Reality – John The Baptist Artworks

CHRISTIAN FINE ART GALLERY > JOHN THE BAPTIST ARTWORKS SERIES > Reality

Original Artwork: SOLD, Acrylic on Canvas, Framed, 155 cm x 75 cm (61″ x 29.5″)

We have all sinned against God and are therefore eternally separated from him. However, God loves us so much that he sent his Son, Jesus, to pay the punishment for our sins through his atoning death on the cross. He rose from the dead three days later, making forgiveness and reconciliation with God possible. When you repent (turn away) from your sins and place your faith in Jesus, believing that he has personally paid the punishment for your sins, then you will be forgiven and brought into a loving relationship with God that will last throughout eternity. (See Message).

Artist’s Reflection:

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” (John 3:16-18)

God, who created the heavens and the earth, also created us to be in a loving, personal relationship with him.

God is also perfect in holiness and righteousness and cannot be in the presence of sin. Sadly, because we have all sinned, we are all alienated from him.

“…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

God, who is perfect in love and justice, declares that the just punishment for our sins is death and hell, where we will be cut off from him eternally.

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23)

Thankfully God still loves us even though we are sinners. He longs to redeem us so that we may enjoy a loving, personal relationship with him. Therefore, he made the way for us to be reconciled.

“You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly…God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:6,8)

God sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to live the perfect, sinless life we could never live. Jesus then took upon himself all of our sins and bore the punishment for them through his death on the cross. He rose from the dead three days later, making reconciliation with God possible for us. Jesus died as a substitute and ransom for all of those who would repent of their sins and place their faith in him as Savior (Mark 10:45).

In order to be forgiven and reconciled to God you must:

1) Repent (confess and turn away from your sins).

2) Second, you must trust in Jesus to save you from your sins, believing that he has paid the punishment for your sins by dying in your place.

When you receive Jesus as your Savior, then all of your sins (past, present and future) will be forgiven and eternally removed, and you will enter into a loving relationship with God that will last throughout eternity.

(See Message.)

At first glance, one may find this piece offensive and condemning; however, it’s real message is the total opposite. The painting is covered with Scriptures that explain the way of salvation and plead with people to be “saved” from their sins, “…for, ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved’” (Romans 10:13).

This image came to me while I was weeping and praying for unbelievers who are on their way to hell if they do not repent of their sins and place their faith in Jesus as Savior.

The emphasis of this painting is not that unbelievers are condemned to hell but that those who repent of their sins and believe in Jesus will be saved and snatched from the eternal fire.

Any ideas we have about condemnation and hell must be viewed in the light of God’s justice and that God earnestly desires people to be saved, not condemned (John 3:17). (See “Today is The Day of Salvation” (Signs of The Times Series).)

We must take into account the loving nature of God who, seeing that the whole world is justly condemned to hell through our own wilful rebellion, bore the full punishment for us through his sacrifice on the cross. His great love for us drove him to suffer a brutal death on our behalf so that we could be reconciled back into a loving relationship with him. “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).

In this painting, believers are earnestly reaching out to unbelievers, warning them and pleading with them to turn, repent and believe in the Lord Jesus so that they may escape the just punishment that is about to come upon them. Some are being warned even as they are on the outskirts of the flames. Some people scoff and get angry at the preachers. Others completely ignore them while still others are interested in what they have to say. A parent prevents his inquiring child from listening to what the preacher is saying. Another is completely confident in his own religious self-righteousness that he does not bother to listen to the words that could save him. Some are too busy enjoying the pleasures and treasures of this life to be bothered to pay any attention to their message.

On the right, however, a few people have listened and responded to their message. These people have turned from their sinful lifestyles. They are confessing their sins and putting their faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior.

A lot of people ask me why the repenting people are covered in blood. The answer is that “…the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin…If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:7, 9).

As these people turn to Jesus and put their faith in him, he responds by washing them clean in his blood and clothing them with the clean, white clothes of righteousness. (In this painting, a strip of red through their white clothes serves as a continual reminder of Jesus’ righteous blood that has saved them).

This image is Reality.

To read the stories of how God saved me and others, see About the Artist and Photographer and Salvation Testimonies.