Resurrection Day
Resurrection Day (Easter 2023), a 2-year journey with the Holy Spirit
I was invited to do a live painting at my church on Easter 2023–it would be my first ever public performance. Although I had faith and confidence that I could do this with the help of the Lord, it made me very nervous that I did not have a vision or a subject until the day before the date of the service. While waiting to hear from God, His Spirit flooded my home studio, and we created an image that resembled a fry pan from the Old Testament, which led me to explore its history through extended study. My understanding was enlightened by a profound message from the Holy Spirit pertaining to the topic of sacrifice, which I'm still unraveling to date. Parts of my sacred drawings influence the making (textured paper and chalk pastel) and the central placement of the Sun in my final composition. In my vision, I was given a cropped view of the top portion of two rocks, and I colored them exactly as I saw them. The stones represented the opening of the Garden Tomb, where Jesus was buried in Jerusalem, with the sealed rock rolled away. I also saw a winding, red-clay road leading upward to, I assumed, Galilee. I am persuaded to believe that this viewpoint could very well be influenced by my momentary ability to see through the lens of Heaven’s perspective. These were the only three elements I fearfully created on the morning of Easter 2023 in my church’s auditorium. Of course, I had no idea the journey this assignment would take me on, but it enhanced my spiritual development in the areas of spiritual warfare, trusting the Holy Spirit, and knowing the power of Jesus’ sacrifice that sets us all free. Glory be to God!
After the service, a pastor walked up to explore the pastel drawing closely and said, “Yeah, I can see the cracks from the earthquakes.” Then one of the band members observed the clouds and mentioned how much he “loved the blended colors in the skies.” Their comments sank deep within me, and so these were the areas I accentuated on after taking the image home. When I drew the cracks in the rocks, I noted that the composition then looked like Jesus's face and His back as he hung mauled on the rugged cross. [Sidebar: My photo reference was a random picture I found of a ruptured California highway following an earthquake.] After I added paint strokes of water, the smoothing effect made the rocks look like His outstretched arms, and the opening of the tomb rocks then morphed into eyes with a frowning forehead.
As I painted the sun orange, I added gray clouds in the background sky, and daringly, rubbed a layer of wet charcoal on top near the edge of its circumference. I saw the relationship of the sun and the tomb opening as unto the burning incense offering separated from the fry pan.
In the next phase, I had another vision and saw red rocks along the top of the wall. I drew and colored them exactly as I saw them. They create a mysterious narrative in my mind. I also realized the winding road was not leading to Galilee and needed to be altered to curve toward the Sun. Finally, the lion appeared to me in the Sun. It was a gray cloud that curled outside the edge of the Sun, where I saw its eye. In the Bible, God in human form is named “the lion of the tribe of Judah” (Genesis 49:8-12) and represents the human or natural lineage of Jesus Christ (Matthew 1). After erasing my loosely sketched town of Galilee, the red winding road was curved in the opposite direction to point into the mouth of the Lion, and from its roaring jaws I painted a flowing River of water and fire. At this stage, I began to question the directional flow of the river and my illustration of a mix of water and fire along a blood-paved winding road. Approximately two years later, I read about the river of fire in Daniel 7:10. According to my Google search, the river of fire in the Bible is a vision of divine judgment where a “fiery stream flows from the throne of God before the final judgment.
A river of fire was flowing, coming out from before him. Thousands upon thousands attended him; ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. The court was seated, and the books were opened. (Daniel 7:10, NIV)
Are you ready? Do you need to pray the prayer of repentance? Jesus is coming back soon. I encourage you not to get hung up on when (because that’s just playing games with your life), but focus on the fact that with certainty: He will come, His Word is true (the absolute Truth), and He will judge us to announce our eternal life.
