What Did They Really Look Like?

Have you ever wondered what they looked like? The old soldiers of the faith that lived before photography was invented?

Many hundreds of years ago they used something called the Death Mask to permanently record the likeness of someone recently deceased. A little morbid perhaps, because it records a likeness at the time of death instead of at the prime of life, but it still gives a spot-on impression of what folks looked like just before they died (or more specifically, just after). And I think age shows character. You just need one look at John Wesley's crooked mouth to know he had plenty of character.

After 8:00 p.m. on February 17, 1546, Martin Luther was striken with chest pains. He went to his bed and prayed, "Into your hand I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God" (Ps. 31:5), the common prayer of the dying. At 1:00 a.m. he awoke with more chest pain and was warmed with hot towels. Knowing that death was imminent, he thanked God for revealing His Son to him in Whom he had believed. His companions, Justus Jonas and Michael Coelius, shouted loudly, "Reverend father, are you ready to die trusting in your Lord Jesus Christ and to confess the doctrine which you have taught in His name?" A distinct "Yes" was Luther's reply. He died at 2:45 a.m., February 18, 1546, aged 62, in Eisleben, the city of his birth. Luther was buried in the Castle Church in Wittenberg, beneath the pulpit. And this is what he looked like.

[Source: Wikipedia]

John Wesley died peacefully on Wednesday March 2, 1791, in his eighty-eighth year. As he lay dying, his friends gathered around him, Wesley grasped their hands and said repeatedly, "Farewell, farewell." At the end, summoning all his remaining strength, he cried out, "The best of all is, God is with us," lifted his arms and raised his feeble voice again, repeating the words, "The best of all is, God is with us." And this is what he looked like.

[Source: Wesley Center for Applied Theology]

And that's what they looked like when they were old, used up, and worn out after years of giving themselves to the Gospel. But that's not what they'll look like at the resurrection.

Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed...
I Corinthians 15:51