Jesus' Appearance in the bible

I received an interesting question from one of my Bible students whom I mostly communicate via text message. (We occasionally talk by phone).
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The question was asked concerning Jesus.
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​“To me, he (Jesus) is faceless. But when I saw the normal picture of the public, I accepted cause to me all I ever knew was a spirit, a feeling of calm when I prayed for help. And normally it came. So, I said, whatever rocks whomever’s boat. LOL. I thought maybe an Arabic?”
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​Before I get into the answer I shared with my Bible student, let me explain what led to this conversation about Jesus’ appearance. 
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our discussion
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This student texted me a picture of three young girls on the street, at a restaurant, drinking coffee. The instructions on the picture said, “Close your eyes and then barely open them.” So, I did. And when I did, the image showed a depiction of Jesus. Well, what most people think he looks like.

So, I responded in awe and then said, “You know, that’s not what Jesus looked like.” That statement led to her comment above. To which I responded, “… The Bible does describe what he looks like. And it's not some European white man, nor a black man either.” She responded that Jesus was probably an Arabic. To which I said, “Not exactly, but close. He was a Jew, a Hebrew.”

She then said, “Oh, that is right – a Jew!” Then she asked, “Do you know where the Bible describes him? On The Chosen, he doesn’t look Jewish to me.” This question brings us to today’s post.
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Since this is not the first time I’ve had this type of conversation while informal witnessing to a person. I thought it would be a good idea to put this topic in written form to share with you – my readers. But mainly because I have had this kind of discussion with other Bible students in the past with whom I either did not do a good job explaining at the time. Or, I failed or did not have an opportunity to explain or answer their inquiry. So, I want to use this time to correct that so I can forward this post to other Bible students. 
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Jesus appearance
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First, we have to be mindful that the Bible never described Jesus’ features like his height, weight, skin tone, eye color, or hair color. Yet, prophets like Isaiah did provide us with some insight into Jesus' physical appearance. See Isaiah 53:2. I would love to discuss this verse further, but this verse will require a separate lesson to explain it, which I don’t have the time to do so in this specific post. So let’s move on for now. However, feel free to research this verse for yourself.

As we know, in Western art, Jesus is the most commonly painted image. But the Western culture has always depicted Jesus as a bearded, fair-skinned man with long, wavy, light brown or blond hair with blue eyes. And yet, the Bible does not describe Jesus in this way.
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So, what does the Bible reveal about Jesus’ features? Can we recreate an accurate depiction of Jesus' features from the scriptures? No, but we can come very close from what the Bible provides. 
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jesus nationality
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​We know that Jesus was of Jewish (Hebrew) descent. He was born in Bethlehem but raised in a town called Nazareth in Galilee. In Revelation chapter 1, verses 9 through 20, in the New King James Version, the subtitle is ‘Vision of the Son of Man.’ Now, we won’t read it all. Instead, we will focus on verses 14 through 15. (Also, read Matthew 17:2). 
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His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes like a flame of fire; His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace, and his voice as the sound of many waters.
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Now, what we have to be mindful of here is this depiction of Jesus given to Apostle John, which appeared to be an out-of-body experience. This description John sees of Jesus in verses 13 through 15 is a symbolic description [constituting a symbol or representation (which is a likeness or image of)]. So, when John described Jesus as having “… head and hair were white wool, as white as snow, and His eyes like flame of fire,” these were symbolic descriptions of Jesus as eternity, wisdom, and omniscience.
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This depicts Jesus’ attributes and not necessarily his physical features. Therefore, what John was actually seeing and understanding about Jesus was the following. 
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1. Jesus is eternity – infinite time. He has no end. Hence, verse 11 says, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last….” 

2. He is wisdom. This is a wisdom that goes beyond intelligence or knowledge. But this is supreme intelligence. The kind of intelligence that belongs to GOD – something that man lacks. 

3. Omniscience or omniscient – his state of being. Jesus possesses universal or complete knowledge. He is not lacking in anything. He is the eternal god that is all-knowing in that he knows everything. His knowledge and understanding in infinitely in that man cannot compete with or exceed or even obtain or grasp. 

So, what we read at Revelation 1:14 is not a physical description of what Jesus looks like but a mere descriptive term describing his attributes so that mere man can comprehend the presence of their Savior.

The description we have of Jesus today is heavily influenced by Greek and Roman gods – particularly the Greek god Zeus. So, how do we know from the Scriptures what Jesus looked like? Go back to Revelation chapter 1, verses 12 through 16, John describes Jesus’ hair, eyes, feet, voice, and face, which is all symbolism. John provides a spiritual depiction of Jesus and not an actual physical description of his features – ethnicity or nationality.

Other descriptions we have of Jesus can be found at John 1:14. 
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And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us….
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So, when we take into account at Luke chapter 2, verses 1 through 20. Well, let’s explore that text.

We know that Caesar Augustus passed an edict requiring all to fulfill a census by registering to his own city. So, Joseph, Jesus’ earthy father, went from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to Bethlehem to register his family. At that time, Mary, Joseph’s wife, was pregnant with their first child, Jesus (the Son of GOD). While in Bethlehem, Mary gave birth to Jesus.

We know from historical records that Mary, Jesus’ mother, ethnicity (cultural characteristics that define people who belong to specific groups) and nationality (the legal perception of belonging to a specific nation – citizenship). She was of Jewish descent. Mary, as well as her husband, Joseph, were from the northern area of Galilee in Nazareth. Joseph’s house and lineage were of King David (Luke 2:4-5). We see this in the book of Matthew where he traces Jesus’ ancestry from Abraham through King David (Matthew 1:1-17). However, at Luke chapter 3, verses 23 through 38, his lineage is traced from Adam to GOD (Mary’s lineage). Therefore, when considering Abraham’s background, we know he was a Hebrew – “… Abram the Hebrew….” (Genesis 14:13). Jacob was an Israelite [same as a Jew (Genesis 35:10)]. One of Jacob’s sons is directly connected to the Messiah through Judah, which are of Jewish descent – descendants called Judeans, later called Jews.
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Therefore, to get a close depicture of what Jesus looked like, we have to take into consideration the ethnicity, of his mother Mary. So, when considering all of this, we know, Jesus was born, lived, and died as a Jew. So, if we want to know what Jesus possibly looked like, all we have to do is turn to the Jewish community, in the region in which Jesus was born and raised. But even when doing so, we have to be mindful, that this will only give us a basic description of Jesus. For he was an average-looking man whose appearance didn’t stand out uniquely. In the scripture, it does not describe Jesus in modern superficial terms in an attempt to categorize his appearance. This was not important from GOD’s perspective. Jesus was just a regular, normal person of Jewish descent. It is as simple as that.