HOW TO BECOME BEAUTIFUL by W. C. MATHEWSON.

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Nov 19, 1901

HOW TO BECOME BEAUTIFUL.

By W. C. MATHEWSON.

W. C. MATHEWSON. (Luce, Mich.)

Beauty was one special feature of the earth when it came from the hand of the Creator. This quality was conspicuous in all nature, from the towering tree to the tiny flower. So complete was the animal kingdom in this respect that serpents, now so revolting to the sight, were beautiful, flying creatures. Man, created last of all, possessed this element in a pre-eminent degree, in being fashioned according to the divine similitude—the most beautiful of beings.

But sin has marred the beauty of creation, giving nature, in many respects, an unsightly appearance. Man, dwarfed and degenerated, bears but little resemblance to his original state of beauty.

What we now regard as beauty would seem repulsive were we privileged to visit distant worlds to view unperverted nature. While all these worlds inexpressibly excel the grandest of earthly beauties, yet some of them are more magnificent than others. “There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differeth from another star in glory.” 1 Cor. 15: 41.

But these beauties, superior as they might seem, would vanish into insignificance when contrasted with the beauties of the city of God. “Beautiful for situation . . . is . . . the city of the great King.” Ps. 48: 2. After beholding the beauties of the city, grander sights of matchless splendor, overflowing our hearts with unutterable delight, would be the special features of the throne of God. No language could describe the scene.

Returning to this earth, how dismal and unsatisfying would everything appear! Earthly nature has lost her real beauty. It is to be regained. The image of God in man, now so sadly defaced, is to be restored. Redemption stops nothing short of re-beautifying. Redeemed man is man re-beautified, and God wants us to know it. He has done everything possible to teach us this truth.

The great center for the work of man's redemption is in the heavenly sanctuary, where our Redeemer, our High Priest, ministers and reigns as priest and king at the right hand of the throne of God. Heb. 8: 1.

In no better way can we study the plan of redemption than by studying the heavenly sanctuary. The only profitable way of doing this is to study the earthly sanctuary, which is a pattern of the heavenly. Heb. 8: 5.

In studying the earthly sanctuary, its beauty immediately becomes the all-absorbing theme. “No language can describe the glory of the scene presented within the sanctuary,—the gold-plated walls reflecting the light from the golden candlestick, the brilliant hues of the richly embroidered curtains with their shining angels, the table, and the altar of incense, glittering with gold; beyond the second veil the sacred ark, with its mystic cherubim, and above it the holy Shekinah, the visible manifestation of Jehovah's presence; all but a dim reflection of the glories of the temple of God in heaven, the great center of the work for man's redemption.”—Patriarchs and Prophets, page 349.

Why was beauty made such a prominent feature in the construction of the earthly tabernacle? may be asked. Since the heavenly sanctuary in connection with the throne of God is the most beautiful institution in the universe (Ps. 50: 2), it would have been a great mistake not to make the earthly sanctuary a beautiful structure. Without its beauty, it would not have been a true pattern of the heavenly sanctuary. But this was not the sole reason.

The sanctuary, being God's dwelling place, was a holy institution, so holy that the first and second apartments were called the holy place and the most holy place, respectively. Holiness and beauty are inseparable qualities, as the following texts of Scripture indicate: “Our holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers praised thee, is burned up with fire.” Isa. 64: 11. “Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.” Ps. 29: 2. Therefore, since the sanctuary was very holy, it was necessary to construct it proportionately beautiful.

God's instruction to Moses was: “Let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them.” Ex. 25: 8. Why did He want to dwell among them? How were they benefited by His dwelling among them in the tabernacle? Would such an arrangement sanctify their bodies? — No. God's dwelling among them was not His primary purpose; it was only a secondary one. He dwelt among them in order to teach them that He desired to dwell in them. 2 Cor. 6: 16. He made the sanctuary-temple His dwelling place in order to teach them how their body-temples might be made His dwelling place. The Israelites, associating the beauty of the sanctuary-temple with its corresponding holiness, in contrast to their own unholy, sin-scarred body-temples, could more easily grasp the truth afterward given to Nicodemus, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” John 3: 3. Their own bodies were unfit for God's abiding presence, for He dwells “in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit.” Isa. 57: 15. The beauty of the sanctuary was God's way, and the best way, of teaching them this fact. In relation to this thought, let us compare the creation of man with the construction of the tabernacle:—


Christ created man.	Moses built the tabernacle.
Christ used a pattern in creating man.	Moses used a pattern in building the tabernacle.
Christ’s pattern was a pattern of God, a beautiful heavenly Being.	Moses’ pattern was a pattern of the heavenly sanctuary, a beautiful institution.
Christ made man exactly according to the pattern.	Moses constructed the tabernacle exactly according to the pattern.
The man that Christ made was a beautiful, holy creature.	The tabernacle that Moses built was a beautiful and holy institution.

From the comparison given above, all may readily understand that the beauty of the earthly sanctuary was an object lesson of the original beauty of man, which, by means of the work done in the heavenly sanctuary, is to be recovered. The psalmist understood this truth; for he says: “Strength and beauty are in His sanctuary.” Ps. 96: 6. “Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us.” Prov. 90: 17.

Reader, Do you admire the beauty of God's sanctuary? Do you wish to become beautiful also? Read the following recipe: “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image [of beauty] from glory [beauty] to glory [beauty].” 2 Cor. 3: 18. This recipe never fails. Try it.