Jesus promised His believers He would come back but how will we be able to recognize Him when He does?
One believer curious about this matter put this very question to the lifelong evangelist Billy Graham. It's an intriguing idea: if Jesus were walking around among us, how would we know it was Jesus?
'If Jesus came back to earth and walked down the street of almost any one of our major cities, would anyone recognize Him? I'm curious about this, because we don't really know what He looked like, do we?' the person asks in the Answers section of the Billy Graham website.
He does agree with the person on that last question: 'the Bible doesn't tell us exactly what Jesus looked like while He was on earth.'
All we can really know is that He would have been similar in appearance to any other man living at the time in the Middle East, he says. Exact features are anyone's guess and Graham suggests it might be for the best we don't really know.
'Remember: He came for all humanity. Over the centuries artists have tried to represent in their works what Jesus might have looked like, but those are only the products of their imagination, and we should take them as such,' he said.
'Never forget: The Bible warns us not to worship anything that claims to represent God or Jesus.'
With that, he points people to one of the Ten Commandments in the Old Testament that warns, 'You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above' (Exodus 20:4).
But what about when He returns? For Graham, if we want to know what Jesus will look like when He returns, we only have to look in our Bibles as it gives us a really big clue.
And thanks to that big clue, Graham thinks we will be able to easily spot Him in the crowd.
'Would we recognize Jesus if He were to come to earth today? Yes, we most certainly would—because the Bible tells us that when He comes again, He will come in glory and majesty and power. The first time He came as a helpless baby—but when He comes again, He will come as ruler over all,' he said.
He quotes Matthew 25:31 which says, 'When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne.'
But the real question that Graham thinks believers should be asking themselves is not how we will recognize Jesus when He comes back, but whether we will be ready for Him when He does.
'Some day you will stand before Him, either when He comes again or at your death. Don't gamble with your soul, but put your faith and trust in Christ today,' he said.
