Now can we read a few verses from the gospel of John chapter 12 before we again turn to prayer. John chapter 12 verse 20. John chapter 12, just verses 20 to 26. Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. So these came to Philip who was from Bethsaida in Galilee and asked him, sir, we wish to see Jesus. Philip went and told Andrew. Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. And Jesus answered them, the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone, but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me. And where I am, there will My servant be also. If anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him." Now, let me ask you to turn to the Old Testament Scriptures, and we read in the book of Isaiah chapter 33. Quite a long chapter, and we'll read most of it, and the focus, indeed, of the message will be what we were singing just now about the beauty of the Lord. So let's read Isaiah 33, beginning at the second verse there. Oh Lord, be gracious to us. We wait for you. Be our arm every morning, our salvation in the time of trouble. At the tumultuous noise, peoples flee. When you lift yourself up, nations are scattered, and your spoil is gathered as the caterpillar gathers. As locusts sleep, it is leapt upon. The Lord is exalted, for he dwells on high. He will fill Zion with justice and righteousness, and he will be the stability of your times. abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge. The fear of the Lord is Zion's treasure. Behold, their heroes cry in the streets. The envoys of peace weep bitterly. The highways lie waste. The traveler ceases. Covenants are broken. Cities are despised. There is no regard for man. The land mourns and languishes. Lebanon is confounded and withers away. Sharon is like a desert, and Bashan and Carmel shake off their leaves. "'Now I will arise,' says the Lord. "'Now I will lift myself up, now I will be exalted. "'You conceive chaff, you give birth to stubble. "'Your breath is a fire that will consume you, "'and the peoples will be as if burned to lime, "'like thorns cut down that are burned in the fire.'" Here, you who are far off, what I have done, and you who are near, acknowledge my might. The sinners in Zion are afraid. Trembling has seized the godless. Who among us can dwell with the consuming fire? Who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings? He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly, who despises the gain of oppressions, who shakes his hands lest they hold a bribe, who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed and shuts his eyes from looking on evil, he will dwell on the heights. His place of defense will be the fortresses of rocks. His bread will be given him. His water will be sure. Your eyes will behold the king in his beauty. They will see a land that stretches afar. Your heart will muse on the terror. Where is he who counted? Where is he who weighed the tribute? Where is he who counted the towers? You will see no more the insolent people, the people of an obscure speech that you cannot comprehend, stammering in a tongue that you cannot understand. Behold Zion, the city of our appointed feasts. Your eyes will see Jerusalem, an untroubled habitation and immovable tent, whose stakes will never be plucked up, nor will any of its cords be broken. But there the Lord in majesty will be for us, a place of broad rivers and streams where no galley with oars can go, nor majestic ships can pass. For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king, he will save us. Amen, and thanks be to God for his word. Now I'd like to bring before you that verse from the passage we read in Isaiah 33, concentrating on verse 17, your eyes will behold the King in His beauty. And I will refer to the context in Isaiah 33, but rather than doing a close study of the chapter, just really focus on these words. And let me begin by referring to that experience that I'm sure we've all experienced of climbing or walking to the top of a high mountain and seeing a wonderful view. It may be in the Scottish Highlands or the Lake District or Switzerland, wherever, and it's a day, it's a day, a beautiful day like this, clear, lovely sunshine, clear air, so that you get what we sometimes say, a breathtaking view over the countryside for miles and miles around, and you can soak in something of the beauty of God's creation. And up there you see things which, when you're down below, you don't see. When you're down below, you just see the lanes and trees and hedges, which may be beautiful enough in their own way, but it's when you're taken up that you see that grander view. Now I know all days are not like that, and there are different kind of days when you can hardly get to the top at all. In fact, I recalled being once on holiday in Arran, and afterwards people said, did you climb Goat Fell? And we had to say, climb it? We hardly ever saw it, never mind climb it. But I imagine everybody knows this experience that I'm describing, and it's what the Bible does for us. It brings us to a high and indeed a divine viewpoint where we can see the whole picture, things that we often miss when we're on the lower ground, and this text is one such place. Now, these chapters come, of Isaiah, probably come from the time when Judah was under threat from the powerful Assyrian King Sennacherib, the one who came down like a wolf on the fold in Lord Byron's poem, which some people here may just have learned at school. And its first two verses of that poem contrast the pride of Assyria with their downfall. And we're all in for a bit of culture every now and then, aren't we? This is Lord Byron. The Assyrian came down like a wolf on the fold, and his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold, and the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea when the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee. Like