Art And ScriptureSample

“Your Word | Hammer and Fire”

Notes From Jessica Jones About the Painting:

In this devotion series we combine Art with Bible reading. We would encourage you as the reader to mediate on the art as you do the verses. Art has a way of stirring up questions, depth of meaning, and interpretative elements about Biblical texts that often go overlooked. 

In our culture, we are so overwhelmed by images each and everyday. We’ve lost the ability to understand the gift God gives us through the artist. Artists can make “visible the invisible,” and help us tangibly contemplate Faith (the evidence of things unseen).

Use the artist’s notes below to help you interpret the passage as well as the painting. We pray this study helps you grow in your maturity as a disciple of Christ, but also in your ability to enjoy, revel in, and feast your senses on all of God’s creation—His artwork!

1. God, through Jeremiah, exposes false prophets and their false doctrine.

2. God’s word, the truth, is able to stand against and refute false teachings. Thus it is like:

    - Fire, which burns 

    - A hammer, which smashes the rocks of deception

3. Energy is depicted in the verse through: 

    -Swinging a sledge hammer

    -Pieces of rock erupting from the center

    -Fire (mainly beneath the hammer—where one could imagine friction causing it)

4. The figure-eights symbolize God’s truth and reflect God’s eternality.

5. The Yellow, White, and Gold are associated with various attributes of God such as holiness, glory, beauty, radiance, purity, and perfection.

6. The Gray, Brown, and Green represent sin (more specifically—deception and false teaching).

7. The eternal, perfect, and true Word of God breaks through rock in bursts—overcoming false teachers and their teachings.