What Does God Look Like?

SYNOPSIS: No one has ever seen God and lived to tell about it. But if you’ve seen Jesus, you’ve seen God. Colossians 1:15 & 19 tell us, “Jesus is the image of the invisible God … For in Jesus all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.” In Jesus, God has identified with you so you can identify with Him. In Jesus, God has come near to you so you can come near to God. In Jesus, God has made a way for you to live before Him with complete confidence and daring prayerfulness. In Jesus, you get a live demonstration of what God is like. That means today, even at this very moment, you can experience all of God through Jesus. How? Simply and confidently “come boldly to the throne of your gracious God, and there you will receive His mercy and you will find His grace to help you when you need it most.” (Heb 4:16)

Moments With God // Mark 10:13-14

One day some parents brought their children to Jesus so he could touch and bless them. But the disciples scolded the parents for bothering him. When Jesus saw what was happening, he was angry with his disciples. He said to them, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to those who are like these children.”

What does God look like? No human being has ever seen him and lived to tell about it. So we are left to wonder.

I love the story of the little girl who was drawing a picture when her mother asked, “Honey, what are you drawing?” Quite confidently, the little girl said, “I’m drawing a picture of God!” The mother reminded her that no one really knows what God looks like. To which the little girl said, “They will when I get done.”

In Jesus’ day, the people of Israel had never seen God. They only knew of him from their wooden rituals, vacuous traditions, and misguided theologies. They had no visible clue as to what God was like, but Jesus came along and said, “They will when I get done.”

So what does God looks like? Just look at Jesus. The Apostle Paul tells us in Colossians 1:15, “Jesus is the image of the invisible God.” Verse 19 says, “For in Jesus all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.”

In other words, when you see Jesus, you’re seeing God himself. Jesus is the perfect picture of God; the absolutely accurate image of the Father. Jesus is the invisible God made visible.

So what does watching Jesus tell us about God here in Mark 10? Well, how does God feel about your marriage? Just look at Jesus telling the Pharisees, “What God has joined together let not man separate.” (Mark 10:9)

How does God feel about your children? Just look at Jesus gathering up a bunch of kids in his arms and saying, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to those who are like these children.” (Mark 10:14)

How does God feel about your struggle to let go of earthly dependencies? Just look at Jesus’ interaction with the rich young ruler: “Jesus looked at him and loved him.” (Mark 10:21)

How does God feel about your competitiveness with others? Just look at Jesus saying to his disciples, “Whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant.” (Mark 10:44)

How does God feel about the things you care about? Just look at Jesus asking blind Bartimaeus, “What do you want me to do for you?” (Mark 10:51)

What is God like? What does he look like? How does he feel about you? Just take a look at Jesus—it will really encourage you. Take a moment just to drink in what Hebrews 4:15 (The Message) has to say about it:

In Jesus, we don’t have a priest who is out of touch with our reality. He’s been through weakness and testing, experienced it all—all but the sin. So let’s walk right up to him and get what he is so ready to give. Take the mercy, accept the help.

In Jesus, God has identified with us so we can identify with him. In Jesus, God has come near to us so we can come near to God. In Jesus, God has made a way for us to live before him with complete confidence and daring prayerfulness—we can “come boldly to the throne of our gracious God, and there we will receive his mercy and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.”

Wow! In Jesus, we get a live demonstration of what God is like. And that’s a good deal for us way beyond description!