the leaves of the forest, when summer is green, that host with their banners at sunset were seen. Like the leaves of the forest when autumn hath blown, that host on the morrow lay withered and strown. That was the poet's picture of it. But we're concerned here with a much higher perspective, and it's from the elevated position of Isaiah 33 that Isaiah shows this picture to his embattled people, the whole picture. Verse 19, you will see no more. the insolent people. A time would come, verse 18, when your heart will muse on the terror, where is that greatly feared foe? And it wouldn't be because of the military or political strength of little Judah The thing is, verse 22, actually, strangely enough, I noticed in my Bible it's the bottom line of the page, and it is the bottom line truth, actually, in verse 22. The Lord is our judge. The Lord is our lawgiver. The Lord is our King. He will save us. That's the whole point. Because of that, a time would come when they would hardly be able to understand how fearful they had been. That's an experience, again, that we probably all can recognize in lesser ways, some experience that you were facing, a testing thing that was looming ahead, an operation, an examination in school or university, speaking in public, all sorts of things that you were fearful and nervous about. And then, once it's all over, you think, what was I so worried about? And that's how it would be, because they had been strong in the strength which God supplies. And from this vantage point, it says in the text, verse 17, your eyes will behold the king in his beauty. The only thing is, what king? The Jewish king at the time was Hezekiah. And was this a prophecy that King Hezekiah would emerge victorious? Perhaps, but it goes beyond that. And many of the Old Testament references to kingship really have as their benchmark the kingship of David as the ideal king. For all his faults, for all his failings, in many ways the people of Israel looked back to the days of King David as the ideal days, the ideal king, and they longed for the restoration of a king in the line, or as we remember in the older words, in the lineage of David. And from there, you easily pass into this messianic expectation, as in the previous chapter, the first verse of the previous chapter, 32, behold, a king will reign in righteousness. a forward look to the time when David's description would come true, when David's ancestor, David's successor would come and establish his kingdom. And so you could say this text, it speaks to the people of Israel of the Davidic king and the coming Messiah. And of course for us, reading it as part of the whole Bible, It speaks to us, no doubt, of these things, but also of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is truly the one in the line of David, God's Messiah, His Anointed One, who fulfilled the prophecies of Isaiah and the Old Testament. and who also surpassed all that the people of Israel expected, really, insofar as they had come to expect a warrior king who would save them politically. And such hopes, as we know, were disappointed in that Jesus came to do something far more significant and important. He came not to be a political deliverer, but a powerful savior from sin and judgment and hell. Not the matters of politics and national life are unimportant, of course. And we constantly say, don't we would that there were more people in public life and political life who are seeking to bring the principles of Christ to bear upon the political life of our and other nations. But what Jesus came to do was far more important than any amount of political action. And for us who read these words, it's a text which speaks of how we now see the king in his beauty. And also of a day to come when we will see in a different way the king in his beauty, face to face. So just taking that text, let me draw out some things about seeing Him, the King Jesus, in His beauty. And it speaks to us first of the beauty of His coming, the beauty of His coming. Isaiah would say to his people, he did say to his people, It's coming. Trust in God and keep your focus on him. You will see the king in his beauty. Not just a Davidic king, not a political messiah, but the Lord God himself coming right into this world. Only, of course, as we know, he came in a way they never expected. A little baby in a cattle trough in backwater Bethlehem. Of course, when we talk about the beauty, well, every baby is beautiful, isn't he or she? And who has not oohed and aahed over every newly born baby? It's true, unless you're one of those who would say, well, it's just a baby who needs to be fed, and nursed, and dressed, and changed, and so on, and who will ruin your good night's sleep, and all these sort of negative things. But the beauty of his coming, is not just in the beauty of a newborn baby, but in the beauty of the fact that he came at all. Remember Galatians 4 and 4 in the authorized version it says, when the fullness of the times was come, God sent his son. in the fullness of the times. That was the wonder and the glory and the beauty of the fulfillment of that text at just the right time. Now, you know how it's often pointed out that there were many factors which made it at the right time, you could say. Rome had unified much of the known world then with the Pax Romana, the Peace of Rome, Bringing relative peace to a large part of that whole area, there were the Roman roads, which the missionaries of the cross would use. There was a common language, Greek, in which they could communicate the gospel. And in fact, somebody has said, search the pages of history up and down, and in all the tale of the centuries, you will not find any generation in which Christ could better have come than the generation in which he did come. But over and above all that, of course, all these human factors, it was the right time in God's plan, the beauty