THE VAST SUBJECT OF OUR BEAUTY IN GOD

God’s beauty in us is a vast subject. There is physical beauty and spiritual beauty, there is temporal beauty in this age, and there is eternal beauty in the age to come. You will possess physical beauty beyond the angels. Let there be no doubt: the Godhead is the main celestial attraction, but when He unveils His ulti- mate plan to present a beautiful Bride to Himself, the angels will gather at the balconies of Heaven and shake their heads in won- der. You will be physically, emotionally and spiritually beautiful forever because of Jesus. You will have a beautiful face, body, mind and heart. Yes, you will be stunningly beautiful forever. In your resurrected body, you will possess a physical beauty for billions of years that will far surpass anything you can think of now. The beautiful God has already planned this from begin- ning to end.

He’s been working on this plan for a long time. When God raised Jesus from the dead, He designed a body for Jesus that was unlike anything ever seen or imagined. It was both physi- cally and spiritually beautiful. After Jesus was raised from the dead, He had the ability to walk through walls, yet He had the capacity to enjoy a breakfast of fish with His friends (John 20:26 and 21:12-15). His glorified body was the perfect melding of the spiritual and physical realms, allowing Jesus to partake of the best of both worlds. He has a body for each of us that is just like His. Our resurrected bodies will be the best that God can create, unable to be improved upon. At the Second Coming, Jesus will combine the natural realm with the supernatural realm (Ephesians 1:10; Revelation 21:1-2). Our bodies will be made with all the capacities necessary to express the glory and beauty of God in this new environment.

He will transform the body of our humble con- dition into the likeness of His glorious body, by the power that enables Him to subject every- thing to Himself. (Philippians 3:21)

…When He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him. (1 John 3:2)

LIGHT AND GLORY

Our eternal bodies will have the same supernatural properties and abilities that Jesus’ body has. For example, Jesus wears gar- ments of beautiful light; therefore, we shall as well.

…Who cover Yourself with light as with a gar- ment… (Psalm 104:2)

Jesus is the master communicator. He was able to speak in layers of truth that allowed the hearer to understand his point and yet continue to unravel and discover new meaning in what He was saying for years to come. One such example is when He said, “You are the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14). He was

speaking of believers being beacons here in this age, but He was also referring to the future. He was speaking of the day when the saints would be made like Him, the One who lights up the New Jerusalem and the New Earth as well (Revelation 21:23). The people of God in the New Jerusalem will also release God’s light. The best computer models of twenty-first-century physics laboratories cannot begin to explain how God will clothe His people with light, yet God has a plan to do it. It will be beautiful beyond description. Light and color will shine forth out of our beings.

Come, I will show you the bride, the Lamb’s wife. He…showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of Heaven from God, having the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal. (Revelation 21:9-11)

Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life… Those who are wise shall shine like the bright- ness of the firmament…like the stars forever and ever. (Daniel 12:2-3)

The righteous will shine forth as the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. (Matthew 13:43)

Our future bodies will be filled with God’s power and glory. While our physical bodies are sown in dishonor and addiction to sin, sometimes racked with sickness, they will be raised in the glory of God. Our bodies are sown in corruption—meaning they rot in the grave—but they will be raised in incorruption.

There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorrup- tion. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory.

It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. (1 Corinthians 15:41-44)

The Apostle Paul wrote that we will experience what it means to be clothed in light and to possess incredible power in our resurrected bodies. This body will be much more powerful and beautiful than the one in which we currently live. We liter- ally cannot imagine what this will be like, because everything we know in the physical dimension is in relation to how ex- tremely limiting it is. We judge how far we can jump before we fall. We judge how fast we can run based on how much faster someone else ran the same distance. All we can comprehend is based on what we’re not able to do. God says, “On that day, I will give you a form you have no grid for. I am taking the limits off this new design.”

Our culture has made the afterlife seem to be some sort of cloud-based harp recital, where the seraphim wander from cloud to cloud, giving tips on playing lullabies while cherubs float to and fro with snack trays. Compared to what God re- ally has planned for us in the next age, this idea is boring! Who wants to play a harp for the next million years? We are being groomed to rule and reign alongside the King, and we will do it in new bodies that are indescribably beautiful. Our glorified bodies will have supernatural abilities in relation to communica- tion, strength, senses, and a myriad of other areas. We might be able to communicate in many languages. Our communication through music and poetic expression will be absolutely beauti- ful. You will pick the instruments you’ve always wanted to play to express God’s beauty and you’ll be able to play them with excellence.

Our resurrected bodies will have the supernatural beauty, properties and abilities that Jesus’ body has. We will have su- pernatural abilities in our five senses. We will all have excellent sight at a distance as well as at close range. We will be able to hear at distances, with great perception and perfect balance.

Our taste buds will enjoy food beyond anything we can cur- rently imagine. One reason God determined to have food in the age to come is simply so that we might enjoy it. God will be glorified as we enjoy eating in eternity.

Whether you eat or drink…do all to the glory of God. (1 Corinthians 10:31)

Our sense of touch will give us the ability to feel perfectly and to discern objects with great clarity. Our sense of smell will give us the ability to enjoy and discern what is going on in the environment around us. The speed and endurance of our physi- cal bodies will be supernatural. We will be able to work and play for long hours without feeling drained. There will be no fatigue, no sickness, no death. We will have perfect energy at all times. Philip’s translation from one spot to another is probably the best example of what it will be like.

