Jesus Coming on a Cloud

He left on a cloud and He will return on a cloud.  This is the message of Jesus Coming on a Cloud.  When Christ returns for believers, we will be “caught up” into the air, raptured into the sky to meet the Lord in that cloud.  From then on, we shall forever be with the Lord.  This is the blessed hope and internal longing of all believers, a yearning in our hearts to behold His glorious appearance in the sky: “looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ” (Tit. 2:13).  The artwork draws its inspiration around these themes, which are herein explained.

     “Tell Them I’m Coming” is the caption that appears in the left corner.  Christ’s last words to His disciples before He ascended from the Mount of Olives some forty days after His resurrection included that they would be endued with power and that they would be His witnesses to the ends of the earth (Luke 24:29; Acts 1:8).  Ten days later, on Pentecost, the disciples were empowered with the Holy Spirit.  Thereafter, they testified of Messiah to the ends of the earth, sparking a worldwide movement that would become modern-day Christianity. 

     “Tell Them I’m Coming” refers to the duty of every believer to share the blessed hope of the Lord’s return.  We are commissioned by Christ to share the Gospel message with others (Mat. 28:19-20) and testify of His resurrection power in our hearts.  Christ’s promised return for us is the pinnacle of all hope and the impetus by which we persevere another day in an evil world: “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also” (Jn. 14:3).  Believers are obligated to publicize Love’s invitation and reflect the light of His inner glory.  We serve as conduits for His Spirit, agents of His sovereign will; ambassadors for heaven on earth.  Jesus is coming.  Are you ready?

     Christ is depicted as returning to earth on a cloud at top center.  That His return is associated with a cloud is supported by several scriptures.  At His ascension, he levitated into the sky and vanished into a cloud: “He was taken up and a cloud received Him out of their sight” (Acts 1:9).  Two angels told the astounded disciples that He would return in the like manner: “This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in the like manner as you saw Him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11). 

     Other scriptures are even more explicit: “Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory” (Luke 21:27); “Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and on the cloud sat One like the Son of Man” (Rev 14:14); “…And behold, One like the Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven” (Dan 7:13-14).  Hence, He left on a cloud and He shall also return on a cloud, as stated in our opening thesis.

     The coming of the Lord is a worldwide event that will affect everyone.  Believers shall be raptured into the sky, called up into the clouds to meet the Lord in the air: “Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.  And then we shall always be with the Lord” (1 Thes. 4:17).

     The woman sitting at center portrays the rapture.  Behind her, a rainbow transporter beam connects her with Christ’s cloud above, transmuting her flesh into spirit.  The rainbow symbolizes God’s first covenant: “I shall set my rainbow in the cloud… the sign of the covenant between me and the earth (Gen 9:13).  Interpreted more broadly, the rainbow represents the surety of God’s promises.  He shall return for believers on earth and rapture us away to heaven, the fulfillment of our hope, which is to behold His glorious appearance (Tit. 2:13).

     The caption “Discover the Colors” appears adjacent the rainbow transporter beam, an inference to discover the promises, or covenants, of God.  From the woman’s heart proceed two interlaced helixes that spiral up to Christ in heaven.  This further pictures the rapture.  Christ beams the woman up to His cloud.  Her radiant body “SHINES,” appearing to transform, dissolve, and evaporate.  The bottom left corner depicts another raptured believer.  Her arms are raised for joy as she greets the coming Savior in the cloud.  A rocket propels from her body into the stratosphere, representing Christ snatching the believer away to that spiritual palace in the sky.

     That the coming of Christ is a worldwide instantaneous event is pictured by the two cities on the horizon.  One city reflects the noonday sun, while the other city sits in darkness, illuminated from the inside out.  This illustrates two different time zones.  Regardless of whether one lives in Los Angeles, Jerusalem, or Tokyo; regardless of whether it is 12 o’clock noon or midnight, scripture declares that Christ’s return will be a conspicuous event noticed by every man, woman, and child at the same time: “Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him” (Rev 1:7).

