Jesus’ Appearance and Role in Salvation

 

This mediated message deals with Jesus’ appearance and role in salvation. It also shows that Jesus is not God and should be loved, but  not be worshiped. Only God the Father, through the  Holy Spirit, can fill us with the Divine Love, the requirement for salvation. For similar information, about Jesus, go to this page and the related articles. 

 

John Discusses the Existing Portraits of Jesus.

He Also Declares That Only the Father Can Fill the Soul with the Divine Love.

(JOHN, THE APOSTLE)

(June 3rd, 1917 | Received by James Padgett)

 I AM HERE. John.

I come to write a few lines on the display of what was supposed to be portraits of the Master and which you saw tonight.

Well, the exhibits were quite interesting and showed, down through the centuries, the different and diverse conceptions of the artists as to what the Master supposedly looked like. But I must say that none of them is a correct likeness of him as he appeared on earth, or as he appeared after his rising from the dead and making himself visible to his disciples and others.

I understand how the preacher and many others who were present at the church tonight love Jesus and enjoy the belief that, in looking at some of the portraits, they may get a conception of his appearance. And I only wish that his appearance might have been shown by some of the pictures. But, as I said, none of them bore any resemblance to the Master whom I knew and associated with, and also saw after his resurrection from the tomb.

None of them displayed the great spiritual light that shone from his countenance, even when he was suffering on the cross. And none of them gave even a faint glimpse of the spiritual beauty that was his when he associated with and helped sinners as well as his friends and disciples.

I never heard of any portrait having been painted of him while he lived on earth, or even afterwards by anyone who had seen him. The oldest of these portraits that were presented tonight were not made until years after his death, and were painted by men who could not have gotten a description of the Master from anyone who had seen him.

I know that there was no original, as the preacher supposed, that gave some suggestion to the artists who painted the portraits that you saw, for there never was any original. No, the Master passed from earth without leaving any representation of his appearance behind him.

The portraits were the results of what the artists conceived in their artistic brains, if I may use the expression, to be what the Master, who had displayed such wonderful qualities of heart and mind, should look like. And as their conceptions of the spiritual and human qualities of the Master differed, so their portraits differed; and the only foundation for their pictures was their own spiritual or nonspiritual conceptions.

The Master, of course, like the rest of us who were his disciples, was a Jew; and it is quite natural to suppose that he had the features and hair and beard of the ordinary Jew. And as the Jews have continued to live in their native land without much change in appearance ever since the time of the Master, the artists, who conceived him to be a Jew, based their supposed portrait of him upon the appearance of the Jew as they saw him at the time that they painted the pictures.

And while Jesus was a Jew, he was not what may be called a typical Jew in appearance, any more than in other qualities, for he had that condition of soul in him that determined and fashioned his appearance to a large extent.

His eyes were not dark or brown, but a violet blue, and his hair was light and inclined to the auburn. His nose was prominent and somewhat long, and his beard was of the color of his hair and worn not so long as was the custom of those days. And he never had a razor on his face. His forehead was not so very high or broad, but was well shaped and somewhat effeminate, and indicated that there was not so great a mental development as might be supposed. For I must say here that his knowledge was not so much the knowledge of the brain as of the heart and soul. And, as you know, and as all men may know who acquire the proper soul development, the soul has a brain of its own which is used for the disclosure of the knowledge of that which pertains to the spiritual Truths. Mortals may not quite comprehend the meaning of this assertion, but I must tell them that, in certain circumstances and conditions, the brain, or, to be more exact, the mind of the natural man becomes entirely absorbed in the mind of the soul.

So, I say, it is not a correct conclusion to suppose that Jesus, because of having all the wonderful knowledge of the Truths of God, his Father (as he preferred to call God), must have had a large development of those portions of the brain that is ordinarily displayed by a large or prominent forehead. His head, in fact, was not very large, but compact and beautifully shaped.

He wore his hair parted in the middle and reaching to his shoulders, and it was somewhat curly—a beautiful head of hair which seemed to be full of life.

No artist has had a correct conception of his appearance, and no portrait or sculpture conveys a near likeness of him. But as the people realize how beautiful he was within, they can possibly see a clearer conception of his appearance in their own imaginations than any painted portrait can give to them.

I sometimes wish that there was a true likeness of him on earth, as he appeared during the time of his great work of love on earth, so that those who love him could have the further pleasure of realizing his physical appearance. But that may not be so because, as mortals naturally worship the pictures of the “saints” and, through the picture, worship the originals, the danger would be that, if there was a picture of the Master, mortals would worship him even more than they do now—all of which worship is very distasteful and displeasing to him and, as he has said, blasphemy.

The Master should be loved and his presence longed for, as such presence has in it a wonderful love and influence to help and make happy those who are in condition to realize his presence. But he should not be worshiped.

Well, as I was with you tonight at the church, I thought that it might be interesting to you to have the truth told to you in reference to the Master and his supposed portraits.

Of course, it is not necessary that there should be any picture of him, true or otherwise, in order to enable mortals to enjoy his presence, for he is working among mortals today as he was when on earth; and his love goes out to them, and his desire that they become in at-onement with the Father. And when mortals sincerely long for his presence, sooner or later, as the laws of his limitations permit, he will be with them and will comfort and help them, if they will enable him to make the rapport. This is what is meant by his standing at the door and knocking. When the door is opened, the rapport is made; and then his love and influence will be felt.

But the difficulty here is that mortals suppose it to be, and confuse it with the Great Love of the Father, when the fact is that this love of Jesus is the same Love in quality (but not in quantity) that the mortal himself may obtain by the earnest prayers and sincere aspirations of his soul. The love of Jesus can never transform a human soul into the Substance of the Love of the Father because this transforming Love can only come from the Father, and is bestowed through the medium of the Holy Spirit, as we have explained to you.

So, let all mortals love Jesus with the fervor and fullness of their souls, and crave for his love, but, in doing so, not forget or fail to know that, in thus loving, in order to become like Jesus, they must seek for the greater Love of the Father, and give to Him all their souls’ longings and desires for the inflowing of this Love into their souls. And the more they receive of this great Divine Love, the better able they will be to love their great brother, Jesus.

Well, I have written enough for tonight. I will come again soon and write a formal message to you. So, remember what I said to you a few nights ago, and believe and trust, and you will not be disappointed. With my love and the Blessing of the Father, I will say good night.

Your brother in Christ,

JOHN.

 

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