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Bezalel Leads

Exodus 38:22

“Now Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made all that the Lord had commanded Moses.”

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Church and Visual Art

Early Christianity to 4^th Century – Christianity was a minority movement, often underground. Christian symbols and images were left by early churches and in houses of Christians.
From the 4^th- 15^th Centuries - During the Medieval period, art was dominated by Christian themes and purposes. The church supervised and funded illuminated Bibles and gothic architecture. Arts taught the Bible to the illiterate, reinforced the Catholic Church’s authority, and “aided” worship.

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Church and Visual Art

3. The Renaissance Shift: The Renaissance revised the humanism of ancient Greeks, understanding that “Man is the measure of all things”. Visual content was mainly Bible, but was shifting. Artists like Michelangelo and da Vinci became well-known, funded by patrons, like the Medicis, more so than the church.

4. The Reformation and Iconoclasm: The Protestant Reformation in 1517 brought a wave of iconoclasm. Reformers thought visual art distracted and even derailed worship. Some Protestants thought religious imagery was idolatrous. They destroyed religious works.

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Church and Visual Art

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Church and Visual Art

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Church and Visual Art

5. Secularization and Insult – By the 19th century art mainly served secular interests of the artist more so than the patrons. Religious art declined. Some artists used their work to satirize the church and biblical ideas.

6. Eastern Orthodoxy: Within the Eastern Orthodox Churches icons are still appreciated and used in veneration.

7. Modern Revival: By the late 20th century, what were acceptable components of worship had broadened so that there was re-birth of the idea that visual arts could be aspects of worship and liturgy.

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Church and Visual Art – Concerns

1. Idolatry - The visual arts create images; and images are easily manipulated into idolatry in thought and/or practice.

2. Appropriateness - There is lack of discernment and a definition of what is appropriate when considering art and worship contexts.

3. Worldview – Currently visual arts are dominated by a secular or actively anti-Christian worldview. Art has suffered a loss of beauty, purposely turning to absurdity and ugliness. Artists enjoy reflecting the disorder, twistedness, and alienation that descends from the Fall.

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Christians Should Consider Art

I. All things are for God and His Glory.

Colossians 1:16 “—all things have been created through Him and for Him.”
Romans 11:36 “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.”
Corinthians 10:31 “Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”

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Christians Should Consider Art

II. Beauty is a godly characteristic.

Psalm 27:4 “One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the Lord And to meditate in His temple.”
Isaiah 33:17 “Your eyes will see the King in His beauty; They will behold a far-distant land.”
Isaiah 4:2 “In that day the Branch of the Lord will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth will be the pride and the adornment of the survivors of Israel.”

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Christians Should Consider Art

II. Beauty is a godly attribute.

Exodus 28:2

“You shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother, for glory and for beauty.”

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Christians Should Consider Art

II. Beauty is a godly attribute.

“For as God is infinitely the greatest Being, so he is allowed to be infinitely the most beautiful and excellent: and all the beauty to be found throughout the whole creation, is but the reflection of the diffused beams of that Being who hath an infinite fullness of brightness and glory.”

- Jonathan Edwards

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Christians Should Consider Art

III. God invests in art.

Judges 15:14

“When he came to Lehi, the Philistines shouted as they met him. And the Spirit of the Lord came upon him mightily so that the ropes that were on his arms were as flax that is burned with fire, and his bonds dropped from his hands.”

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III. God Invests in Art

Bezalel - 31:3 “I have filled him with the Spirit of God in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all kinds of craftsmanship”
Oholiab – Exodus 38:23 “an engraver and a skillful workman and a weaver in blue and in purple and in scarlet material, and fine linen.”
Both - Exodus 36:1 “Lord has put skill and understanding to know how to perform all the work in the construction of the sanctuary”
All - 36:2 “Bezalel and Oholiab and every skillful person in whom the Lord had put skill.”

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Spirit Filled Artisans

Exodus 31:1-11

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Christians Should Consider Art

III. God invests in art.

Exodus 35:34

“He (God) also has put in his (Bezalel’s) heart to teach, both he and Oholiab…”

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Christians Should Consider Art

All things are for God and His Glory.
Beauty is a godly attribute.
God invests in art.
Christians are artisans.

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Christians Should Consider Art

IV. Christians are artisans.

Ephesians 2:10

“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”

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Revelation 18:21–22

“Then a strong angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, “So will Babylon, the great city, be thrown down with violence, and will not be found any longer. And the sound of harpists and musicians and flute-players and trumpeters will not be heard in you any longer; and no craftsman of any craft will be found in you any longer; and the sound of a mill will not be heard in you any longer...”

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Christians Should Consider Art

All things are for God and His Glory.
Beauty is a godly attribute.
God invests in art.
Christians are artisans.