of his coming. Secondly, let me draw out the text in terms of the beauty of his character. In the whole life of Jesus, this text comes true. You will see the king in his beauty. Not a saccharine or sickly sweet beauty as if his life was spent just walking amongst the Galilean fields in lovely sunshine and that white robe that looked like an advert for some washing powder or something. You know what I mean? Sometimes you get these pictures and descriptions of Jesus that make him seem so unreal, so otherworldly. And we need a truly biblical picture of one who did live among the very real trials and pressures of real people, who knew what human nature is because he knew it intimately and was no idealistic dreamer, tested in all points as we are, though without sin. And it was in that life that the beauty of his character shone forth. Even his enemies couldn't find evil in him. Try as they might. And we know how they did try. They couldn't find anything they could use against him. Remember the story, John 8, of that woman taken in adultery, as we're told. It says they dragged the woman before Jesus for his judgment of what should be done. And it says, this is John 8 and 6, This they said to test him that they might have some charge to bring against him. And that's the kind of thing that you find often. Not a matter of seeking what was best for the needy or for people genuinely finding out what Jesus' teaching was all about, but just looking for things against him. I suppose it's slightly analogous to the kind of media industry that we have today that seems to be uninterested in anything good and wholesome and is constantly seeking to undermine and look upon even the most innocent, apparently innocent comments and use them against people. Another time, Luke 11, 53, scribes and Pharisees began to press him hard and to provoke him to speak many things, lying in wait for him to catch him in some of the things he might say. And then after Jesus' famous render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's, we read Luke 20, 26, they were not able in the presence of the people to catch him in what he said. And what was true of his words was true in terms of his character generally. They could not find grounds of criticism. And of course there's Pilate. I find no basis for a charge against this man. And obviously he meant politically, but it was also true morally and in every other way. It speaks of the beauty of his character. Even those with a huge vested interest in finding something against him couldn't find it, and how frustrating it must have all been for them. I mean, everybody else has their Achilles heel, skeletons in their cupboard, however we see it, but they could find nothing against Jesus. But it's more positive than that, of course, because it wasn't just that there wasn't anything evil or wicked in Jesus. It was the positive beauty of his character that shone forth in the Gospels, all over the Gospels. I mean, that woman of John 8 that we're talking about, how did he respond to the situation presented to him? He spoke to her with compassion and love. Of course he did. With straightforwardness as well. We know that because he certainly told her, go and sin no more. That's plain enough. but he also held out the hand of forgiveness and mercy. Neither do I condemn you. He wanted something better for her. He wanted her to leave behind her life of sin and everything wrong, everything that was against God's plan for her. And that was his desire for all he met. Woman by the well. how patiently and compassionately he dealt with her, calling her as well to leave her life of sin and open up her heart to the, you know, the image he used, the streams of living water that could make her life new. Or Peter. Peter, who could rise to the heights, but who could make such a fool of himself as well. Somebody said of him, his track record wasn't good. Peter didn't have a history of rising to the occasion. And famously, three times denied even knowing Jesus, but did Jesus cast him off as a failure? Peter, do you love me? Do you love me? Do you love me? And if we have failed him, there is the great opportunity to say with Peter, Lord, you know that I do love you. That's the bottom line. I have failed, I am not what I should be, but I do love you. And I want your power in my life to be the person that you want me to be. And so many other examples could be given. Many other things mentioned in the gospels that reveal the beauty of his character. You will behold the king in his beauty. The beauty of his coming, the beauty of his character. What about thirdly, the beauty of his cross? Of course, there was nothing beautiful about the thing itself. And within this book of Isaiah, you know how it's a number of pages further on, you could draw a line right to Isaiah 53 with its contrasting picture. He had no beauty. or majesty to attract us to him. Nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and as one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised and we esteemed him not. So in one sense, we can say there was absolutely nothing beautiful about a cross. It was an instrument of torture and cruelty designed to make the process of being killed as long as possible and as terrible as possible. And of course it was meant to be a deterrent. That's what'll happen to you if you step out of line. But thousands of people were executed by that barbaric method. And I suppose the sanitized images of crosses and religious art and stained glass windows and so on are far from reality really. And yet, You know the hymn that says crown him with many crowns and it says crown him the Lord of love behold his hands and side rich wounds yet visible above in beauty glorified. rich wounds in beauty glorified. That is a striking phrase. Ugly as any wound is, and yet beautiful because it speaks of the great love with which he accepted all that