Grace Baptist Church of Arlington

Often we look to nature to point out the handiwork of God, and we’re right to do so.  But I think that Mr. Spurgeon has a true and marvelous point that if we want to see even greater beauty and splendor, then we should look to the handiwork of God in the life of a repenting sinner.  The trees, rocks, mountains, and glaciers never rebelled against God, but every human being who has ever walked this earth has rebelled against God, and in our rebellion we have displayed that which is ultimately repulsive and unsightly.  Therefore, when those in rebellion are converted and increasingly made into the likeness of God’s beloved Son, they gradually reflect the beauty and splendor of the fairest of the fair.  Their lives then display even greater beauty than the great works of creation.  They are a new creation.  Here is how Charles Spurgeon put it:

The museum of grace is richer than that of nature. A heart broken on account of sin is a far greater wonder than the rarest fossil, whatever it may tell of ancient floods of the sea or convulsions of the land. An eye that glistens with the tears of penitence is a greater marvel than the cataract of Niagara, or the fountains of the Nile. Faith that humbly links itself to Christ has in it as great a beauty as the rainbow, and the confidence which looks alone to Jesus, and so irradiates the soul, is as much an object for admiration as is the sun when he shineth in his strength. Talk not of the pyramids, the Colossus, the golden house of Nero, or the temple of Ephesus, for the living temple of God’s church is fairer far. Let others glory in the marvels they have seen but be it mine to say unto my Lord, “I will praise thee, for thou hast done wonderful things…” (From a sermon entitled “A Blessed Wonder,” delivered June 12, 1870).

HT: Nick

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