Gospel
‘Gospel’ is a translation of the Greek ‘euangelion’, which originally meant: message of victory from the battlefield; joyful proclamation (proclamation = official declaration).
The herald was the messenger of this declaration on behalf of the king or the emperor.
Atonement New Testament
The New Testament - the second part of the Bible - starts with the four gospel-books. The good news in these books is about Jesus, the Saviour, the Messiah, who gave His life to bring about peace with God for people separated from Him because of sin and darkness. Jesus defeated Satan, the opponent of God, who seduced the first human beings to sin against their Creator.
A joyful message indeed!
A series of paintings shown on this website depict some important moments in the books Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
Key Old Testament
The Old Testament precedes the New. It describes the history of mankind and the people of Israel, from which nation Jesus originated as a human being. The key to understanding Old Testament history is the notion that on these pages the contours of the promised Messiah can be discerned.
The paintings express this theme in visual language.
Shadows
The coming of the Messiah had been promised and prophesied explicitly in the Old Testament. Besides, in the lives of certain believers in the OT (the ‘types of Christ’) we discern parallels with the life of Christ. In the lives of these persons we see the coming Christ casting His shadow forward.
In a way, these ‘shadows’ proclaim the message of the Gospel in advance.
Comparing Scripture with Scripture
The basic assumption concerning the interpretation of the texts is the principle that the Bible explains itself. Therefore it is necessary to compare Old and New Testament texts with each other, reading the Old from the perspective of the New. And vice versa: the prophesies in the Old Testament find their fulfillment in the New.
Why this project?
Our purpose is to present a series of paintings that represents important moments of the biblical message. It shows the main story line of this message; creation, the fall of man and Gods plan of redemption. Our intention is for anyone to understand and believe this message. That is why we focus on the person of the Redeemer, Jesus Christ. In the Old Testament He is announced in the prophecies that refer to Him, as well as in the ‘shadows’ He casts forward. (Shadows: situations and persons in which parallels with the life of Jesus can be discerned). In the New Testament His life on earth is described explicitly. Some of the paintings on the website represent moments from the New Testament.
To be Continued
The series of paintings has not yet been completed. God willing, we will
extend the number of paintings in the coming years. Of course we do not
pretend to represent the biblical message fully. Moreover, the series only
presents a personal, subjective and fragmented picture of the biblical
message. The design of situations and persons from Biblical history is only
a product of the imagination of the painter. The representation does not
pretend to be historically correct, although I try to process the biblical
information as best I can. Yet a piece of art can represent truth. The apostle Paul wrote to the Galatians: ’Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified’ Gal. 3:1). The aim of this series is similar to Paul’s.
‘Art is true if the image that is realized through its illusion corresponds with
reality’ (dr. J.Douma, ‘Over beelden en beeldenstormers’, christelijk geloof en waardering van schilderkunst, 2001 Kampen. pag. 196)
Portraying Jesus
Jesus was God and man in one person. Both the divine and human natures
were in Him: ‘unconfused, unchangeable, indivisible, inseparable’ (Chalcedon
451 A.D.) I do not pretend to paint Jesus in his actual physical likeness.
Jesus was visible to the people around Him, and what they saw was just a
normal human figure. His divine nature could not be discerned in His body.
In my paintings I use certain characteristics that throughout the history of art,
have been used to define the Jesus-figure. Doing so, I can portray Jesus, without being sure of His physical attributes. In fact I am painting a symbol.
(A symbol is a sign without a natural relationship between the representation
of the sign and the meaning it expresses.) Obviously, a portrait of Jesus should never be worshipped.