Monday, March 9, 2026

It is the 9th of March 2026. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

A very happy Monday to you- it is well before Monday for me as I am traveling to the Cathedral Church of the Advent in Birmingham- a few mailbag shows this week- and we dig back a few weeks to a question from Jayde- Jayde is the daughter of Chris, and they listen in the car near Highlands Ranch, Colorado.

 

Chris learned, and wanted me to know that Highlands Ranch is a planned community that was designed and built in the 1980s by the… Mission Viejo Company! They took the efficient but slightly soulless suburban sprawl and said “not just in Orange County”… I kid because I live in this suburban sprawl by choice. Jayde asked a question via Chris, which is wonderful in its simplicity- “What does God look like?” And he added, maybe “how has he been depicted in the church”.

 

This past week, I was teaching a bible study and in teaching on the attributes of God and those which God shares with us, one person asked if our very likeness might be related to the communicable attributes, such that we might look a little like God looks. Does God have limbs? The question really threw me off- and it was my wife who asked it… (I told her, we rehearse hard questions ahead of time!)

 

So- Jayde and Beth Anne… what does God look like? God is spirit, John tells us- the evangelist also writes “no one has seen God”. So- how about Moses? He sees the Burning Bush (close) and then gets the famous “backside of God” whilst being protected from the full glory of Yahweh, which we are told he can’t see.

 

This past weekend, the show was on Christians and radio- and we pointed out that Christians are “word” people- that’s an easy one. But are we “image” people? This has long been debated. Jayde- Do you know the Ten Commandments? How are they numbered (there are two ways to do it)? Do you have a first or second commandment that says- “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below”?

 

So- “no images”? Some took this to mean you shouldn’t even paint pictures of people's faces- others said “well, we won’t engrave” and so they have those flat icon style paintings.

 

An argument that I find persuasive is that God didn’t want his people to be tempted to make images of him- why? Because he was going to do it himself- and so we read that “Christ is the IMAGE (or ICON) of the Invisible God” in Colossians 1:15. “What does God look like” is maybe one of the very best and central questions. Remember the disciples themselves say “just show us the Father and we will be satisfied”- what is Jesus’ response? If you don’t know I’ll make John 14 the final word for today.

 

 

It is worth noting that in the Middle Ages up through the Renaissance, we have a lot of Christian paintings, and we do see a difference between East and West- the West seems much more comfortable with anthropomorphic imagery (Jayde, can you try spelling that word, and then maybe you can look it up- it’s a good one). A father, a king, a man on a throne… these are common images where, in the East, you are much more likely to see God as light instead of as a person.

 

As for the question- does the human body give us insight into how God might “look”? I don’t think so. God’s “incommunicable attributes” include his “self existence” and his “omnipresence” and things that make him not limited by matter- as the human body is- so… now, if we talk about the “glorified body”- that’s a conversation- can we walk through locked doors but still eat fish? Jesus did in his post resurrection body. If we want to talk about god “embodied,” I think we look to Jesus- who is the God-Man…

 

Jayde (and Beth Anne), thanks for thinking about this topic- an important question and a good one because it takes a common, big question and lets us follow it until we get to Jesus- the “image of the invisible God”.

 

Send me your questions- kids always welcome! I’m at Danv@1517.org.

 

 

 

The Last word for today comes from John 14:

Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.

 

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 9th of March 2026, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man who couldn’t know the sheer Truman Show-esque weirdness and joy some of us get living in a sea of identical condos, greenbelts, and Chipotle’s- he is Christopher Gillespie

The show is written and read by a man raised by the mean streets of Northwood- Irvine’s tougher neighborhood… I’m Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.