Does the Bible say exactly what God looks like or what Heaven actually is?

Answer 1

A:

The appearance of Satan underwent many changes during the Middle Ages, with one influence being the theological desire to strike fear into the minds of simple folk, and an unconscious response being to ridicule him and thereby mitigate that fear. Thus we end up with a Satan that is neither really loathsome nor really a figure for fun. None of this comes from The Bible.

Jews believe that Satan is the loyal assistant to God, tasked to test the righteousness of the faithful, whereas Christians believe he is God's evil adversary. Either way, if Satan exists, he ought to be a spirit, and spirits have no physical appearance.

Answer 2

A:

Yes, in both cases, but what the Bible says depends on the author of the passage where God or heaven is mentioned.

The Yahwist, for example at Genesis 3:8, says God looked just like a human being, walking and talking as we do. When Adam ate the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, God said (Genesis 3:22) "now the man is become like one of us." Now the one difference between man and god is that the gods were immortal, so God drove Adam from the Garden of Eden and placed cherubim and a flaming sword to keep (block) the way to the Tree of Life, lest man eat of this tree and become immortal (Genesis3:24). Other authors said that you could not look at God, who became more and more remote from humanity in the later books of the Old Testament. The author of Acts once again tells us that Stephen looked up and saw God in heaven, although he is not clear as to just what God looks like.

Acts of the Apostles tells us that heaven is in the sky just above the earth. Stephen was privileged to be able to look into heaven and see Jesus standing on the right hand of God. The Book of Revelation also says that heaven is just up there, and that angels surround God, constantly singing to him.