The Most Beautiful Thing in the Universe

In the Peanuts comic strip, Chuck is asked by his little sister;  “Do you think I’m beautiful Chuck?   Chuck answers; “Absolutely, you have an inner beauty that is . . .   “Not inner beauty Chuck! I’m not talking about inner beauty . . . I’m talking about outer beauty! Do you think I’m beautiful Chuck?”   Chuck : “I’ve always thought you had a cute way about you…you know, your expressions, your…  “Did I ask you if I’m cute Chuck? I don’t think I did…I asked you. Do you think I’m beautiful?”   Chuck: “I just remembered there’s some golf on TV now!”   “My nose reminded you of a gold ball, huh, Chuck? Was that it, Chuck!?”   Dejected, Chuck realizes he’s scored another D Minus.

What is beautiful? Is there a standard for beauty? Is it a slender woman or a muscled man? Is it defined by blonde hair, or red, or raven; blue eyes or brown? Once I spent almost an hour staring up at the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. But in his being, God is so much more astounding than Michelangelo’s art. The most beautiful thing in all the universe is the holiness of God.

In our meditations on the attributes of God, we come to his holiness which is describes in the Bible as being beautiful, glorious, full of splendour. “O worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness” (Psalm 96:9 KJV See also 1 Chron. 16:29). After Israel’s deliverance through the Red Sea, Moses and Miriam sang a song; “Who among the gods is like you O LORD? Who is like you–majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders.” (Read Ex. 11).

Paul takes up the theme of God’s SOLITARY GRANDEUR in 1 Tim 6:15, 16; “God is the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen nor can see. To him be honor and might forever.”

What does light have to do with the holiness of God? We take light for granted, unless we have totally lost our sight. But without light there is no beauty, for light provides contrast, shading, and perspective. Perhaps this gives us some sense of the splendour of God who “lives in unapproachable light”.

Light is a mystery. It travels at 186,000 miles per second. Fiber optics makes use of the superiority of light over electrical impulses to transmit information. Scientists continue to delve into its mysteries. But only God understands light for “God is the Father of lights with whom is no variableness neither shadow cast by turning” (James 1:17). All the great visions of God found in, for example, Ezekiel or Revelation speak of him encompassed by astounding displays of light.

The Scriptures connect the glorious brilliance emitted by God with his moral holiness. Isaiah saw the Lord high and lifted up with his glory filling the temple. And the seraphs cried, “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory” (Isaiah 6:3). At this sight Isaiah fell before the LORD crying, “I am ruined,” as God’s glory illuminated his sinfulness just as bright beams of light reveal dirt on our faces.

In another strange twist, we discover that the Hebrew word for holiness doesn’t specifically denote moral perfection but to cut. That is, God is cut off from all of his creation in the sense that he is utterly separate. He is the Standard by which all others are to be measured—but fall short. To illustrate this God had Israel create a tabernacle with a holy of holies that separated him from all people except the high priest who could come into his presence once a year with a blood sacrifice.

If we want to be beautiful people, we will obey God’s directives expressed in the ten commandments and in all God’s laws. Adherence to these standards serve to create beautiful societies and individuals. God’s laws are a reflection of his own moral perfection as expressed in his will for his creatures. John writes, “This is the message that we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; In him there is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). In this passage we are urged to “walk in the light,” to reject walking in darkness which is a metaphor for living a sinful life.

People who live as if there is no God live with strange paradoxes. They enjoy God’s light displays in sun, moon and stars, in rainbows and all the colours of creation. At the same time, they love dark deeds of every kind and view holiness and purity as unattractive and boring. How misled!

The holiness of God is a rich and beautiful concept. It refers to his majestic otherness—there is nothing like him; his glorious beauty and his moral perfection. Lord help us react as John urges; “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves…if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive our sins…[through] the blood of Jesus, his Son” (1 John 1:7-9)

Becoming beautiful people begins by putting our faith in Jesus Christ who died to make us spiritually pure and holy–and really, really beautiful.

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