1. It is a violation of the express command of God. "Thou shalt not make thee any graven image, or any likeness that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters beneath the earth: thou shalt not bow down and serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me" (Deuteronomy 5:8-9). It is clear that those who create a likeness of the Lord (statues, pictures, actors, etc.) and reverence, show respect, or use them in worship, the Lord says of them that they "hate me." The evidence of hating Him is in doing that which He so distinctly forbids. Someone may say, "But I only use a picture of Jesus to teach the children or to remind me to believe Him." To these we reply, you have done what Paul said in Romans 1:23, "Changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image make like to corruptible man." The prophet inquired, "To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him?" (Isaiah 40:18). When Paul preached at Athens he declared, "...We ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device" (Acts 17:29).
2. As to any likeness of the Lord Jesus, the infinitely wise God left us without any description of His physical appearance. When inspiring men to write the Scriptures, lest man fall into the sinful practice of image making, the Spirit said nothing about his height, weight, physical stature or appearance. Since God left no account of those characteristics of Christ, any painting, drawing or representation of Him is speculation based purely upon the vain imagination of man. All depictions of the Lord Jesus are, therefore, nothing more than idols, images concocted in the minds of idolatrous men. Peter, James, John, and the other apostles knew very well what their Master looked like, but they did not convey that description in their inspired writings. Believers do not need nor want any visible representation of our Savior, for we see Him by faith in His Word as our Lord and Savior, "the only Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus"(1 Timothy 2:5).
3. How could any picture or actor accurately reflect the glorious person of the Son of God? Could a painting really set forth the indescribably beauty of Christ? How could anyone ever begin to capture His true glory? Such a thing would be impossible, and to make the effort would be a mockery of Christ and a defiance of the Word of God.
Rather than visual imagery, we rely upon the Scriptures to set forth the beauties of the Son of God. "Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory" (1 Peter 1:8). Seeing a so-called picture of Jesus, or viewing some sinful man who has the audacity to portray the Son of God, such things will save no one, only lead the viewer to idolatry. However, seeing Him by faith in the Scriptures, that One Who died that God might be just and Justifier, the all-sufficient Savior and Redeemer, that is the sight of Him that results in the salvation of the soul.