Many nights at dinner I ask my kids to tell me what Jesus looks like. Their response is not "blonde-haired, blue-eyed, white-skinned" from European church art, nor is their response "dark-haired, brown-eyed, olive-skinned" in an attempt to be more ethnically accurate. My kids tell me that Jesus is "wool-haired, fire-eyed and glowing-skinned" based on the descriptions of Jesus in Daniel 10, Matthew 17 and Revelation 1. My kids' default view of Jesus is the Glorified Christ, not the incarnate Christ.

Of course my kids understand the incarnation to the best of their ability, considering their respective ages. That is, that they understand the incarnation in the context of Jesus' eternal existence as the Son of God.

Before Jesus was born as a little Jewish baby, He existed as a firey-eyed, lightning-faced, tumultuous voice-having person of the Trinity. And after He ascended to take His place at the right hand of the Father (where my kids currently believe Jesus is, instead of the generic "everywhere"), He resumed His glorified appearance as we read about in Revelation 1.

In fact, not only did Jesus' face shine like the Sun before He was born as a baby, His face shone like the Sun BEFORE THERE WAS A SUN! The Father did not create the Sun, or lightning, or molten metal or any of the other various objects used to describe Jesus' appearance first and then think, "Hey, I'll create my Son to look like these things" because Jesus was not created. He pre-existed all of these things. Instead of saying that Jesus' face shines like the Sun, you could say that the Sun shines like Jesus' face.

Before there was a sun, or lightning, Jesus' face shone. Before mankind ever discovered fire, Jesus' eyes burned. Before there were rapids, Jesus' voice was full and loud. Before people were heating metal Jesus' appearance glowed.

When people gather around a fire, mesmerized by it's flames, they are drawn to the eyes of Christ. When people are overtaken by the glare of the Sun they are getting a glimpse of the glory of Christ. When people are excited to see a bolt of lightning they are getting a flash of what Jesus looks like, and the subsequent thunder reminds us of His voice.

The Incarnate Christ was glorious. The Glorified Christ is glorious. The Incarnate Christ provoked a mixed response of obedience and offense, as some responded by following Him while others wanted to kill Him. The Glorified Christ only provokes one response, reverent worship. Every time someone encounters the Glorified Christ in scripture they end up on their face.

The church needs to continue to present the Incarnate Christ to the world, but it also needs to increase the degree to which it presents the Glorified Christ.

AW Tozer once said that "What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us." When we become caught up in the appearance of the Glorified Christ it will produce reverence. It will create faith. It will inspire courage and boldness. It will demand all of our devotion.