This is another piece from acrylic painter Ross Conklin titled, "The New Jerusalem."
For this piece, Ross, who has spent much of his life as a musician as well, draws from the old slavery spiritual, "Goin' to that Beautiful City." He shows us the new Heaven and new Earth coming down from heaven, referred to in Revelation 21, then also refers to Isaiah 12, a song of praise looking forward to the new Jerusalem.
Another reference that Ross uses for this piece is Ecclesiastes 12:5,
"When men are afraid of heights
and of dangers in the streets;
when the almond tree blossoms
and the grasshopper drags himself along
and desire no longer is stirred.
Then man goes to his eternal home
and mourners go about the streets."
Ross points out that believers will be welcomed in the New Jerusalem with 2 Peter 1:11, which says,"And you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."Echoing the sentiment, Ephesians 2:19 says, "Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household."
Finally, Ross refers to Revelation 22: 14-17, which points out that all who invite Christ into their lives will be invited into the New Jerusalem. "Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral,the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.
'I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.'
The Spirit and the bride say, 'Come!' And let him who hears say, 'Come!' Whoever is thirsty, let him come, and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life."
This is one of the pages from my "Visions of Heaven" altered book. The image is a refelction of the heavens over our head, in a reference to the idea that we can only "see" heaven as though in a poor reflection, found at the end of 1 Corinithians 13 and then is paired with a verse, Isaiah 65:17, "Look! I am creating a new heavens and a new earth, and no one will even think about the old ones anymore." In this verse, God is telling us that he will make heaven and earth new again.
On this next page, I again use a verse that refers to the new heavens and new earth, but this time from the New Testament. "We are looking forward to the new heaven and new earth he has promised, a world filled with God's righteousness." 2 Peter 3:13 This verse also refers back to the promises of a new earth made in Isaiah. The image I used, like all of the images in this book, is a Polaroid transfer, which comes from a color slide, but results in a stylized vision of what was photographed. In the same way, the new earth we are promised will be recognizable as our earth, but a new a wonderful vision of what it is now.
