Somewhere Between Laurel and Hardy

That’s a tough question. I could say that I look really handsome, but Christians aren’t allowed to tell lies 😀.

A dutchman once told me that I look very Irish. I didn’t know whether to take that as a complement or as an insult 😀. I’m smallish – around 5 foot 6 and in my early 60s. I think that I look pretty generic. Someone once said that I reminded him of Cliff Richard. I don’t think I do look like Cliff, but I suppose to people in other regions of the world, Irish people all look the same. Cliff isn’t Irish though – he was actually born in India to British parents. Here are two videos of Cliff Richard, the young Cliff from 1982 and the present-day Cliff. He’s actually 22 years older than me, but he still looks reasonably young.

I just tried one of those online celebrity lookalike sites, where you upload a photo. It said that I looked like James Taylor, Cliff Richard, and Sam Neill. I don’t know much about Sam Neill, but here are two songs by James Taylor. Don’t forget that neither of us is young anymore 😀. He’s bald nowadays. I developed a small bald patch about 20 years ago, but it stayed small. I only ever notice it when the barber uses a mirror to show me the back of my head 😀.

So, let’s get to spiritual matters. Here’s an ancient description of the Apostle Paul. It isn’t in the Bible, but some think it quite reliable.

“A man of middling size, and his hair was scanty, and his legs were a little crooked, and his knees were far apart; he had large eyes, and his eyebrows met, and his nose was somewhat long.”

As to Jesus himself, an Old Testament prophecy, which strangely speaks in the past tense, though it’s speaking of the future Messiah, says the following:

The reference features in some early versions of the song Our God Reigns. Isaiah 53 goes into significant detail on the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary:

Isaiah 53:5-6
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
    he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
    and by his wounds we are healed.
⁶ We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
    each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
    the iniquity of us all.

Then, in the Book of Revelation, there’s a description of the glorious, ascended Jesus. Perhaps the vision was so beyond human experience, that He had to be described in symbolic terms:

Rev 1:12-18
¹² I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. Having turned, I saw seven golden lamp stands. ¹³ And among the lamp stands was one like a son of man, clothed with a robe reaching down to his feet, and with a golden sash around his chest. ¹⁴ His head and his hair were white as white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire. ¹⁵ His feet were like burnished brass, as if it had been refined in a furnace. His voice was like the voice of many waters. ¹⁶ He had seven stars in his right hand. Out of his mouth proceeded a sharp two-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining at its brightest. ¹⁷ When I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead man. He laid his right hand on me, saying, “Don’t be afraid. I am the first and the last, ¹⁸ and the Living one. I was dead, and behold, I am alive forever and ever. Amen. I have the keys of Death and of Hade

Perhaps my final point should be that God is more concerned about the heart. When Samuel was searching for a King, he thought Eliab would be suitable, but here is what God said:

1 Sam 16:7
But Yahweh said to Samuel, “Don’t look on his face, or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for I don’t see as man sees. For man looks at the outward appearance, but Yahweh looks at the heart.”