(movie photo lower left - Jesus of Nazareth 1977. Other photos are freely obtained from internet public access
Are Pictures or Images of Jesus Christ |
Created Date: 19-Mar-2017 |
| a good thing to have? Yes and No. | Last updated: 5-Apr-2021 |
| Satanic Use of Jesus Christ's Image? | |
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This collection of images is from common paintings, photos and from a movie reference. We should all notice the common trait between these five depictions and so many others seen everywhere. The problem, with this common trait, is all of them have Jesus Christ resembling a man of European ancestry.
(movie photo lower left - Jesus of Nazareth
1977. Other photos are freely obtained from internet public access
The question to be asked is do we know what Jesus Christ looked like and is it okay for us to hang pictures of Him in our homes and Churches? The most important answer is the context of the depiction, where God knows our hearts and thoughts to judge us.
As all of us grow in love and understanding of Jesus Christ, we can see that God always exercises Grace and Mercy towards us when we do anything contrary to His Will and when we do it unintentionally. In the great movies depicting the life of Jesus Christ, all of us who truly love Him are always moved in our spirit which is absolutely a wonderful experience.
This topic is about considering the other aspects when displaying depictions of Jesus Christ and how other people may perceive the display.
Throughout the history of the Christian Faith to the present day, there are religious icons, statues, paintings and pictures being used everywhere. The purpose of these icons was:
Note that the Christian cannot be myopic when using history to form a tradition that allows anything regarding how God wants us to think. Much of the western world at one time was part of the Roman Catholic faith. Unfortunately, the Roman Catholic Church, for a period of time, kept the Scriptures only in Latin. The myopic view forgets that there is the Eastern Orthodox Faith, as an example, that had the Scriptures written in the common tongue.
Is it wrong to have pictures, statues or icons? What about the icons like the Stations of the Cross in the Roman Catholic Church?
In this author's opinion, is is okay to have certain types of icons, pictures and statues.
Are there certain types that are not okay? Yes, and that is for the person to be guided by the Holy Spirit. More on this below with the examples on the Bronze Serpent.
There is a problem, often seen in many churches, where people appear to be partially or fully:
Recall that a prophetic verse of Jesus was He to be lifted up like the "Bronze Serpent" in John 3:14. The history on the bronze Serpent was dealing with the time that Moses made it so that when the people looked at it, they were healed from a snake bite plague. At that time, Israel was murmuring against God that caused a plague of snakes which is detailed in Numbers 21:6-9. The problem arose later when Israel began to worship the bronze serpent, so Hezekiah the King destroyed it in 2 Kings 18:4.
| John 3:14 | And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up |
| Numbers 21:6-9 | 6 Then the Lord sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. 7 The people came to Moses and said, We sinned when we spoke against the Lord and against you. Pray that the Lord will take the snakes away from us. So Moses prayed for the people. 8 The Lord said to Moses, Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live. 9 So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived. |
| 2 Kings 18:4 | He removed the high places and broke down the sacred pillars and cut down the Asherah. He also broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the sons of Israel burned incense to it; and it was called Nehushtan. |
Was Jesus Christ a western European looking man as so many modern-day images show? No, He most likely was of olive skin and had many characteristics of the Jewish men of that day, who did not resemble anyone of European descent.
As humans we have render Jesus Christ in our minds based on what we perceive and guess. Intentionally and unintentionally pride in one s own racial characteristics is transferred into the icons and paintings. This is wrong, albeit in most cases not intended to insult God, as God made all of us (all ethnicities) in His likeness but it does have the possible effect of excluding and offending. Remember that the scriptures have many passages like Leviticus 26:1 and Exodus 20:4 that prohibit the making of any likeness of God with Earthly instruments and materials.
| Leviticus 26:1 | "Do not make idols or set up an image or a sacred stone for yourselves, and do not place a carved stone in your land to bow down before it. I am the LORD your God", |
| Exodus 20:4 | "You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth" |
Do the current images and paintings match historic paintings of Jesus Christ? No they do not as they have changed over the centuries.
The Shroud of Turin is allegedly the burial linen cloth of Jesus Christ. This belief states that the Shroud of Turin depicts what Jesus Christ looks like based on a negative image that is somehow implanted into the cloth.
Note that there is radiocarbon dating that give conflicting dates on the Shroud. It is always humorous with agnostics and atheist, who always take the shorter time range in radiocarbon dating with anything religious, but take the long-time range in carbon dating when discussing evolution. Evolution has always been a theory and easily provable wrong.
If the "Shroud of Turin" is real, does it convey the image of Jesus Christ? Even if it is real, it is not in good enough quality to get a very good indication of what Jesus looked like. Additionally, this would have been an image after the crucifixion and in death.
