Eternal Beauty is Grace and Godly Fear
9/4 Reading Portions: 1 Samuel 28; 1 Corinthians 9; Ezekiel 7; Psalm 45
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9/4 Reading Portions: 1 Samuel 28; 1 Corinthians 9; Ezekiel 7; Psalm 45
Psalm 45:2
You are the most handsome of the sons of men; grace is poured upon your lips; therefore God has blessed you forever.
HANDSOME
While the psalmist certainly addresses this maskil to the king of Israel (Psa 45:1), it is also a prophetic ode concerning the King of kings, our Lord Jesus Messiah— the sixth and seventh verses are quoted in the first chapter of Hebrews, stating that these verses are clearly about Jesus—
But of the Son He says… Hebrews 1:8
Moreover, this attributes the authorship of Scriptures to the Holy Spirit. Because this psalm is clearly about the God-Man, it is filled with paradoxes. While the Messiah was the “Man of sorrows” during His earthly ministry (Isa 53:3), Jesus was also anointed…
…with the oil of gladness beyond [His] companions. Psalm 45:7
Again, while the Lord Jesus was plain looking and physically unimpressive (Isa 53:2), our verse today tells us that Jesus was the most handsome of the sons of men. How can this be? Our verse continues to tell us why— grace [was] poured upon [His] lips. That God became a flesh and bone Man and dwelt among sinners is an overwhelming display of God’s grace; but more than this, that Jesus also spoke the very words of heaven, overflowing with a pleasing theme, with His tongue like the pen of a ready scribe, expresses God’s amazing grace upon grace to those privileged to hear Him. Because of Christ, what makes a man truly handsome is not that he possesses the looks of some Hollywood movie star in his twenties or thirties, but that he is gracious and walks in the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, what makes a women truly beautiful is godly fear, as it is written,
Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised. Proverbs 31:30
What makes a man truly handsome is God’s grace. While we are not blind to the earthly and temporal around us, our focus, priority, and affection must be on the spiritual, heavenly, and eternal (Col 3:2-3).
Christ Jesus was most handsome for
Grace poured from His lips,
Preaching good news from sandy shores
As well as Peter’s ship.