Seeing the King in His Beauty

Isaiah prophesied both Israel's judgment for sin, and the judgment of those wicked nations that persecuted her.

But God also promised through Isaiah that Messiah would redeem Israel, and in the glorious text found at chapter 33, verse 17, He declared: "Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty: they shall behold the land that is very far off."

In this sweet text, there is a beauty promised that the believer could not then see, and there is a glorious land foretold that the believer could not then see.

And yet, because it is a promise of God, those who trust in Him can see both the beauty of the King, and the land that is afar off, through the eyes of faith.

Old Testament texts describe the beauty of the Lord Jesus. Psalm 45, for example, makes it plain that Christ's beauty does not consist primarily of jewels or crowns or rich clothing. Rather, Christ's principal beauties are His salvation, His truth, His meekness, His righteousness, and His gladness.

Not only so, but Christ has in His entourage a beautiful and loving people whom He has called and beautified, and who dwell in His courts with rejoicing and gladness and praise.

The Old Testament also describes that glorious land that is afar off. In Isaiah 35, for example, it is seen as a place where God's glory and beauty are seen, a place of salvation, healing, and abundance, a place where evil is excluded, a place of safety, for the redeemed, a place of freed people with everlasting joy and happiness, and a place with no sorrow or pain.

Even before Isaiah related God's promise in these matters, Job knew that one day he would see His redeemer with his own eyes in the resurrection of the saints.