The skin color of the Messiah - An endless yet interesting debate

Back in 2003 I went to a musical called ‘Jesus Christ Superstar'. For those not familiar with this musical, it’s basically the story told from the perspective of Judas Iscariot. Poor guy… he was so misunderstood. (sarcasm mode off).

The appeal of the musical was that it usually had rock starts in the cast. In the 70’s, Jesus Christ was performed by Ian Gillan from Deep Purple and in 2003 it was Sebastian Back from Skid Row so l was looking forward to watching his performance.

Well, to my frustration, Sebastian Bach being the diva he is, fought with whoever and was fired from the production one day before I was supposed to watch the show, therefore Jesus was substituted last minute by the actor who was previously playing Judas. Great singer and the interesting thing was that the actor playing Judas was black.

I personally had no issue with that, I was actually disappointed that I could not watch Sebastian Bach playing the role, however I heard comments in the audience complaining that a black Yahusha was not a correct portrayal of the Messiah. Is it really the case, though?

Let’s first look at how the Messiah is portrayed in India, China and Japan:

I find this quite curious. In the western world, we have several versions of the Messiah and while lately he is getting a bit darker, it's not unusual to see Yahusha as almost Scandinavian.

When all cultures adapt his figure, it shouldn't surprise us to see a white Jesus, maybe because the scriptures don't really help us understand how he looked like.

For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. Isaiah 53:2

The one thing I find easy to assume is that the likelihood that Yahusha was white is just the same as he being Chinese. At least to me, it makes more sense that he was dark. The black Israelite groups claim he really looked like is something like this:

Or darker, who knows? The one thing we should keep in mind is that he will be back! Some people point out that if we have a blond Messiah in mind and a black dude shows up in front of us we might not recognize him. But let's find peace in the Word, for he will call his sheep and they will know his voice. There is no mention that we will need to recognize his looks.

2. But he that enters in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3.To him the porter opens; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calls his own sheep by name, and leads them out. 4. And when he puts forth his own sheep, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. 5. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers. (John 10:2-5)

If the Father did not describe his looks in detail, it feels to me that this was not important. According to John, when Yahusha comes back he will have ‘Hair white as wool, skin as bronze, fire in his eyes’. Maybe something like this:

4His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire;

15And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.

My personal conclusion is that while many different people claim his likeness, Yahusha's objective was not only to save, but also to unite all his sheep, both Israelite and Gentile, for he lives in them who believe in him. I am sure neither the Father, nor the Son would like to see us divided in discussions about his color.

Moreover, all humanity descended from Noah and his family. The scriptures are clear that at least Noah was white. In fact, he was so white that his father thought Noah was not his son, meaning Lamech was dark. We also know from the Scriptures that Solomon was black. David on the other hand was reddish. We could speculate that Abraham was dark and that Sarah was ‘fair’, meaning either pretty or light skinned. Isn't it beautiful to see how the Bible only superficially mentions physical features? What does that tell you?

If the Bible does not give us a solid conclusion on Yahusha’s skin color and other physical features, we should understand that our Father did not think this was important. And isn't He right?