None can be nearer, fairer, dearer

When Psalm 45:2 says Jesus Christ “art fairer than the children of men,” that’s His person; that’s who He is.

Jordan says, “Some people suggest Christ wasn’t really a fair-looking, handsome guy. They argue that to call Him ‘Fairest Lord Jesus,’ as the old hymn goes, wouldn’t be a good way to describe Him and point to Isaiah 52:13 for their idea He’s not somebody good to look at.

“Isaiah 53:2 reads, ‘For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.’

“People say, ‘Well, his physical visage was not attractive to people,’ but, you know, there are two things about that. First, this passage in Isaiah 53, when it says he had ‘no form or comeliness,' it’s talking about Him being despised and rejected among men. That’s what Isaiah 52:14 is talking about.

“He didn’t start out marred and no beauty in Him! When did that happen? That’s the Cross. You see Him being 'so marred more than any man.' The brutalities described in Matthew 26 and 27 that were heaped upon Him produced this horrible picture.

“Song of Solomon has the only physical description of the Lord Jesus Christ and it says He had hair that was bushy and black like a raven. He was brown-eyed and had black hair.

“When the psalmist says ‘thou art fairer than the children of men,’ that means He’s the prototype man. He’s the hero. He’s what God wanted man to be. Psalm 45 is describing the Lord in resurrection; describing glorified humanity.

“Of course, His personage would be more than His physical appearance—it would be in the nature He had and in the way He dealt with people; in the virtue His character would display.

“I love that verse that talks about the woman who touched the hem of His garment. It’s a strange verse. It says ‘virtue went out of him.’ Would anybody ever say that about you?

“The healing power that went out of Him into that woman and healed her, the Scripture calls that ‘virtue’ and that’s exactly the right translation, by the way. In other words, there was a virtue that just overflowed out of Him, and in His person He was fairer—‘He was fairer than the sons of men,’ as the verse says.

“So when the Bible describes Him it says, ‘He was altogether lovely. He was the lily of the valley.’ There’s a song like that: ‘Bright and morning star and he’s the altogether lovely to my soul.’

*****

If you want to see glorified humanity in the Bible, it’s summed up in Matthew 17: “And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart,

[2] And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.”

Likewise, Luke reports in Luke 9, “And it came to pass about an eight days after these sayings, he took Peter and John and James, and went up into a mountain to pray.

[29] And as he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment was white and glistering.”

Jordan explains, “The glory of God was in the Lord Jesus Christ and was manifested through Him. ‘Altered’ means ‘transformed.’ There He is and His body inside of His clothes is transformed and the glory of God begins to shine out of it as the sun and it made His raiment glisten; kind of sparkle.

“You understand, folks, what the difference is between that spotlight up there shining down on my face and reflecting out? My face is shining like the moon shines--reflected light. To shine like the sun is to shine like a light bulb shines. It’s to have the light INSIDE of you and the light shines out.

“Did you ever notice that verse over there in Isaiah where God says, ‘I created the light and I created darkness?’ You know, God had to create darkness. What do you and I have to create? Light.

“You ever had any trouble creating darkness? No, you have to dispel darkness, don’t you? You don’t get along so good in the dark. If you’re in the dark it debilitates you.

“Before the light bulb we had kerosene lamps and different kind of torches, and before that you went to bed before the sun went down because you couldn’t see much and it forced restricted activity. You and I don’t have to create darkness; it’s natural in our world.

“We need a light source that creates light, but God’s the other way. God is naturally in the light. ‘God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.’ And He had to literally create places where He wasn’t so there would be some darkness.

“Well, in the passage it’s talking about His glory coming to reside inside a person so there’s no darkness. Literally, our future body’s going to be a repository of the glory of God and that glory is going to shine out through you. It’s going to be inherently and innately present inside of you because of who He is and you’re going to share in His glorification.”