Dead Christ on Train Tracks pictures salvation, regeneration, and the supernatural power of God to re-create a new spiritual identity in the heart of man. For those who have not experienced His resurrection power, the message may seem obscure. But for those in whom Love is awakened, these motifs are a part of daily living. The artwork whispers the Gospel into the collective unconscious, communicating with pictures what cannot be rationally understood with words; speaking to the heart what the natural mind cannot possibly comprehend. I present my personal interpretation herein.
Salvation comes through faith alone in Christ alone, apart from any individual merit: “For by grace are you saved through faith” (Eph 2:8). How does one obtain faith? Through the ears: “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God” (Rom 10:7). This is portrayed by the jumper cables that extend from Tron-man’s ears. They attach to the dead Christ on the train tracks, igniting sparks. Just as we receive salvation by hearing the Gospel and trusting that Christ died for our sins and rose form the grave, so too are the jumper cables connected from Tron-man’s ears to the dead Christ. The sparks of faith ignite upon the tracks, symbolizing the power of spiritual resurrection in the heart.
A supernatural metamorphosis on par with nuclear fusion occurs at salvation. God re-creates believers a new spiritual species in the universe (2 Cor 5:17). We become one with Christ, infused with His spiritual DNA. We come to identify with the Savior in both life and death. We die to self and sin, while Christ lives His life through our hearts: “For you died and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Col 3:3); “…to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith: (Eph 3:16-17).
This “inner man” or “new man” spoken of in scripture refers to this new spiritual embryo that God re-creates at the moment of salvation: “…that you put off… the old man which grows corrupt… put on the new man which was created according to God” (Eph 4:21-24). This “new” man is not Christ Himself, but our own unique spiritual identities in Christ, the eternal life we already possess and by which we have fellowship with God: “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God” (Rom 8:16).
I tried to capture these themes in the artwork. The dead Christ’s spiritual DNA ascends into Tron-man’s heart and pulsates through his body. Enveloped in the spiral DNA helixes is another Christ, depicted at center and eclipsed behind white light. He outstretches His arms but the crucifix is conspicuously absent. Butterflies spiral adjacent Tron-man’s arms, representing metamorphosis and transmutation of death back into life.
It is not without significance that the dead Christ appears on the train tracks. There is an implied sense of urgency, an impending sense of doom. Just as we do not know when the train will come, we do not know when the invitation to accept Christ into our hearts will be withdrawn. We do not know when our lives will expire. Therefore, scripture declares that, “today is the day of salvation” (2 Cor 6:2), for tomorrow is not promised. The stone edifice over the tracks in the background represents a decision to walk through that narrow gate before it is too late.
The Energizer Bunny is a pop culture icon that represents inexhaustible energy, or applied more broadly, eternal life. Underneath the dead Christ, the caption reads, “Operation New You,” another reference to the “new man” re-created at salvation. The jumper cables, the dead Christ, the spiritual DNA, and the resurrected Christ in Tron-man’s heart form a complete circuit.
I sought to convey vicarious substitution as a supernatural, instantaneous event. The believer takes the place of Christ, becoming that corpse on the train tracks. We die to self and sin. In turn, Christ takes His place resurrected in our hearts, living His life vicariously through ours. The two—believer and Christ—become married as one. We take on His life and He swallows up our death. Tron-man’s hand touches the forehead of the dead Christ in a mystic symbol associated with the Savior, further suggesting the Lord is already alive and present within.
Two hands protrude from the ground. The palms read, “help me.” The wrists are chained, connected to the jumper cables. This represents bondage to sin, mortality, and death before salvation. But just as faith brings about the spiritual resurrection in the heart and the re-creation, so too does it liberate believers from this bondage: “And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins” (Eph 2:1); “But God… even when we were dead in trespasses made us alive together with Christ” (Eph 2:4-5). Faith ignites sparks upon the train tracks, breaking the chains that enslaved us to sin and death.
The themes of electricity, energy, and life represent the supernatural power of God. Two Greek words translate as “power” in the New Testament. The word “exousia” refers to delegated power or authority. However, the Greek word “dunamis” refers to inherent supernatural power and the ability to self-replicate or self-generate. From dunamis, we derive the words dynamite, dynamo, and dynamic. It is an explosive kind of energy, an infinite force of divine origin. Dunamis also translates as “miracle” (1 Cor 12:10; Gal 3:5) and “mighty work” (Mat 13:54; Mat 11:21). It is the power that raised Christ from the dead (Phil 3:10) and is the same power which works in believers: “…according to the power (dunamis) that works in us” (Eph 3:20); “…to be strengthened with might (dunamis) by His Spirit in the inner man” (Eph 3:16).
Three monks walk up a ladder, juxtaposed with an erotic woman at right. The monks increase in size as they ascend into heaven. They represent spiritual growth, that “new man,” raised to life in Christ. The woman represents the carnal nature, that former identity we must forsake. Just as the monks “walk” up the ladder into heaven, that spiritual life of faith is oft referred to as a walk: “If we live in the Spirit, let us walk in the Spirit” (Gal 5:25); “…just as Christ was raised from the dead… even we also should walk in the newness of life” (Rom 6:4). The monks each carry an umbrella, a symbol of divine protection. Their increase in size pictures the exhortation to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Pet 3:18).
The erotic woman appears under the ladder, looking away from Christ. Her body faces Messiah but her eyes and heart are far away. This reminds us that it is impossible for the flesh to please or worship God. The caption underneath her reads, “Let Go,” referring to the past and what is behind, and to embrace “True Religion,” which involves a personal relationship with Christ, a life of walking in the Spirit. The impotence of this woman to properly serve and worship Christ stands in stark contrast to the believer on the left of the tracks. The woman is distracted, her attention behind her, while the believer on the left lies prostrate, praying to the Lord on his hands and knees.
The woman burning incense in the bottom left corner presents another picture of prayer. Scripture describes our prayers performed in the Spirit as a sweet-smelling aroma, an odor that delights the Lord: “Let my prayers be set before You as incense” (Ps 141:2); “… and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.” The incense ascends from the golden bowl and, as the woman prays, her spirit communes face-to-face with Christ. A gem permeates Love through her heart and the text above her spiritual self reads, “your body is a temple.” This further reinforces the idea that the spiritual life is not governed by a religion of rules and ordinances but by a personal relationship revealed in the mind and heart through faith.
The “Good News for Crackpots” is that God has chosen the peons of this world to overcome the strong, so that He alone receives the glory: “…not many wise… not many mighty, not many noble are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty” (1 Cor 1:26-27). The tiny cartoon creature pictures a “crackpot” running toward the “Good News.”
God calls all of us to come to Him just as we are, as “crackpots,” with all our flaws and imperfections. Through His Spirit, the soul is refined and we grow to identify with that new life in us. The psychedelic car that descends from the sky in the corner is a metaphor for Christ. God has already provided the vehicle in sending His Son. We need but get inside, trusting God enough to “Let Go” of our own lives and become that passenger in the vehicle. As the text at the top reads, we will be “empowered” by the dunamis, transformed by His omnipotent life-force to overcome all things.
Larry Word
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