maltreatment and the death of the cross. I guess there's some analogy with a human scar. From one point of view, a post-operative scar may be a blemish, on somebody's body. And yet, in another way, a beautiful thing, in the sense that it has healed nicely. Not just that, but it's a sign of health. Whatever was the trouble has been dealt with, and only a scar is left. But in this case, of course, the wounds which Jesus bore were not for his own healing, but for ours. And not just from any physical ailment, but for the salvation of our souls. Rich wounds yet visible above in beauty glorified. I didn't know that you were reading Pilgrim's Progress in the midweek service, is it? But I made a note here of this bit from Bunyan's description of Christian coming to the cross. You know the famous bit about the burden from his back and so on. And this is the way Bunyan wrote it. Thus far did I come laden with my sin, nor could aught ease the grief that I was in till I came hither. What place is this? Must here be the beginning of my bliss? Must here the burden fall from off my back? Must here the strings that bound it to me crack? Blessed cross, blessed sepulcher, blessed rather be the man that there was put to shame for me. Isn't that wonderful? Especially these last lines, blessed cross. This instrument of cruelty and horror, blessed cross, blessed sepulcher. But it's not the things themselves, blessed rather be the man who there was put to shame for me. And is that true for you? That even there at Calvary, you see the king and his beauty. Through all of the horror, the beauty of a Lord who stood in for us, who yielded his life and atonement for sin and opened the life gate that all may go in, praise the Lord indeed. Your eyes will see the King in his beauty, in the beauty of his coming, of his character, of his cross, the beauty also of his conquest, in that this King that we behold is the risen victorious King, The one who cried out, it is finished. Who was laid in the tomb and who, Revelation 117 says, I am the first and the last and the living one. I was dead and behold, I am alive forevermore. and people will always worship. In variations of it, I will proclaim the glory of the risen Lord who once was slain to reconcile man to God. Forever you will be the lamb upon the throne. I gladly bow the knee and worship you alone. It is, of course, why the Protestant church has always rejected the crucifix. If there is a symbol of our faith at all, then it is an empty cross, because the Lord who suffered and died there rose from the dead and is no longer pinned to any cross, but is alive forevermore. Peter and John proclaimed it a few weeks later to the very court that had sentenced Jesus to death. when the people demanded an explanation about that, you know, the lame man in John 3 or what had happened. And they said, it is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. And salvation is found in no one else at all, for there is no other name under heaven given amongst men by which we must be saved. And in him, we behold the great king in his beauty, don't we? The risen victorious Lord, beautiful because of his conquest over sin and evil and death. And then we could say also, we will behold the beauty of his coming again. Because just as the text had a forward-looking aspect for the people of Israel in Isaiah 33, so it has for us too, because we look forward to the coming of the king. Coming again, even as he has promised. You know what 1 Corinthians 13 says, now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face. First John three and two, dear friends, now we are children of God and what we will be has not been made known, but we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. And there is coming that great day when the Lord will return. The fact that so many individuals and groups have made wrongheaded predictions, should never make us lose sight of this wonderful thing, the beauty of His coming again. And I say wrong-headed, meaning it's not just that they've always got the date wrong time and time and time again, but that it's wrong-headed to even try to set dates, because the Lord Himself said, nobody knows the day nor the hour when the Son of Man will return. I suppose the only thing we can say, the Apostle Paul said it in Romans 13 and 11, that it is nearer now than when we first believed. But only the Father knows and he has not revealed it to us. And of course the Bible's thrust really is that we should live every day as if it might be the day of his coming again. Be always ready because the Son of Man will come at a time you know not. I don't know if you've heard that saying, that we should live each day as if Jesus died yesterday, rose again this morning, and is coming again tomorrow. Now, that's not meant to produce panic or fear, far from it. But the New Testament does encourage us to live our day-to-day lives in readiness, with faith that shows itself in action, with hope that never loses sight of ultimate reality. and with love, which loves him who first loved us and seeks to reflect that love to others around us. In Psalm 27, verse four, we read this prayer. One thing I ask of the Lord, you know it, don't you? One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to gaze upon, what is it? The beauty of the Lord. To gaze upon the beauty of the Lord. Beautiful Savior. wonderful counselor, clothed in majesty, Lord of history, the way, the truth, the life. That's what one of the modern hymns says. Star of the morning, glorious in holiness, the risen one, heaven's champion, and you reign, you reign over all. And it's no escapist notion, and it's no withdrawal from the world with all its needs and troubles. and call to serve the Lord in this needy world. In fact, it could be said, could it not? And historically, I'm sure it's true. It can be said that it's those who are most sure of these eternal