We stand in the Kingdom that cannot be shaken,
in the opened door of imperishable hope
in the opened door of imperishable hope
This painting was created as a vision setting piece of artwork for Redeemer Fellowship in Midtown Kansas City.
Kevin and Andy approached me in the Spring of 2018 to discuss creating new artwork for our sign as we approached Redeemer’s tenth birthday. Kevin chose the word “Kingdom" as a word he wanted to be looking toward in this next season of our church family, and he provided me with Hebrews 12:26-29 as a scripture to illuminate for the sign.
I began by looking at the word Kingdom and considering all that it represents. That we would be part of a Kingdom implies that we are subject to a King. As our mission and teaching at Redeemer proclaim so clearly: our King is Jesus. He is King Jesus, the Destroyer of Death. He is King Jesus, the King on the Cross. And our King wears a thorny crown which, as Charles Spurgeon pointed out, was usurped from sin and the curse itself.
My work has been deeply influenced by Bonhoeffer's exposition of Genesis 3, Creation and Fall, particularly the section you can read on the label next to the painting. King Jesus died upon a cross which Bonhoeffer said became the new Tree of Life. All Kingdoms have signs and sigils to create a sense of identity and ownership for individuals. Trees have long been used in scripture as symbols of life, death, humility, and promise. That excerpt from the Bonhoeffer follows a section where he examines our exile from the garden and our barring from Tree of Life. Bonhoeffer argues that our inability to return to the garden on our own terms causes a simultaneous hatred of the Tree of Life and a longing for it. That Jesus should die on a tree in order to become new Tree of Life is a strange and wonderful truth, an act of love that eternity cannot tarnish. We cannot reenter the garden without him, because he is what we are looking for.
So the cross is a symbol of this new Tree of Life, Jesus himself. It is what anchors us, it is the sign, sigil, and staff of our Kingdom, this unshakeable Kingdom of God.
I thought a lot about another phrase Bonhoeffer used in this excerpt. In addition to calling the cross our new Kingdom of Life, he also refers to it as the opened door of imperishable hope. The cross is the gateway in which we stand, with unshakeable glory before us. The path to this door and even standing under its threshold is littered with pruning and with suffering. You have felt it, I have felt it, our church has felt it. But we know that our Kingdom, our inheritance, our God, and his Word cannot be shaken.
I had the unique opportunity to pray deeply for my elders and this church family through ink and gold as I made this work. I prayed that we would stand "in the door of imperishable hope, of waiting and of patience," here, in this Kingdom that cannot be shaken, together. To remain standing, we must cling in our waiting to the stem of the cross, a feat we can accomplish only through the power of our King Jesus. We must cling to him as our bodies wear out, as we rejoice new births, as we navigate injustice, as we labor to love our neighbors, as we fail in ways big and small. This waiting is not complacent. Our hands and hearts can begin work on the New Jerusalem, through God's power, with his Spirit in us. And there is a real day when we will stand together at Christ's return, in the consuming fire. Surely, we will be among those shouting: Who is the King of Glory? The Lord of Hosts, He is the King of Glory!
I began by looking at the word Kingdom and considering all that it represents. That we would be part of a Kingdom implies that we are subject to a King. As our mission and teaching at Redeemer proclaim so clearly: our King is Jesus. He is King Jesus, the Destroyer of Death. He is King Jesus, the King on the Cross. And our King wears a thorny crown which, as Charles Spurgeon pointed out, was usurped from sin and the curse itself.
My work has been deeply influenced by Bonhoeffer's exposition of Genesis 3, Creation and Fall, particularly the section you can read on the label next to the painting. King Jesus died upon a cross which Bonhoeffer said became the new Tree of Life. All Kingdoms have signs and sigils to create a sense of identity and ownership for individuals. Trees have long been used in scripture as symbols of life, death, humility, and promise. That excerpt from the Bonhoeffer follows a section where he examines our exile from the garden and our barring from Tree of Life. Bonhoeffer argues that our inability to return to the garden on our own terms causes a simultaneous hatred of the Tree of Life and a longing for it. That Jesus should die on a tree in order to become new Tree of Life is a strange and wonderful truth, an act of love that eternity cannot tarnish. We cannot reenter the garden without him, because he is what we are looking for.
