OPPapers.com

Beholding The Beauty Of Christ: A Blessed Paradox

Beholding the Beauty of Christ: A Blessed Paradox

I. Introduction
A. Central verse Psalms 27:4 "One thing have I
  desired of the Lord, That will I 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 inquire in His temple."
B. The word "Beauty" as used here by David is the
  word "noam" which means splendor or
  agreeableness.
C. What makes Jesus Christ so admirable, precious,
  so beautiful, and so glorious is what Jonathan
  Edwards calls "an admirable conjunction of
  diverse excellencies." The beauty and excellence
  of Christ is not a simple thing. It is a unique
  coming together in one person of extremely
  diverse qualities. Jesus has a glory in Himself
  that has a combing of attributes that would seem
  impossible in one person. He is unique, one of a
  kind. There is no one and nothing we could
  compare Him to. He is "Incomparable because in
  Him meet infinite glory and lowest humility,
  infinite majesty and transcendent meekness,
  deepest reverence toward God and equality with
  God, infinite worthiness of good and greatest
  patience to suffer evil, supreme dominion and
  exceeding obedience, divine self-sufficiency and
  childlike trust." The Beauty and Excellency of
  Jesus is a coming together in one person of the
  perfect balance and proportion of extremely
  diverse qualities. He is a blessed paradox. I
  would like to explore 3 paradoxes of Jesus.

II. Paradox 1: Infinite Glory and Lowest Humility
A. Phil 2:5-7 "Let this mind be in you which was
  also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of
  God, did not consider it robbery to be equal
  with God, but made Himself of no reputation
  taking on the form of a bondservant, and coming
  in the likeness of men."
B. First, let us consider the infinite glory of
  Jesus.
1. John 1:1,14 "In the beginning was the Word, and...