What Does God Look Like?
- Rebecca Montrone
- 1 day ago
- 6 min read
A Return to Scripture, Reality, and Reverent Unknowing
As I put together these blog pieces, you all know I love including lots of images. It's one of my really fun things about doing this; images not only convey information, but they break up the monotony of print, and they can also be soothing. What I have found really perplexing, however, is some of the many images I see where people try to depict what God looks like. Take this one, for example:
This one is all off. Look at this man. He is an aging, old man. Where does “aging” come from? The fall in the Garden of Eden. Aging is a sign of things wearing out and God does not wear out. Aging is a result of sin, and God has never sinned.
God. Does. Not. Age.
Then, look at this one.
We are often tempted to imagine Jesus in heaven exactly as He appeared during His earthly ministry. Scripture gives us no reason to do so.
Jesus "took on the appearance of a man" (Phil 2) in order to accomplish the sacrifice needed to procure our salvation. That was the only reason, and it was very, very temporary - what, some 33 years?!
When Jesus is revealed in glory:
“His face was like the sun shining in full strength.”
(Revelation 1:16)
“His eyes were like a flame of fire.”
(Revelation 19:12)
“A Lamb standing, as though it had been slain.”
(Revelation 5:6)
“Riding on a white horse… with many crowns.”
(Revelation 19:11–16)
So let's think about this. Every now and then, it’s worth pausing to ask where our mental pictures of God actually come from.
Are they rooted in Scripture? This is the key question to ask about absolutely everything, by the way. This is why I am so very passionate about the importance of immersing ourselves in the study of the Word of God.
Or, have our mental pictures of God been quietly shaped by paintings, stained glass, Sunday school posters, Renaissance artists, and well-meaning imaginations handed down to us over centuries?
It may seem like a trivial question — after all, what does it really matter what God “looks like”? And yet, Scripture itself takes this issue far more seriously than we often do.
God is not imaginary, symbolic, or a poetic concept.
God is real — as real and literal as the keyboard I am using to type this and the screen in front of you right now as you read this.
So...Let’s take a closer look… or, perhaps, a deeper dig. Shovel time!
God is real. Heaven is real. The unseen realm Scripture describes is not metaphorical, symbolic, or psychological — it is simply unseen for now. If our spiritual eyes were opened, we would not gently nod in recognition. Every biblical precedent tells us the opposite: we would be startled, overwhelmed, undone.
When heaven intrudes into human awareness, it is not familiar. Not at all! It is fantastical, terrifying, glorious, and wholly "other."
God Reveals Presence — Not Portraits
Scripture does not introduce God with a physical description. It introduces Him with presence.
“God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.”(1 John 1:5)
“He covers Himself with light as with a garment.”(Psalm 104:2)
“Our God is a consuming fire.”(Hebrews 12:29)
When Israel saw the glory of the LORD on Mount Sinai:
“The appearance of the glory of the LORD
was like a consuming fire
on the top of the mountain.”(Exodus 24:17)
Enthroned — Authority Without Anatomy
Isaiah gives us one of Scripture’s most famous heavenly visions:
“I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up,
and the train of His robe filled the temple.”(Isaiah 6:1)
Notice what Isaiah does not describe:
no face
no hands
no age
no bodily features
Only scale, holiness, and overwhelming glory.
The throne communicates authority — not posture. The robe filling the temple communicates magnitude — not tailoring.
The psalms echo this same refusal to localize God into a manageable form:
“Clouds and thick darkness are all around Him… fire goes before Him… His lightnings light up the world.”(Psalm 97:2–4)
This is not ambiguity. It is transcendence.
The Ancient of Days — Ancient, Not Old
Daniel’s vision introduces the phrase Ancient of Days:
“The Ancient of Days took His seat;
His clothing was white as snow,
and the hair of His head like pure wool.”(Daniel 7:9)
This passage is often misunderstood, especially in art. White hair here is not the sign of aging. Again, aging is the result of mortality, decay, and time — none of which apply to God.
