This year’s Holy Week Trilogy is a series of three visions of the crucifixion, each primarily illumined by one of three different ‘light sources.’ Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Each day’s particular illumination draws out certain aspects of the same, infinitely meaning-filled event—the Crucifixion of the Risen Lord. In the final picture we see the crucified …
Colossians 1:15, ‘He is the image of the invisible God, the Firstborn of all creation, for by Him, all things were created…’ This is the artwork from the first two pages of a planned board-book based on Colossians 1:15-20. I’ve recited these verses over our son almost every night of his life as a way …
Matthew 28:9, 10, ‘Jesus met them and said, ‘Greetings!…Do not be afraid…’ These are the first words the Risen Christ speaks in Matthew’s Gospel (and they are also the words depicted in Greek in today’s image). Significantly, the word translated ‘Greetings’ is actually the imperative form of the word for ‘Rejoice.’ It become an idiom …
Hebrews 9:14, ‘Christ…through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God…’ This text is primarily about the superiority of Jesus’ death in relation to the sacrifices of the Old Covenant). However, what I’m focusing on in today’s visual exegesis is the absolutely reality-re-shaping implication that is tucked away inside the author’s main argument: Namely, …
Hebrews 7:25, ‘…He is able to save to the uttermost the ones drawing near to God through Him, since He always lives to intercede on their behalf.’ The author of Hebrews uses two related words here. The word translated ‘to the uttermost’ is παντελής which combines ‘pan’ (for all) and ‘telos’ (as …
Heb.13:8, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. How crucial is the grace of faith that looks into the past and sees who God has declared Himself to be in the Passion of His Son, and that turns toward the impenetrable veil of the future and believes He will always be as He …
Today’s picture is a bit different than normal because it’s a collaboration that I did with a friend. Sean Eha is an excellent weaver of words and he writes poetry over at https://rebornbyfire.blogspot.com/ A few weeks ago Sean and I were talking about working on a poetry/art collab and we decided to base our …
Matthew 16:25, “For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” I’ve written a lot on this verse and on passages like it, but it is a truth that I easily forget and so need to be continually reminded of. Living to preserve, …
Rev. 1:17-18, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one, and I died, and behold, I am alive unto the ages of the ages, and I have the key of Death and of Hades.” What is John not to fear? The immediate context suggests fear of obliteration before the …
1 John 4:14-15, “And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him and he in God.” John is here saying the same thing in two complimentary ways. To confess Jesus …
Psalm 104:24, “O YHWH, how manifold are your works, in wisdom you have made them all…” 1 Corinthians 1:23-24, “Christ crucified…[is] the wisdom of God.” The wisdom of God IS Christ crucified. Archetypical wisdom is not merely God the Son abstracted from the man Jesus Christ, rather it is God the Son proclaimed as …
John 1:14, “The Word became flesh” At the center of the Christian faith is the doctrine of the incarnation, which confesses that the Second Person of the Trinity has taken human nature to Himself, binding humanity to divinity “inconfusedly, unchangeably, indivisibly and inseparably” in perfect union to the Person of God the Son. One …
Revelation 1:17-18,”When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as though dead. But He laid His right hand on me, saying: ‘FEAR NOT, I am the First and the Last, and the Living One. I died, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.’” Whatever our …
Proverbs 1:7, “The fear of YHWH is the beginning of knowledge.” Our mind truly knows, only if our heart truly fears…And apart from a heart that has been pierced with this blood-bought fear of YHWH, human knowledge of the universe is like an F22 sealed in a cave….impressive, but pointless.
Colossians 2:15, “He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in Him.” Christian, our enemy has no lasting weapon to use against us any more. The record of our debt is cancelled and the weapons of condemnation were stripped from demonic hands when they sank into …
Zephaniah 3:14-15 “Rejoice…YHWH has taken away the judgments against you…The King of Israel, YHWH, is in your midst; you shall never again fear evil.” The Greek word in this image is the word translated “Rejoice!” in Zephaniah 3. It’s significant because this same word–as well as “king of Israel/Jews” –is used both in Zephaniah and …
John 15:7 “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you…” Intimate, abiding relationship with Christ is word based.
Hebrews 4:12,”…the word of God is living and active…” A scalpel wielded by the heart-surgeon of the Spirit
