Approaching Zion: Beauty and the Beast (yes, the one from Revelation)

Belle 

There is one aspect of Zion that rarely (if ever) gets discussed: her beauty.

   For Zion must increase
   in beauty.

(D&C 82:14)

What does the Lord find "beautiful?"

Is He referring to an aesthetic quality (the attractiveness of Zion)?  Does the Lord care about Zion's appearance?  Does He want her to look like a Super Model and be a Size-Zero?

The fact that Zion must "increase" in beauty shows it is something that can grow; she gains greater beauty with maturity and motherhood. 

The reason I think we shouldn't equate "beauty" with attractiveness is because everyone's aesthetic is subjective, depending on their culture, upbringing, and personal tastes.

For example, if I asked 100 of you what is the most "beautiful" song ever written, I would probably get 100 different answers (for the record, the correct answer is Oh Shenandoah).

I find it curious that the only time Jesus ever commented on the beauty of something, it was as an insult.

   For ye are like
   unto whited sepulchres,
   which indeed appear beautiful
   outward, but are within
   full of dead men’s bones.

(Matt. 23:27)

Contrast the outward-beauty of the Pharisees with the lackluster appeal of Jesus, of whom Isaiah wrote:

   When we shall see him,
   there is no beauty
   that we should desire him.

(Isaiah 53:2)

As for Zion's physical appearance, the scriptures don't paint a pretty picture.  They say Zion shall become "very great, and very terrible" (D&C 97:18) ― and her champion shall be shockingly disfigured and "marred" (Isaiah 52:14).

Zion has never been the belle of the ball.

"Holy Beauty, Batman!"

​Plato idealized beauty.  He often described what is "good" in terms of what is beautiful.  In his Symposium, Plato argues that beauty (like love) evokes "a longing for immortality."

King David knew a thing or two about beauty, being the apple of the Lord's eye (Psalm 17:8).  David was described as "ruddy and of a fair countenance" (1 Sam. 17:42).  Even the oaf Goliath remarked on David's handsomeness; the NIV says:

   Goliath looked David over
   and saw that he was . . . 
   glowing with health
   and handsome.

(1 Sam. 17:42)

(A beautiful giant slayer and royalty and faithful?  David was the complete package.)

David gave us the key to unlock the divine secret of beauty years later, when he said:

   Give the Lord the glory
   due unto his name:
   bring an offering, and come:
   worship the Lord
   in the beauty of holiness.

(1 Chron. 16:29)

Here we find what the Lord finds "beautiful."  A thing becomes "beautiful" when it is filled with His holiness.

   For Zion must increase
   in beauty, and in holiness.

(D&C 82:14)

"Holiness" is a label we attribute to God without really understanding what it is.  "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts" (Isaiah 6:3).  But what does it mean?

Holiness is Extraterrestrial

The problem is compounded when we confuse what is "holy" with what is beautiful.  We see beautiful temples, and watch beautiful art, and we often equate that with "Holiness to the Lord."  However, what is beautiful is not always holy; and what is holy is not always beautiful to the natural eye.

I used to think "holiness" meant righteousness.  But righteousness is not the same thing as holiness.

I used to think "holiness" meant piousness; but piousness is not holiness.

I used to think "holiness" meant moral cleanliness.  But cleanliness is not holiness.

So what is it?  Why is Zion described, above all, as "the holy city" (Isaiah 52:1)?

I want to suggest that a thing is "holy" if it is not of this world ― meaning it belongs or pertains to a better (higher) order.

   And be not conformed
   to this world.

(Romans 12:2)

When we encounter something here (or someone) that is not native to this plane of existence ― bearing the otherworldliness of a spiritual meteorite, having descended from nobler spheres (such as Christ) ― it is holy.

Like Manna.  The bread from heaven that fed the children of Israel for 40 years is an example of something that is "holy" because it was not of terrestrial origin.  That is why Manna couldn't be stored or kept longer than a day lest it spoil ― because it was (like Christ's Kingdom and Zion) "not of this world" (John 18:36).

Buffalos and Bulls

​The Book of Revelation describes two "witnesses" (Rev. 11:3) who play an important role in God's plan:

   These are the two olive trees
   and the two candlesticks
   standing before
   the God of the earth.

(Rev. 11:4)

Here, John is drawing upon imagery from Zechariah, who had been shown by an angel:

   These are the two
   anointed ones,
   that stand by the Lord
   of the whole earth.

(Zech. 4:14)

These two types-of-Christ are given power over water, like Moses (Rev. 11:6), and over fire, like Elijah (Rev. 11:5).  Symbolism of water and fire bring to mind baptism.  From the ashes, beauty arises.  The Lord's Candlesticks provide His light again to Israel.

   - Two (so the law of witnesses is fulfilled)

   - Witnesses (what is their testimony?)

   - Olive Trees (trees are usually symbolic of families and lineages)

   - Candlesticks (in ancient times, offering light during nighttime)

   - Anointed Ones (remember, "Christ" in Greek means "the Anointed One")

   These two are come unto thee;
   who shall be sorry for thee?
   desolation and destruction
   and famine and sword:
   by whom shall I comfort thee?

(Isaiah 51:19)

Here we see Israel limping along after desolation and worse; and yet, the Lord remembers His promises.  Whom does He send?

   Thy sons have fainted,
   they lie at the head 
   of all the streets,
   as a wild bull in a net:
   they are full of the fury
   of the Lord.

(Isaiah 51:20)

The image of "wild bulls in a net" has always fascinated me.  Every time I go to the Rodeo and watch the bull riders, atop 2,000 pound bulls, I think of this verse.  These bulls will throw off the "net" of Israel's captivity.

Avraham Gileadi translates it, "Your children lie in a faint at the corner of every street, taken in a net like buffalo."  They're trapped.  They're constrained; but the Lord delivers them from bondage.

Notice the reference to "fury" in verse 20.  Jesus Christ drank the "fury" of God in Gethsemane to the last, bitter dregs.

That's what Christ's servants are anointed to do (see D&C 77:15).  It may not look pretty, but it is beautiful.

The Beast

There must be opposition in all things, and so we find two archetypical counterparts in Revelation that oppose the two Olive Trees: the Beast and False Prophet.

These two Anti-Candlesticks provide a false light (a black light, as it were).  They are christs themselves ― to be clear, they appear like Christ.

John compares to the Beast to a lamb, of all things: the comparison is rather shocking (since we consider Jesus to be the Lamb).

   Then I saw another beast
   coming up out of the earth,
   and he had two horns
   like a lamb.

(Rev. 13:11)

Remember, then, always: the Beast is beautiful.  It is soft, and makes you want to pet it.

This is how the Beast and his False Prophet "deceiveth" the world (Rev. 13:14) (despite the fact that every Evangelical in the Bible Belt has read the Left Behind book series, and is on the lookout).

Their power of deception lies in their beauty.  The Beast-slash-lamb and his prophet are able to appeal to the world by mimicking God's miracles and holiness (Rev. 13:13-14).

   I saw a woman sit
   upon a scarlet coloured beast,
   full of names of blasphemy....
   And the woman was arrayed
   in purple and scarlet colour,
   and decked with gold
   and precious stones and pearls,
   having a golden cup
   in her hand full of abominations
   and filthiness of her fornication.

(Rev. 17:3-4)

In contrast to the Mother of Holiness (Zion), we find the "Mother of Harlots," Babylon (Rev. 17:5).  But careful!  They are not easy to tell apart because (here's the important thing to understand) the Woman riding the Beast makes harlotry appear holy.

I repeat, the reason Babylon spreads is because we do not identify as Babylonians; we think we are enlarging Zion's borders, when in fact we are spreading Babylon's skirts.  We believe we are practicing holiness, when in reality our religious observances are harlotry in God's eyes.

How do we discern between the Beauty and the Beast, between the holiness of Zion and the harlotry of Babylon?

​   Love not the world,
   neither the things
   that are in the world.
   If any man love the world,
   the love of the Father
   is not in him.

   For all that is in the world,
   the lust of the flesh,
   and the lust of the eyes,
   and the pride of life,
   is not of the Father,
   but is of the world.

   And the world passeth away.

(1 John 2:15-17)

Ode on Intimations of Immortality
William Wordsworth

Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting;
The Soul that rises with us, our life’s Star,
          Hath had elsewhere its setting
               And cometh from afar;
          Not in entire forgetfulness,
          And not in utter nakedness,
But trailing clouds of glory do we come 
               From God, who is our home:
Heaven lies about us in our infancy!
Shades of the prison-house begin to close
               Upon the growing Boy,
But he beholds the light, and whence it flows,
               He sees it in his joy;
The Youth, who daily farther from the east
     Must travel, still is Nature’s priest,
          And by the vision splendid
          Is on his way attended;
At length the Man perceives it die away,
And fade into the light of common day.