The True Story of the Whole World

I created this unique sculpture to celebrate the story and values of my friend and client, Corey Breneman. He’s the owner of Breneman & Company, a CPA and financial advisory firm in St. Louis, MO. Corey commissioned this piece for his primary in-office meeting space. The result is a very special work of art he entitled “The True Story of the Whole World.” Enjoy the statement I wrote below to accompany this piece along with the photos beneath that statement. Enjoy and please comment!

What’s the meaning of life? Who am I? Why am I here? Am I valued? Where do I fit in? Who is God? What’s He like? Can I know Him? Does He know me?

Perhaps you or someone you know has asked questions like these. In a sense, they can all be consolidated into one grand question: What’s the story? In other words, what’s the true narrative that explains the past, present, and/or future, not just of my life, but of… everything? In this deeply meaningful four-panel sculpture, I’ve attempted to highlight God’s biblical answer to that question through artistic elements like line, shape, texture, form, space, color and value, mark making, and materiality. May God use it to help you discover your place – and the deep peace which results – in His true story of the whole world.

PANEL 1: Creation

This panel focuses on the beginning of the story. In it, God created the heavens and the earth from nothing (Genesis 1:1). After God created Adam and Eve, He blessed them and told them to multiply and to fill the earth and subdue it (1:28). At the end of all His creative efforts, God pronounced everything good (2:31, whole, complete). God confirmed the goodness of His creative efforts by noting that Adam and Eve were both naked but were not ashamed (2:25); they enjoyed complete peace within themselves and with God, one another, and creation.

This part of God’s true story is conveyed using smooth lines, shapes, textures, and forms, by orderly spacing of artistic elements, by varying subdued colors, and by using satin finishes. The overall sense is quiet yet substantial peace, harmony, order, and beauty.

PANEL 2: Fall

God’s story takes a dark a turn in this second panel. In it, He allowed a crafty serpent (i.e., an embodiment of Satan, c.f., Revelation 12:9) to tempt Adam and Eve away from God and into sin (Genesis 3:1-6). Their ensuing rebellion, and God’s resulting curses, plunged them, all mankind, the serpent, and the rest of creation into misery and ruin (3:9-15, c.f., Romans 5:18-21, 8:20-23). Now, for the first time, Adam and Eve saw their nakedness as a threat that induced shame and fear within them and between them, God, and creation. They tried – unsuccessfully – to deal with their shame by hand-sewing fig-leaf loincloths (3:7) to cover their nakedness. They also tried – again, unsuccessfully – to hide from God when He lovingly called out to them in the Garden (3:8).

In His infinite mercy and grace, God didn’t abandon Adam and Eve in their rebellious, shame-filled, divinely-cursed state. Instead, He shed an animal’s blood, clothing them with its skin to adequately cover their physical bodies along with their non-physical nakedness and shame (3:21). This radiant act of grace prefigured the shedding of Christ’s blood so that all who trust in Him may be “clothed in His righteousness” and find that their shame before God has been “covered” (3:15, Isaiah 42:6-7, 61:10, 2 Corinthians 5:17).

To convey the shame, divine curses, and all-encompassing ruin in this part of God’s true story, I aggressively-mangled its lines, shapes, colors, textures, and forms, disordered the spacing of some artistic elements, and charred some elements. To convey the seeds of God’s mercy in prefiguring a Messiah and clothing Adam and Eve, I added some blood-red edges and gold gilding in the piece. The overall sense is ruin with a strong yet quiet subtheme of divine mercy and grace.

PANEL 3: Redemption

In this part of God’s true story, God increasingly displaces the darkness of sin and its results with the light of His mercy and grace in the Gospel. He brightens this light substantially when He chooses a particular people (Israel) to enjoy and express its redemptive beauty to all nations (Isaiah 53:1-5). He brightens it still further by sending Jesus, “The Light of the World” (John 8:12). In Him, “those dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned” (Matthew 4:16). Through faith in Him and in His shed blood on the cross, Jesus becomes the curse-reversing “loincloth” that finally and ultimately covers one’s shame and guilt before God (2 Corinthians 5:17, 21, Galatians 3:13-14). Throughout this “chapter” of His story, God commissions those who’ve been covered and “en-light-ened” through faith in His Gospel to share Him and His Gospel with others (Matthew 5:14-16).

To convey the curse-reversing, shame-covering work of God, gold leaf increasingly breaks out in this panel. It symbolically reflects God’s Gospel-grace which “fill in” the damage and pain inflicted in the fall. Red accents are also more pervasive, pointing to Christ’s blood-shedding work which makes such redemption possible. Nonetheless, the charring and marring of the fall remain as the world awaits its full redemption. Overall, the sense is hope amid ongoing difficulty, like light piercing a deep darkness.

PANEL 4: Consummation

In the last part of His story, God’s promise-keeping, redemptive glory is on heart-filling display. At Christ’s return, He “makes all things new,” reversing His curse delivered at the fall (Revelation 21:5, 22:3). Those who’ve truly received His light in the Gospel receive new bodies whose beauty and function are beyond present comprehension (1 Corinthians 13:12, 2 Corinthians 5:1-5). Unprecedented wholeness, holy pleasure, and peace characterize this final “chapter” in God’s true story of the world: “And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a beautiful bride prepared for her husband. I heard a loud shout from the throne [of God], saying, ‘Look, the home of God is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. He will remove all of their sorrows, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. For the old world and its evils are gone forever.’ And the One sitting on the throne [God] said, ‘Look, I am making all things new!’ And then he said to me, ‘Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.’” (Revelation 21:2-5). To all this, we reply as the Apostle John did upon hearing these words, “Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!” (Revelation 22:20b).

To convey the completion of God’s redemptive God’s work in this epoch, I used clear, non-knotted wood as its substrate. This signals that the changes here are whole and substantive, not merely “a new coat of paint.” To convey some continuity with the previous parts of the story, the colors are the same yet are now fully saturated. There are no longer any marks or textures characteristic of the fall and its misery. Golden highlights that convey God’s glory – especially in Christ and in His work of redemption – have now become complete. These golden elements “dwell among” the others to highlight the intimacy God enjoys with His people in the new heavens and the new earth. Finishes are glossy to reflect the brilliance of this never-ending time and the divine light which illumines it.

Go Deeper

Every work of art is an artist’s first step in initiating a conversation. Thus, I invite you to “converse” with me, God, and your own heart. Here are a few questions to help you begin: