He had… no beauty that we should desire him. Isaiah 53:2
The Bible never gives a description of the physical appearance of Jesus. When Isaiah says that He had “no beauty,” he is telling us there was nothing especially striking about His appearance.
Jesus looked like any other person. If you had walked past Jesus on the street, you would not have seen a halo around His head. He really did become like us in every way, except that He was without sin.
Notice, Isaiah said that Jesus had no beauty that we should “desire” Him. Isaiah refers to our desires in order to explain why there is so much unbelief in the world. We are driven by the wrong desires.
Jesus identifies the relationship between our beliefs and our desires in His words to the Pharisees, “How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?” (John 5:44).
The great passion of our lives is to be affirmed by one another. This is what drives us. But we do not seek the praise that comes from God—and that is why we do not believe.
As long as we are driven by the desire to be affirmed by other people, we cannot believe. How can we believe when we receive glory from one another?
Someone says, “I cannot believe,” and Jesus says, “You’re right. You can’t. And here’s the reason why: you are driven by a passion to be affirmed by other people and you make no effort to seek the praise that comes from God.”
No one will be able to say on the last day, “It is God’s fault that I didn’t believe.” No one will be able to say, “I never had a chance.” God sees behind our excuses, and He knows the truth. If you wanted the praise that comes from God, you would seek Him.
Is your life ruled by a desire for the approval of others or for the approval of God?
