We don’t know what Jesus truly looks like, yet. We will see Him one day and we will know.
Scripturally He appeared to many people in different ways; as the innocent Lamb who was slain; as the mighty warrior; as a King and Lord; as the meekest man who ever walked the earth; as the servant to His disciples; as the Lord of Hosts.
Only a few people have actually seen Him in the flesh. Those who literally witnessed Him when He walked the earth with His disciples know and relate to us what He was like.
He showed us the character and nature of God the Father. No one has seen the Father, but we can know Him by the works of the Son.
No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.
John 1:18
The Son of God
What was Jesus like, then, when He came into the earth? He was a man of compassion and grace. He healed the sick and set free those who were oppressed by the devil. He spoke words of wisdom, grace and power. He drew to His Word multitudes.
He changed the level of righteousness and how we could attain to it. Clearly we could not live up to that high standard without Him. Sin prevented us from entering in, but He came to deal with the sin problem and open the door to all who would believe in Him.
He gave His life for the world so that we could enter His righteousness, because no person could live up to the requirements of the Mosaic Law, let alone Jesus’ raised standards.
But He didn’t leave us in the limbo of sin. He crushed the power of death and the grave and made it possible for us to overcome death and Hades. His cross saved those who believe.
The reality is that He demonstrated the purity, holiness and grace of God and gave us the option of following Him into that new kingdom.
He showed us God’s heart toward us.
Free from wrath
God is powerful, and He will end this age one coming day, maybe soon. There will be wrath. There will be judgement. There will be a reckoning. Those who reject Jesus will face all of these things.
The good news is that we can avoid His wrath through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. We can come to Him and shake off this world’s ultimate demise.
Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.
Romans 5:9
Deliverance from destruction comes by faith in Jesus. He came to save us from it. He came to set the prisoners of wrath free.
All will see Him
We don’t have to see Jesus to know Him. We can see Him in the Word, by the preaching of the gospel, by believing He is who He says He is. We can see Him in other believers as they follow His ways.
We know we will see Him, though, in the future. Even sinners will see Him at the last day, when all will be judged for their deeds. We will all call Him Lord.
Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Philippias 2:9-11
So the time to bow down to Him is whilst we still have the opportunity to be saved from sin and wrath by accepting Him as Lord and Saviour, whilst we are still alive in this earth, the sooner the better.
God is good. He has sent Jesus to reveal His nature towards us. He wants no one to perish. He wants all to come to the knowledge of Him. Now is the time.
Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. We love Him because He first loved us.
1 John 4:17-19
There is no reason to fear death or the grave when we have Jesus as Lord. He is love. His love will cast out all fear. We will not have reservations about the Day of Judgement because we will have already judged ourselves in need of Jesus as our Saviour, and He will receive us through this repentance.
Perfect love casts out fear. We will know who He is because as He is so are we in this world. We will put on Christ and all will be well. He will work through as we are impacted by His Word and by His Spirit in our lives. He will lead us into all truth.
However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.
John 16:13-15
We shall be like Him
Our life’s work will be to allow Jesus to be formed in us through the Word and Spirit and by putting His ways into action in our own lives. We will know Him, and when we see Him on that great day, we will see ourselves in Him also. We need to keep His Word on this journey.
Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.
1 John 2:3-6
We will know what He is like when we appear before Him. He will show us who we are in Him and who He is in us. The world will not want to know us just as many do not want to know Jesus, but we know Him and His love will be revealed through us until the time we too see Him face to face.
Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.
1 John 3:1-3
Amen.
