Was Jesus Black?

“The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, and coming out of his mouth was a sharp, double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance (Revelation 1:14-16).” Was Jesus Christ black? Sometimes in an effort to counter the predominant portrayal of Jesus as white or European in His ethnicity, which is inaccurate, blacks will create Jesus in “our image” in order to make Him more palatable. The problem is that we end up focusing on things that take us away from God’s true intent with the Lord and scripture. We will take the historical fact of Jesus being taken to Egypt as a boy and automatically assume that God wouldn’t have sent Jesus and His parents to Egypt unless they looked Egyptian. While that is understandable, they miss the fact that God told Joseph to take his family to Egypt to escape Herod’s attempt to kill Jesus and to fulfill prophecy not as some proof that Jesus could pass for an Egyptian. Another thing that is done is how blacks will see similarities between the Jews enslavement in Egypt and Africans being enslaved in the United States and the Americas and start to claim the blessings and promises God made to the Jews for themselves as if God has made a covenant with African-Americans. However, the biggest violation of scripture occurs with the passage from Revelation 1. 

People will read John’s description of Jesus and assume He is describing a black man. They see His hair described as being “like wool” and equate it to the curly hair of blacks. They will see His feet described as being “like bronze” and equate the “brownish” color of bronze to mean that this is describing the color of Jesus’ skin. But, what are we to do with the rest of the description of Jesus; hair as white as snow, eyes like blazing fire, and a voice like the sound of rushing water? Are these descriptions of blacks? And what about Jesus holding seven stars in His right hand and having a double-edged sword coming out of His mouth? What does this have to do with being a black man? Not to mention that the size of His hand and mouth must be huge to hold seven stars and a sword! Finally, John says the face of Jesus was brilliant like a shining sun. Well, the last time I checked the sun was yellow and when looking into it the light is almost white because it is so bright. To say this is a description of the ethnicity of Jesus is evidence of just how far people will go to prove their error instead of admitting that they are just plain wrong in their assumptions. This is a description of Jesus in heavenly form, not His appearance on earth. For the record, the use of wool to describe Jesus’ hair is to symbolize His purity and holiness. Describing His feet as being like bronze is to symbolize His strength and majesty. In the attempt to make Jesus a black man, we end misrepresenting scripture and totally missing the point of scripture and Jesus Christ. If you must put an ethnicity on Jesus, the Bible clearly tells us that He was a Jew. What color is a Jew? Regardless, Jesus did not come to establish one racial identity over another. “For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost (Matthew 18:11).” Jesus came to save people from eternal separation from God in hell by offering them forgiveness and life through faith in His death, burial and resurrection. That is something offered to all mankind regardless of their skin color. A friend of mine once asked me, “Will God hold it against me because I didn’t accept Jesus because I thought He was white?” I answered, “Yes, He will.” Jesus already asked the ultimate question, “But, who do you say I am (Matthew 16:15)?” Peter correctly answered with, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God (Matthew 16:16).” Jesus does not care what race you think He belongs to, He only cares about who you say He is! My prayer is that you respond as Peter did because when you do all this focus on race becomes meaningless in comparison to knowing your God!