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# Bezalel: Image of God
- URL: https://www.belonging.house/bezalel-image-of-god/
- Published: 2025-08-12T08:54:17.000Z
- Updated: 2026-07-25T00:50:24.000Z
- Description: More on the B'tzelem Elohim
- Author: Christ John Otto
- Tags: bible, Bezalel, Holy Spirit, blessings, Podcast, #Migrated-1784940061448, #Import 2026-07-25 00:49

Bezalel: Image of God

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*This week I continue the series on The Image of God, part of our “big ideas for artists.” I do not put my Substack behind a paywall, so if my work has helped you, consider buying a coffee at buymeacoffee.com/christjohnotto or support our community, Belonging House at https://belonginghouse.betterworld.org Thanks.*

Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedWe are now into the third in a series on the Image of God.  
This idea finds its root in   
Genesis 1:26:  
"in the Image of God he created them."  
In Hebrew,  
this phrase is "B'Tzelem Elohim."  
  
Many years ago  
I heard an amazing teaching  
from Rabbi David Fohrman.  
Sometimes it is really good to   
get the Jewish perspective.  
Especially when we talk about the arts,  
because the arts have become a weapon  
in this family feud in the Christian Church.  
  
I have stolen an idea from Rabbi Fohrman   
and don't give him enough credit,  
because this little ten minute video he made  
revolutionized my thinking.  
And more than that,  
he connected a few dots  
and helped me understand why   
what we do with artists and creative people  
is not a fringe ministry,  
but rather deeply connected to the center of the   
mission of God on earth.  
  
If you pay attention,  
you can tell when a ministry or church  
believes that what they do is essential   
and life or death,  
or a form of religious entertainment and activity.  
A lot of what we see in church  
is not serious  
and nobody really believes that on the day of judgement  
that what they have been doing for Jesus   
really will be judged.  
If they did,  
they would do things very differently.  
  
What I am going to tell you today  
is life and death,  
and I hope you have seen from my life choices,  
that I believe I have to stand before Jesus  
with all of it.  
  
And to steal a line from Rabbi Fohrman:  
Before the beginning,  
there was   
God.  
  
And God wanted to be in a loving relationship.  
Because the God of the Bible is love.  
The God of the Bible is the Most Relational Being in the Universe.  
This is what God is.  
Love.  
God is relationship.  
Wherever you see severed relationships  
you are not looking at the work of God.  
  
So God wanted someone who could love him.  
And that requires a dangerous risk.  
Love, by nature,  
requires a choice.  
No choice,  
no love.  
And so God created a place  
like a womb  
in the universe  
where he could make someone who could love him.  
He created a world,  
and created   
B'Tzelem Elohim.  
Beings who could be "the Image of God"  
in the earth.  
They would be like God.  
And they would be "little creators."  
They were made to create,  
be fruitful and multiply.  
And as we know  
they did not stand in the place of God for long,  
and they didn't return their love to God.  
The risk that God took  
failed.  
  
Yes, this is a logical problem for religious systems,  
but not for the Bible.  
Because this is all about RELATIONSHIP,  
not philosophy or logic.  
And the core of this relationship  
is creativity:  
Be fruitful and multiply.  
The God of the Bible is the most patient being in the universe.  
So God,  
who is outside of time  
has no problem with delay and disappointment.  
  
Over generations  
and centuries,  
God was looking for the ones who love him.  
And he found one.  
Abraham.  
And then Abraham had children.  
And God promised those children  
that they would be a great nation.  
And this is how God does things:  
he made them a great nation by sending them into slavery.  
  
And then God   
with a strong arm  
and a mighty hand  
brought them out from there  
with signs wonders and miracles,  
and made them his own people.  
  
God chose Moses to be his instrument  
in leading the people to freedom,  
and once they were free,  
the Lord invited Moses  
up into a cloud  
to give instruction for what was next.  
  
When God saves us,  
he saves us for something.  
A lot of people get saved into a blank.  
The Kingdom is all about becoming.  
And God saved Israel for something.  
  
God showed Moses   
heaven.  
And he showed him a pattern  
of what he wanted to do on earth.  
He gave Moses   
holidays,  
and customs,  
and things that would make a culture.  
God wanted a people  
who would mirror on earth  
the culture of heaven  
and they would move around  
and be a witness to that culture  
for all the nations of the world  
that would encounter them.  
And he told them that they were going to a land  
flowing with milk and honey  
and that land would be at the crossroad  
of every major trade route on earth.  
And they were to welcome the stranger  
and show them this culture.  
And at the heart of the his culture  
would be a tent.  
And that tent would be a shadow of heaven.  
And it would be full of gold.  
And it would contain   
bread that would sit as a sign of the Presence.  
And it would hold a candlestick with the seven lamps.  
And in the holiest place of all  
it would contain an ark,  
a place where the glory would rest.  
In a cryptic way,  
we see the Holy Trinity,  
Father on the throne,  
Jesus in the Bread,  
and the Holy Spirit in the lamp.  
  