This imagery communicates:
eternity
purity
timeless wisdom
uncreated being
God is ancient — not old.
And Daniel quickly removes any possibility of sentimentalizing this image:
“His throne was fiery flames;
its wheels were burning fire.”
(Daniel 7:9)
No human throne behaves like this.
Ezekiel: When Language Begins to Collapse
Ezekiel’s visions are some of the most detailed in Scripture — and also the most linguistically strained.
“Above the expanse… there was something like a throne… and seated above the likeness of a throne was a likeness with a human appearance.”(Ezekiel 1:26)
The qualifiers matter:
something like
likeness
appearance
Ezekiel is not describing what God is. He is describing what God was like enough for human language to approach.
“From the waist up… something like glowing metal…
from the waist down… something like fire…
brightness all around.”(Ezekiel 1:27)
"Something like... "Something like" —
“Such was the appearance of the
likeness of the glory of the LORD.”
(Ezekiel 1:28)
When Moses asks to see God’s glory:
“You cannot see My face,
for man shall not see Me and live.”
(Exodus 33:20)
Paul later confirms:
“[He] dwells in unapproachable light,
whom no one has ever seen or can see.”
(1 Timothy 6:16)
Paul: Taken to Heaven — and Silenced
Paul provides one of the most sobering testimonies of all.
“I know a man in Christ who was
caught up to the third heaven…
into Paradise.”
(2 Corinthians 12:2–4)
Paul went there.
And what does he tell us?
He "heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter.”
Not will not utter; CANNOT utter! Wow.
After seeing heaven, Paul offers fewer descriptions than those who only glimpsed it from afar. Language itself proved insufficient.
That alone should give us pause when we encounter confident visual depictions of God or heaven. It should also tell us that whatever awaits those of us who believe will be something we have never even imagined in our wildest dreams.
“But, as it is written,
‘What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the heart of man imagined,
what God has prepared for those who love Him.’”
(1 Corinthians 2:9)
God Speaks — but Withholds Form
This restraint is intentional, and Scripture says so plainly.
“The LORD spoke to you out of the midst of the fire.
You heard the sound of words,
but saw no form.”
(Deuteronomy 4:12)
And then comes the reason:
“Therefore watch yourselves very carefully…
lest you act corruptly
by making a carved image.”
(Deuteronomy 4:15–16)
God withholds visual form so He will not be reduced to one.
Why Images Are Forbidden
Scripture does not prohibit images because God is opposed to art.
It prohibits them because He is too real to be flattened into familiarity.
“You shall not make for yourself a carved image.”
(Exodus 20:4)
“They exchanged the glory of God
for images resembling mortal man.”
(Romans 1:23)
“We ought not to think that the divine being
is like gold or silver or stone,
an image formed by the art and imagination of man.”
(Acts 17:29)
Human Reactions Tell the Story
Scripture is utterly consistent in how humans respond to divine revelation - given glimpses of God in His glory:
“Woe is me! I am undone.” (Isaiah 6:5)
“I fell on my face.” (Ezekiel 1:28)
“No strength was left in me.” (Daniel 10:8)
“They were filled with great fear.” (Luke 2:9)
“I fell at His feet as though dead.” (Revelation 1:17)
No one says, “This is just what I pictured!"
A Final Thought If our mental picture of God has been shaped more by tradition than by Scripture, what else about God has also been affected similarly? Let's not settle for what others have said about Him, what we have been taught by our religion, but let's make all those things pass the muster of adhering to what God HIMSELF tells us in His Word.
He is wonderful. More wonderful than we can begin to imagine, and He has a LOT to tell us.
Let's keep digging!
And let's fall down at His feet "as one dead" and worship Him
Interested in knowing how to enter into a personal relationship with God through faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ? Say a Salvation Prayer and Receive Jesus Christ Today.
Of course, the saying of a prayer is the reflection of a monumental and life-changing heart decision, but this is a good guide.
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