EAST, WEST, NORTH & SOUTH AT HIS TABLE

We are all foreigners until we are adopted into God’s kingdom as His children, gathering from the four corners of the earth.

The central light depicted in my work represents a Table laid out in the Universe, alluding to the presence of God in all of His creation and an invitation to all. Extending from and returning to this central light are four differently colored ribbons which represent the Holy Spirit. I chose this coloration after drawing upon the colors of a diamond as described in Revelation 4. In my work, the colors of blue and purple symbolize God the Father (informed by His instructions given to the priesthood in Exodus 28:15) while the orange-to-red color refers to the Son of God. This reddish color connects to the pigment of the Sardis** stone, also depicted in Revelation 21:20 by the apostle John. (My piece is further inspired by a similar allusion of all nations coming to God as seen in Isaiah 2:2.)

The visual reference to an urban landscape is banked by strips that sample various foreign languages, again pointing to the expansive and diverse nature of God’s children whom He gathers at this feast in His kingdom. Encircling the ‘table’ is an orb that refers to eternity — a reflection on the nature and being of God, the permanence of our adoption, and the extension of celebration at God’s table.

** In various translations, sardis is alternatively referred to as a carnelian or a ruby. In the Old Testament, Carnelian is the stone in the breastplate of the high priest, as described in Ex. 28:15-20. The New Testament translation of Carnelian is Sardis (or Sardius), as described in Revelation 21:20. “Ruby” is often translated from either of these two gemstones. While the sardis stone has a bit of a different coloration from a ruby — yellow to orange as opposed to red — their hardness is the same and are considered the same stone according to gem experts.