I am going out on a limb here and guessing that all of you at one time or another have seen a picture of Jesus hanging on the wall of someone’s house or even in a church.  I have always wondered who it was that came up with this portrait of Jesus and why.  How is it that He was so strikingly handsome and comely in physical appearance?  And what do the scriptures say about it?

1 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?

2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, [there is] no beauty that we should desire him.

3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were [our] faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

5 But he [was] wounded for our transgressions, [he was] bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace [was] upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. (Is 53)

Somehow Quasi Moto comes to mind when I read these verses.  We know from our own experiences in “the world” that people to this day continue to idolize those with a comely or beautiful appearance.  Just take a look around and you will see this very phenomenon in all forms of entertainment, media (albeit radio!), social gatherings, not to mention our own eyes as we have an innate animal tendency to look much longer at those of comeliness or beauty and in fact find ourselves longing to know them better when we might not even take a second glance at those who are ugly in appearance unless they are strikingly so more for curiosity than anything else.  Often and sadly, most people are repulsed at such ones.

But when we consider the scripture above, it becomes obvious to those of reasonable mind that the physical body prepared for our Lord (Ps 40:6) would not have such comely characteristics because if it did it would only serve to the physical attractions of the aforementioned people.  No, His appearance was not comely or beautiful in any way in order that only those of a pure heart and of spiritual countenance would come to know Him.  Those who could reckon beyond the prejudices of most people and their natural desires for the physical appearance of attraction while taking no account of the inward parts.  

We find that this same principle applies to the written Word which too is uncomely and without beauty to those who do not have a pure heart and earnestly seek the beauty within it.  For the written Word on the surface is for the most part nonsensical to those who are not really interested in the deep things of God for they cannot perceive anything but the physical, the eye candy have you.  But for those who truly seek the inward parts where the true beauty exists come hidden treasures beyond measure.  This is the same hidden beauty that Jesus revealed to His disciples while He walked among them.  This beauty emerges from the symbolic understandings and the subsequent interpretations of them.

What about His church?  Well throughout history the true churches of Christ who have followed His commandments and came to know Him have been attacked by the powers of the world relentlessly.  They have been exiled and considered apostate for not following the corrupt ways of the leaders who infiltrate and destroy them by following after the way of the heathen.  The true churches have always been ugly of appearance on the outside to those who seek the glory of men but have had incredible beauty on the inside to those who seek the glory of God.  So again we see the pattern of man and the reason for the uncomely state of Jesus, the written Word and His church.

So the common portraits of Christ you see hanging on peoples walls are basically another (albeit weak) form of idolatry of physical perception manifested by the imaginations of the aforementioned.  It is contrary to the true beauty of Christ which is the hidden beauty of His Godly nature which cannot be portrayed in the physical or material for it transcends that.  Only those who can see beyond the material world, those who are truly born again and understand the concept of spirit generation can come to know Him in this light.  For just as Christ is the exact representation of the Father, He is truly a God to be worshipped as His Father is for the Father is in Him hence He too has eternal life and light within Him, a light that cannot possibly be portrayed in the physical.  What we have been given by the physical presence of Christ is a ray of the true light for if the true light is like the sun and the sun came to visit the earth in its full glory, the earth and everything in it would have been consumed by its fire in an instant of time.  

So even though so many like to gaze at their perception of the “body prepared “for Him in such a comely and beautiful physical appearance, they are in fact being misled by their own desires.   

I would not consider this as a harsh condemnation of such behavior as they still show some faith in Christ regardless of their ignorance of the facts and in fact probably need this physical manifestation of comely appearance in order to love Him in their own particular frame of mind.  Perhaps it is a metaphorical type of “Shallow Hal” mentality where they need the outward appearance to be comely and beautiful in order to take the time to get to know the inward parts???

So from now on, whenever you look at someone consider these things.  Whether someone appears uncomely to you or not they all represent a current or future brother or a sister just waiting to share the love of Christ with you.  I am also willing to bet that the angels who descend and ascend have been and will continue to be uncomely in form and feature as well for the same reason.  As spirit creatures our inner beauty or ugliness will become our outer beauty or ugliness once we come to know each other in our true spiritual light!

Whatever the case I firmly hope and expect that the day will come very soon when everyone is known not by their physical characteristics but by their spiritual or hidden characteristics.  That will certainly be a day of revealing!!!  I guess that will give profound meaning to the scripture:

2 For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known. (Lk 12)!

Now you can easily search the Lords' Witnesses website! 

Ask Gnosticus?