Kingdom Onramp depicts the spiritual journey of faith, the process by which a believer draws closer to God. The road begins at bottom left with a gentle incline into heaven. The adjacent captions are “humility” and “help from above.” An ambulance blocks the upward path and stone statues rise from the emergency vehicle and stare blankly into the distance. A man clothed in a hazardous materials suit faces the viewer, standing upon the text, “clean up your act.” These scenes communicate various concepts associated with sin—infirmity, death, lifelessness, pollution, and impurity. Before we can gather upwards momentum for that steeper gradient into heaven, we must recognize the depths of our terminal sickness. To progress further upon the Kingdom Onramp, we must understand our need for God and our natural proclivity towards darkness.
The stone statues represent the unbelieving heart before spiritual regeneration: “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts” (Jn 12:40; “…they made their hearts like flint” (Zech 7:12); “I will put a new spirit in them, and take the stony heart out of their flesh.” Only by reaching out to God in humility are we empowered by His Spirit to overcome. He germinates spiritual life in the heart and removes the lifeless stone. Before receiving Christ, we were unconscious of God, spiritually dead: “…you He made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins” (Eph 2:1). After Love awakens the heart, we enter into communal relationship with Christ. We are re-created a new spiritual species in the universe: “…if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation” (2 Cor 5:17). This is what is meant by the caption, “change stone into life.” By connecting with God, we transcend from death into life. We pass beyond all obstacles, the ambulance of ill health and the contamination of a sinful world. We move further up the kingdom onramp.
Prayer establishes the communal relationship with Christ and fosters the spiritual momentum necessary to ascend the ramp. The woman at far left balances a man’s head on her fingertips in the sky. She “reaches out” to God in heaven. An electric cord plugs into the man’s head and connects to a telephone adjacent God. The captions read, “Find time to call home” and “What would Jesus download?” The comparisons of prayer to a telephone call or a computer download implies a bilateral exchange. Many people recite their prayers in a ritualistic routine. But a living faith perceives God’s response, how His Spirit moves and interacts within creation.
God appears in heaven, marking the days off His prophetic calendar. The adjacent captions read, “Global sponsor shaping the future” and “Is there a master plan for this?” God is in control of the past, present, and future. He reveals His purpose to believers: “Surely the Lord God does nothing, unless He reveals His secret to His servants” (Amos 3:7). He turns “stone into life” and propels us up the kingdom ramp.
The onramp inclines sharply after passing the man in the hazardous suit. This indicates awareness of sin and that a prayer life focused on God thrusts forward ascent. A flock of sheep follows a bicyclist around the bend and into the sky. In the background, a fiery phoenix rises from Ground Zero, the site of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The phoenix is that mythical bird said to have risen again from its own ashes. It symbolizes the resurrection motif, being born again out of the dust.
A gasoline nozzle hovers above the fiery bird, its hose originating from God. This represents God’s role in resurrection and spiritual regeneration. His Holy Spirit is akin to gasoline poured upon an open flame. The caption “top of your Love Tank” compares the combustible energy of fire poured on gasoline with Love. God is Love, and through His Spirit our small individual flames, our regenerated hearts, can become mighty infernos used in His service. Unlike the stone statues protruding from the ambulance, the stone sculpture adjacent the phoenix appears to be stirring awake, transforming from stone into flesh, being regenerated, “resurrected” from her ashes.
A bicyclist drives the flock of sheep up the hill with some difficulty. His bike is small, the slope steep. The caption reads, “The Kingdom has always been made to fit our bodies. Why hasn’t it been designed to fit our minds?” This refers to the mysteries of God being beyond the comprehension of the human mind: “no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God” (1 Cor 2:11). However, believers receive the Spirit of God through regeneration in the heart, by which, “the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21). We understand not based upon our own minds, but because, “…we have the mind of Christ” (1 Cor 2:16).
The onramp stretches into the heavens, behind the setting sun. A hand juts out from a building, holding a postcard that depicts a mountain and lake scene. The building displays a cartoonish quality, oblique lines that belie reality. This represents an out-of-this-world happiness, a spiritual kingdom in the sky. The progression up the ramp signifies transformation from the physical and material into the spiritual and ethereal. The two buildings contrast as belonging to different dimensions, and the stone woman adjacent the phoenix suggests a resurrection to life, a transmutation of an earthen creature into a spiritual entity.
The water in the lake and the fire of the phoenix signify God’s Holy Spirit. Water represents cleansing and renewing unto eternal life: “I shall give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts” (Rev 21:6); “I will pour water on him who is thirsty… I will pour my Spirit” (Isa 44:3); “with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation” (Isa 12:3).
Fire portrays judgment and purging of impurities. Believers are baptized “with the Holy Spirit and with fire” but unbelievers receive a fire that is “unquenchable and consuming” (Mat 3:11-12). At the judgment seat of Christ, “…each one’s work will become clear, for the Day will declare it; it will be revealed by fire… If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, yet so through fire” (1 Cor 3:14-15).
A series of miniature figurines proceeds from the lake of Living Waters. Each holds a magnifying glass to the eye and is progressively smaller than the previous. This exhorts the viewer to scrutinize what the photos in the artwork collectively represent. The captions at bottom read, “Reinterpret… Look behind the pretty pictures… See beneath the tip of the iceberg… Explore the full spectrum of a changing world.” Pictures of Osama Bin Laden, Adolf Hitler, and an SAS commando aiming a rifle at the viewer punctuate the captions. They sit against a black background, kitty-corner to God. They represent the antithesis to Love, the evil force of Satan in the universe that works to prevent man’s ascent up the kingdom onramp.
A man dives into the Holy Spirit’s Living Waters at upper right. Another figure arises from the picturesque landscape and stands behind a lectern to deliver a message. The text at upper right states, “Each day will bring us closer to the truth.” The onramp into the Kingdom of God ends in complete immersion, a total baptism in the Holy Spirit. We dive into the living waters and arise out of them commissioned with an active faith of service. We no longer live for self, but to share the Love of Christ with others: “…that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again” (2 Cor 5:15). You do not need to be a priest or minister of a church to share His Love. God transforms the believer’s life into a living testimony, an animated epistle written upon the heart by His Spirit (2 Cor 3:2-3).
God opens the door and provides the opportunities for the believer to glorify his name. The captions at upper right differentiate a life led for self with a life led in the Spirit: “I finally realized that the intensity of what I was doing… was taking a terrible toll on my own soul.” This stands in stark contrast to the adjacent text, “The real joy in life comes in serving people, pouring your life into other people.”
I pray that the Love of Christ inspires you to continue your ascent up the Kingdom Onramp. If you are not on this path, then the caption at the bottom middle is for you: “Have you decided to trust Jesus?” But if you have been touched by His Love; if you have been submerged in the Living Waters of His Holy Spirit, then you share my passion for communicating the Gospel message of hope to this dying world. May His Spirit continue to unfold within you and may the Lord reveal His purpose for your life.
Larry Word
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