     Living believers will not be the only souls harvested at the rapture.  Those who died in the faith throughout the ages will also be called up to meet the Lord in that cloud: “…And the dead in Christ shall rise first” (1 Thes. 4:16).  The Moses figure and tents, depicted right, contrast with the modern cities in the background.  This symbolizes past believers of previous generations, those who saw the promise of His coming from afar and were persuaded to look toward their heavenly home.  The adjacent caption reads, “Expect a Miracle,” referring to our redemption and the glory of His coming.  If His return does not occur in your lifetime, like this Moses figure at right, trust in His promise no less.

     Christ declared Himself to be the door, the only entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven: “I am the door of the sheep… If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture” (Jn. 10:7, 9).  This is pictured in the artwork at top center.  Christ appears in an open doorway in the cloud.  He offers His blood in the adjacent text, the atoning sacrifice of His death.  Above the door is written “Alpha Omega.”  This represents Christ eternal beyond creation.  He is, was, and always shall be.  He exists outside of time and is transcendent beyond the universe: “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End” (Rev 1:8); “I am the Alpha and the Omega… the First and the Last” (Rev 22:13).

     The visible manifestation of the glory of God, also known in theological terms as the “Shekinah Glory,” abided with the Israelites as a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night: “In the daytime also He led them with the cloud and all the night with the light of fire” (Ps. 78:14; comp. 13:21; 14:24). 

     The cloud and fire are symbols of His glory and are pictured in the artwork.  The cloud sits upon a rainbow pillar, for it is associated with the return of His glory to the earth, an event also known as the rapture: “…that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy” (1 Pet. 4:13).  The bonfire juxtaposes with the believer at center.  In ancient times, God displayed His glory as a visible sign of His presence among His people.  In modern times, the Shekinah Glory is hidden in the hearts of men: “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col. 1:27).  The caption between the bonfire and believer reads, “internal flame,” communicating this concept.

     The text “AWAKENING” appears in the bottom left.  This has an immediate and prophetic meaning.  In the immediate sense, the coming of Christ into our hearts results in spiritual resurrection, the re-created new nature quickened to life, or “awakened,” through faith.  We “awaken” from being dead in our sins: “You He made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins” (Eph. 2:1).  In the prophetic sense, the Coming of Christ shall bring about the rapture and usher in His millennial reign.  Believers who died since Adam shall be raised from the dust, “awakened” to a new resurrection body in heaven: “Awake you who sleep, Arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light” (Eph. 5:14).

     Jesus is coming.  He left on a cloud and He shall return on a cloud.  He transforms black holes into super novas, inviting men out of darkness and into His Light.  We are the candles and He is the flame. He stands at the door of the heart and seeks a personal relationship with men.  May the Light of His inner Glory shine in you and through you.  

Larry Word

Christ Coming Out of Eggshell

Christ Coming Out of Eggshell presents a new and innovative approach to communicating the Gospel, one that challenges the audience to think outside the paradigm of earthly existence.  The artwork embeds overt and covert messages into its imagery, speaking to the heart of the viewer and inviting one into covenant relationship with Christ.  My own personal interpretation of the work is herein explained.

     The centerpiece is the egg.  It sits inside a purple chalice, sunlight cascading through its crack.  Two disciples pull Christ from the egg, while a third wrests the top half of the shell loose.  A woman stands juxtaposed the chalice at right and a cord extends from the bottom of the egg, running through the foundation of the cup, to the earth.  The captions read, “metamorphosis”; “Call it a rebirth”; and “Do you believe in transformation?”

     The chalice represents the individual believer.  We are described as “vessels” through which the Lord operates, instruments of His hands and containers for His Holy Spirit: “that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor” (1 Thes 4:4); “… he will be a vessel of honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work” (2 Tim 2:21).  The body is the temple of God, the Holy Grail that holds the essence of Christ.  Like the potter who shapes the clay, God morphs our inner characters upon the wheel of time to resemble that of the Savior.  The color purple signifies the spiritual royalty we inherit in Him.

     The woman juxtaposed right of the chalice personifies the feminine archetype.  She is associated with the chalice in that believers take on the feminine, submissive role in our position in Christ.  We allow the active power of God’s Spirit to move in us and through us.  The people praying on magic carpets picture the masculine principle, the active power of God’s Spirit.  They are poured into the cup from a watering basin in the sky, representing the “Living Waters” of the Holy Spirit (Jn 4:10).

