I can still remember that Autumn day in 1995, sitting in the
packed classroom in the basement of the chapel at Covenant
Seminary for one of the first classes of my seminary career.
It was the class “Covenant Theology,” taught by
Dr. David Jones. Besides being confounded with having to relearn
the art of note taking, I was amazed at the bright new theological
categories I was learning about under the rubric “covenants.”
In the goodness of God, somehow He burned into my brain an
illustration I either heard or read about in that class that
was a description of the organic progression of the Biblical
covenants. It was that of an acorn growing into an oak tree
– a concept I explain more fully in the theological
statement below. What is astounding about this is that somewhere
between 2000 and 2005 (5-10 years later) this illustration
crept to the forefront of my heart as a theme for a sculpture.
I thought about how I could depict the concept and somewhere
around 2004 focused on inscribing acrylic or glass with the
acorn/oak images. I bought some acrylic, and using a cordless
Dremmel tool, carved some test graphics into it.
It was not until I was brought by God to work with a friend
at his shop that I would have the facilities, assistance,
and woodworking ability to put my concepts into their finished
form. I am so thankful to God for this sculpture, and how
He gave, then nurtured and protected the idea in my heart.
The decade-long germination and creation of this sculpture
is itself a reflection of its theme: His love endures forever!
Theological Background for This Sculpture
One of the most striking and beautiful choruses ever uttered
by inspired human lips is that which appears in Scripture
at least 41 times (NIV) with reference to the Almighty God’s
orientation to His people, “His love endures forever!”
The phrase bears some study for all its glory and meaning.
In English,
the word “endures” literally means* to:
bear
hardship: to experience exertion, pain, or hardship without
giving up
tolerate
disagreeable things: to tolerate or accept somebody or something
that is extremely disagreeable
survive:
to last or survive over a period of time, especially when
faced with difficulties
What
all this means is that God never gives up loving His people,
no matter what hardship, pain, or disagreement might arise.
What good news this is! But it gets even better when we ask
how long the “period of time” (the question implicitly
posed by the third definition, above) God’s love for
His people “endures.” The Bible says it endures
forever.
Let’s
look at the word “forever.” In English, it can
mean*:
for
all time: for all future time
for
very long time, or what seems to be a very long time
constantly:
regularly or constantly, and often annoyingly
at
all times: at all times or on every occasion
So far,
we’ve discovered that in this statement, “His
love endures forever,” God is telling His people, “I
will never give up on you, not for all time, not for any occasion,
and no matter what hardship, pain, or disagreement comes to,
in, or around us.” Wow! God’s love for His people
is amazing. To fill out our brief study of this phrase, let’s
take a closer look at the other significant word in the phrase:
love.
In English,
the word “love” can mean all kinds of different
things, some rather trite, like, “dude, I love this
pizza!” But the word translated “love” (“lovingkindness”
in the NASB) in this Biblical phrase is the Hebrew word hesed,
which is the unique word for God’s covenant love. It’s
the word God uses to describe the unique love He has for His
people and only for His people who are bound to Him in covenant.
The love spoken of in the mantra, “His love endures
forever,” is not an indiscriminate, universal love of
all mankind. It is God’s unique, particular love that
rests on those He has chosen in Christ to be His own.
Just
what is a covenant? It is well beyond the scope of this artist’s
statement to exhaustively describe this word. In the simplest
terms, it is an agreement. In the covenants of the Bible (there
are several), God graciously condescends to initiate and enter
into agreements with mankind for His glory and their good.
It is important to note that God is always the initiator and
king over these covenants. He has, throughout redemptive history,
initiated covenants as the “operating system”
for His reciprocal relationship with mankind. These agreements
are accompanied by blessings for obedience and curses for
disobedience.
This
sculpture shows the unique progression of the covenants God’s
has initiated in the history of redemption. The growth of
and connection between these covenants is organic. That is,
even the very first one (sometimes called The Adamic Covenant,
Genesis 2-3) has all the DNA of the last and complete New
Covenant in Christ. In this sense, the covenants “develop,”
such that they come into fuller and fuller clarity as we move
forward from creation to the present age of redemptive history.
