What Does God Look Like?
“Philip said to Him, ‘Lord, just show us the Father and that will plumb be all we need.’ Jesus told him, ‘Philip, I’ve been with you for quite a spell. How is it ya don’t recognize Me? Anyone who has laid eyes on Me has for sure seen the Father; so how can ya say, ‘show us the Father’?’” John 14:8-9 (“The Gospel of John Cowboy Style”).
“A kindergarten teacher told everyone to draw a picture of what was important to them. In the back of the room Johnny began to labor over his drawing. Everybody else finished and handed in their picture but he didn’t. He was still drawing. The teacher graciously walked back and put her arm around Johnny’s shoulder and said, ‘Johnny, what are you drawing?’ He didn’t look up; he just kept on working feverishly at his picture. He said, ‘God.’ ‘but Johnny,’ she said gently, ‘no one knows what God looks like.’ He answered, ‘They will when I’m through.’” (The Tale of the Tardy Oxcart, Charles R. Swindoll, p. 231)
Have you ever wondered what God looks like? I mean, if you tried to put a physical image to God’s appearance, how would you picture Him? I suppose some would describe Him as looking very old with a long white beard, bushy eyebrows and wearing a long flowing white robe.
But the truth is, We cannot actually put physical characteristics to God, because God is not a physical being, He is Spirit– John 4:24
And because God is Spirit, the Bible very clearly says that no one has ever seen him, only His Son Jesus Christ– John 1:18 “No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.”
But that doesn’t stop us from wanting to see Him or for that fact, wondering what he might look like, if He were in a physical body. Not even Moses, with whom God spoke face-to-face (Exodus 33:11) was allowed to see God. God’s answer to Moses when he wanted to see Him: “You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!” (Exodus 33:20).
And now, many generations later, that was still a burning desire on behalf of the faithful, to see God face-to-face. So, in the Upper Room on the night of Christ’s betrayal, Phillip, on behalf of the Apostles, requested of Jesus that they might see the Father: “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us” (John 14:8).
Jesus’ answer must have been quite a shock when He told Phillip that they had already seen the Father. “Don’t you know Phillip, ‘He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’”! (John 14:9).
The truth is, if you are by faith a child of God, you have already seen God. You want to know what God looks like? Look at Jesus. You want to know the sound of God’s Voice? Listen to Jesus– “My Sheep hear My voice” (John 10:27). You want to know the thoughts of God? The Bible says “we have the mind of Christ” (I Corinthians 2:16). You want to know the extent of God’s love? Look at His sacrifice– “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
You see, our relationship with God is not by sight but by faith. The second time Jesus appeared to the disciples in the Upper Room in His resurrected body, He showed His nail-scarred hands to Thomas, and said . . .
“Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed” (John 20:29).
The bottom-line truth is, we don’t have to see to believe. The Apostle Paul said it like this . . .
“We walk by faith, not by sight” (II Corinthians 5:7)
