I’ve never seen a photo, a video, a marble bust, or even so much as a rock etching to show what Jesus really looked like.
Yet I have no doubt that Jesus lived and that He is the Son of God (John 20:30–31). I firmly believe that He is in heaven and that He will come back one day (Acts 1:9–11; John 14:1–2). No picture of Him is necessary right now.
• We do not need to see Him in order to believe in Him. We “walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7). Faith is “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1).
• We do not need to see Him in order to be blessed by Him: “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:29).
• We do not need to see Him in order to love Him: “Whom having not seen you love” (1 Peter 1:8). But I still want to see Him!
The Bible promises that one day we will. John wrote, “Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him” (Revelation 1:7). Not only will Christians see Him, but we will get to remain in His presence! “Thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words” (1 Thessalonians 4:17–18).
What would it have been like to have lived two thousand years ago and to have seen Jesus? One who did see Him was an old man named Simeon. Simeon lived in Jerusalem and had been told by the Holy Spirit that he would not die “before he had seen the Lord’s Christ” (Luke 2:26). When Joseph and Mary took baby Jesus to the temple, Simeon met them. The historian Luke records the scene: “He took Him up in his arms and blessed God and said: ‘Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, according to Your word; for my eyes have seen Your salvation’” (Luke 2:28–30). One day we too will lay eyes on Him for the first time, and like it was for Simeon it will be the highlight of our lives.
There is a sense in which we see deity now. We see Christ through His Word and His world (Psalm 19). We speak of seeing God in the face of a child, the flower of the field, the precision of the planetary orbits, and the complexity of DNA. It is reported Sir Isaac Newton said that he could take his telescope and look millions of miles into space. “But when I lay it aside, go into my room, shut the door, and get down on my knees in earnest prayer, I see more of heaven and feel closer to the Lord than if I were assisted by all the telescopes on earth.”
The New Testament holds out the hope for more than this—that we can one day see God (cf. Hebrews 12:14). Moses was once allowed to see the goodness, glory, and back of God (Exodus 33:17–23), but he was warned, “You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live” (33:20). The Bible makes it clear that “no one has seen God at any time” (John 1:18; cf. Colossians 1:15; 1 Timothy 1:17; Hebrews 11:27). Job believed he would see God: “I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on the earth; and after my skin is destroyed, this I know, that in my flesh I shall see God” (Job 19:25–26). Jesus promised us, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8). John confirms that in heaven we will be allowed to see God’s face (Revelation 22:4).
The story is told of William M. Dyke, who became blind at age ten. Nonetheless, he grew into an intelligent, witty, and handsome young man. While attending graduate school in England, he became engaged to an English admiral’s daughter. The admiral insisted that William have a new procedure to restore his sight. Hoping against hope, William wanted the gauze removed from his eyes during the wedding, so the first thing he saw would be his bride’s face. As she came down the aisle, William’s father unwound the bandages, not knowing if the operation was successful. When the last layer came off, William looked into his bride’s face for the first time. He said, “You are more beautiful than I ever imagined.”
Like this young groom, we will one day see our Beloved for the first time during a wedding (Revelation 19:9). We shall “see His face” (Revelation 22:3–4). When Jesus came the first time, He had “no form or comeliness” and “no beauty that we should desire Him” (Isaiah 53:2). He visited earth from heaven in a form that most did not recognize (John 1:10–14). Yet when He appears the second time, Jesus will be more beautiful than any picture ever painted of Him or any thought ever imagined of Him. It will be worth the years of waiting to one day “see Him as He is” (1 John 3:1–2).
During the time of William E. Gladstone, people would travel across the Atlantic Ocean just to look on his face. Can you think of a more thrilling thought than that our eyes will look upon the face of God’s Son who redeemed us from our sins?
There shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him. They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads. There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever. —Revelation 22:3–5
