What does God look like….??
By Pastor F. M. Riley
“Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device,” Acts 17:29.
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I am going to ask a very stupid question here! I have always wondered not only what it will be like when we get to heaven, but I have wondered just exactly what God will look like and what will our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ look like when we see them face to face. What do you think?
Sincerely,
__________
Dear __________,
No question asked in a sincere effort to learn more about our Lord and His Word is ever stupid. Asking and searching is the only way we can find the answers to those spiritual questions that trouble us.
I don’t know the exact answer to your question, and neither does anyone else at this time. All we can know is what we can glean from the brief descriptions given to us in God’s Word.
From the Word we can know that God’s anatomy [body] resembles our own, for we were created in His image, Genesis 1:26-27. And yes, even though God is a Spirit [John 4:24], He does have a body. His Word says so, 1 Corinthians 15:44.
Whatever the Father looks like, the Word tells us that Christ bears His express [exact] image, Hebrews 1:3. This is why the Lord said, “…..he that hath seen Me hath seen the Father…,” John 14:9. The Lord looks exactly like His Father in Heaven.
When Christ clothed Himself in flesh as a babe born of the virgin, I suspect He bore the fleshly or earthly image of His mother, since He had no earthly father. The Word tells us that He was a plain, ordinary looking man. He was not ugly, but He was not particularly handsome. This truth can be derived from Isaiah 53:2.
We also need to remember that the Lord does not now look like He did during His personal ministry. The Word tells us that in the bitter persecution that Christ endured preceding His crucifixion, His face was literally torn from His skull, Isaiah 50:6. Look up the words, “plucked off,” in a good Hebrew Lexicon. What literally occurred is that some big brawny Roman soldier grabbed the Lord Jesus by His beard and shook Him back and forth until His whole face pulled loose and off from His skull. His body was also brutally whipped by the Roman scourge until the flesh was stripped from His back, leaving His entire spine, rib cage, and shoulder bones exposed. The Lord still bears those scars today, John 20:24-29. But the Heavenly Father, in His great mercy, did a reconstruction job on the body and face of Christ, so that the Lord no longer looks like He did before His crucifixion experience.
But please, my brother, while we yet live in this present body, let us never forget that He suffered such shame and abuse, not for Himself, but for us. “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God,” Hebrews 12:2.
John describes the resurrected Lord for us in Revelation 1:13-16. John tells us that the Lord’s “countenance” [face] is “as the sun shineth in his strength.” In other words, the very glory of God now radiates forth from the face of our Lord Jesus Christ.
In Revelation 21:11, when describing the New Jerusalem, John wrote, “Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal.” Then in Revelation 21:23 we are told, “…..and the Lamb is the light thereof.” In other words, the whole city will be lighted by the glory of God that radiates forth from the face and body of our precious Lord Himself. He is described as the “most precious” stone of all stones.
If you have trouble understanding this expression, compare 1 Peter 2:4-8 where both Christ and His people are described as “stones” that God is using to build a great spiritual house, with Christ Himself being “the chief corner stone.”
The fact that Christ Himself is the “most precious” of all the “stones” indicates that He is now the most beautiful person in all of God’s creation, and when we see Him we will be overwhelmed by His beauty.
Yet, praise God, and only by the grace of God, the Word tells us that “…when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is,” 1 John 3:2, and that, “…our conversation [citizenship] is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body, according to the working whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself,” Philippians 3:20-21. Glory to God! And the Word further tells us that, “…as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly,” 1 Corinthians 15:49. In other words, when we receive our glorified bodies all of God’s children will bear a resemblance to the Lord Jesus Christ Himself who brought us to spiritual birth. Glory to God! Praise the Lord! Give Him glory! Hallelujah, what a Savior!
What does the Lord look like…?? In the Song of Solomon 5:10-16 the espoused bride gives us a vivid symbolic description of her coming Heavenly Bridegroom. She describes His head, His eyes, His cheeks, His lips, His hands, His belly [stomach], His legs, His countenance [face], His mouth, and His whole person. Read the description for yourself and rejoice in His love and give Him glory. Anyone claiming to be a true believer, who cannot get excited at the prospect of meeting our wonderful, precious, beautiful Savior and Heavenly Bridegroom face to face, ought to examine their own heart and soul to see if they really know the Lord in His saving grace.
I can hardly contain myself for the joy and love that wells up in my heart at the prospect of seeing my Lord and Savior for myself, and bowing at His feet in thanksgiving and praise, and then being taken up in His arms and allowed to rest my head on His bosom as John did, and being able to proclaim my love for Him face to face, the One who first loved me and gave Himself for me. Oh, glory to God!
The only thing holding me down right now is the gravitational force that this old earth exerts upon my present fleshly body. One day very soon the Lord Himself; He who is, and Who exerts, a far greater gravitational force [John 12:32], is coming for His people, and when He “descends from Heaven with a shout” our bodies will be instantly changed, and His superior gravitational power will draw us upwards to meet Him in the air, “…and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words,” 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. Praise the Lord! Glory to God! Hallelujah! Praise and glory to the Lamb!Dear brother, this may not give you the exact answer you are wanting, but it gives you the only Scriptural answer that I know how to give you. The arrival of the Lord Himself will answer these questions to the fullest for every true believer. Glory to God!
“Even so, come, Lord Jesus,” Revelation 22:20.I’ll meet you at His feet at the great reunion in glory!
Pastor F. M. Riley