For example, what is only revealed in shadowy form in the
Noahic Covenant (Genesis 9) is similar but much more clearly
seen in the Mosaic Covenant (Exodus 20ff). Though various
scholars differ in naming the covenants of Scripture, I offer
this list as a good general starting place:
The
Adamic, or Edenic (initiated in Eden with Adam) Covenant
in Genesis 2-3
The
Noahic Covenant in Genesis 9
The
Abrahamic Covenant in Genesis 15
The
Mosaic or Sinaitic (made through Moses at Mt. Sinai) in
Exodus 19ff
The
Davidic Covenant in 2 Samuel 7
The
New Covenant in Christ Jesus, explained or alluded to in
many places in the Old Testament, foreshadowed in all those
Old Testament covenants, and made explicit in the New Testament,
especially in Christ’s instituting of the Lord’s
Supper (Luke 22)
Artistic
Elements of the Sculpture
There are many striking features of God’s covenants
which defy this short explanation. For the purposes of this
sculpture and our present study (“His love endures forever”),
I want to draw out the mere fact that God truly has stuck
with His people forever. It is clearly seen in His covenants
– they span from the first man (Adam) to His present
people who are His by faith in Christ. In covenant, God the
Father truly has and does and will forever love His people!
It is amazing. It is stupendous! Oh, the complete security
of the one who has trusted in Jesus Christ, who is in covenant
with God by faith in His blood shed on the cross!
These are some of the themes that I hope wash over the heart
of the one who looks upon this unique sculpture. Let me explain
how some of them come forth in the sculpture.
First,
the wood used in this piece is genuine Bloodwood. It is an
exotic wood with a deep crimson color and very rich grain.
No stains have been used to color this wood! I chose
Bloodwood to remind the viewer that all God’s relations
with His people in covenants are foreshadowed (in the Old
Testament covenants) and finally made complete and explicitly
clear in the blood of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. It is
the blood of Jesus which, when believed upon by faith, procures
the benefits of eternal loving relationship between God and
men. In a related way, the blood of Christ forms the structure
or framework for all God’s relations with His people.
Thus, the Bloodwood parts of this sculpture form the framework
for the entire work, and, so to speak, hold the details of
the specific covenants revealed in the glass plates in place.
If you
look through the glass plates, you see in the foreground on
the first plate a little acorn. As your eye moves back and
to the left, you see the acorn “progressing” into
an oak sprout, then an oak seedling, then a young oak tree,
then a mature oak tree laden with acorns, and lastly a wooden
cross. These graphics represent the organic progression and
development of God’s covenants from the Adamic Covenant
through the New Covenant in Christ. They are all oak, from
the acorn to the cross, so they all have the same DNA. This
reflects the truths discussed above, that all the covenants
contain the same DNA (or covenantal elements, like blessings
and curses), but are progressively developed expressions of
that DNA.
The graphic
progression from acorn to cross confirms the consistency and
connection of all God’s covenants with His people. And
they also confirm the overarching theme of this sculpture,
which is that “His love endures forever!” It has,
in fact, endured from Adam through the present day in Christ
Jesus to those who believe. Beneath each graphic appears the
corresponding Scripture address where one can read about a
particular covenant in line with the list of the six covenants
provided above.
I chose glass for the “covenantal graphics” because
I wanted light to play and penetrate this sculpture. For,
“God is light” (1 John 1:5), and His covenants
reflect His purity and goodness.
Finally,
notice the three small pine dowels in on the front, right-hand
side of the lower Bloodwood plane. These three dowels represent
the signature of the Triune God, since the covenants are without
question the cooperative and glorious work of God the Father,
God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. They are/He is (God
is one God, yet three persons!) truly the Author and Initiator
of all these covenants. Oh, what grace, that the Triune God
would author these covenants with mankind! The mere act of
God’s condescension to approach mankind with these covenants
yet another strikingly brilliant facet of the chorus, “His
love endures forever!”
My prayer
for you, the viewer, in looking at this sculpture is not so
much that you get an exhaustive lesson in covenant theology.
I long for you to get at least a glimpse of it, though, with
the aim of helping you marvel at the eternally enduring love
of God for His people through His progressive covenants. And,
if you have put your trust in Jesus Christ as God’s
Son and your Lord and Savior, I pray you see yourself as having
been enfolded in that great redemptive story in Christ Jesus.
I pray you also are able to rejoice that you are forming a
present link in the echoing chorus of Psalm 136, “His
love endures forever!”
Amen.
)
)
)
)
)
