“Your eyes will behold the king in his beauty; they will see a land that stretches afar.”(Isaiah 33:17)

“O Lord, You’re beautiful, Your face is all I seek” (Keith Green)

“Experience and Wonder” (Travel ad for the Golden Gate Bridge)

Introduction

Stepping out into the pre –dawn darkness on the Mandurah canals, I was immediately struck by the great beauty of the heavens. On a moonless night, Venus, the “bright morning star”[1], and the Southern Cross took my mind back to a similar experience in Kansas City last year. Jesus was speaking to me about his own beauty and that of his Bride. In a day when we are being saturated with sensuous delights, such a revelation of Christ is essential to the transformation the Spirit is seeking to bring through the church.

The Bride is Beautiful

“Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; 8 it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.” (Rev 19:7-8).

A friend once truly said, “I have never seen an ‘ugly bride’”. The final explanation of bridal splendour is not to be found in make up, romantic love or an expensive wedding dress, but in the biblical order of giving and receiving. Just as the excellence of Eve was a reflection of the glory God imparted to Adam[2], from whom she derived her life, so the Church is to be fully radiant with the beauty of Christ.

The true character of the Bride is to become equal with Him in whom there is nothing but excellence, “until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Eph 4:12- 13). John’s words breathe an air of excitement[3], “we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.” (1 John 3:2).

As a loving bride longs to be increasingly beautiful for her husband, so the Bride longs to please her Lord. The measure of her true adoration for Jesus is not found in ornamental displays of gloriously painted chapels[4] or doctrinal orthodoxy or in the size of a congregation nor in financial giving[5] but a hunger for the Word of God.

The Beautifying Ministry of the Word

“Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendour, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.” (Eph 5:25-27)

Whilst “successful Christian living” has become the dominant spirit of contemporary preaching, scripture indicates that the ultimate purpose of the ministry of the Word is to make the Church beautiful for Jesus. This ministry of making radiant is one of those “things into which angels long to look” (1 Pet 1:12). It is truly “awesome”.

“Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and spoke to me, saying, “Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.” 10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, 11 having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal.” (Rev 21:9 – 11)

A longing for the beautifying of the Bride of the Lamb is a burning desire shared by all holy ministers of God[6]. Paul speaks passionately, “I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.” (2 Cor 11:2). The way in which the church enters more fully into the “splendour of holiness” (1 Chron 16:29; Psalm 29:2; 96:9) is through the revelation of the beauty of Christ in “the word of the cross”[7].

Sin is moral ugliness[8] that communicates its essential nature in the repulsive feelings of guilt and shame. Jesus “became sin” (2 Cor 5:21) on the cross to effect a wonderful exchange, he has replaced our defilement with his purity.[9] Whilst to the senses the cross is an abhorrent spectacle[10], known and appreciated from the inside the cross only an untellable beauty in the eyes of the Father[11].

Contrary to its external ugliness[12], the sacrifice of the cross penetrates to the final depths of the mystery of holiness. As separation from all that is evil, holiness is the purity of love, the proof that love is genuine and unconditional rather than a mere intoxicating self- pleasing emotion. Jesus’ death on the cross is absolutely free from immediate personal benefit – it is wholly out of love for God and lost humanity. In the climax of the cross[13], a human being[14] loves as God loves, in an absolutely unconditional way – fully for others.

The suffering of Jesus attracts the presence of God in an unlimited way[15] because it infallibly reveals love. In Christ’s cross God is immeasurably drawn to his own likeness, to the infinite beauty of his self- image completely revealed once and for all in the sacrifice of the Lamb. This attractiveness to the Father is hidden in the death of Jesus but manifested in his resurrection.

The death and resurrection of Jesus impacts all things at the deepest level of their being. “For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.” (Col 1:19-20). As the great High Priest Jesus has presented and sanctified the whole created universe to his Father. As the One who is “the radiance of the glory of God …upholds the universe by the word of his power” (Heb 1:3), the indwelling Word (Christ) penetrates all reality and imparts within it a character of beauty that is eternal. Thus, “the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea” (Hab 2:14).

