Ephapax

Acrylic on canvas, handmade paper, metallic foil

Copyright Westminster Church and Ann Curtis.
This image may not be reproduced, copied, transmitted or manipulated in any way.

At the center of God's New Covenant with His people is the Word incarnate, His Son, Jesus, whose shed blood put away sin once for all. "Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sin, then for the people. He sacrificed for their sin once for all when he offered himself" (Hebrews 7:27).

"Our Lord came by water in the sense of communicating a new, pure and purifying life to men; for the Water is the emblem of the new life which springs up within the soul of believers...a life which will flow on forever" (C. H. Spurgeon).

For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be the shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water, and God will wipe every tear from their eye" (Revelation 7:17).

"God put into action, put into one life, all the words he had been saying since the beginning of time. He delivered a promise to present to us his glory and his grace. He now calls us to allow that word to become incarnate in our lives" (J. Pavelko)

The Last Adam

Acrylic on canvas, handmade paper, metallic foil

Copyright Westminster Church and Ann Curtis.
This image may not be reproduced, copied, transmitted or manipulated in any way.

Beneath red pigment within "The Last Adam" is Gutenberg Bible text from 1 Corinthians 15, the heart of Paul's gospel: that Christ died for sins, that he was buried, and that he was raised from the dead. All descendants of Adam will suffer death, but Christ, the last Adam, brings redemption to all who are in him (1 Corinthians 15:45). As God's redeemed people, we will also be raised in glory as joint heirs with Christ.

"But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth. He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ" (2 Thessalonians 2:13-14).

The resurrection is not like anything else we know. As Barbara Brown Taylor said, "The resurrection is the only event in Jesus' life that was entirely between him and God."

We will understand the mystery of the tomb when our resurrected bodies are in union with Christ on that day when the trumpet sounds and death has been swallowed up in victory. The resurrection is a declaration of the triumph of God and a vision of God's promise to us.