     I sought to portray the perfect balance between masculine and feminine energies, the active and passive principles in harmony to produce the new birth.  Believers are like vessels, receptacles for God’s Holy Spirit.  In this respect, believers portray the passive principle.  Our attitudes must be humble, our hearts open to receiving Him.  Just as the feminine produces children, so too the heart is like an egg that houses the spiritual embryo.  The Living Waters—the active or masculine principle—pour into the chalice, germinating the heart with Love and quickening to life that new spiritual identity in the believer.  The resurrected Christ emerges from the inseminated egg, which represents the heart, and remains inside the chalice, which represents the body.  An umbilical cord stretches from the bottom of the egg to “Mother Earth,” while creative energy discharges from the Father out of the sky.

    The artwork expresses all three members of the trinity.  The Father appears at far left in the clouds.  He presents a key to humanity on earth.  A hammer connects the key with the cracking open of the egg, which Christ emerges from.  This may be interpreted that the Father provides the key in sending His Son Jesus but we must crack open that egg, opening our hearts to Him.  An alternative interpretation holds that the key to “Releasing Resurrection POWER in your Life,” as the adjacent caption reads, is in extricating Christ from that egg in the heart.  In either case, a woman juxtaposed with the key and the chalice points to the egg, leaving no doubt that the key and egg are somehow linked.

     The second Person of the trinity, Christ, appears at far right behind a mountain.  While the Christ emerging from the egg portrays the unique and personal relationship He shares in the hearts of individual believers, the Christ behind the mountain pictures the Heavenly Lord who abides in eternity, transcendent beyond His creation.

     The third Person of the trinity, the Holy Spirit, appears as people riding carpets and praying, poured forth as “Living Waters” form the sky.  A dove released from Christ’s right hand also flies juxtaposed the people riding magic carpets, further reinforcing the idea that these individuals symbolize the Spirit.  One grouping of these carpet riders pours from a water basin and germinates the egg, while the other group descends directly from the heavenly Christ, flowing into the mind of a believer on earth.  This pictures the scripture, “do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Rom 12:2).  The adjacent caption reads, “Do you believe in transformation?”  For those who receive the Spirit, the answer reads, “you will.”

     It is essential that we surrender to Christ with open mind and heart.  Only then will His Spirit begin to transform and reshape us.  Just as the Living Waters are poured into an open heart, pictured by the cracked egg, so too are Living Waters poured into the believer’s open mind.  This is portrayed in the believer at the bottom right.  The top half of his skull missing, incised from the forehead up.  Christ pours the Holy Spirit into the believer’s mind because it is open, ready to receive.  Similarly, we must surrender our preconceived notions of who we are and what we know.  We must trust Him and continue to be filled, ever growing in an increased capacity to receive more of Him.

     The believer whose mind is renewed by the Holy Spirit, at bottom right, is depicted ejaculating a sword from his mouth.  The adjacent captions read, “euphoria” and “God wants you.”  The sword is another symbol for the Holy Spirit and Word of God: “And take… the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Eph 6:17) 

     This sword coming out of the man’s mouth illustrates a believer filled with the Holy Spirit.  He wields that sword of God’s Spirit in the words that he speaks to others.  The sword is “two edged” because the Truth both kills the Adamic nature and regenerates the new spiritual embryo in the heart.  The believer blows dead flakes off a dandelion flower, symbolizing the Spirit’s role in death, rebirth, and regeneration.

     The top captions should be read in two parts: “Imagine it if you can… Peace on Earth, Goodwill Toward Men.”  This is an allusion to the utopian future that one day will be enjoyed under Christ’s 1,000 year Messianic reign.  Any attempt at universal peace apart from God—which is the goal of Satan—is doomed for failure.  A counterfeit peace will one day be brokered and many shall be deceived.  But the wise shall understand and endure until the end, awaiting the Master’s return.

