The Beauty of Christ
Good morning, Immanuel. When we pray for eyes to see the wonders of God's Word, we are praying to see the beauty of Christ.
“Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law” (Psalm 119:18).
Psalm 119:18 is a longing that God loves to answer. He loves to open our eyes so we may behold wondrous things out of his law. We were made to stand in awe of the beauty and wonder of God, but we don’t always see what we should see as we read the Bible. So, this is David's prayer: that God would open his eyes to behold wondrous things out of the Law. He longed to see God’s beauty in God’s Word, and that longing ultimately looked beyond that moment to the person of Jesus.
In Jesus, the fullness of God’s beauty is put on display. In Him, the wonders of God are made visible. He is the Word who became flesh…
…and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14).
He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power (Heb. 1:3a).
“For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor. 4:6).
“…everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures (Luke 24:44-45).
In Jesus, we see what the Law and the prophets were all about. In him, we see the holiness of God, the justice of God, the goodness of God, and the grace of God! As we ponder the death of Jesus, we begin to see how deep the Father’s love for us truly is —that he would give his only Son to make a wretch his treasure. In Jesus, we see the wonder of the throne of grace that speaks peace, redemption, and comfort to us. So when we pray that God would open our eyes to see wonders in His Law, we are really praying that God would open our eyes to see the beauty and goodness of Christ - and He loves to answer that prayer!