Have you ever thought of this amazing Biblical contrast?? When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, after seeing God face to face chiseling the Ten Commandments, he had to cover his face with a veil or his own brightness would have been blinding. Yet when Jesus comes to earth, there is nothing about his demeanor or face to attract anyone. In fact, the Messiah was described in Isaiah as downright ugly: "For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him." Isaiah 53:2. The son of God's face was apparently not glowing...nor even attractive.
Why? Why would God not make His son a total hunk? Why would He have Moses' face reflect the sight of God in a blinding aurora, but Jesus so ordinary that there is not a single mention of what he looked like when he arrived on earth as a human?
We are such appearance-conscious creatures. We are universally attracted to beautiful faces. Studies show that babies will look longer and more intently at pretty faces. Ugly people earn on the average 10% less than beautiful people. God knows this...it seems likely we are designed that way. So why would he send Jesus with "no beauty that we should desire him?" It is almost as though He set Jesus up for failure!
Yet look at the description of Jesus in Revelations, when all who will choose Him have done so, and the end of the world is at hand:
His feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters.(Revelation 1:15)
And in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire (Revelation 1:13-14)
Curiouser and curiouser. When God fully reveals the Son of God to all humanity, when the chance to choose him has ended, then Jesus appears in all His splendid glory.
This is my thought. It is just a guess, and not to be taken as gospel truth, but it makes sense to me. God sees the heart. We tend not to. We tend to be influenced by the book cover more than the content, at least initially. (In fact, in the book clubs for authors that I belong to, a great deal of time and energy and discussion revolves around the perfect book cover.) I think God sent the absolute BEST content that ever happened to Earth in an unflattering cover to teach us about what really matters. We are not to be consumed with externals, or to make judgments based on superficial attributes. We are to dig deeper, to understand at the core who God is and what it means to be worthy before God. It has nothing to do with what we look like or what He looks like or what goodies He brings. It has everything to do with who we are in the sight of God and what Jesus did for us by His sacrificial death on the cross bearing the punishment we deserved. We are His sacred creation made for a unique and Holy purpose that no one else can fulfill, chosen specifically and lovingly to be with Him for all eternity.
Makes you kinda look at yourself in the mirror with a little more respect, doesn't it?
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Nice......this also made me think of the value of unborn children, who we cannot yet see; however, possess priceless worth in God's eyes....may all of us made in God's image see each other as He sees us. In Jesus' name. Amen.
ReplyDeleteExactly. Glad you thought of that -- it was intended! Bless you!
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