For those who set their mind on things above, God promises that they will become like the Lord whom they cherish (2 Cor. 3:18). Those who think on what is excellent and praiseworthy will be beautified. We become what we behold. And as we behold our warrior King, the One who died for us in order to be eternally with us, it gives us reason to say no to false suitors and yes to Him.
Just the same, those who behold their bridegroom are literally “captivated” by Him—and that is a wonderful promise. Perseverance of the saints is secured by the beatific vision of Christ, mediated by God’s Word. Thus, through this gracious gift of seeing and savoring the all glorious Son of God, Christ’s beauty becomes a means of purification and preservation.
And it is for this reason that aesthetics is not just a peripheral subject. It is a matter of life and death. Only those who delight in the beauty of the Lord in this life will spend eternity with God in the next life. Accordingly, we who teach, lead, counsel, and witness must not only proclaim the realities of heaven and hell, we must glory in their respective beauties. Only when we do that will we and those who hear our message have a sense of what heaven and hell are really like.
May we go and see the beauty of the risen Christ in the pages of Scripture, and then may we go and tell the world of His unsurpassed value, glory, and beauty. But to do the latter, we must first do the former—and thus we must begin with a conscious, prayerful pursuit of God’s beauty. We have been given the invitation; now let us, with the psalmist, say:
“You have said, ‘Seek my face.’ My heart says to you, ‘Your face, LORD, do I seek.’ Hide not your face from me.”
~ David Schrock
