We are working hard to have a one-volume OT commentary in print by the end of 2026. I’ve completed the first draft of my commentary on Leviticus. I’m two-thirds of the way through Genesis. And just today I finished my commentary on Psalm 27. I’m doing the commentary on Book One of the Psalms, which includes Psalms 1-41.
Did you ever notice David’s beautiful statement in Psalm 27: “One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple” (Ps 27:4, ESV).
What did he mean about gazing upon the beauty of the Lord?
Here is what I wrote about verse 4: “David desired to behold the beauty of the Lord. Paul might have had this verse in mind when he wrote 2 Cor 3:18, ‘But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image…’” (emphasis added).
Zane Hodges told me that he thought the glory of the Lord in 2 Cor 3:18 referred to the beauty of the Lord Jesus Christ. In his book Six Secrets of the Christian Life, he wrote:
God’s “marvelous mirror,” however, never fails to tell us that Jesus Christ our Lord is the supremely fair One. Thus in a great Messianic Psalm about the King, the inspired writer declares, “My heart is overflowing with a good theme; I recite my composition concerning the King; my tongue is the pen of a ready writer” (Ps 45:1). Then, speaking directly to this royal Person, the Psalmist overflows with praise: “You are fairer than the sons of men; grace is poured upon Your lips” (v 2) (p. 29).
It should be recalled that 2 Cor 3:18 alludes to the times when Moses saw the glory of the Lord. Each time he met with the Lord Jesus Christ, Moses’ face glowed. (He took to wearing a veil because the glow would diminish over time.)
In 1 John 3:2, John said, “Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” Seeing the Lord has a transformative effect on us.
We are transformed by seeing the Lord Jesus’ beauty and glory in Scripture.
People look in all the wrong places for transformation, including contemplative practices, mind-altering drugs, ecstatic experiences, and asceticism.
The Lord Jesus is the answer. How am I born again? By believing in the Lord Jesus Christ for everlasting life, which He promises the believer. How do I become more like Christ? By beholding His glory in the Word of God.
In a sense, the more we love the Lord Jesus Christ, the more we become like Him.
