Matthew 17:1,2; Psalm 27:4—2 Chronicles 20:21
And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, and was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.
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 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, and to say, Praise the LORD; for his mercy endureth for ever.
H. A. IRONSIDE (1876-1951): Light is used throughout Scripture as a synonym for infinite holiness, purity, and perfect righteousness.
ALEXANDER MacLAREN (1826-1910): The Scripture uses light as an emblem for God in His holiness.
MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): He is “glorious in holiness,” Exodus 15:12; His holiness is His glory. It is that attribute which angels adore, Isaiah 6:3.
JOSEPH LE CONTE (1823-1901): Shall I call holiness an attribute? Is it not rather the glorious combination of all His attributes into one perfect whole?
JOHN ANGELL JAMES (1785-1869): Holiness is more, for it is the beauty of the Divine Being Himself; not so much a separate attribute of His nature, as the perfection of all His attributes. “God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all,” 1 John 1:5.
C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): In light, all the colours are blended. A perfectly white substance combines all the colours of the rainbow merged in true proportion…God’s attributes are like the amazing crystal shining out with its clear white light, but which may be divided into all the colours of the prism, each different and all beautiful.
JOSEPH LE CONTE: From the insufferable white light of the Absolute they all seem to diverge and separate into prismatic hues, so they all seem again to converge and meet and combine in the dazzling white radiance of His holiness. This, therefore, is rather the intense whiteness, purity, clearness, the infinite lustre and splendour of His perfect nature, like a gem without flaw, without stain, and without colour. All of His attributes are glorious, but in this we have a combination of all into a still more glorious whole. It is for this reason that it is so frequently in Scripture associated with the Divine beauty. The poetic nature of the Psalmist is exalted to ecstasy in contemplation of the “beauty of holiness,” the “beauty of the Lord.” Beauty is a combination of elements according to the laws of harmony; the more beautiful the parts or elements, and the more perfect the harmonious combination, the higher the beauty. How high and glorious, therefore, must be the beauty of this attribute which is the perfect combination of all His infinite perfections!
ANDREW GRAY (1805-1861): The colours of the rainbow are beautiful, when taken one by one. But there is a beauty in the rainbow which consists in their blended radiance. In like manner do the several perfections, which unite in the nature of God, produce a glorious beauty. Holiness is beautiful; mercy is beautiful; truth is beautiful. But, over and above, there is a beauty which belongs to such combinations and harmonies as the Psalmist describes, when he tells us, “Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other,” Psalm 85:10; “Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens; and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds. Thy righteousness is like the great mountains; thy judgments are a great deep,” Psalm 36:5,6.
C. H. SPURGEON: The dazzling radiance of God is too glorious for our mortal eyes, but each Revelation teaches us more of His beauty and perfectness.
CHARLES SIMEON (1759-1836): God, it is true, is, in His essence, invisible: “He dwelleth in the light which no man can approach unto; and no man hath seen him, or can see him,” 1 Timothy 6:16…Behold then, I say, that Almighty God, is become visible to us in the person of His Son: as it is said, “No man hath seen God at any time: the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him,” John 1:18.
WILLIAM DAWSON (1773-1841): As all the colours of the rainbow meet in one sunbeam, so all the perfections of God as perfectly unite, and more beautifully shine forth, in the person and offices of Jesus Christ.
A. W. PINK (1886-1952): It is worthy of note that when the white light is broken into its varied parts we have just seven colours, as seen in the rainbow…Seven is the number of perfection, and we do not reach perfection till we come to Christ.
MATTHEW HENRY: The great truth which we declare, is that “God is light,” “dwells in the light,” and “covers Himself with light,” Psalm 104:2. Therefore when Christ would appear in the form of God, He appeared “in light,” the most glorious of all visible beings, the first-born of the creation, and most nearly resembling the eternal Parent…All His body was altered, as His face was; so that beams of light, darting from every part through His clothes, made them white and glittering—Christ is “the Light,” John 1:5; while He was in the world, He “shined in darkness,” and therefore “the world knew him not,” John 1:10, John 9:5.
C. H. SPURGEON: Like the drops of a luster, which reflect a rainbow of colours when the sun is glittering upon them and each one, when turned in different ways, from its prismatic form shows all the varieties of colour, so the mercy of God is one and yet many, the same yet ever changing, a combination of all the beauties of love blended harmoniously together.
ALEXANDER MacLAREN: But we need all the seven prismatic tints to make the perfect white light—the bright light of holiness.
JOHN GILL (1697-1771): Some think the rainbow serves to put in mind both the destruction of the old world by water, through its watery colours, and of the present world by fire, through its fiery ones.
STEPHEN CHARNOCK (1628-1680): His justice is part of His holiness.
A. W. PINK: God magnified His justice, for when sin—by imputation—was found upon His Son, He called for the sword to smite Him, Zechariah 13:7. He magnified His holiness: His hatred of sin was more clearly shown at the Cross than it will be in the lake of fire. He magnified His power by sustaining the Mediator under such a load as was laid upon Him. He magnified His truth by fulfilling His covenant engagements and bringing forth from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep, Hebrews 12:20. He magnified His grace by imputing to the ungodly all the merits of Christ. This, then, was the prime purpose of God in the Atonement: to magnify Himself…A dark background it was indeed, but a dark background is required to bring out the white light of Divine holiness.
CHARLES SIMEON: See then in Him, and in His cross, not some perfections only, but all, even all the perfections of the Godhead shining in their utmost splendour.
MATTHEW HENRY: One sun enlightens the whole world, so does one Christ, and there needs no more. Christ in calling Himself the light expresses, what He is in Himself—most excellent and glorious. And what He is to the world—the fountain of light, enlightening every man. What a dungeon would the world be without the sun! So would it be without Christ by Whom “light came into the world,” John 1:19.
WILLIAM GURNALL (1617-1679): And thou art going into the dark, as soon as thou turn thy back upon Him.
JOHN ANGELL JAMES: Holiness is light, as well as truth.
