He is Altogether Lovely
He is Altogether Lovely
He is lovely in His person—the glorious all-sufficiency of His deity, the gracious purity and holiness of His humanity, His authority and majesty, His love and power.
He is lovely in His birth and incarnation—when He, who was rich, became poor for our sake, taking on flesh and blood because we share in the same. He was made of a woman, so that He could be made under the law for our sake.
He is lovely throughout His entire life, displaying more than angelic holiness and obedience, even amidst poverty and persecution—doing good while receiving evil, blessing and being cursed, reviled, and reproached all His days.
He is lovely in His death, yes, most lovely to sinners—never more glorious and desirable than when He came broken and dead from the cross. He carried all our sins into a land of forgetfulness; He made peace and reconciliation for us; He obtained life and immortality on our behalf.
He is lovely in His entire mission, in His great undertaking—in His life, death, resurrection, and ascension. He serves as a mediator between God and us, to restore the glory of God's justice and to save our souls. He brings us to the enjoyment of God, bridging the infinite gap caused by sin.
He is lovely in the glory and majesty with which He is crowned. He is now seated at the right hand of the Majesty on high. Although He is fearsome to His enemies, He is full of mercy, love, and compassion towards His beloved ones.
He is lovely in all the provisions of grace and consolation, in all the dispensations of His Holy Spirit, in which His saints participate.
He is lovely in all the tender care, power, and wisdom that He exercises in protecting, safeguarding, and delivering His church and people, even in the face of opposition and persecution.
He is lovely in all His ordinances and in the entirety of the spiritually glorious worship that He has ordained for His people, enabling them to draw near and commune with Him and His Father.
He is lovely and glorious in the vengeance He takes and will ultimately execute upon the stubborn enemies of Himself and His people.
He is lovely in the forgiveness He has purchased and dispenses, in the reconciliation He has established, in the grace He imparts, in the consolations He provides, in the peace and joy He gives to His saints, and in His assured preservation of them until they reach glory.
What more can I say? There is no end to His excellences and desirability. "He is altogether lovely. This is our beloved, and this is our friend, O daughters of Jerusalem."
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John Owen, The Saint's Fellowship with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit