Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; and when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. Isaiah 53: 1-3, NKJV.
Gracious God, we enter Your presence with reverence! Your love far surpasses anything we have ever wanted, or needed; yet You offer it so freely! Please come by here, and reveal all of the beauty of Your Son, Jesus, the Christ! In His name we pray. Amen.
The title of our meditation is the title of one of my favorite hymns, Fairest Lord Jesus. It speaks of all that Jesus has done, and of our love for Him, but no mention is made of His physical beauty! The closest they have come to mentioning anything physical, is the phrase, “Jesus is fairer,” immediately followed by, “Jesus is purer;” in which the latter statement seems to supersede the former; at least in emphasis. Although I have sung this hymn many times, I had not taken note of this fact before. Another beautiful hymn is, Jesus, Rose of Sharon. It speaks of Jesus blooming within our hearts. I do not remember all of the words from memory, but I do not believe there is any mention made of His physical beauty, either.
In Scripture, I have not found any passage, that actually speaks to the outward beauty of Christ! Even Song of Solomon 2: 1, that I thought, was comparing Christ to the Rose of Sharon, and the Lily of the Valley; after checking the commentary in the footnotes of the NRSV, annotated Bible, I found that it was a self-appraisal of the maiden! Is there a reason why Scripture is silent about the “outward appearance” of Jesus? I am not sure. Could it be, that God wanted to make sure, that those who came to the Son, came to Him, purely out of love?
Our Scripture for today, speaks of a lack, of physical beauty. He has nothing, to make Himself desirable. Verse 3 says that,”He is despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.” I believe this extreme language refers to how physically marred He was at the time of His Crucifixion. He was marred like no one before or after Him. This was especially grievous, because He was God, at the mercy of His creatures! No other “deity” was ever subjected to such atrocities, or would ever allow themselves to be!
The pictures that we have of Christ in Scripture, are pictures of a helpless Baby; a Suffering Servant; a Healer; a Reformer; a Savior, hanging on a cross. These pictures have to do with His ministry, not His person. So then, what is it that makes Jesus “fair?” I have the feeling, that this is a question that must be answered by each of us, individually. Each of us must find in Him what makes Him beautiful to us! Perhaps the very pictures in Scripture, that speak of His inward beauty, are the very ones that have inspired authors to make allusion to His outward beauty.
So why is Jesus “fair” to you? I would love to hear some reasons from you. In the meantime I will tell you some of the reasons why I love Him, and find Him “fair;” and more than fair, beautiful! He is “fairer than the fairest,” to me, because I have never felt such unconditional love from anyone, before, or after, Jesus; because His love, rather than restricting me, has freed me; because I have never felt “judged” by Him; because I can be myself in His presence; because He is no respecter of persons. But perhaps the greatest reason I find Jesus so fair, is because He is such a personal Savior and Friend to me; my Confidant!
I pray that, you too, will meet my Savior, and fall in love with Him. Then you will know why I find Him “fairer than ten thousand to my soul!”