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Image of Christ

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hillsbororiver:
You would think that the followers of Jesus would have at least a basic understanding of Him, what His purpose was during His earthly ministry and how the things that he experienced and showed us (all believers) were not only for us but for Him as well.

Since He was an example to all men who call themselves believers it was planned from the beginning that He would have none of the advantages in this life that His glorious position as the Son of God might or could afford Him. Our Lord Jesus humbled Himself to become the lowest of the low, not only in the day leading to the crucifixion but throughout His ministry.

This past Sunday Ray spoke of this and really brought to light the humble heart of the Creator of the Universe, leading up to the presentation were pictures of the Milky Way in all its splendor and the great and vast distances between the celestial bodies in our galaxy, of course creation is not limited to our galaxy alone, there are countless others out there. These pictures and discussion of the sheer majesty of His creation and how the Creator of it elected to become a man, not only a man but an undesirable, physically unattractive, sickly man who knew what day to day pain was through His own experience with it.

Ray passed around a picture that would be one of the popular renderings of what the churches believe (or would like to believe) Christ looked like, you know the look, perfect features a handsome countenance, movie star looks that would be the envy of the top male actors, if only they had People Magazine in those days, Jesus the heartbreaker would have had a huge following of teen age girls and breathless TV interviewers would hang on His every Word. This is the popular perception of our Lord's physical appearance, but what do the scriptures say?

(Rotherham's Emphasized Bible)

Isaiah 53

1 Who believed what we have heard?
2 <When he came up as a sapling before him. And as a root-sprout out of dry ground>
  He had neither beauty or majesty, <When we beheld him> there was nothing to behold that we should desire him; 
3 Despised was he, and forsaken of men, Man of pains and familiar with sickness,-
  Yes <like one from whom the face is hidden> Despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 [Yet surely] <our sicknesses> he carried, And <as for our pains> he bare the burdon of them,-
  But we accounted him stricken, Smitten of God, and humbled.

Not a pretty picture.

I admit that I never contemplated or meditated on this too much, I had come to realize through the scriptures that Jesus was not the handsomest man to ever walk the earth (Adam maybe) but did not see before that not only was He a plain man but actually unattractive even ugly, with physical ailments as well!

Ray also gave an example of how often Jesus was surrounded by "the multitudes" who were there for mainly one reason, to get healed! Well maybe get a free lunch or meal too, He was pressed upon constantly often having to go up a mountain or a boat to get some rest, some down time. (Do an e-sword search on multitudes you'll see what Ray was speaking of). Imagine having physical pain and being pressed upon by crowds constantly, everyone wanting something from you, He volunteered for this because He loves us so much, His way of life on this earth and His horrible death is exactly how He proves this. The ultimate proof.

Luke 4;23 And he said unto them-
[[By all means]] ye will speak to me this similitude: Physician heal thyself- <Whatsoever things we have heard of coming to pass in Capernaum> do here also, [in thine own country].

"Physician heal thyself," taunts from the crowd, wiseguys were as clever then as they are now!

This was an eye opener for me, in fact I was holding back the tears fairly well until I saw a brother actually sobbing in front of me, it was over, I wept in sheer awe of the infinite Love that is our Creator and our God, remember the Father is revealed through His Son, this is also the depth of Love our Father in heaven has for His children.

Joh 14:8  Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us.
 
Joh 14:9  Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father?

This is a powerful audio from last Sunday's portion of the Conference, it is an incredible thing to meditate on.

His Peace and Wisdom to you,

Joe

 

Rene:
Amen, Joe!

I too was in tears after coming to the realization of the physical state of Jesus in the flesh.  This revelation helped me to get a better appreciation of God's love for us, as well as what true humility means. 

1 John 4:19 says, "We love Him because He first loved us."  It is true, the more I get to know the love of our God, the more I love Him.

Rene'

Kat:
Hi Joe,

I too was really struck by this.  But you know it makes perfect sense, that Christ would have been willing to go through a life filled with physical suffering.  
I can't help but wonder if His physical appearance was not the reason that He was rejected by some, like the religious leaders.  He did not come up to the image they expected, in the Messiah.  Maybe this has something to do with their reviling Him.

1Peter 2:23  who when He was reviled did not revile in return. When He suffered, He did not threaten, but gave Himself up to Him who judges righteously.

For me this actually gives me a greater degree of awe for Him, if that is possible.

mercy, peace, and love
Kat

YellowStone:
Hi Joe, my dear brother,

Thanks for sharing your wonderful insight, once again. Rene & Kat, thanks too for sharing :)

By no means am I suggesting that Jesus was a Hollywood type.  :D

But then I reject the idea that he was downtrodden, with sad broken eyes as many modern day pictures dipict him.

