Recently, Thomas Kinkade died. Both my wife and I were sorry to hear the news; not only because of the loss of a human life but also because we knew what it meant- no more of his wonderful artwork. We have collected what we could of his work, but unfortunately were limited by costliness of it! When I saw this picture, it reminded me of the type of thing he would do and I couldn't help but admire the talent of the artist!!! There is a difference though... I think this picture uses a lot more blue tones than Thomas would. Life is full of things like this: how many times have you met someone, only to realize later that they bore a strong resemblance to someone you knew before. When I think of this, I naturally think of Jesus and his similarity to Moses...
Deuteronomy, Chapter 18
15 Yahweh your God will raise up to you a prophet from your midst, of your brothers, like me. You shall listen to him.
17 Yahweh said to me, “They have well said that which they have spoken. 18 I will raise them up a prophet from among their brothers, like you. I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I shall command him. 19 It shall happen, that whoever will not listen to my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.
Acts, Chapter 7
A35 “This Moses, whom they refused, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’—God has sent him as both a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. 36 This man led them out, having worked wonders and signs in Egypt, in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness for forty years. 37 This is that Moses, who said to the children of Israel, ‘The Lord our God will raise up a prophet for you from among your brothers, like me.’ 38 This is he who was in the assembly in the wilderness with the angel that spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, who received living oracles to give to us, 39 to whom our fathers wouldn’t be obedient, but rejected him, and turned back in their hearts to Egypt
Two witnesses, Moses and Stephen discuss a prophet to be listened to--someone like Moses, someone that the Jews must listen to. Stephen was stoned for his statements because the Jews refused to listen to the truth. I wonder, how many people over the centuries have just plain refused to listen? Refused to accept Jesus' miracles, his teachings and his resurrection. To me, it just doesn't make sense, because thousands of people attested to his miracles and hundreds saw the resurrected Christ. But, people do the oddest things, and sometimes their actions make no sense at all. The picture bears a close resemblance to the work of Kinkade and I rejoice because it means someone out there paints like him. But, far more importantly, Jesus spoke the words of God and was the prophet like unto Moses. And his words contained a message of life. One more thing...I wonder what color Jesus preferred???
ps. If you are receiving this via e-mail, please note that there are Bible studies, sermons and other materials on the blog site; newbiblereflections.blogspot.com. Some of the other contributors are: Mark Copeland, Terry Sturtevant, Jim McGuiggan and Gary Womack. FYI