So the cross is a symbol of this new Tree of Life, Jesus himself. It is what anchors us, it is the sign, sigil, and staff of our Kingdom, this unshakeable Kingdom of God.
I thought a lot about another phrase Bonhoeffer used in this excerpt. In addition to calling the cross our new Kingdom of Life, he also refers to it as the opened door of imperishable hope. The cross is the gateway in which we stand, with unshakeable glory before us. The path to this door and even standing under its threshold is littered with pruning and with suffering. You have felt it, I have felt it, our church has felt it. But we know that our Kingdom, our inheritance, our God, and his Word cannot be shaken.
I had the unique opportunity to pray deeply for my elders and this church family through ink and gold as I made this work. I prayed that we would stand "in the door of imperishable hope, of waiting and of patience," here, in this Kingdom that cannot be shaken, together. To remain standing, we must cling in our waiting to the stem of the cross, a feat we can accomplish only through the power of our King Jesus. We must cling to him as our bodies wear out, as we rejoice new births, as we navigate injustice, as we labor to love our neighbors, as we fail in ways big and small. This waiting is not complacent. Our hands and hearts can begin work on the New Jerusalem, through God's power, with his Spirit in us. And there is a real day when we will stand together at Christ's return, in the consuming fire. Surely, we will be among those shouting: Who is the King of Glory? The Lord of Hosts, He is the King of Glory!
the painting
We stand in the Kingdom that cannot be shaken,
in the opened door of imperishable hope
Acrylic ink, marble dust, acrylic, and gold foil on canvas
27”x54”
For thus says the LORD of hosts: Yet once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land. And I will shake all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with glory, says the LORD of hosts. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, declares the LORD of hosts. The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says the LORD of hosts. And in this place I will give peace, declares the LORD of hosts.’”
Haggai 2:6-9
At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.
Hebrews 12:26-29
Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, he is the King of glory!
Psalm 24:10
Christ on the Cross, the murdered Son of God, is the end of the story of Cain, and thus the actual end of the story. This is the last desperate storming of the gate of paradise. And under the flaming sword under the Cross, mankind dies. But Christ lives. The stem of the cross becomes the staff of life, and in the midst of the world life is set up anew upon the cursed ground. In the middle of the world the spring of life wells up on the wood of the cross and those who thirst for life are called to this water, and those who have eaten of the wood of this life shall never hunger or thirst again. What a strange paradise is this hill of Golgotha, this Cross, this blood, this broken body! What a strange tree of life, this tree on which God himself must suffer and die—but it is in fact the Kingdom of Life and of the Resurrection given again by God in grace; it is the opened door of imperishable hope, of waiting and of patience. The tree of life, the Cross of Christ, the middle of the fallen and preserved world of God, for us that is the end of the story of paradise.
-Dietrich Bonhoeffer, from Creation and Fall
in the opened door of imperishable hope
Acrylic ink, marble dust, acrylic, and gold foil on canvas
27”x54”
For thus says the LORD of hosts: Yet once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land. And I will shake all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with glory, says the LORD of hosts. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, declares the LORD of hosts. The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says the LORD of hosts. And in this place I will give peace, declares the LORD of hosts.’”
Haggai 2:6-9
At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.
Hebrews 12:26-29
Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, he is the King of glory!
Psalm 24:10
Christ on the Cross, the murdered Son of God, is the end of the story of Cain, and thus the actual end of the story. This is the last desperate storming of the gate of paradise. And under the flaming sword under the Cross, mankind dies. But Christ lives. The stem of the cross becomes the staff of life, and in the midst of the world life is set up anew upon the cursed ground. In the middle of the world the spring of life wells up on the wood of the cross and those who thirst for life are called to this water, and those who have eaten of the wood of this life shall never hunger or thirst again. What a strange paradise is this hill of Golgotha, this Cross, this blood, this broken body! What a strange tree of life, this tree on which God himself must suffer and die—but it is in fact the Kingdom of Life and of the Resurrection given again by God in grace; it is the opened door of imperishable hope, of waiting and of patience. The tree of life, the Cross of Christ, the middle of the fallen and preserved world of God, for us that is the end of the story of paradise.
-Dietrich Bonhoeffer, from Creation and Fall
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