Most of us have sung this song many times in our lives, yet we may not often consider what the "beauty of Jesus" truly is.
The prophet Isaiah said of Jesus "when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him" (Isaiah 53:2). No, the beauty of Jesus was not outward physical beauty.
Psalm 96:6-9 explains his beauty in the words of a poet (King David): "Honor and majesty are before Him: strength and beauty are in His sanctuary....O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness: fear before Him, all the earth."
This phrase is found again in 1 Chronicles 16:29 "Give unto the Lord the glory due unto His name: bring an offering, and come before Him: worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness".
This beauty of Jesus was not a beauty seen with the physical eyes. That is the way man sees, but God looks on the hidden man of the heart (1 Samuel 16:7). The beauty God notices is the beauty of a Holy character . . . an inward righteousness. This was the beauty that King David sought for throughout his life: "One thing have I desired 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 behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple" (Psalm 27:4).
One other place this phrase occurs is during the reign of King Jehosophat. records, "And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the Lord, and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army." (2 Chronicles 20:21-22)
Do you today seek the true beauty of a Holy Character in your own life? "And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us" (Psalm 90:17). Remember our admonition as Peter quotes the Lord "Be ye Holy for I am Holy" (1 Peter 1:16)[Lev.11:44; 19:2; 20:7]