This is a painting I just finished called "Rapture". If you have never heard of the rapture then you can read the Bible. It's in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 and the two words that describe the rapture are "Caught up". The original scripture was written in Greek and used the word "Harpazo". Then the scripture was translated into Latin and the word was "Rapid" which is where we get the word rapture that means to be caught up. If you read these Bible verses it describes how we who are alive in Christ will be caught up with the dead in Christ and meet the Lord in the air when he calls us. This will happen before the great tribulation that is in the book of Revelation. We as believers need to be ready because nobody knows the day except God in heaven. It is also our responsibility as believers to spread the Word to as many people as possible while we wait for this great day.
In most of my paintings that I do of Jesus I paint him in his risen, glorified body. Whenever I put these paintings on social media I get mixed reviews about them. People are used to thinking about a subdued almost passive Jesus because they've seen pictures of him with sheep and smiling and waving from a sun lit pasture. Those paintings are fine but they dismiss the great power of our Lord and savior! He is anything but submissive! He came with the purpose of dying on the cross because that is what it took to pay our debt and open up heaven to us. But never forget that he also is the one that flooded the entire earth and killed every living thing on the earth besides Noah and his family and the animals on the ark. He is also the one that destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah and brought the plagues down on Egypt in the time of Moses. In Revelation he is described with blazing eyes, A countenance white like the sun, And white hair like wool! He destroys the armies of the earth and the beast known as anti-Christ on the field of Armageddon! Doesn't sound like a weak, passive, savior to me and I choose not to paint him like that! It sometimes shocks people the way I paint him and many non believers don't even know what I've painted. A lot of non believers think I'm trying to paint a wizard or something like that. They think the painting is really cool though and a lot of them say it gives them a peaceful feeling and don't know why. Another painting I did called "Angel of the Lord" where I painted Jesus in the same manner actually had a couple of ladies get mad at me on Facebook and tell me "This is not the Lord and you should be ashamed!" All I have to say is if you read the Bible I'd argue that my interpretation more closely fits the scripture than theirs. Though none of us will actually know till we get there and meet him face to face!
Hope you all enjoy this painting or at the very least it makes you think about what is written in the Bible more deeply. Here is the link to order a print.
PAINE OUT!!!
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