A Beauty to Unveil

From John Eldredge 12/12/06

Is there any doubt that the God John beheld (Rev. 4:3,6) was beautiful beyond description? But of course. God must be even more glorious than this glorious creation, for it “foretells” or “displays” the glory that is God’s. John said God was as radiant as gemstones, richly adorned in golds and reds and greens and blues, shimmering as crystal. Why, these are the very things that Cinderella is given—the very things women still prefer to adorn themselves with when they want to look their finest. Hmmm. And isn’t that just what a woman longs to hear? “You are radiant this evening. You are absolutely breathtaking.”

Saints from ages past would speak of the highest pleasures of heaven as simply beholding the beauty of God, the “beautific vision.”

The reason a woman wants a beauty to unveil, the reason she asks, Do you delight in me? is simply that God does as well. God is captivating beauty. As David prays, “One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may . . . gaze upon the beauty of the LORD” (Ps. 27:4). Can there be any doubt that God wants to be worshiped? That he wants to be seen, and for us to be captivated by what we see? (Wild at Heart)

But in order to make the matter perfectly clear, God has given us Eve. The crowning touch of creation. Beauty is the essence of a woman. We want to be perfectly clear that we mean both a physical beauty and a soulful/spiritual beauty. The one depends upon and flows out of the other. Yes, the world cheapens and prostitutes beauty, making it all about a perfect figure few women can attain. But Christians minimize it too, or over-spiritualize it, making it all about “character.” We must recover the prize of Beauty. The church must take it back. Beauty is too vital to lose.
(Captivating , 35–36)