Could Christ have had physical ailments? Most surely, but did he hide his face like many men would. (Isaiah 53:3)

I truly do not believe so. There was something about Christ the man that attracted people, even children, other than his appearance. It could not have been his "puffed up, go get em' attitude" because his heart was not boastful nore flamboyant. His heart was meek and lowly.

Mat 11:29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek (gentle, mild) and lowly (humble) in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

So what was it about him? Well my answer is only conjecture, yet I am sure that there was something about Christ that transcended his dress, appearance and or physical condition. I would think that he would have had the most captivating eyes of any man that ever walked, I am sure that they would have been bright with truth and love. Could it have been his eyes that offended the Pharisee and "their" followers; perhaps because they could "see" the simple truth of his words.

Perhaps it was his eyes that held the attention of the children.

Mat 19:13 Then were there brought unto him little children, that he should put [his] hands on them, and pray: and the disciples rebuked them. 

Mat 19:14 But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.  

However, the reference to the children is more inline to their childhood innocence and playful nature than the "self-righteous, all-knowing and unforgiving" nature of all to many men and women. :)

1Pe 3:8 Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble.

9 Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.

“10 For, Whoever would love life
and see good days
must keep his tongue from evil
and his lips from deceitful speech.

11 He must turn from evil and do good;
he must seek peace and pursue it.

12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous
and his ears are attentive to their prayer,
but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”
There has been a lot of interest in the 'Brother' in scripture thread and I think this topic fits like a glove.

Mat 5:5 Blessed [are] the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. 

If any is to be a brother or sister with Christ, having a meek and lowly heart for one another is not an option, but rather a prerequisite. :)

Thank you again Joe for your wonderful, yet gentle insight.

Your brother in Christ,

Darren

psalmsinger:
I had to look up all the Hebrew and English words used in these scriptures to get the depth of the meaning.  The Miriam-Webster's online dictionary is right handy:)

Etymology: Middle English comly, alteration of Old English cymlic glorious, from cyme lively, fine; akin to Old High German kumig weak
1 : pleasurably conforming to notions of good appearance, suitability, or proportion
2 : having a pleasing appearance : not homely or plain
synonym see BEAUTIFUL
- come·li·ness noun

I really like this definition of Beauty.  You can see that to most people He had no beauty that we should desire Him, but some are drawn of His spirit.

Beauty
1 : the quality or aggregate of qualities in a person or thing that gives pleasure to the senses or pleasurably exalts the mind or spirit :

Some of the other translations of the word comliness from the Hebrew include "glory"........Beauty isn't always physical or on a physical level.  Beauty is in the eye of the beholder according to what is their own personal preference. I have known beautiful people whose spirit was ugly and therefore physically ugly to me and physically unattractive people whose spirit was warm and beautiful and therefore physically beautiful to me.....Everyone knows with enough "glory" from the right make-over and enough pomp and circumstance even the ordinary or ugly can appear beautiful to the eye of the crowd.   He had no comliness may be speaking of physical unattractiveness, but it is most definitely speaking of not having the glory that he had with the Father.  He came divested of His glory. Perhaps He was just an ordinary looking human with no "glory" that could be seen with the naked eye......He certainly was not esteemed as having any glory.  He did have an extraordinary load to bear of the pain, suffering, sickness, of all those that He healed.  That  would have taken a great toll on His physical health.  Remember the "virtue" went out of him when the woman touched the hem of His garment?   

I was looking at the definition of ugly too.  Surely the scribes, pharisees, and unbelievers felt He was exactly like this in the spirit.  I would even dare to say that according to doctrines of the church today (a god who tortures his children in hell for eternity comes to mind) that many esteem Jesus Christ as spiritually ugly.

Main Entry: 1ug·ly
Pronunciation: '&-glE
Function: adjective
Inflected Form(s): ug·li·er; -est
Etymology: Middle English, from Old Norse uggligr, from uggr fear; akin to Old Norse ugga to fear
1 : FRIGHTFUL, DIRE
2 a : offensive to the sight : HIDEOUS b : offensive or unpleasant to any sense
3 : morally offensive or objectionable <corruption--the ugliest stain of all>
4 a : likely to cause inconvenience or discomfort <the ugly truth> b : SURLY, QUARRELSOME <an ugly disposition> <the crowd got ugly>
- ug·li·ly  /-gl&-lE/ adverb

I hope I didn't bore you to death with details.  I have enjoyed looking up the importance every word for a while now.

Barbara

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