Mat Askham, 51, says the image looks like Jesus (Picture: Kennedy News and Media)

As the most famous carpenter of all time, Jesus must have known a thing or two about kitchen cupboards.

They say the Lord works in mysterious ways, but what other possible explanation can there be for his likeness appearing in a furniture workshop in Exeter, Devon?

Mat Askham was putting an oil-based finish on the inside of a cupboard when he spotted a Christ-like face staring back at him from the knots in the wood.

The 51-year-old is now considering shutting up shop and turn the workshop into a place of pilgrimage. 

‘I am making a kitchen for someone and it was only when I applied an oil finish on it, to lift the detail in the grain up, that it mysteriously appeared in front of me, he said.

‘I thought, “oh my god look at that, there’s a face staring at me”. It looked at me, I looked at it and I had to take a photograph of it straight away because it was just so funny.

‘It is really quite bonkers. You can see two eyes, a nose, a bit of a moustache and a goatee. The ears are hidden by the hair down the side.

‘It’s creepy that my very Christian friend came to see me, we chatted for half an hour chewing the fat over the last 20 years.

‘Then five minutes later I saw the face of Jesus in a kitchen unit. These things do not happen every day.’

A friend of his suggested he ‘sets up a shrine and start charging people to come in’.

The furniture maker has been urged to shut up shop and turn his workshop into a place of pilgrimage (Picture: Kennedy News and Media)

Some people have said it bares more of a resemblance to William Shakespeare, Chewbacca and even Bigfoot (Picture: Kennedy News and Media)

Mat’s partner Nicola also messaged him, joking that he had ‘discovered Jesus’.

He said: ‘It is ludicrous really, but it is incredibly funny. People can’t stop laughing at it.’

The dad-of-three shared a picture of the piece of wood on social media, and to his surprise, it gathered more than 1,300 likes, shares and comments.

Many people agree on the likeness, while others suggest the face bares more of a resemblance to William Shakespeare, Chewbacca and even Bigfoot.

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Mat said: ‘A lot of people have commented on it, you can interpret it in a lot of ways.

‘I immediately thought it was a cross between Jesus and a hound dog. The face is now in a double-door shaker cupboard.

‘Every time the customer opens this door this face is going to be staring at them. They don’t know anything about it yet.’

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He is considering turning the workshop into a place of pilgrimage.