This collage has several Biblical themes but one central motif—that God has called us out of the darkness of this world and has prepared for us a glorious heavenly city in the sky, a spiritual home that is constructed as a house made without hands: “For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens” (2 Cor 5:1).
The Star of David in the upper right corner has its center hollowed out, filled by a doorway labeled, “Home.” The caption superimposed over the Star reads, “The secret of the Jews.” This refers to the original promise of a spiritual home made to the great Patriarch Abraham (Gen 12:1). God committed the Promised Land of Canaan to Abraham and his descendents. But this also pictures a heavenly application. Like Abraham, believers are pilgrims and sojourners on the earth, looking ahead to the Promised Land, a spiritual city which God prepared for us in the sky (comp. Gen 12:1; Heb 11:12-16).
To obtain this Promised Land, God told Abraham to leave his Father’s house and his country. God told Abraham to forsake his whole life and wander to “a land that I will show you” (Gen 12:1). Similarly, believers must forsake the world and follow Christ to that spiritual country in the sky.
The iconography of the artwork reflects these themes. At left appears the Gate of Ishtar, which is the entrance to Ancient Babylon. At right is the Roman Coliseum. These two kingdoms, Ancient Babylon and Rome, share a connection, suggested by the pig-priests that stand adjacent to each. Pigs symbolize that which is “unclean.” In the Old Testament, God forbade all contact with pigs (Lev 11:7-8). In the New Testament, demons entered pigs when Christ ordered them out of the possessed man (Mk 5:8-13). Thus, the pig-priests symbolize something “unclean” about Babylon and Rome, a picture of demonic influence.
John Trumball’s Declaration of Independence juxtaposes with Ancient Babylon, intimating that America is like a modern Babylon. On top of the Declaration’s table sits the image from King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. King Nebuchadnezzar, ruler of Ancient Babylon, dreamt of successive worldly empires that would come before Christ’s millennial reign (Dan 2:36-45). To the door of Babylon, Martin Luther nails his famous protest addressed to the Catholic Church, further reinforcing the concept that Ancient Babylon, the Roman Empire, and America are an amalgamation of the same type of spiritual apostasy.
Taken in their entirety, these various kingdoms represent the whole world under satanic control. The magician who stretches forth his hand symbolizes the devil, that great deceiver: “…Satan, who deceives the whole world” (Rev 12:9). The magician reaches over the brick edifice, bewitching in a cloud of smoke. Like Satan, he casts a spell over the worldly kingdoms.
When believers forsake the world, we run to God and never look back. God instructed Lot’s family to flee the judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah and to “not look behind” (Gen 19:17). Lot’s wife did not heed this warning. She peeked back at Sodom and Gomorrah, which is a picture of the believer looking back upon the world he/she was supposed to forsake. God turned Lot’s wife into a pillar of salt, while the rest of the family escaped to safety in the mountains (Gen 19:26).
The artwork portrays this forsaking of the world. A family at center flees Babylon, escaping Satan’s worldly system with great urgency. They run toward the safety of the golden city in the distance, not looking back but keeping their eyes fixed upon the Savior, depicted at right. This brings to mind the scriptural metaphor of life being a race: “…let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith” (Heb 12:1).
Christ appears on a crucifix at right. The Father holds up His arms for support, while the serpent eats the base of the cross. This pictures the fulfillment of what God promised regarding our Beloved Savior. In Eden, God told the serpent that Messiah, “shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel” (Gen 3:15).
The serpent bruised Messiah’s heel in that Jesus suffered and died on the cross. But a heel wound is relatively minor compared to the “crushing of the head.” Jesus “crushed the serpent’s head” in that He rose from the dead. The resurrection of Christ destroyed the seat of Satan’s power, which was death itself. Through Christ, we have eternal life, victory over death and the grave (1 Cor 15:54).
Two angels flank Christ. They worship in due reverence, gazing upon the Savior on their knees. A hummingbird punctures the side of Christ and feeds. This parallels both the Roman soldier who pierced Christ’s side with a spear and the believer who eats the body and blood of Christ: “But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out” (Jn 19:34); “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me” (Jn 6:56-57).
The caption, “delivered” appears at the left of Christ, adjacent a ladder. The ladder connects the earth with heaven, that spiritual home in the sky. Through Christ, we are “delivered” and have access to the ladder. Conversely, the caption, “Lest We Forget” appears at the right of Christ, adjacent a woman with her back turned on the Messiah. She extends her arm behind her as if to reject the Savior’s offer of salvation. She stands upon the Roman Coliseum, the same structure from which the serpent’s head protrudes. This woman represents the person who prefers Satan’s worldly system to the Truth: “And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil” (Jn 3:19)
Two other women appear in the Babylonian Castle next to the magician. One of the women personifies outward beauty. She is half-naked, hanging upon a rope from the sky. This woman is flesh and bones, representing the carnal nature. She is firmly entrenched, captivated by the satanic-Babylonian system.
The other female figure personifies inner beauty. She is not flesh and bone, but rather, displays an etheric, spiritual quality. She leans over the edge, upon an arrow which points to the heavenly home in the sky. She appears to blow bubbles, but instead casts a link between heaven and earth, which a skateboarder happily glides. This refers to the Holy Spirit, the power of God often portrayed in the symbol of air: “He breathed on them and said to them ‘receive the Holy Spirit’” (Jn 20:22)
Fire is another symbol of the Holy Spirit. The seven-sticked Menorah kindles Elijah’s chariot in the sky. The Menorah appears behind the woman who represents inner beauty and our spiritual nature. The seven flames portray the perfect balance in seven chakras, the mystic spiritual energy pathways that pervade throughout the body. Just as the woman is associated with breath and fire—two symbols of the Holy Spirit—so too was it by fire and a whirlwind that Elijah was translated into heaven (2 Kings 2:11). The implication conveyed is that believers must receive the Spirit to fly, to transcend this material world and enter the spiritual home in the sky.
The left corner of the collage depicts the four creatures of Ezekiel chapter one. This pictures, “the likeness of the glory of the Lord” (Ezek 1:28). Only those whose spiritual eyes have been opened shall behold His glory. Only those who enter that spiritual home in the sky shall commune with face-to-face with Christ. As the text in the left corner states, when the glory of Christ is revealed, “Some instinctively cover their face. Some look up with calm assurance.”
There are many uniquely Jewish elements in the collage. I sought to portray the importance of Judaism being the forerunner to Christianity. The Menorah and Star of David are distinct Jewish emblems. Also, the twelve apostles sitting upon twelve thrones at the top of the Star of David is a reference to Christ’s promise that they, “…shall sit upon thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Mat 19:28).
The church did not supplant Israel, as so many falsely believe. However, faith in Christ individually baptizes Jews and Gentiles into one collective body. The glory of Israel shall return during Christ’s millennial reign, and the “Secret of the Jews” is that the Promised Land represents not only the land of Canaan on earth but also has a prophetic, heavenly application. At the end of Christ’s millennial reign, God will re-create a new heaven and earth, opening that spiritual city in the sky in its fullness.
Larry Word
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