. All these thoughts were in the mind of Jesus, every one of them expressing the perfection of divine love. So she says “His head is as the finest gold.”
“His locks are bushy, and black as a raven.” She looks at His hair and she says there is no evidence of age nor of decline, and to all eternity there never will be. “His eyes are as the eyes of doves by the rivers of waters, washed with milk, and fitly set.” Think of a blessed Man like that! The dove can never rest where there is uncleanness, and the eyes of Jesus are as doves’ eyes by the rivers of waters, always watching the movements of the Spirit of God, and His eyes in accord with them. In His compassion, of course, He may look upon a poor sinner, but He cannot look upon sin or upon what is unholy, for He is God. How often sorrow comes, especially with young believers, because their eyes have been allowed to rest upon unholy sights. What we need is to follow Him, and as passing through this corrupt scene, we need to be blind to evil and not to look in certain directions. The window of the ark was above; from that the dove went out and came back; there was no window in the side of the ark. It was not contemplated that Noah and his family should be watching the corruption outside, so the window was above, and our eyes should be “Looking unto Jesus.”
“His cheeks are as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers: his lips like lilies, dropping sweet smelling myrrh.” I cannot say much about His cheeks, I suppose they are connected more with the countenance, and the countenance of Jesus was lovely; indeed it is like a bed of sweet-smelling flowers, giving out a fragrance that would draw every heart to kiss Him. “Thou gavest me no kiss,” He said to the Pharisee, but the woman kissed His feet and the Lord valued that.
“His lips... dropping sweet smelling myrrh.” Every word from the lips of Jesus was fragrant with sweet-smelling myrrh. When He spoke, He conveyed to His hearers the intensity of His suffering love. When He said to the leper “I will,” in that word was the sweet-smelling myrrh that would take upon Himself what was upon the leper, the suffering love that would identify Himself with him. And so with all His words, as they dropped from His blessed lips.
“His hands are as gold rings, set with the beryl.” His hands remind us of what He does, and they captivate us, they are as rings that hold us firmly; set with chrysolite, a golden stone that brings before us what is of God. The Lord won many a heart here with His hands, for what He did held them in the grip of His love.
“His belly is as bright ivory overlaid with sapphires.” How different Jesus is from everyone else! How little there is in this world that will stand examination as to what is inward and hidden,
and that any dare to examine closely! There would be found a sink of corruption. All may be fair outwardly, but inwardly the Lord says, they are “full of dead men’s bones.” When you come to Jesus, you see what is incorruptible, both inward and outward. Time can never effect deterioration in that blessed Man. You can look at Jesus and see nothing but beauty; being overlaid with sapphire signifies that He is adorned inwardly. Inward beauty is what is of value, but there is much veneer in the world today.
In 2 Timothy 3 there is a description of what characterises the world today. It says in the last days men shall be lovers of themselves; deeply rooted selfishness in their hearts, lovers of money and of pleasure, having no love for what is good, unthankful, unholy, truce-breakers, having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof. This is a perfect description of christendom; and we need to take heed that it does not describe some of us, and that our Christianity is not merely an outward form that covers an awful inward state. As you look at Jesus inwardly you say, “His belly is as bright ivory, overlaid with sapphire.”
“His legs are as pillars of marble, set upon sockets of fine gold.” This implies the superiority and grandeur of the movements of Jesus as He walked. John the baptist was entranced with the beauty of the movements of Jesus; his heart was lifted outside his surroundings when ceasing for the moment from his own service, he looked upon Jesus as He walked, watching the legs of marble set in sockets of finest gold. That is why the woman in Simon’s house never ceased kissing His feet. She had been following Him and watching His movements, and the Lord said, Since the time I came in she hath not ceased to kiss My feet.
“His countenance is as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars.” Lebanon is marked by being the highest point in God’s land, and thus very near heaven. It is where the cedar trees grew that were used in the building of the temple. Solomon said, “Send me also cedar trees, cypress trees, and sandal-wood trees, out of Lebanon,” 2 Chronicles 2: 8. Such trees can only be obtained from Lebanon, and they represent men who live near heaven in communion with God.
“His mouth is most sweet: yea, he is altogether lovely.” The bride distinguishes between His lips and His mouth. His lips refer to what He says, but in relation to His mouth she says, “Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth.” He is holding her heart and bringing her in touch with Himself in that intimate way. She does not proceed with other members of His body, but she sums all up in that word “he is altogether lovely.” “This is my beloved, and this is my friend.” This is the Object of my heart, for whom I live, whose presence I love, the One to whom I tell my secrets, my Friend. The Lord said “I have called you friends,” because He told them His secrets, so the bride says, “this is my friend.” It is not here, I am His friend, but that He is my friend. I have not one secret that I withhold from Him. Is that so with us? Do we tell Him our secrets? All beauty is in Him, He is the King in His beauty.
In Genesis 37 beauty is not immediately connected with Joseph personally but with his coat, which is a very important matter. The Song of Solomon describes the Beloved as white, “My beloved is white.” That is important, but Jacob made for Joseph a coat of many colours. The Spirit of God leaves us to find out how many there were, it just says “many.” There are only a certain number of primary colours, but God loves to blend colours. Joseph’s coat was a witness to the love that Jacob had for him, and Joseph went into the field wearing his coat and seeking his brethren. This speaks of the Lord Jesus here seeking men, and beauty is seen in the garment of Jesus. He had only one “coat” and He exhorts His followers to have only one. Joseph wore his coat out in the field, as he moved about amongst those who hated him. The Lord appeared in His beautiful garment, the basis of which was white linen, so white that “no fuller on earth” could whiten it. Set in the fabric there was also blue, the colour of heaven — “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” God’s will pervades heaven, and it also pervaded every movement of Jesus.
Then the purple. He was King when He was here, and the kingly colour was always to be seen. It is to be seen now in suffering; those who wear purple are sufferers at the present time.
The apostle says if we suffer we shall also reign. At Nazareth He suffered contempt and scorn, but He is the King there, and how the purple adorns the suffering One on the cross! Even the robber sees it, and would fain come into the kingdom of this blessed One who is King. Then, wherever Jesus went, the scarlet was seen. He did not seek publicity, as we all love to do naturally, but He could not be hid. The centurion said, “speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed,” and Jesus marvelled that he had detected the scarlet. Amber, the colour of glowing brass, is typical of holiness, and every action of Jesus was in accord with the brass, as perfectly holy in word and deed. Green denotes that every action was marked by freshness and living power, even when on the cross. “If they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?” The idea of a garment is that in which we are seen by men, and thus the Lord went through this world seeking His brethren, and wearing the coat of many colours, representing that which is beautiful in a garment.
As to Isaiah 52, the prophet says it is time to wake up. Of course, literally, it refers to Israel, but I would apply it to us. “Awake, awake;
put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem.” The time has come for God’s people to be beautifully clothed, many have been dilatory as to this long enough. In the passage in the Song of Songs, the bride says, “I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on?” Who told her to put it off? The Lord Jesus had only the one, but He did not put it off. It was taken away by wicked hands and they cast lots for it. The church should not put off her beautiful garments. The bride was not ready when the bridegroom called because she had put off her coat, but the word now is to put it on. This is what the Lord has been doing these hundred years. He has been waking up the church to put on her beautiful garments so that she will be suitably clothed when He comes. The way they are put on is by making room for the word of the Spirit of God, for He is the One who clothes us in beautiful garments. The Holy Spirit will always bring into evidence the features of Christ in the saints if we make room for Him, for He is the Holy Spirit and holiness is one feature of the beautiful garments. He is the Spirit of God and He will bring into evidence what is in keeping with God. He is the Spirit of Jesus, and He will bring the features of that lowly blessed Man into evidence; He is the Spirit of Christ and will bring the features of the anointing into evidence; He is the Spirit of the Lord and will give us to be in power;
He is the Spirit of God’s Son in our hearts, and thus He brings us into the liberty of sonship. Then also He would grant us to have the Spirit of grace, of supplication, of judgment and of wisdom, all features which enter into the beautiful garments for the daughter of Zion.
Thus as we make room for the Spirit of God, the beautiful garments are seen upon His people and the word to us is to awake and to come into this. The Lord desires that His people should be suitably clothed to greet Him when He comes, in accordance with the coat of many colours. The word is to put them on, and we do so by making room for the movements of the Spirit and for Christ in our hearts, and we shall thus be delivered from the false beauty of Babylon, which is soon to terminate.
Satan has built up a vast system of external beauty to gratify himself. He was perfect in beauty when he was made, but he corrupted his beauty, and he has built up a great city marked by corrupted beauty. In it also there is gold, silver, precious stones, blue, purple, and scarlet, but it is all coming under the judgment of God, and it is only as we have part in true beauty that we shall be delivered from what is false. May the Lord help us to make room for these features of beauty, for it is evident that nothing can be suitable to God which is not truly beautiful.