The above image is from Revealed: A Storybook Bible for Grown-Ups compiled by Ned Bustard. The Image is called “Intertestamental Angel” and was created by Matthew Clark.
4 The Lord of Heaven’s Armies says, “The day of judgment is coming, burning like a furnace. On that day the arrogant and the wicked will be burned up like straw. They will be consumed—roots, branches, and all.
2 “But for you who fear my name, the Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in his wings. And you will go free, leaping with joy like calves let out to pasture. 3 On the day when I act, you will tread upon the wicked as if they were dust under your feet,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
4 “Remember to obey the Law of Moses, my servant—all the decrees and regulations that I gave him on Mount Sinai for all Israel.
5 “Look, I am sending you the prophet Elijah before the great and dreadful day of the Lord arrives. 6 His preaching will turn the hearts of fathers to their children, and the hearts of children to their fathers. Otherwise I will come and strike the land with a curse.”
Dear God, I was wanting to tap into something more artsy this morning as I prayed to you. I was listening to some secular country music as I showered, and sometimes something in those songs will touch me, but nothing was hitting. Just a lot of sad people in broken relationships. Why do I like those songs so much when I am in a joyous marriage? I don’t know. Perhaps they tap into that insecure boy who grew up listening to them all those years ago. My wife and I have a joke that I like drinking songs, but I don’t drink. It’s a hazy mystery that a therapist could probably help me unlock.
Anyway, I sat down at this desk this morning, and I saw one of my favorite artistic scriptural resources. I found this book years ago at a retreat at Laity Lodge. I have found a lot of value in looking at an artist’s rendition of a Bible story and then looking to see what she or he displayed in their art that I might have missed in my own reading.
So this morning, as I prepare for Advent, I was drawn to this passage and art from Malachi. It’s the last communication the Protestant Bible gives us before John and Jesus will be born 400 years later. First, let me stop and think about that. It was 404 years ago the Puritans landed at Plymouth Rock. So it’s easy to look back over 2,000 to 2,500 years and put 400 years into perspective, but when I zoom in and think of our own time, 400 years ago is 1624 A.D. Four hundred years from now is 2424 A.D. That’s a lot of time to pass between messages from you. I measure time in days, weeks, and months. You measure it in years, decades, and centuries. A thousand years truly is as a day to you! It’s amazing this book from Malachi was even kept and remembered that long.
With all that said, I want to spend a little time preparing for Jesus. Preparing for this Christmas season. The Lent I spent with you in the spring was a special time. Advent should probably be the same.
Matthew Clark’s image of the “Intertestamental Angel” is seemingly pretty simple. Let me see if there is anything remarkable I can pull from his rendition of this story:
- Angels. I forget about angels all of the time. One of the country songs I did hear this morning that made me think about you was “Broken Halos” by Chris Stapleton. He mentioned angels coming down “to help us on our way.” It made me think of the Nancy French book Ghosted: An American Story when she described her in-laws praying for her infant son in the NICU, and asking for an angel to guard him. Later, when he was about three years old, before they had told him about his time in the NICU as an infant, he told her over breakfast about a dream he had of himself in a bubble, alone and reaching for a pacifier that was just out of reach. He was describing her memory of his NICU incubator. But then he said he wasn’t alone. Buzz Lightyear was there…well, not Buzz, but he was big like Buzz. And he was comforting him and telling him he wasn’t alone. The angel was, indeed, there. I just got chills even typing this again. Oh, Father, how I humbly worship you.
- Wings.
- The halo around the angel that a lot of Catholic art uses to represent someone is at least a saint.
- The angel has his arm extended, but we cannot tell if he is pointing, directly, calming.
- Clark has represented the fire of judgment behind the wings. Is the angel’s arm dividing those who go there and those who don’t?
Bustard’s description of the image:
The fires of judgment are burning hotter than in Nebuchadnezzar’s fiery furnace, but the healing wings of the angel are extended to offer protection for those who fear the Lord. This print is one half of a diptych, and with its other half form one work of art to help convey the idea that the Old and New Testaments form one story.
As I read back over the passage, verse 6 is interesting, and I wonder what it really means:
6 His preaching will turn the hearts of fathers to their children, and the hearts of children to their fathers. Otherwise I will come and strike the land with a curse.”
This could be as simple as familial parents and children, but this feels more generational to me in this context. Respecting the faith and life of those who came before me in the faith. Living my life so that I might use it for what you need the future generations to have from it.
Father, Advent is coming. Jesus is coming. Prepare my heart for it this season. Fill me with love. Fill me with joy. Fill me with celebration. There is so much to do over the next six weeks. It is my busiest season at work. But it is also my biggest opportunity to love others well. To let your love flow through me. Help me to do that, oh, Lord! Help me to love you well.
I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,
Amen
Emails to God 