And God says to Moses  
you can't do this.  
But don't worry,  
because I have called Bezalel,  
of the tribe of Judah,  
the son of Uri, the grandson of Hur.  
And I have filled him with the Holy Spirit.  
  
And this is where things get interesting.  
God is providing for Moses' need,  
to build this Tabernacle.  
And he tells Moses that he has already called Bezalel.  
So Bezalel,  
down in the camp,  
while they are making a golden calf  
is being called to create the model of Heaven on earth.  
  
But the most interesting thing of all  
is this:  
the name.  
If you read commentaries  
it will say "Shadow of God."  
And yes,  
it first glance it does mean that.  
But not like in Psalm 91 where we are in the shade of the Almighty.  
Here shadow means  
the shape of something reflected on the ground.  
B'Tzelem.  
In the Image.  
And of course,  
anytime you see "el" at the end of a Hebrew name,  
you know we are looking at a name about God.  
This name  
is Genesis 1:26.  
In the Image of God.  
Bezalel.  
So what is this man supposed to do?  
He is supposed to fulfill the original plan,  
only moreso.  
He is supposed to create a model of heaven on earth,  
in the middle of a desert,  
and be fruitful  
and multiply   
by training up others like himself.  
  
The Tabernacle  
is a mirror of Eden,  
guarded by Cherubim  
and Bezalel  
is a new Adam  
building order in the wilderness.  
He is the Master Charashim, the Artisan.  
And he is supposed to lead others  
and over see others,  
and create a generation  
of Images of God.  
And he cannot do this naturally,  
he can only do it with supernatural strength.  
And so Bezalel is the only person  
in the entire Hebrew Bible  
other than Adam  
who is filled  
from the inside out,  
with the spirit of God.  
  
The Holy Spirit comes upon every other figure,  
and helps them complete a task  
and then withdraws.  
Bezalel is filled,  
and imparts that spirit to others.  
  
This artist  
is the living embodiment of the original   
plan  
and a model of the apostle  
who lays the foundation  
and then disciples others.  
He is the Image  
the Icon,  
and then he asks others to copy him.  
And what is he copying?  
He is copying what Moses saw in heaven.  
  
Come Kingdom of God,  
be done will of God.  
Come place where the glory dwells,  
be done healing of the nations.  
All from a tent.  
Bezalel  
is the greatest example of the little creator,  
and as I have shared,  
his human job was master artisan.  
  
No one can deny   
when someone creates   
heaven on earth.  
  
And of course,  
Bezalel  
is a sign and wonder  
and picture of Jesus  
the Master Artisan   
preparing a place for his Kingdom on Earth.  
  
Your art and creativity  
is not frosting on the cake of religious program.  
I have grown bored with the Christian arts ministries  
who are operating out of a secular grid.  
Your job  
as an artist or creative person  
is to be a disciple of Jesus  
and build heaven on earth out of your work.  
Everything out of your life  
and out of your work  
is intended to be a sacrament.  
And when you do this  
you become like Bezalel,  
a B'Tzelem Elohim.  
A little creator,  
acting in the Image of God.  
  
“The only really effective apologia for Christianity comes down to two arguments, namely the saints the Church has produced and the art which has grown in her womb.”  
  
“Better witness is borne to the Lord by the splendor of holiness and art which have arisen in the community of believers than by clever excuses which apologetics has come up with to justify the dark sides which, sadly, are so frequent in the Church’s human history.”  
  
“No. Christians must not be too easily satisfied. They must make their Church into a place where beauty—and hence truth—is at home. Without this the world will become the first circle of hell”  
  
Pope Benedict XVI speaking as Cardinal Ratzinger in The Ratzinger Report (p.129-130)  
  
God's first direction  
was to build a place of beauty  
for no other purpose  
than to be in his presence.  
And out of this Presence  
and Beauty  
God was going to reconquer the earth  
with a bunch of lovers.  
  
God is the most relational being in the universe.  
God is the most creative being in the Universe.  
God is the most lavish being in the universe.  
  
Next week we will look at how this literally was "fleshed out"  
through the Virgin Mary.