The American culture goes to great lengths to be beautiful. It is not cliché to say that beauty is more than skin deep.
So, what does it mean that God is Beauty? God is the totality or summation of all sought-after attributes and characteristics. He is perfect and lacks nothing that is desirable and He is also the ultimate standard of all desirable characteristics. (Psalm 27:4; 73:25)
(Definition is taken out of my book: Knowing the God We Proclaim)
Let's take a deeper look at the one true God who is beauty!
Qualities of Beauty
My wife loves sunrises and sunsets. If she could see every single one of them and just sit there gazing upon them soaking them in, she would. She once said to me, that there has never been nor will there ever be a sunrise or sunset that is not beautiful.
What she means is that each sunrise and sunset have everything that anyone could ever desire from the event in itself. Yet, this is just one individual thing. There are many other things that we can look upon that are also beautiful in themselves. Perhaps you would call flowers beautiful. Or the sky, trees, plants, the ocean, animals, humans, etc.
All these things and so much more are beautiful. They have desirable qualities. Yet, when the Scriptures speak of the beauty of God they are saying that God is the totality or summation of all sought-after attributes and characteristics.
"One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek:
That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,
To behold the beauty of the Lord
And to meditate in His temple." (Psalm 27:4, bold added)
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"Whom do I have in heaven but You?
And with You, I desire nothing on earth." (Psalm 73:25)
These psalmists express the truth that I shared above. God is worthy to be sought after because He is beauty! He in His character possesses every desirable attribute and these psalmists declare that they want Him above all else.
Just like a man of youthful lust who sees a woman who has characteristics that he desires and pursues her with all his might. Those who catch a glimpse of God and taste His goodness. They cannot have enough. The more they drink deeply of the well of God, the more they can say with these psalmists, all I desire is to behold to the beauty of the Lord! To be with Him!
For Eternity
David desired to gaze upon and to behold the beauty of the Lord. This was the one thing that he sought. This is what we will be doing for all of eternity! Gazing upon the beauty of the Lord. This is a thought that is far too wonderful for me or anyone to know completely. For eternity we will be dwelling upon His attributes, upon the totality of His character. Not just His love and mercy. But His justice and vengeance. The Scriptures are clear that righteous justice and vengeance and wrath are all attributes of God. Thus, they are desirable qualities. Some people have a problem with this. It is because they are looking at it wrongly. Let me illustrate. If someone loves animals then they will hate animal cruelty. If they love human life then they will hate murder and abortion. If someone’s spouse was murdered, then they would desire justice and vengeance. You see all of us desire certain attributes and characteristics, even the so-to-speak negative ones. They are all desirable according to various events and circumstances in our lives. If there was no righteous justice, then wickedness and evil would go unchecked in the world. This isn’t what anyone wants. God is the summation of every desirable characteristic. He is perfect and lacks nothing that is desirable and He is also the ultimate standard of all desirable characteristics. He not only lacks nothing that is desirable but is perfection in His character and holds every attribute together in unity. Amazing! There is no other being that deserves such attention, wonder, and amazement. God is beautiful. (Some of the content on this page is taken out of my book: Knowing the God We Proclaim) (To discover more about God, see our page, Discovering God)