What does the Bible say Jesus looked like?

We have reserved the greatest example to the last, even that of our Lord Himself. No words can exaggerate the greatness of His undiminished Deity, nor the graciousness of His stoop to man’s estate, nor the affectionate solicitude of the Father as to His every word and action. And yet there is no account of His physical appearance given to us in the Scriptures. We do read that “His visage was so marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men” (Isa. 52:14), a prophecy made centuries before our Lord was born at Bethlehem. The mind of the Spirit of God was filled with the spiritual anguish that would be His, “a Man of Sorrows and acquainted with grief” (Isa. 53:3)—a spiritual anguish that marred His very features. Blessed Saviour!

Verse 2 presents Him to us in two ways. First, as He was in the eyes of God. Mankind in general, and Israel in particular, had proved themselves to be "dry ground," quite unproductive of anything that was good; yet out of this there sprang up this "tender plant," which drew its life and nourishment from elsewhere. The Lord Jesus truly sprang out of Israel, through the Virgin Mary His mother, but the excellence of His holy Manhood was due not to her but to the action of the Holy Spirit of God.

But second, He is presented as He was in the eyes of men. He had "no form nor lordliness," (New Trans.), nor the kind of beauty that men admire and desire. Some haughty, imperious man of imposing appearance would have caught the popular fancy; but instead of this He was "a Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief," as verse 3 says. Being who He was, such a One as He could not be otherwise, as He entered and walked through a ruined creation with all its degradation and woe. This men did not understand, since they were insensible to their own degradation, and consequently they despised and rejected Him, as the prophet here predicts.

But we gather another thought. from the sealskin covering. It was probably of a brown or dark hue, not repulsive in appearance, but not particularly attractive. For faith, the characteristics which we have been dwelling upon in our Lord are blessedly attractive, but to the natural man, there was "no beauty that we should desire Him" (Isa. 53:2). As they looked upon Him walking in lowly separation from the world and its spirit, they said, "Out of Galilee ariseth no prophet" (John 7:52). Even His wondrous teachings and miracles failed to overcome the pride of unbelief in many: "Is not this the carpenter?" was the incredulous and scornful question asked. Nor did it stop there: that which put Him at a moral distance from all hypocrisy and religiousness of the natural man was no barrier to conscious need, which ever found a tender welcome in Him. The outcast, the wretched and the lost came freely to Him; but unbelief still stumbles and says, "A Friend of publicans and sinners" (Luke 7:34).

The chapter may well begin with the words, "Who has believed our report?" (verse 1). It tells us of One who was indeed the delight of God's heart, the "Root out of a dry ground," the One who was beautiful under God's eye in a world of barrenness and sin. To men He was unattractive, "no form nor comeliness . . no beauty that we should desire Him" (verse 2).

David was ruddy and of a lovely countenance and beautiful appearance (1 Sam. 16:12). Similarly, Moses was ‘fair’ and exceedingly lovely (Ex. 2:2; Acts 7:20), and Daniel was ‘of goodly countenance’ (Dan. 1:4). The real meaning of these descriptions is that the men were ‘fair’ or ‘beautiful’ in God’s eyes. But they only prefigure the one of whom it is said: ‘Thou art fairer than the sons of men; grace is poured into thy lips: therefore God hath blessed thee for ever’ (Ps. 45:2). For us Jesus had ‘no form nor comeliness’ (Isa 53:2). We failed to see his beauty. But the eye of God always looks deeper. What He saw was only glory and beauty. The Lord Jesus is unique and incomparable. He manifested all those wonderful traits that God wanted to see in man on earth, and there was nothing that could disfigure or distort this wonderful display of divine glories and excellences in Him.

Withal of a beautiful countenance. The beautiful features of the Lord Jesus could not be seen by the leaders of Israel; their eyes had not been opened to see beauty that was the delight of His God and Father. Of this Isaiah had foretold when he wrote, "There is no beauty that we should desire Him" (Isa. 53:2). But there were those who were attracted by His beauty. The poor sinner of Luke 7, who washed His feet with tears in Simon's house had discernment far beyond anything known by Simon. Wherever we see the Son of God, whether surrounded by publicans and sinners, or His face shining as the sun on the glory mount, or on the cross with "His visage … marred more than any man," it is to behold the moral beauty that can only be seen by those in whose hearts God has wrought by His Spirit.

The blessed Lord's appearance became changed on that day, "the fashion of His countenance was altered" (Luke 9:29), the Man of Sorrows shone for a moment as the Man of Glory, "His face did shine as the sun." (Matt. 17:2.) He was the "same Jesus," but "altered." He is now glorified in heaven, and the light of His glory is "above the brightness of the sun." (Acts 26:13.) Heaven's brightness shines from His face, not even the sun's — the greatest light this earth knows. Before that brightness Saul fell to the ground, and seeing Him in heaven, John fell as dead at His feet. (Rev. 1:17.) We have faint ideas of the present glory of Jesus the Lord, but eventually the child of God, from the youngest to the eldest, will be at home in His presence as He is. All will be glorified together with the Lord, and all will appear in glory with Him.

— “His countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.” Once the vile spittle of men rested on His patient face (Matt. 26:67), now divine glory, more brilliant far, more resplendent than the midday tropical sun, is here seen in the face of the Lord. “The sun in his strength,” on which no mortal eye can gaze, images forth the supreme glory of Jesus, Son of Man. We may remark that Christ is spoken of as the Light of the World (John 8. 12), as the Sun of Righteousness to Israel (Mal. 4:2), and as the Bright and Morning Star to the Church (Rev. 22:16). Hengstenberg draws a contrast between the glory of the sun and that of the stars (1 Cor. 15:41), applying the lesson to the transcendent glory of Christ (the sun), to that of His ministers (the stars). The stars are mere reflectors. They have no independent light of their own. In the matchless yet simple story of creation (Gen. 1) the distinguishing orbs for day and night are appointed their place in relation to this earth, and then it is added as a matter of small import, “the stars also” (v. 16). Would that every servant would lay it to heart. Is there not in this a lesson to every minister? We are but of trifling importance save as held in the right hand of Christ. It is the servant’s connection with the Lord which alone imparts dignity.

"And out of His mouth went a sharp two edged sword." The word of God is likened to a sharp two-edged sword, and though this refers to its power on the conscience, it is no less sharp in judgment also. "He that rejects me," said our Lord, "and receives not my words, has one that judges him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day." (John 12:48.) He threatens the evil-doers in Pergamos to "fight against them with the sword of my mouth" (Rev. 2:16); and the followers of the beast are "slain with the sword of Him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of His mouth." (Rev. 19:21.) So Isaiah, foretelling His coming, says, He shall smite the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall He slay the wicked." (Isa. 11:4.)

"And His countenance was as the sun shines in his strength." Nothing can more strikingly picture His power and glory than this figure of the noonday sun. As the greatest of God's visible works, it is the symbol of supreme authority, "the greater light" which He has created "to rule the day." This was the glory in which John and his companions beheld him when He "was transfigured before them, and His face did shine as the sun, and His raiment was white as the light." (Matt. 17:2.) The transfiguration was the testimony which God gave to chosen witnesses of "the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ" (2 Peter 1:16); and in this book, where his coming "with clouds" is the great climax to which everything tends, we behold Him clothed in the same glory.

His countenance shone as the sun shines in its strength. What a symbol of glory—divine and universal glory as the Son of Man. The Lord Jesus Christ is thus depicted in a striking, arresting way.