truths and of the ultimate truth who make most difference in this world as it is responding to the needs of this world. And that leads me to the last thing, having thought over the beauty of his coming, his character, his cross, his conquest, his coming again, the beauty of his calling. Softly and tenderly, says the old hymn, Jesus is calling. Calling us to come to him for forgiveness of our sins, renewal of life, so that our lives may indeed be filled with that faith and hope and love. The faith that sees beyond the things of this visible and tangible world. The hope that makes all the difference to our view of the days to come, and love which shows forth the reality of this response to Christ in our lives. The Lord Jesus Christ who came, who lived and died, who rose again, who will come again, is the Lord who calls people still. Not with the hectoring call of a tyrant who says repent or else, Although we do have to remember that there is a warning note that says, the gospel says, don't put it off. You never know whether you'll have another chance to respond to the gospel message. There is that warning note and you can't get away from that. But his voice is the tenderly strong voice of one who bids us to leave the past behind and respond to his grace and accept all that he gives. One who can deal with our past because we all have a past, forgiving everything that has been wrong and sinful. The one who can deal with our future because we all have a future, giving us assurance of what lies ahead. And the one who can deal with our present, giving us guidance and strength for daily living. I used to serve as a hospital chaplain at one time, and we held a Sunday afternoon service. And one patient was an elderly member of the congregation where I was a minister who was suffering from dementia. And as the visiting time came just after the service time, her husband would often come along early for visiting and join with us in the service. and they had been a couple who sang regularly as a duet and sometimes at the close of the little service that we had in the hospital room or ward they would do just that. And one of the most moving times that I remember was when they struck up, after a service that I had finished, with an old song based on this text about seeing the king in his beauty. It's called, The Last Mile of the Way. And it's by the same author, Johnson Oatman Jr., who wrote, Jesus Knows All About Our Troubles, and Count Your Blessings. So despite the fact that Eva was demented, you know, and all her forgetfulness and all the rest of it, it was all stored up there and she and Jim sang it all the way through. When I've gone the last mile of the way, I shall rest at the close of the day, for I know there are joys that await me when I've gone the last mile of the way. I shall see the great king in his beauty. when I've gone the last mile of the way." To me, it was extremely moving. It is actually extremely moving to tell the story even, and they were on the last mile of the way, but we don't have to wait till then, of course, to actually glory in the prospect of it. Actually, that hymn starts with, if I walk in the pathway of duty, Which, you know, that could make it, could be misunderstood as implying that there's a kind of heavenly reward if we do our best and so on, whereas gospel is a gospel of grace. Salvation is God's gift received by faith. But walking in the pathway of duty, that's right, isn't it? That's our calling. However far along the way we are, and whether people are just beginning the Christian life and there are some young people here, or whether there are some others of us who are much nearer the last mile of the way, whatever the stage may be, seeking to serve and glorify this great king of glory and of grace. The one who says, come to me all who are thirsty. Come to the waters. You who have no money, come buy and drink. And it poses the question, this is Isaiah 55, relevant as it is for our day as well. Why spend your money on what is not bread and your labor on what does not satisfy? Isn't this world a world where so many people are chasing after all manner of things in the hope of finding satisfaction only to find that earthly things don't bring satisfaction? Listen, God says, listen to me. Eat what is good and your soul will delight in the richest of fare. And then it says, and this is the beauty of his calling, seek the Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord and he will have mercy on him and he will abundantly pardon. Wonderful words, inviting, winning, gracious words, the beauty of His call. So have you responded to that call in your own heart and life? I hope and pray that you can say yes to that, that you have indeed put your trust in this living Lord. The beauty of his coming and his character, his cross even, his conquest, his coming again, and his call. Behold the King in his beauty. Amen, and let us pray. how we thank you, O Lord, for the reality and truth of this text, for these wonderful words, for all that they meant to the people of Judah when they first heard them, perhaps of an earthly king and the conquest of the Assyrian foe. But how much more wonderful in the whole Bible as they point us to the King in all his beauty, the King of all kings and Lord of lords. And we thank you, O Lord, for every way in which we see the beauty of the King. And we pray, too, that we may respond to his calling and that something of the, let the beauty of Jesus be seen in us, all his wondrous compassion and purity. O thou Spirit divine, all our nature refine till the beauty of Jesus be seen in us. And we thank you, O Lord, that when we have gone the last mile of the way, whensoever that should be, that by faith and by your grace we may look forward to seeing the great King in all his beauty. So we give thanks and praise to you, O Lord, in his name, our Redeemer, Saviour, and King. Amen.