     The Kingdom of God is both an internal and external phenomenon.  There will not be lasting peace, a utopian dream, or bodily immortality until Christ comes.  But this is the outward manifestation of the Kingdom.  The inward manifestation of the Kingdom has already been accomplished.  For believers, eternal spiritual life is borne in the heart and there is a peace that surpasses all understanding, a quiet “euphoria” in our minds and hearts (Phil 4:7).

     This provides segue to our final caption in the bottom left, which reads, “Designed for the extraordinary, explore the whole story.”  What is the “whole story” which so many people miss?  It is that the resurrection is not only a historical event dating back some 2,000 years ago.  It also applies to the here-and-now.  The resurrection is the beginning of faith and applies to that new creation, that spiritual embryo quickened to life in the heart of man.  It is not only relevant to history and prophecy but also has a mystical side.  The resurrection must be experienced to be understood.  Ask yourself, has Christ emerged from the Easter Egg of your heart?  Does He live His life through you?  Does the resurrection mean anything to you beyond the abstract, historical, and/or prophetic?  This is the “whole story,” that the Kingdom of Heaven has both an external and internal application.  While we may remain in wait for the Kingdom’s outward manifestation, internally, the Kingdom has already come.

Larry Word

Dead Christ on Train Tracks

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

Beauty in Balance at the Beach

We live in one and many universe.  Think of reality as energy that simultaneously resonates in multiple octaves of light, parallel frequencies that overlap one another and demand progressive levels of spiritual awareness to discern and comprehend.  For example, people interpret the same stimuli differently based on their own internal frame of reference.  One man hears static noise, another perceives the cosmic symphony of an interconnected universe.  The carnal nature is relegated to five senses and four dimensions, but the spiritual nature transcends the space-time continuum and swims through eternity’s wormhole, communing with the Divine.  Love broadcasts its invitation for intimacy on every channel and frequency, permeating every consciousness octave.  However, most people lack the necessary bandwidth to receive its signal.  They do not realize that the universe is talking to them, that God is trying to get their attention.

     The chimpanzee juxtaposed the man at bottom right symbolize the carnal nature juxtaposed the regenerated nature, different levels of spiritual awareness.  The chimpanzee represents the Adamic, fallen man.  He lives through his five senses, controlled by his appetites and the pursuit of pleasure.  To his left appears a man whose who buries his head in the sand.  This depicts the carnal nature as oblivious to his surroundings.  He is absorbed in self and unconscious of the universe trying to get his attention.  The call of Love, the invitation for “the divine life” blares through the cones and into his eardrums.  However, the primate lacks capacity to receive the signal.  As implied by the caption, he hears only “the buzz.”  Scripture states that the carnal man is incapable of deciphering God’s call: “But the natural (carnal) man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Cor 2:14).

     In contrast to “Hear the Buzz,” the caption, “He hears heaven’s music,” appears under the man who portrays the spiritual nature.  He sits in the bottom right corner, entranced in peaceful meditation, a harmonious state of bliss.  He receives the heavenly signal, God’s Love and Grace pouring forth through the universe and generating through his body as a circuit.  A crown adorns his head, an emblem of his spiritual royalty.  A gun decorated as the American flag drapes over his shoulders and fires a bouquet of flowers.  The flowers also protrude from the cones that announce “the divine life” and a “return to the Lord.”  They represent words of life, the power of Christ’s resurrection to transform the mind, to develop a new spiritual identity in the heart.  The resurrection delivers us to a new consciousness octave, an awareness of God to which we were previously “dead.”  The promise across the revolver reads, “True tranquility can be yours.”  Once God’s Love penetrates the heart, the soul receives, “…the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding” (Phil 4:6).

     The upper left and right quadrants picture the universe from different perspectives, opposite doorways of perception.  At upper left, Saturn, a comet, and the stars of the firmament appear in individual solid forms, emphasizing the sensual and empirical qualities associated with the carnal nature and the physical universe.  At upper right, the mirror image of Saturn is portrayed in a fiery purple sky.  Instead of the individual stars, a blended color scheme signifies the unity and interconnectedness of the universe, as if the stars were smeared into one essence.  This represents the consciousness octave of the spiritual nature.  Saturn appears to disintegrate into an amorphous mass, picturing the dissolution of the physical creation in favor of the eternal heavens: “For we know that if the earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God… eternal in the heavens.” (2 Cor 5:1).

