Pop Messiah portrays the barrier of sin, the separation between man and God, and the solution in Christ. The artwork depicts the relationship between the historical Christ and the mystic Christ, between the birth of our Lord and the birth of faith in the individual believer’s heart. Christ works through spiritually mature believers on earth willing to deny self and submit their bodies to His service: “…present your bodies a living sacrifice… which is your reasonable service” (Rom 12:1). These advanced believers have passed the threshold of mere salvation and entered into the realm of “Pop Messiah,” vessels through which His Holy Spirit operates.
The artwork depicts heaven as a crystalline canopy, a lake of Living Waters. A pillar reef supports the liquid ceiling and divides heaven from earth. This represents the barrier of sin and man’s separation from God. An aspiring believer climbs the stone edifice, his pickax about to splash through the ethereal waters. He stands upon a caption that reads, “who you really are,” a reference to His position in Christ.
Three magi gaze at a trail of stars behind an airplane. The stars symbolize individual believers coming to the faith: “Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament…like the stars forever and ever” (Dan12:3); “Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father” (Mat 13:43). Fish, which are another symbol for Christ, swim in the heavenly waters, perfectly placed above the vertical barrier. I sought to draw an association between the birth of Christ in the believer’s heart, symbolized by the magi and the stars, and ascension over the barrier of sin.
The caption “who you really are,” on the left side of the reef, is followed by the text “time to find out,” on the right side. God the Father reaches out from heaven to touch Adam, who is immersed in the vertical reef. Adam blends into the stone edifice, as if part of his body was entrenched into the rock. This symbolizes man’s captivity to sin. Adam extends his had back toward God and falls desperately short.
But then something miraculous happens. The Day Star, Jesus Christ, illuminates the gap between man and God. The Star connects Adam’s fingers on this side of the earth with God’s fingers on the other side of heaven, a picture of reconciliation. Five happy faces encircle the Day Star, the number corresponding with divine grace. The multiple stars on the left side of the banner, representing individual believers, are but a reflection of the one true Day Star, at right.
A dove plunges from the Day Star in heaven, a symbol of the Holy Spirit. The bird descends to Christ on earth at center, leaving a trail of Living Waters in its wake. It hovers above Christ, who stares at the viewer with outstretched arms, as if inviting one to accept His embrace. The dove flutters above the Lord, signifying that acceptance of Christ also includes receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit: “…Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38).
Water is another symbol of the Holy Spirit. Christ said, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink” (Jn. 7:37). He told the Samaritan woman, “…whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a foundation of water springing up into everlasting life” (Jn. 4:14). Similarly, God miraculously produced water from the rock in the wilderness (Ex. 17:6), and water shall proceed from the temple sanctuary during the millennium, healing everything in its path (Ezek 47:1-2; 47:7-9). Christ makes certain to declare that these Living Waters are not your standard H2O but represent the Holy Spirit: “But this He spoke concerning His Spirit whom those believing in Him would receive” (Jn 7:39).
Thus, Christ is juxtaposed with the individual believer in the cup, the dove with the outpouring of Living Waters from heaven. In accepting Christ into the heart, one receives a star in heaven, an entry in the book of life, and a cup full of Living Waters of eternal life. God opens the floodgates of heaven and fills the believer with His Spirit. The body is likened to a cup, a vessel, a container for spiritual water, and a temple for the Living God’s presence: “…the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy” (Rom 9:23); “…if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master” (2 Tim 2:21); “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you” (1 Cor 3:16).
Every believer receives the Spirit at salvation, but this is only the beginning of blessing. For those who grow in faith and humility, God enlarges their capacity for even more grace: “But He gives more grace… to the humble” (Jam 4:6). These believers are not just filled but overflow with Living Waters: “You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over” (Ps 23:5). The super-grace believer becomes a “Pop Messiah,” a tool through which the resurrected Christ operates. Such a believer’s actions spring forth not from willpower but self-resignation. They wait, pray, and trust in God, walking in the good works performed by Christ before the creation of the universe: “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Eph 2:10).
The Pop Messiah represents the advanced life of faith. He wears a wreath and flower cross around his neck. Emanating from the depths of his soul, a pair of coiled wires intertwine around a staff, traveling in helixes through the body’s chakras (spiritual centers) and into his heart. This pictures the raising of Kundalini energy from the base of the spine and the opening of the Christ-heart to Love. The two wires represent the masculine and feminine energies in harmony, the perfect balance of active and passive principles in yin and yang. The man and woman at the base of the cup touch one another, symbolizing this union of polarities. The raising of Kundalini energy opens the flower in the heart of the Pop Messiah.
The winged staff of Hermes, also known as the caduceus, protrudes from the top of the cup. This pictures the heart leaving the believers body and flying up to heaven. The raising of the Kundalini represents a cup not only filled with the Holy Spirit but a vessel brimming and overflowing with these Living Waters. The winged heart spills into the atmosphere. As Christ increases in the believer’s life, the self decreases. Similar to the wires ascending the Pop Messiah’s spine, the caduceus of Hermes was entwined with snakes. It bestowed prosperity and wealth, turning anything it touched into gold. The caduceus has its allegorical parallel in the life of a super-grace believer. Christ testified that, “… he who believes in Me, the works I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do” (Jn 14:12). An adjacent angel blows a trumpet of “divine confirmation,” celebrating the anointing of the Pop Messiah.
Christ restores the paradise of the Garden of Eden. The text, “paradise found” appears adjacent the palm trees on the vertical reef. Eve peeks around the reef, depicted on the side representing sin and separation from God. She bashfully covers her nakedness. Conversely, Adam appears completely naked on the side of the reef symbolizing reconciliation, Christ, and the Pop Messiah. He reaches out to God who, through Christ, extracts him from the Great Barrier Reef.
The before-and-after scene of reconciliation may also be examined with the surfer. On the left side of the reef, he stands by dry on the shoreline, holding his surfboard. After reconciliation on the right, he glides across the waves of heaven, immersed in Living Waters. Also, on the left of the reef hearts sprout from the earth, while on the right, a heart sprouts wings and flies out of the cup, a picture of the Pop Messiah surrendering his entire being over to God.
The captions illustrate the story of the Pop Messiah. “Who you really are” is associated with stars, the birth of faith, and the pickax crashing through the crystalline canopy. “Time to find out” refers to enlightenment, reconciliation, and the outpouring of Living Waters from heaven. “Start to understand” appears at the bottom left, and “It’s Personal” is pasted under Christ inviting with outstretched arms.
God desires us to grow beyond mere human capacity. He seeks partners through which to glorify His name. With outstretched arms, He invites people to come to Him exactly as they are. Sadly, most believers will never attain the dynamic life of enlarged grace-capacity. They will greedily withhold their hearts, trusting Christ for salvation and nothing more. The Pop Messiah personifies something different. These believers have mastered the passive principle, the application of dynamic faith. They walk in the works God prepared before creation (Eph 2:10). Everything they touch inexplicably and uncannily turn to gold. God works through these believers as operational agents on earth. They positively affect their communities, countries, and those in which they come into contact. May His Love and Grace touch you and move you into deeper levels faith.
Larry Word
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