Jesus: Master Artisan
Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedWe began this series
by looking at Genesis 1:26:
we are created in the Image of God.
And then we explored the vision in Zechariah 1:18-2:5,
of the army of Charashim
who rise up and win a global psychological war.
We looked at Bezalel
who is the definition of the "charash"
the Artisan,
and we connected Genesis 1:26
to his name, and also connected the
mission of the artist and artisan to the
original call to the be the Image of God in the earth.
Last week we talked about Mary,
and how she became the Ark in the New Covenant,
and that calling as artists and creative people
is to make the word flesh and be an ark of the testimony
in this world.
And now we come to Jesus,
the Master Artisan.
Nancy is reading Michael Heiser's book,
The Unseen Realm.
We discuss a lot of what she is reading,
and it is like being in a master's seminar.
Dr. Heiser came upon a few keys in his studies
that seemed to unlock
an understanding of the supernatural worldview
of the Hebrew Bible.
And once he saw it,
he began to see it everywhere
and he began to realize we are missing a lot of what the Bible
is trying to tell us.
One of the key ideas that he presents,
is that words in the Hebrew
carry with them
a collected meaning and understanding
that are more than just the definition of the word.
And he discovered that these concepts
and ideas
from the ancient world
were carried right up through the New Testament.
So a word in the Bible is more than a word.
It is a "package" that contains the accumulated meaning
of a word over time.
I mentioned a few weeks ago
that there was this place in Ancient Israel
called
"Ge-Charishim"
the Valley of the Artisans.
It is the place where
the articles for the temple were produced.
And because that name appears in I Chronicles 4:14,
with a definition,
we can trace that word into the New Testament Greek,
from the Greek translation of the Old Testament.
They use a variation of the word tekton.
This is the word that is used in Matthew 13:55
in reference to Jesus being the "son of the carpenter."
"Tekton" is the word translated carpenter.
Last week I had an experience I have now had many times.
Any time I do research on an idea
or a Biblical word or concept
related to art and artists
I go to the library,
I look up the my topic,
and there is nothing.
So I looked up this word in the Theological Dictionary of the New Testament,
and there was nothing.
And so,
I had to look elsewhere,
and I turned to the Cambridge Greek Lexicon,
And I found something really interesting.
The first entry for tekton and all it's variations is carpenter,
joiner, or crafter in wood.
Then it goes on to say,
in the second entry,
to craft,
fashion,
or create.
A tekton
is "skilled worker in other materials"
a craftsman,
a creator,
an author,
or an architect.
These descriptions are similar to Bezalel,
and the idea of the artisan in the Bible.
Jesus was a lot more
than a carpenter.
And if we follow this idea
from the old testament into the gospels
we find that Jesus is a master with words
and stories,
and images.
And he tells us
he is going away to prepare a place for us.
And this is the city described in Hebrews 11.
Abraham was looking for a city whose
Master Craftsman,
was God.
Jesus is the builder of the city.
And if we go to the end of Revelation,
we see the holy city,
the New Jerusalem,
coming down out of heaven.
In Exodus 35
Bezalel is given the ability
to etch names on stones.
And the city is has foundations
with names etched on stones.
Bezalel is given the ability to be a goldsmith
and the city is made of gold.
Jesus is the Master Artisan.
He is the Author of Beauty.
He is more than a carpenter,
and is the Creator Incarnate.
We have been having a lot of interesting conversations
around this book
The Unseen Realm.
And one of the core ideas
is that we are in a cosmic battle,
between unseen forces in rebellion against God,
and the Kingdom of God,
Jesus,
and a new creation,
redeemed humanity.
This call to raise up artists and creative people
is the call raise up little creators.
It is the call to raise up little images of God.
It is the call to raise up Master copies of the Icon of the Father.
We are the Image of God in the earth,
and Jesus is the true image of the Father.
We are to become like him.
And when someone does,
there is a battle.
Very few people do get to go to Rome, London, and New York.
Even fewer get to do that in two weeks.
I have been trying to digest it all,
and I think God is saying one thing:
"you are thinking too small."
This calling is part of the nature
of who Jesus is as a person.
This ministry is part of building a restored creation.
We need a big vision
of the cosmic battle between
light and dark,
and the critical role
the artist plays
in the victory ahead.
Lord help us see all that has been hidden.
Help us see everything the enemy doesn't want us to see.
Help us be in the right place at the right time
and help us have a vision, and the ability
to be a part of this mission
to build the city of God.
Amen.
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