The late Charles Reade, a well-known novelist in the early Victorian times, was happily converted, though late in life. He wrote an interesting book on the characters of the Bible, pointing out the great difference between the Bible method of presenting its characters, and that of the writers of biography and fiction.
In the writings of men we get such presentations as the following: “He stood well over six feet high, with noble head and white-flowing locks, eagle eye, majestic alike in looks and manners.” This is not the method of the Bible, and we may learn a great lesson therefrom.
In the Bible we get very little description of physical appearance, but more of moral characteristics, and even that very sparingly. For instance, take the case of the Apostle Paul. Of all the servants of the Lord in the New Testament he was the most remarkable, and yet we have no description whatever of his personal appearance in a favourable sense. The little he does say of himself is to report what his adversaries said of him, that, “his bodily presence is weak and his speech contemptible” (2 Cor. 10:10). Tradition tells us something of his physical appearance, but the Bible never does so in the way of adulatory description, usual in the writings of men.
The account of the labours of this servant of Christ occupies more than half of the Acts of the Apostles. If we include the Epistle to the Hebrews, he was used of God to write fourteen inspired epistles out of a total of twenty-one. These seven epistles written by four writers—Peter, John, James and Jude—occupy twenty-one chapters, whilst the epistles from the pen of the Apostle of the Gentiles occupy one hundred chapters. Paul has a dominating place in the Holy Scriptures. What is the last glimpse we have of this honoured servant?
Herein we may learn a great lesson. For two years he lived in Rome under light arrest, guarded by a soldier, in his own rented room, with the knowledge that martyrdom awaited him. He knew how to turn that humble room into a pulpit for the preaching of the Kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ. There and in that occupation we see the last glimpse of that loved and honoured man.
Had uninspired pens been at work we should have had a dramatic description of his martyrdom; a vivid description of his appearance and behaviour in his last moments on earth. The manner and place of his burial would have been carefully described. But Scripture gives us not a word of this. Why? Is it not to teach us that God does not adulate the man, but honours him in his work. When his work is done, the curtain falls. Thus simply and beautifully he passes from the scene of his activity for the Lord.
Did not the Holy Spirit see that unholy elevation would be given to God’s servants, canonizing them, calling cathedrals and churches after their names, using supposed relics for idolatrous worship? Would not the last days of the great apostle have been filled with the sustaining presence of his Lord? Would the Lord not support him in his last moments upon earth? Is not the death of His saints “precious in the sight of the Lord”? (Ps. 116:15). Surely the apostle would realise all this to the full, but that was between himself and his Lord. The last glimpse Scripture gives of this servant of Christ teaches us a very great lesson: a lesson of humility, and of the high honour it is to serve the Lord, and then to pass out of the sight of men.
Take the case of John the Baptist. We have an account of his food and clothing, and the place of his ministry, the wilderness of Judaea, in order to give the setting of his ministry, far away from the gorgeous ritual of the Temple, now empty of any spiritual vitality, presaging thus the reception our Lord would receive at their hands. Our Lord said that “among them that are born of women there has not risen a greater than John the Baptist” (Matt. 11:11). And yet we are not given one indication of his physical appearance. “He was a burning and shining light” (John 5:35), but these were moral or spiritual qualities, setting forth his extraordinary zeal. Would that we could catch a breath of it these sad days!
We are told of Samson’s strength, for that was part of his particular Nazariteship, and was used of God in His service. We read that “the Spirit of the Lord” began to move him at times” (Jud. 13:25; 14:19; 15:14). But of his physical appearance we have not a line.
The same can be said of Abraham, Moses, Elijah. We know that Elisha was bald-headed, but that was the taunt of the youths that mocked him, with sad consequences to themselves. We have King Saul’s great stature mentioned to show that spiritual power is not measured by physical inches. He probably is a type of the wilful King of Daniel 11:36, the Antichrist, the king of man’s choice, who will seek to gain position by fleshly and natural means, behind which will he Satanic power.
David, too, was described as “ruddy, and withal of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to” (1 Sam. 16:12). This is perhaps the fullest description of any of the Lord’s servants that Scripture affords us. It shows that David was youthful, in the early blush of young manhood, in contrast with Saul’s height, and David was a type of our Lord.
Other cases may come to the minds of the readers, but these are what occur to the writer.
We have reserved the greatest example to the last, even that of our Lord Himself. No words can exaggerate the greatness of His undiminished Deity, nor the graciousness of His stoop to man’s estate, nor the affectionate solicitude of the Father as to His every word and action. And yet there is no account of His physical appearance given to us in the Scriptures. We do read that “His visage was so marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men” (Isa. 52:14), a prophecy made centuries before our Lord was born at Bethlehem. The mind of the Spirit of God was filled with the spiritual anguish that would be His, “a Man of Sorrows and acquainted with grief” (Isa. 53:3)—a spiritual anguish that marred His very features. Blessed Saviour!
The thought the writer has sought to place before his readers should have a subduing influence on us all, and place in the dust pride of face, or race, or place, that is so prone to feed the flesh in us. May we have the spirit of John the Baptist, who said “HE must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30). That sentence could not be inverted. It was not that John ceased to shine, but the shining of our Lord was like the shining of the sun that pales the stars, so that they are no longer visible, though they shine still in their own light. So may we ever give the Lord His place and then we shall with joy take ours, and that of His giving.