Art and Beauty in All Things
““what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled. 19 Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, 20 that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, 21 whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago. ” (Acts 3:18-21) “beauty will save the world” (Dostoyevsky)
Introduction
Donna and I attended the Origin Art Collective’s Fremantle conference this past week (https://fremantle.church/origincollective). (I am prophetically persuaded that Donna, as a poet (https://cross-connect.net.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/poetry-donna.pdf), is called to be a part of a daughter art collective in Perth’s North-Eastern suburbs.) Whilst not an “artist”, there is nothing more creative and counter-cultural than prophecy (Walter Brueggemann, The Prophetic Imagination), attendance at this summit signified obedience to my heavenly vision of the ascended Christ (1994) where he presented himself as the restorer of all things in heaven and earth. This includes all artistic giftings, as well as business, technology, law, politics, education and so on (Acts 3:17-21). Whilst concerned that artists tend to self-congratulate by referring to themselves as “creatives”, this term mistakenly implies that other Christians are “non-creatives”. Nevertheless, I am “constrained in the Spirit” (Acts 20:22) to share a few thoughts from the week in Freo. Whilst Fremantle holds only 37,000 people, compared to the 2.4 million inhabitants of Perth, it is the acknowledged centre for art in our city. Its intensity of gifting qualifies it for fulfilling Ed Silvoso’s 90’s prophecy that Freo could be a “detonator city” within Perth as an Antioch city. (https://cross-connect.net.au/antioch-church-perth-church/)
A Wider Vision
The vista of the writers of Scripture is usually far wider than those of our electronically interconnected day. Moreover, the teachers of old e.g. Basil the Great, C.H. Spurgeon, possessed an intimate knowledge of Scripture embarrassing to us moderns. During the conference the Spirit raised an important question for my lowly mind. A question resonating through verses like, “”He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart, yet so that no one can find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.”” (Eccl 3:11) “Surely the wrath of man shall praise you; the remnantof wrath you will put on like a belt.) (Ps 76:10). “The Lord works out everything to its proper end—even the wicked for a day of disaster,” These affirmations of a place for God’s holy wrath indicate his judgements are not only holy but also beautiful (Pss 29:2; 96:9). We need to see God’s wrath on Christ (Rom 3:25 etc.) as essential to the spiritual armour of God (Eph 6:10-20 echoing Isa 59:17) we are commanded to put on. Christians hold that the cross is the all-sufficient sacrifice of atonement. But just how was the wrath of God poured out there a means of healing and our warped minds and hearts? The answer is found in the renewing the human conscience of Jesus in such a way that it can heal our consciences. Contained in the terrifying darkness of the cry of dereliction , “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34) is the darkness of the first creation (Gen 1:1-2) the “darkness that can be felt” of the 9th plague at Egypt (Ex 10:21) the “smoking firepot and a flaming torch” (Gen 15:17) passing between the bisected animals of the Abrahamic covenant and all other depressions. To understand the cosmic implications of the cross’s darkness we need the illumination of revelation (2 Tim 1:10).
The Overwhelming Beauty of the Crucifixion
If this old saying compatible with scripture, “The cross is not and cannot be loved.” (Moltmann?) Does Jesus love the fact that he “was crucified in weakness but lives by the power of God” (2 Cor 13:4). The old covenant text, “He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.” (Isa 53:2), surely applies only to outward appearances and not to “the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious.” (1 Pet 3:4). (Remember that the bride is a type of Christ ion the Church.) We must see, by divine revelation, that the testimony of Hebrews, “ Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered 9 and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him” (5:8-9) primarily applies to the access of a priest/High Priest to the throne of God (https://christoverall.com/article/concise/perfected-and-perfecting-the-theme-of-perfection-in-hebrews/).The conscience of Jesus, once totally traumatised by the darkness and evil he carried in dereliction is now totally perfected and beautified before the throne of God in heaven so that he is enabled to thank the Father for all the events of his life, and ours in the divine plan (Rom 8:28; Eph 1:11). As the Old Testament High Priest was covered in garments “of glory and of beauty” (Ex 28:2, 40 cf. Zech 3:1-4), the ascended Lord is now covered with the beauty of the new creation. We may discern that the beauty of the cross-and-resurrection of “the Lamb slain and raised” (Rev 5:6), is the divine foundation for all true beauty in the history of creation (Rev 13:8). Hence the prophetic “beauty will save the world” (Dostoyevsky) is true!
Giftings Block
Here is a vital question for all believers raised by an arts workshop. “What are the lies you have been believing that hold you back from exercising any of the grace-gifts of God? writing/painting/sculpting/prophesying/praying/witnessing etc.”. In prophetic language, “What are the idols embedded in your heart?” “Thus says the Lord GOD: Any one of the house of Israel who takes his idols into his heart and sets the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and yet comes to the prophet, I the LORD will answer him as he comes with the multitude of his idols, I will do this to recapture the hearts of the people of Israel, who have all deserted me for their idols.’” (Ezek 14:4-5). I have had many idols exposed by the Spirit. In previous decades I was semi-paralysed by assessing myself before men of vastly superior intellect (e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Andersen) I have repented of such sin, “We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some…and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise.” (2 Cor 10:12). By grace we are in Christ and the immeasurable riches of his Beauty is his gift to the whole Church forever (Eph 5:26-27). In Him nothing can or must hold us back.
Prophesying A New Age of Benefaction
Romans 16:2 introduces Phoebe as a Προστάτις/prostasin/patroness/“benefactor” of the Church in Cenchreae. From earliest times, God has arranged his Body so that it contains those possessed of means to support gifted brothers and sisters who are artists. Either by finances, wisdom gifts, prayer support/or other means For instance, those surrounding William Wilberforce were patrons to many missionary societies of their day (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clapham_Sect) . Today King Jesus is raising up such a host of humble patrons. Ask the Lord of the Church as to your role in this?