First, I’d like to preface the following paragraphs with the fact that I love Jesus from the whitest white to the darkest black skin color. However, that doesn’t stop me from seriously wondering what he actually looked like.
There’s nothing wrong with pondering the appearance of someone with whom we are so close. I’m certainly willing to wait with patience to see Him face to face, but having some frame of reference as to my Savior’s appearance is for sure a strong desire. I wonder about those practical characteristics like his height, build, skin and hair color, eye shape, hair texture, etc.
Isaiah 53:2/NIV of the Bible describes Jesus as having “no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.” So this suggests to me that He wasn’t what you would describe as attractive or good-looking, though no doubt He was the sweetest person who ever lived. His personality must have been very humble and compassionate, especially since verse 3 goes on to tell us “He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.”
John of Revelation 1:9-18 describes an event when he was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day and he heard behind him a loud voice that told him to write on a scroll what he saw and to send it to the seven churches. He described seeing “someone like a son of man, dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters.” He told John “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.” Isn’t that an amazing event to imagine? The risen Jesus went on to tell him to write what John had seen and what would take place later.
Josephus, a highly educated man, born into a wealthy family, the son of a Jewish priest, who grew up in Jerusalem, was appointed a military governor of Galilee, and later became a Roman citizen and was referred to as Flavius Josephus. In one of his works, The Antiquities of the Jews (Book 18, Chapter 3), he wrote of Jesus: ““About this time there lived Jesus, a wise man, if indeed one ought to call him a man. For he was one who performed surprising deeds and was a teacher of such people as accept the truth gladly. He won over many Jews and many of the Greeks. He was the Christ. And when, upon the accusation of the principal men among us, Pilate had condemned him to a cross, those who had first come to love him did not cease. He appeared to them spending a third day restored to life, for the prophets of God had foretold these things and a thousand other marvels about him. And the tribe of the Christians, so called after him, has still to this day not disappeared.”
One description of Jesus, according to the “Slavonic Josephus,” a translation of Josephus’ History of the Jewish War; The Messiah Jesus and John the Baptist According to Flavius Josephus; Robert Eisler, Ph.D.: “Both his nature and his form were human: for he was a man of simple appearance, mature age, short growth, three cubits tall [about 4 and a half feet, based on the Jewish cubit], with scanty hair, but having a line in the middle of the head after the fashion of the Naziraeans, eyebrows meeting above the nose so that the spectators could take fright, with a long face, a long nose, and with an undeveloped beard, dark skin, and hunchbacked. …”
Another description of Jesus is from The Letter of Lentulus, which was said to be written by a Roman, contemporary of Jesus, and gives a physical and personal description of Jesus: “Lentulus, the Governor of the Jerusalemites to the Roman Senate and People, greetings. There has appeared in our times, and there still lives, a man of great power (virtue), called Jesus Christ.
The people call him prophet of truth; his disciples, son of God. He raises the dead, and heals infirmities. He is a man of medium size (statura procerus, mediocris et spectabilis); he has a venerable aspect, and his beholders can both fear and love him. His hair is of the colour of the ripe hazel-nut, straight down to the ears, but below the ears wavy and curled, with a bluish and bright reflection, flowing over his shoulders. It is parted in two on the top of the head, after the pattern of the Nazarenes.
His brow is smooth and very cheerful with a face without wrinkle or spot, embellished by a slightly reddish complexion. His nose and mouth are faultless. His beard is abundant, of the colour of his hair, not long, but divided at the chin. His aspect is simple and mature, his eyes are blue-gray and bright. He is terrible in his reprimands, sweet and amiable in his admonitions, cheerful without loss of gravity. He was never known to laugh, but often to weep. His stature is straight, his hands and arms beautiful to behold. His conversation is grave, infrequent, and modest. He is the most beautiful among the children of men.”
Now only God knows the level of accuracy of these descriptions, however, they are an interesting read. Nevertheless, I can’t help but think of the angel in Acts 1:11 who spoke to his disciples as Jesus was taken up on a cloud into heaven after his death and resurrection: “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”
So we can expect from the Bible’s signs of the end times, that we will see Him soon and will no longer have to wonder what he looks like. Of course, many believe that it does not matter what He looks like, but one like me can’t help but wonder what the author and finisher of my faith looks like. It is indeed a valid question.
Two other events remind me that Jesus can change his appearance.
Matthew 17:1-3: “After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus.”
Luke 24:13-51: “Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles[a] from Jerusalem. They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; but they were kept from recognizing him.
…. As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going farther. But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them.
When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”
It may be interesting to read the writings or interpretations of others’ information on Jesus’ appearance, however, we should never forget that the Bible tells us we all descended from one man, Adam, created by God Almighty. So, there are no worries about how we are connected. Jesus Christ, on the other hand, birthed by a woman, was born of the Holy Ghost–that same Spirit by which we as Christians were spiritually reborn to become a part of the family of God.
To see other thought-provoking, differing ideas on what Jesus may look like, I’ve added a few videos for your viewing.
Ms. Rita's Minute 