Prayer – Lord Jesus, You appeared as an ordinary man when You were here on earth—living in the Promised Land. We don’t know just what you looked like—but that isn’t important. There is no description of You in scripture that says You were handsome, beautiful, glowing or unusual. I don’t need to see a pretty face to know that You hold the reality of the future. Show me Your truths—in spirit. Please continue to work in and through me that others would “believe” without “seeing” You face to face.
When I turned to see who was speaking to me, I saw
seven gold lampstands. And standing in the middle of the lampstands was someone
like the Son of Man. He was wearing a long robe with a gold sash across his
chest. His head and his hair were white like wool, as white as snow. And his
eyes were like flames of fire. His feet were like polished bronze refined in a
furnace, and his voice thundered like mighty ocean waves. He held seven stars
in his right hand, and a sharp two-edged sword came from his mouth. And his
face was like the sun in all its brilliance. Revelation 1:12-16
Meditate. What does Jesus look like to you?
No one today knows what Jesus really looked like—no photography
in the first century AD. John gives us a brilliant description of what he saw in
his vision on Patmos. It is certainly not like anyone we know now, although you
may know someone with hair as white as snow, but are their eyes like flames of
fire?
Jesus is described in Isaiah 52 as He was to be seen on the
cross.
But many were amazed
when they saw him. His face was so disfigured he seemed hardly human, and from
his appearance, one would scarcely know he was a man. Isaiah 52:14
Mary Magdalene didn’t recognize Jesus when she first saw Him
after His resurrection. She had seen Him on the cross—beaten, bruised, bloody
with a crown of thorns shoved down on His head. But that was not how He
appeared outside the tomb.
She turned to leave
and saw someone standing there. It was Jesus, but she didn't recognize him. John
20:14
The disciple Thomas was not with the other disciples when Jesus appeared to them in the Upper Room after His resurrection. Thomas had to see Jesus face to face to believe. Like Jesus said, Blessed are those who didn’t see and believed anyway (John 20:29). That is you and me…or at least me. I haven’t seen Jesus, but I know where I stand with Him. I believe that He is the Risen Savior—the Lamb of God who has taken away my sin—and the sins of the world.
Several years ago the lady who was organizing our advent celebration at church asked me if I could paint a picture of Jesus. I said sure—no one knows exactly what Jesus looked like so I felt pretty safe—no photos or videos back then. So, my painting of Jesus could be right—or just my artistic interpretation. Then she explained that she wanted it to be on a six-foot tall canvas—painted with my hands…not a brush. Well—I said I’d give it a try and I started practicing out in my garage. She provided the canvas which I painted black. The idea was that I would print the names of Jesus in white chalk on the canvas as drama readers recited the names. King of Kings, Savior, Son of God, Jehovah, Alpha, Omega, Promise, Gift, Way, Truth, Life, God, Redeemer, Rose of Sharon, Messiah, Christ. Then a choir of men would sing a Christmas carol while I painted Jesus’ face. I had sketched the face lightly on the canvas with purple chalk so I would have a starting point—I only had 5-7 minutes to do the painting. Well, as I started to paint, I realized that there was a purple light shining on the canvas and therefore I could not see my purple chalk line…I prayed, Lord—you’ve got to paint this through me because I’ve nothing to go by. The men sang and I painted. It was an interesting process—the black of the canvas providing the “negative” space for the portrait. Jesus did an amazing job in just a few minutes—and although I’ll never know until I get to Heaven just what He looks like—at least it was a somewhat believable interpretation of my Savior—with a crown of thorns on His head. I believe… and I didn’t even see Him, yet. He is still the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
Verse of Salvation ~ And they were shouting with a great
roar, "Salvation comes from our God who sits on the throne and from the
Lamb!" Revelation 7:10
© 2023 Text, photos, and illustrations by Mickey M. Hunacek. All
rights reserved.
All scripture quoted from the New Living Translation (NLT) unless
otherwise noted.
New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale
House Foundation.
Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream,
Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Biblical search from Blue Letter Bible - http://v3.blueletterbible.org/search.cfm.
Books by Mickey M.
Hunacek
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