I had a general vision for a sculpture like this years before
I actually created what you see here. I was looking for a
way to visually depict the Christian sanctification process
as it is described in the Bible. The main ideas I sought to
depict were the progressive nature of our sanctification (growing
in the practice of holiness over time) which is accomplished
by Christ’s ongoing initiating activity in the life
of the Christian believer. An excellent Biblical overview
of the thoughts I wanted to convey about sanctification can
be found in the Westminster Confession of Faith’s Larger
Catechism’s answer to the question, “What is sanctification?”
[Question #75]
Sanctification
is a work of God’s grace, whereby they whom God hath,
before the foundation of the world, chosen to be holy, are
in time, through the powerful operation of His Spirit applying
the death and resurrection of Christ unto them, renewed
in their whole man after the image of God; having the seeds
of repentance unto life, and all other saving graces, put
into their hearts, and those graces so stirred up, increased,
and strengthened, as that they more and more die unto sin,
and rise unto newness of life.
The general
thrust of the Confession’s definition finds a lodging
place in the themes presented in “Sanctify.” It’s
a theme of Christ-initiated transformation in the life of
the believer.
The structure of the sculpture is a rather rigid, ordered
one, signifying the holiness and absolute purity of Christ.
In Him there is no moral defect whatsoever (John 1, 8:12)!
It is within this structure that we are sanctified or molded
– as it says in Romans 8:29a, “He decided beforehand
who were the ones destined to be molded to the pattern of
his Son.” I chose Maple for the lattice framework also
because it is a whiter/lighter wood with a sparse grain, also
signifying the spotlessness and holiness of the Christ. Just
as the wood ingots are set “in” the whitish Maple
wood lattice, so too are believers sanctified “in”
Jesus Christ (i.e. in relationship with Christ).
The wood ingots of various colors and textures represent the
journey of sanctification for the Christian. As the viewer’s
eye moves from the bottom left to the upper right of the sculpture,
a transition in the color, weight, and texture of these ingots
is quite clear. They move from darker and heavier-grained
woods to lighter and lighter-grained woods. This transition
signifies the progressive nature of sanctification whereby
a believer is, by the work of Christ’s grace, made more
holy in experience. In the sculpture, dark and heavily grained
wood symbolizes a greater weight of sin, while the lighter
colors and textures symbolize increasing freedom from sin
and the magnification of righteousness. This is exactly what
happens in a Christian’s life over time through the
power of Christ.
Notice that the ingots are not so orderly arranged, and that
they do not follow a predictable linear path. That’s
because a believer’s journey of sanctification is not
a highly predictable one. We often, because of the remnants
of indwelling sin, take 2 steps backward to every 1 step forward.
But the promise of Christ is firm, and in the end, believers
will (albeit through a convoluted journey) be conformed to
His perfect image, ultimately through their death and entrance
into glory. Cite as proof the related Scriptural promise in
Ephesians 1:6, “For I am confident of this very thing,
that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until
the day of Christ Jesus.”
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