Bezalel: Image of God
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.
Member discussion