     The universe thrives and teems with life.  To the carnal nature, the sun, moon, and stars are but pretty ornaments in the sky, inscrutable distractions from the rat-race world.  They “buzz” and hum, permeating harmonic resonance through the universe that echoes the original Word of God that said, “Light be.”  The spiritual man discerns a message behind this buzz, an Intelligence that controls the universe.  The caption, “He hears heaven’s music,” refers to the spiritual nature perceiving the golden chorus of the heavenly bodies, the incessant praise and worship of the sun, moon, and stars that sing glory to God in higher dimensions of light: “Praise Him sun and moon; praise Him all you stars of light” (Ps 148:3); “When the morning stars sang together, and the sons of God (angels) shouted for joy” (Job 38:7).

     A blonde-haired woman circles a golden pillar that suspends the heavens above the earth.  She is “stuck” in a dizzy reverie, hypnotized in a trance.  Captivated in space-time, she is trapped in endless cycles of death and rebirth, unaware of the seasons, times, and patterns that shape her life.  On the right side of the pillar her body disappears under the text, “soul,” while on the left side of the pillar her body reemerges emitting a transparent sheen under the text, “spirit.”  The adjacent captions read, “snap out of it” and “set yourself free.”

     How does one snap out of it?  How does we set ourselves free from this physical universe?  Spirit and soul must become conscious of one another.  We must transcend, “wake up,” resurrect to our sleeping spiritual identities in order to conquer our carnal natures: “Now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed” (Rom 13:11).  Through faith, a childlike trust in God, we experience spiritual regeneration in the heart, a quickening to a higher octave of light: “…let us put on the armor of light… put on the Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom 13:12-14).

     An oculus in the heavens represents this transcendence, a gateway between space-time and eternity, between God and the physical universe.  It symbolizes freedom, escape, and divine communion.  A woman stands at the base of the pillar, staring at God face-to-face.  Although in the world, she is not of the world.  Through spiritual regeneration, she has an inexhaustible resource of comfort and peace in Christ, unfettered and direct access to God’s throne in eternity: “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in a time of need” (Heb 4:16).

     The oculus is the opening through which the collective body of believers on earth access heaven.  A swimmer dives into the sky, ascending from the woman at the pillar.  This pictures the woman’s spirit piercing through the wormhole, penetrating through the gateway to Christ and into heaven.  In prayer and meditation, we stand upon the shores of eternity.  Part of us enters into direct communion with God.  The re-created spiritual identity has capacity to experience Him in His fullness.  Like the meditating believer at bottom right, the woman dives through the sky, her body remaining on earth while her heart flies into heaven, propelled by Love.

     A second believer approaches the oculus from the right, also depicted as swimming underwater.  Prayer and spiritual communion is presented as bathing, plunging, being submerged in water.  Only by surfacing through the oculus can believers finally draw air.  These references connote immersion in God’s Holy Spirit, the vehicle for communion that flows from His throne in heaven: “…he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and the Lamb” (Rev 22:1).

     God broadcasts resurrection power into the hearts of men.  He uses His humble servants to reach others who are not attuned to His frequency.  The caption, “Most people learn about the love of Jesus from a friend,” illustrates the joy and privilege of sharing the tranquil waters with those who thirst, those who have yet to learn how to swim.  Until one ascends through the oculus and inhales a single breath of air in His Presence; until one transcends to the other side of eternity and experiences God as a reality in the heart rather than some abstract concept or ideal in the mind, all scriptural knowledge, morality, and religious piety are fruitless.

     True beauty in balance involves living on multiple planes, existing in multiple universes.  The “self,” that carnal nature, will remain with us as long as we reside on the physical plane, until either Christ comes or we die.  However, through the spiritual nature and the transcendent power of His resurrection, we visit other worlds: “in Him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28).  In prayer and meditation, we are engulfed in His Spirit, enveloped in His Presence.  He transports us to a higher consciousness, a new harmonic frequency, an octave of awareness through which our spiritual identities abide in His perfect communal Love. 

Larry Word