I Want to See Jesus

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April 17, 2011


“Who has believed our message?  And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?  For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of parched ground; He has no stately form or majesty that we should look upon Him, nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him.  He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.” (Isaiah 53:1-3)

God gave this prophecy through Isaiah about 700 years before Jesus came to earth and walked among men.  Perhaps it gives us a description of the physical Jesus,  one of the only physical descriptions of Jesus that we have.  The other is in Luke 2:52, “And Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.” 

Saul, the first man to become king of Israel, stood head and shoulders above all the others.  Saul must have looked like the world’s idea of how a king should look. David was a man with “beautiful eyes and a handsome appearance (I Samuel 16:12).  Jesus did not look like a king.  He was trained to be a carpenter, likely worked out in the sun, and probably had dry, leathery skin and calloused hands.  He was a common working man.  Jesus physically didn’t stand out from the crowd.  He dwelt in Israel, so that they had Him bodily before their eyes, but in His outward appearance there was nothing to attract or delight the senses, unlike King Saul and King David.  Instead, Jesus attracts people by His character, His wisdom, His compassion, His love, and by His sacrifice.  Another way to say it is that Jesus attracts us by His great inner beauty.

I used to have an art book called The Faces of Jesus.  It was an interesting book and contained pictures of an African Jesus, a Japanese Jesus, an Indian Jesus, and many more.  Artists in each culture painted Jesus as they saw Him.  In 99 out of the 100 pictures, He is beautiful to behold.  However, the first pictures of Jesus appeared long after the death of anyone who had actually seen Him. 

Peter wrote, “Though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory” (I Peter 1:8).  Why do we love Him?  We love out of gratitude because He has love for every one of us. He had enough love to commit to emptying Himself of equality with God and humbling Himself to be like us (Philippians 2:6-7).  He had enough love to hang on the cross and have our sins lain upon Him.  As John said, “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (I John 4:10).

Yes, I want to see Jesus in His glory.  I want to see the One who saved me and to be with Him for eternity.  May we all live our lives so we can be with Him forever.

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Dear heavenly Father, thank You for giving us Your Only Begotten Son so that we can stand before you cleansed of our sins. Guide us as through this life so that we can all show Jesus to the world and that we may see Jesus in His glory and majesty and live with Him throughout eternity.  In our Savior’s name, Amen           ~ Ed

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Ed Wittlif ~ Denver, Colorado                                 (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)    (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Ed Wittlif, former preacher of Albert Lea Church of Christ in Albert Lea, Minnesota, is a University Church of Chirst member.