Now when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, so that the eunuch saw him no more…Philip was found at Azotus. (Acts 8:39-40)

God is not merely interested in beautifying individuals; He is preparing to beautify His Bride as a whole. The Father is com- mitted to making a beautiful Bride for His beautiful Son.

Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusa- lem, coming down out of Heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. (Revelation 21:2)

On that day, as the New Jerusalem descends, its beauty will be unlike anything seen on the Earth. What strange phrasing, comparing a city to a bride. John spoke about some of the beauty of the New Jerusalem being due to its citizens. The Eternal City is called the Bride because of the inhabitants who govern it. The glory of the city lies in the residents of the city. The current cit- ies of the Earth are known by the characteristics of their citizens.

Even though the cities themselves are only made of buildings and streets and trees, one city is said to be friendly while another is said to be hostile. The city’s reputation is based on the charac- teristics of the people who live there. A city considered generous is only described in such as way because it is filled with gener- ous people. The New Jerusalem will be glorious and beautiful because of the nature of her glorious and beautiful citizens. The Bride of Christ, the most glorious and beautiful of all created be- ings, will radiate her glory as she governs that city.

Being called a beautiful bride has far-reaching ramifications. A bride is not a buddy or even a girlfriend. A bride walks in a newly-acquired level of ownership in relation to everything her bridegroom possesses. Time and time again the Word of God tells us we actually become partakers of God’s glory. Jesus said, “…Theglory which You gave Me I have given them” (John 17:22). Jesus longed to impart His glory and beauty to us. The writer of Hebrews makes mention of it as well. We will be crowned with God’s glory and beauty. “…You have crowned him (the redeemed) with glory and honor…” (Hebrews 2:7, 10).

As the Bride of Christ comes to her senses, she will respond like the prodigal son as he realized how far he was from home. She will be shocked and wonder, “Will He accept me?” In her moment of weakness, God will come alongside her, and, by vir- tue of His desire for her, make her valuable. Desire brings worth, remember? Every bit of her beauty is a reflection of His.

BEAUTY PREPARATION

Not only does Scripture point to a day when we will be fully what God intends, it also tells us that the very trials we face today help to make this glory a reality in our lives. Today’s trou- bles are a school of sorts—a University of Beauty—preparing us for life in eternity with Him. The sooner we realize the divine purpose of this beautification process, this preparation, the sooner we begin to give ourselves to it, painful as it may be.

For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eter- nal weight of glory… (2 Corinthians 4:17)

In the Book of Esther, God reveals His purpose to beautify His people. Esther goes through beauty preparations in order to be made ready for the king, which is a prophetic picture of the Bride of Christ preparing for her King. We go through the necessary beauty preparations in this age so we will be counted worthy of the Son when He returns to set up His Kingdom on the Earth.

It is not always easy to see how troubles and struggles can pave the way for beauty; once in a while there is a glimpse in one person’s life that serves as a beacon to the rest of us. Dennis Byrd is one of those individuals. On November 29, 1992, the New York Jets lined up against the Kansas City Chiefs. Dennis was a broad-shouldered and blonde-haired defensive tackle at the peak of his athletic career. But that day he had a jarring, head-on collision with a teammate. An unexpected shock went through Dennis’ entire body and he lay suddenly limp on the field. He was permanently paralyzed from the neck down.

He went through countless surgeries and treatments with little progress. Months later he lay in the hospital bed of a re- habilitation facility as a reporter interviewed him for a prime- time special. After telling the story of Dennis’ career with inter- views and video clips, the reporter commented that the football player must have a very strong faith. Dennis said quietly, “Yes, I am a believer in Jesus Christ.” When the reporter asked how Dennis’ faith could be reconciled with having endured such a horrible accident, he probably wasn’t expecting the answer he received. With the conviction of a man who had thought this through a thousand times, Dennis leveled his steely gaze at the camera and said: “For I consider that the sufferings of this pres- ent time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18).

In that moment, Dennis exhibited a profound understand- ing of God that many people in less drastic circumstances are unable to grasp: even our trials and afflictions can change us forever for the better. It’s not that God wants to see us broken, but rather He wants us to see our own brokenness. Dennis was not minimizing his misfortune. He was placing it in the con- text of eternity. He knew this was not the first time God had overlooked his broken humanity. In his physical and emotional brokenness, Dennis was being beautified. The same is true for every one of us who walks in relationship with Jesus—He is committed to giving us beauty for ashes. The beauty available to us in God is not merely something we observe from afar, or hope to attain in some distant future. It is, in fact, highly practi- cal. God tells us in His Word that His very beauty or glory can be placed within us. While the pagan religions of that era built temples and shrines to hold their concept of the presence of a god, the writer of Ephesians said humanity itself was made for the very indwelling of God.

…You are…built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:22)

This indwelling of God is how God, the Consuming Fire, chooses to express His glory, His grandeur, His love and His beauty to the rest of creation for all time. It is a mystery of cos- mic proportions that the holy God would not only fashion a Bride for Himself out of the dust of the earth, but that He would go on to dwell within her, giving her a measure of beauty worthy of His infinite affection.

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