Craft Theology
I was invited to a baby shower not too long ago in which all the attendees were assigned a letter to bring along with a usual shower gift. Evidently it is a new thing to have the alphabet on your baby's wall in all different styles, colors and fonts. So this was the idea. If you know me very well, you know that my creations very often have a deeper meaning than what you just see on the surface. So when I was assigned the letter "M", I thought; "Messiah - I could print out all the verses in the Bible that contain Messiah, over and over until I've covered the letter." Well, when I went to research those verses, in the version that I use and that my friend uses there were only two verses!! So I then wondered if there were any names of God in the Old Testament (you know the Jehovah something names like Jireh and Rapha) that started with an M. So I searched and there is - Jehovah Mekoddishkem or the variant spelling that I went with Jehovah M'kaddesh which means The Lord who sets you apart.
I had already been looking for a font for Messiah that was both royal/heavenly and earthly and decided that I still wanted this for Jehovah M'kaddesh. I really couldn't find anything that fit what I was imagining so I drew one myself.
Then made a pattern out of part of a large shoebox.
Each vertical side of the M is in blue, representing Heaven. The Triune God, Jehovah M'kaddesh sits enthroned there. Jesus was there before He descended to earth to do the work it would take so that we could be set apart. He ascended, returning to Heaven, after speaking to many following His death, burial and resurrection. These two sides also are topped with crowns because He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. The center piece is brown to represent His time spent on the earth and in the shape of a cross because this is the work that He did so that we could be set apart, to be Holy, chosen and members of His forever family.
I printed up, cut out and placed this name of God and it's meaning in several places on the M.
This is the finished M, at least on one side.
Deciding that it needed to be sturdier and then ended up deciding to make it reversible and doing Messiah for the other side. So I used the original pattern for the back side. I cut up a leather-like purse/bag that I had just replaced to cover this part of the M.
I used the brown straps and strips of brown off the bag itself to cover the M using the red side of the pattern from the shoe box - gluing a few strips at a time and them using chip clips and clothespins to hold them down.
I did this to the entire M leaving gaps between the leather strips so that the red color showed through. (Sadly, I didn't take a picture of the finished product before giving it away.) These strips of 'leather' and gaps of red represented to me the lashes that Jesus, the Messiah suffered on our behalf. The red representing His flesh that was torn and His blood that was shed. The leather strips representing the whip that was used to inflict this torture.
Messiah means "the anointed". He was the promised one from the Old Testament. Anointing is one way in which people were "set apart". We are, as we come to Jesus the Messiah, Jehovah M'kaddesh, set apart as we are anointed by the covering of His blood so that we can be washed white as snow. The Bible says: "Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins."
"But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant. For where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established. For a will takes effect only at death, since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive. Therefore not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood. For when every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, saying, "This is the blood of the covenant that God commanded for you." And in the same way he sprinkled with the blood both the tent and all the vessels used in worship. ... Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him." - Hebrews 9:11-21, 23-28 ESV
O Lord Jesus, Jehovah M'kaddesh, my Messiah thank You so much that You endured the cross for the prize set before You. Thank You that we are part of that prize, the redemption of Your cherished believers. Thank You that You endured life on this planet so filled with sin and pain and temptation and evil, experiencing all of those thing so that You are a high priest who is not unfamiliar with our pain but You have walked where we have walked. You know us not because of walking here but because You made us and know we are but dust. Thank You for loving us enough to give up heaven and more so that You could be Immanuel - God with us! And our Messiah, Saviour and Lord. Thank You that You were willing to be beaten and spat upon and mocked and tried and hung for what we have done that we might have forgiveness and eternal life that comes in knowing You. Thank You! You are worthy! Please, help me - help us to honor You, to love You as You have first loved us. In Your precious, holy and righteous name, Amen
I had already been looking for a font for Messiah that was both royal/heavenly and earthly and decided that I still wanted this for Jehovah M'kaddesh. I really couldn't find anything that fit what I was imagining so I drew one myself.
Traced this onto and cut out of a piece of cardboard box.
After much searching, thinking and yes even praying I decided on what and how to cover the M for M'kaddesh.
I printed up, cut out and placed this name of God and it's meaning in several places on the M.This is the finished M, at least on one side.
Deciding that it needed to be sturdier and then ended up deciding to make it reversible and doing Messiah for the other side. So I used the original pattern for the back side. I cut up a leather-like purse/bag that I had just replaced to cover this part of the M.
I used the brown straps and strips of brown off the bag itself to cover the M using the red side of the pattern from the shoe box - gluing a few strips at a time and them using chip clips and clothespins to hold them down.
Messiah means "the anointed". He was the promised one from the Old Testament. Anointing is one way in which people were "set apart". We are, as we come to Jesus the Messiah, Jehovah M'kaddesh, set apart as we are anointed by the covering of His blood so that we can be washed white as snow. The Bible says: "Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins."
"But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant. For where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established. For a will takes effect only at death, since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive. Therefore not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood. For when every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, saying, "This is the blood of the covenant that God commanded for you." And in the same way he sprinkled with the blood both the tent and all the vessels used in worship. ... Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him." - Hebrews 9:11-21, 23-28 ESV
O Lord Jesus, Jehovah M'kaddesh, my Messiah thank You so much that You endured the cross for the prize set before You. Thank You that we are part of that prize, the redemption of Your cherished believers. Thank You that You endured life on this planet so filled with sin and pain and temptation and evil, experiencing all of those thing so that You are a high priest who is not unfamiliar with our pain but You have walked where we have walked. You know us not because of walking here but because You made us and know we are but dust. Thank You for loving us enough to give up heaven and more so that You could be Immanuel - God with us! And our Messiah, Saviour and Lord. Thank You that You were willing to be beaten and spat upon and mocked and tried and hung for what we have done that we might have forgiveness and eternal life that comes in knowing You. Thank You! You are worthy! Please, help me - help us to honor You, to love You as You have first loved us. In Your precious, holy and righteous name, Amen
Super cool, Mom!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much, Kayla!!
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