This painting represents the ALMOST and “not yet” side of being a believer. The mystery in believing something we can’t see, and the POWER knowing that God can create beauty out of nothing.
IN Matthew 1 Jesus’ genealogy is laid out, his birth is foretold to his parents in miraculous circumstances, and he is given the name Emmanuel before being born to Mary.
In this painting you will notice it almost seems unfinished. The flowers are outlined, the vase is barely visible, the leaves and flowers subtly sneaking through. It isn’t fully understood, but the beauty and mystery is there. The point of the painting is that beauty is being born out of a dark backdrop. That darkness does not impede the light from shining.
Christ birth is both beautiful and mysterious. There was so much fulfilled prophecy , and yet there was STILL so much that his parents did understand. His birth was ALSO proof that beauty is indeed BORN out of a dark backdrop, and that darkness did NOT impede the LIGHT of the WORLD from coming.
Following Christ today is much like the painting. We don’t understand everything, but we HAVE faith that Gods is making something beautiful out of darkness. We KNOW the LIGHT always wins, BECAUSE Jesus’ death and resurrection extinguished the darkness .
Excerpt from Lecture:
The name Emmanuel means GOD WITH US . This name given to Jesus proves that HE WAS God’s one and only Son, the one who came in bodily form to live among sinners , and ultimately die on the cross for their sins.
Because Jesus is Emmanuel - God with us - we KNOW for a FACT that God’s love for us is unimaginable. Jesus left the perfection of Heaven to come to a world of SIN for SINNERS. And not only did HE COME to US, He ultimately gave up HIS LIFE for US! GOD IN THE FLESH, Jesus, our EMMANUEL took away our sin by being our sacrifice on the cross.
Because Jesus became GOD WITH US, we can be forever WITH GOD if we put our trust in Him….
As we begin our study of Matthew this year this PRINCIPLE of JESUS being GOD in human form is going to be extremely important- because when we see Jesus’ compassion , love and purpose shine through as he interacts with the broken in this world—- what we are really seeing is how GOD views our world today.
In Matthew we are going to see Jesus weep with those who weep., LOVE the least of these, come near the outsiders and the hurting, LAVISH GRACE and FORGIVENESS on those who DO NO DESERVE IT— and most importantly- we are going to see HIM VICTORIOUSLY defeat sin and satan on the cross for our sake as as MIGHTY WARRIOR AND KING.
So as we read these account of Jesus’ life this year we are going to remember that he is EMMANUEL- GOD WITH US- THE ONE WHO CAME TO earth to experience our pain and suffering and GIVE US ETERNAL LIFE by SAVING US from SIN through HIS BLOOD.