In Jesus Christ, the “splendour of holiness” (1 Chron 16:29; Psalm 29:2; 96:9) is everywhere present for those with eyes to see it[16]. Indwelling the holy church is the inextinguishable beauty of the cross’s flame of love. Every time we heal, deliver, feed, clothe….another human being we express something of the beautiful face of Jesus present to all things.

The Fear of the Bride

Fear is blocking the manifestation of this brilliant radiance in the church Not a holy fear which increases our appreciation of the beauty of Christ, but a fear that denies “as he is so also are we in this world.” (1 John 4:17), a fear that denies the Father sees us as made fully worthy of marrying his Son. Instead of an assurance that we will possess “the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Eph 4:13) we seem to be surrounded by “undersized Christians” (myself included).

We have arrived at this appalling state of affairs by succumbing to a predictable three – fold satanic strategy. 1. Reduce the revelation of status of Jesus in the Church by getting her to focus on things other than his face. 2. Consequently reduce the revelation of the status of the Church as Christ’s glorious Bride 3. Consequently diminish the presence of the glory of Christ through the Church in the world[17].

Satan most effectively succeeds in this strategy by persuading the Church she is beautiful apart from suffering with Christ (Phil 3:10)[18]. “Rejoice in your gifts, prowess, power, influence and material prosperity etc.” the seducing spirits say[19]. This is a deceitful beauty[20]. Much of what we present as “excellence” is in fact clothing the church in rags[21]. This is undeniably true, for most of the Western church is at ease with the world. Biblically however, the greater the manifest spiritual beauty of the Bride the greater the persecution of the harlot religious system, “drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the witnesses of Jesus” (Rev 17:6). “Persecution for righteousness sake” (Matt 5:10) is the infallible indicator of the degree to which we are emanating Jesus to the unseen spiritual world of evil powers which hates him.

We have shifted away from an anticipated holy union of endless ecstatic consummation (Rev 19:6 -10) that engages us in ever deeper intimacy with our Lover in his presence. We would rather have the outcomes assured by the specifiable principles of the business world. Much of the contemporary church is preoccupied with the immediate and has lost an eschatology that integrates all things in Christ[22].

Making All Things Beautiful

As the holy Bridegroom Jesus is perfectly jealous[23], he is absolutely committed to making “everything beautiful in its time.” (Eccl 3:11), and this time is NOW[24]. This beautification of all things is not some secondary matter but the glory of Christ expressed through his Bride. As a husband he “hold (s) fast to his wife” (Eph 5:31) in a way that relates not only to the Church’s inner spiritual states but to the transformation of the cosmos. She is, “his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all” (Eph 1:23).

It is the plan of God that his image and glory in Christ (2 Cor 4:4; Col 1:15) be fully embedded in all the earth[25] penetrating all the dimensions of the created sphere, both in nature and society. The splendour lost to creation through the Fall of man is to be restored [26] by the manifestation of Christ in his presence through the church everywhere she lives – in our homes, offices, schools, factories, sporting clubs, shopping centres, parliaments, court rooms, hospitals, TV studios etc. The presence of God is assuredly attracted to wherever we sacrifice to him what is of the greatest value to us. As such sacrifice is a share in the suffering of the cross it infallibly reveals love and is necessarily followed by the power of the resurrection. It leads to the manifest presence of Christ everywhere. Increasingly the diverse spheres of culture are seen to be integrated by the beautiful presence of Christ. This is what people call “revival”.

Conclusion

There is nothing more beautiful to our Father than the restoration of his image, this first happened in the death and resurrection of the humanity of Christ. Now it must happen in the lost.

I see that it will be as it was in Jesus’ earthly days: those who are not beautiful to us are coming to him in the way of the cross – the gays, prostitutes, homeless, addicts, indigenous, oppressed, and poor. This however is only a beginning. For the beauty of Jesus to be seen through his Church everywhere, we must offer up to him all of the best of life as a gift and sacrifice. This must begin with our own lives, our marriages, families, ministries, churches, vocations, recreations, finances and so on. This can come to pass and be sustainable only in an atmosphere of intoxicating love for Jesus imparted by the outpouring of the Spirit. Let us join in the echo of his last words to his Bride.

“The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.”…. He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! (Rev 22:17, 20)