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About Jesus Steve Sweetman The
Ultimate In Artistic Design In
Exodus 31 and 36 God commissioned Bezalel and others to build the
tabernacle that would be His home on earth.
Before they could begin this project, these people were
"filled with the Spirit of God, skill, ability, and knowledge, in
all kinds of crafts, to make artistic designs …" (Exodus 31:3 and
35:32) This tabernacle was
to be God's "home away from home".
For this reason God provided detailed building plans for His
earthly home. It had to be
functional, full of symbolism, and esthetically pleasing.
Note
the reason why God gave these people the Holy Spirit, skill, ability,
and knowledge. It was
to create fine quality art, or as the NIV puts it, "artistic
designs". I really like
the term "artistic designs".
God Himself is the ultimate artist.
An example of "artistic design" in the tabernacle is
seen in the embroidering of the linen curtain.
Exodus 36:35 states, "they made the curtain of blue, purple,
and scarlet yarn, and finely twisted linen, with cherubim worked into
it…" Doesn't that
sound like a work of art to you? The
"artistic designs" seen in the tabernacle, and later in the
Old Testament temple, should also be seen in God's New Testament temple.
I don't believe God would want His New Testament home to be any
less esthetically pleasing than His Old Testament home.
Christians, both as individuals and as the church, are now God's
"home away from home". We
therefore should consider ourselves a work of fine quality art.
Jesus has commissioned us to work with Him in creating us into an
esthetically pleasing work of art. If
we can become this work of art, the world will see God's glory in us.
As
individual Christians, we have God-given talents that the Holy Spirit
can use and improve on. Some
of us are musicians, some singers, some sculptors, some photographers,
and some embroiderers. The
list is endless. We all have
a part to play in creating "artistic designs" in God's New
Testament temple. Over
the centuries we've used our creativity to build temples from wood,
stone, brick, glass, and steel. In
many cases these temples have been fine works of art.
There's no doubt about that.
We often marvel at these esthetically pleasing structures, but as
beautiful as they are, I suggest we put our creative efforts to better
use. With the skill,
ability, and knowledge that comes only from the Holy Spirit, we can mold
ourselves into fine quality art. God
doesn't live in the temples we've built.
He lives in us. Since
we are God's temple, we are to be a fine quality work of art that He
would feel comfortable living in, and which would also radiate His
glory. I suggest the temples
that we have built radiate more of our own glory than God's.
Post
script - A good book to read concerning Christians and the arts is
Franky Schaeffer's book entitled, "Addicted To Mediocrity",
copy written 1981, published by Crossway Books, a division of Good News
Publishers.
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