Leading up to the Crucifixion, Jesus Christ would have been:
| John 19:1-3 | 1 Pilate then took Jesus and scourged Him. 2 And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on His head, and put a purple robe on Him; 3 and they began to come up to Him and say, "Hail, King of the Jews!" and to give Him slaps in the face. |
| Isaiah 50:6 | I offered my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard; I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting. |
| Isaiah 52:14 | Just as there were many who were appalled at him (future Lamb slain for the world) his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being and his form marred beyond human likeness |
| Psalm 22:14-15 | 14 I am poured out like water, And all my bones are out of joint: My heart is like wax; It is melted within me. 15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd; And my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; |
| John 19:28-29 | 28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all things had already been accomplished, to fulfill the Scripture, said, "I am thirsty." 29 A jar full of sour wine was standing there; so they put a sponge full of the sour wine upon a branch of hyssop and brought it up to His mouth. |
Isaiah chapters 52 through 53, Psalm 22 and other scriptures give us additional information on what Jesus Christ endured. Read the topic: Jesus describes what He is experiencing on the Cross in Psalm 22.
Are there any description of Jesus Christ in the Scriptures that describe His eye color, hair or skin color or His height, weight or perhaps if He was hairy or not when He was on earth in the mission of the Lamb slain before the foundation of the Earth? No there are no descriptions.
Most likely the only scriptural information about Jesus Christ's appearance is from Isaiah 53:2.
| Isaiah 53:2 | He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. |
Jesus Christ in His risen body, when He returns at the end of the Tribulation Period, has some very wonderful descriptions that depicts His majesty and power. Recall that before He ascended, Jesus had the marks of the nails in His wrists and His feet along with mark where the sword had pierced Him (see John 20:20 and Revelation 5:6). These marks will be with Him throughout eternity as evidence by John 20:27, when Jesus Christ speaks to the Apostle Thomas after the Resurrection.
| John 20:27 | Then he said to Thomas, Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe. |
Regarding Jesus Christ's appearance of the future, we see from Revelation 1:13-16:
| Revelation 1:13-16 | 13 and in the middle of the lamp stands I saw one like a son of man, clothed in a robe reaching to the feet, and girded across His chest with a golden sash. 14 His head and His hair were white like white wool, like snow; and His eyes were like a flame of fire. 15 His feet were like burnished bronze, when it has been made to glow in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of many waters. 16 In His right hand He held seven stars, and out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword; and His face was like the sun shining in its strength. |
In the last 3 and 1/2 years of the Tribulation Period there is the Beast that is revealed when:
set up their counterfeit trinity to try to emulate / resemble the triune true God. The scriptures give us many descriptions of the Beast of Revelation, when the Antichrist attempt to assert himself as god. Two of the most relevant scripture references to his appearance are.
| Zechariah 11:17 | Woe to the worthless shepherd who leaves the flock! A sword will be on his arm and on his right eye! His arm will be totally withered, and his right eye will be blind. |
| Revelation 13:3 | One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was filled with wonder and followed the beast. |
Regarding the nationality of the Antichrist, consisting of two people, will come from the Roman Empire rebuilt from information contained in the Book of Daniel where the reader should also recall the Roman Empire was Europe and parts of the Middle East including a place known as Assyria.
From Isaiah 10:5-6, Isaiah 14:25 and Micah 5:5 it appears to indicate the Antichrist will be Assyrian which is a region that was part of the Babylonians and nearby Persians Kingdoms. Additionally, this was the same location of first empire, which was ruled by Nimrod (Genesis 10:8 - 11).
Is it possible that Lucifer has a future plan to have his antichrist have a resemblance to depictions of Christ for the purpose of acceptance and deception? It is easier to deceive when perceptions from appearance convey assertions. As an example, we would be more likely to trust a banker if the banker dresses and acts what we think a banker should look and act like. When the antichrist proclaims, he is god, then he most likely will try to dress and act like one. What we do know from scripture is he is a man of "great speech and blasphemies" Revelation 13:5.
All of us have seen men, who have come and gone, who proclaimed themselves to be Jesus Christ and many have tried to look like the depictions in movies and paintings.
| Mathew 24:5 | For many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am the Messiah,' and will deceive many |
What to read next?
What is Salvation? Is it possible to lose Salvation? We have eternal life. Evolution is not real. When a Christian suffers is there benefits from it. Rewards in heaven. Do we Tithe? What does the 3rd Commandment tell us? What is Grace and Mercy? Is there an Age of Accountability? Is there a place of unending punishment and exile form God?