Seeing In The Dark

In Genesis Light is created before the sun.

Genesis 1:3 “Let there be light …”

Genesis 1:14 “… let lights appear in the sky …”

Diogenes walked around Athens in full daylight with a lamp ‘looking for an honest man’. Enlightenment surpasses the importance of sunlight.

In verse 3 the word for light is ‘owr’ that means enlightenment and is associated with joy and good. In verse 14 the word used is ‘maorot’ that is an object that emits physical light and the root of Meteor.

The Feast of Tabernacles is the Jewish commemoration of the 40 years of exodus in the desert led by a pillar of fire at night and a lighted cloud in the daytime. “…at the end of the first day of the Feast, the Temple was gloriously illuminated. According to the Mishnah (part of the oral tradition of the rabbis), gigantic candelabras stood within the court of the women. Each of the four golden candelabras is said to have been … about 15 metres tall! Each candelabra had four branches, and at the top of every branch there was a large bowl. Four young men bearing … pitchers of oil would climb ladders to fill the four golden bowls on each candelabra. And then the oil in those bowls was ignited” [1].

And Jesus chose this event to say He was the light of the world. God says in Isaiah 42:

“Here is My servant, whom I uphold, My chosen one in whom I delight … I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness”. Isaiah(42:1, 6-7).

And in Isaiah 49 God says:

“It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob (Israel) and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.” (Isaiah 49:6)

This is why the painting “Light of the World” has such significance for Christians.

William Holman Hunt painted the “Light of the World” twice; the original, painted as a young man, is hung in Keble College, Oxford, UK; and the second life size version, painted as an old man, is hung in St Paul’s Cathedral, London. The paintings do not focus on the Messianic importance of Jesus’ statement, but on what it means for us at the individual level: to be of benefit to us we have to open the door and follow the Light.

The door has no handle and can only be opened from the inside.

Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me. Revelation 3:20.

Jesus takes up the whole centre of the painting with two crowns; the crown of glory and the crown of thorns. His face is sorrowful; how long will He have to knock?

The brambles at the door represent vice and sloth and have taken over the garden because of neglect. Fruit has fallen and remains neglected.

The lamp’s light falls upon the door, brambles and fallen fruit, and the dawn is rising. If the door was opened there is no doubt that the light would be “a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path” (Psalm 119:105), and the owner would hear “the night is far spent; the day is at hand” (Romans 13:12).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diogenes_of_Sinope: Diogenes searches for an honest man. Painting attributed to J. H. W. Tischbein (c. 1780). Source 1 Source 2 Source 3 1. http://www1.cbn.com/biblestudy/finding-jesus-in-the-feast-of-tabernacles

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ARTISTIC NOTES

The Painting

The original painting hangs in the Side-Chapel of Keble College, Oxford, England. It is recorded as being painted in 1853 and took over 8 years in preparation. source

“One of the reasons for this length of time was his desire to perfect the dawn, and this he did not succeed in doing until he took the picture with him to the Middle East and found the perfect dawn outside Bethlehem. When he was nearly 70 years old, he painted a replica which hangs in St Paul’s Cathedral, London. The replica is very much larger than the original, but the colouring and details are not so perfect”. source The version which is found in St. Paul’s, was painted in Hunt’s old age. His eyesight was failing and he was helped by pupil, Edward Hughe. source

Figure of Jesus

Painted in the Victorian style with a white European appearance. “Artists around the world tend to depict Jesus as being the same race as themselves, and it is not uncommon to find pictures showing Jesus as black in Africa, Asian in India, or Oriental in China. It would be a mistake to think that Christians today really think of Jesus as being of one particular race; it is more a question of what is familiar to them”. source

Crown of thorns

“Hunt’s travelled in the Holy Land led him to paint a particular kind of thorn. The spikes were around 10cm long and were used by Roman soldiers to light fires. They would have been roughly twisted together and pushed firmly onto Jesus’ head”. source

Jesus’ expression

“Hunt painted Jesus’ expression as one of great patience. He does not show anger or fatigue, but waits quietly for the door to be opened. The eyes seem to look directly at you wherever you stand …”. source

Jesus’ hands

“Jesus’ hands show the marks of the nails which were hammered through them when he was hung on the cross. Modern medical research has found that this method would not have been able to support the weight of the body and that the nails would probably have been hammered through the wrists”. source

Jesus’ feet

Jesus’ feet are “turned sideways away from the door. The meaning of this is that he has been knocking at the door for a very long time and now is preparing to go. The implication is that it is almost too late to open the door and admit Jesus into our lives”. source

Priestly robe and clasp

“Jesus is wearing a long white robe, like that worn by the High Priest in Jewish tradition. He is also wearing a clasp on his cloak that resembles the breastplate worn by the High Priest. In the time before the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, once a year, the High Priest performed a sacrifice for the sins of the people. Christians consider Jesus’ death a sacrifice for the sins of all people, once and for all, and sometimes refer to Jesus as the Great High Priest. (Hebrews 7)”. source

Sky

The dark wood in the background

“In the painting, Jesus is standing in a wood at the end of the day. Anyone who has been in a wood in the dark will know what a sinister place it can be. The dark wood symbolises our life, which can be mysterious and terrifying. The fact that Jesus, the Light of the World, is there with us is intended to be a comforting thought. However, the implication in the painting is that Jesus has been standing there, knocking on the door, throughout the day. Night is almost here and time is running out to open the door.” source

The door

“The door represents the door of our lives. Jesus knocks on the door, and waits patiently for us to open it up. Crucial to the painting is that the door has no handle. The only way for it to be opened is from the inside. A person who hears Jesus’ message needs to accept it and open their life to admit him. The words from Revelation 3:20 written beneath the picture read, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and sup with him and he with me” inspired Hunt’s painting.” source

Weeds around the door

“The dense growth of plants around the door symbolise sin. They stop the door from being opened, just as sins often distract people from following Christ. Many of the weeds are dead and dying, indicating that life without Jesus is no life at all.” source

Lantern

“All the light in the painting comes from the lantern held in Jesus’ left hand. This serves to explain the meaning of the painting’s title. Jesus declared, “I am the Light of the World” (John 8:14). “I am” is a phrase that recalls Jesus’ divinity (when Moses asked God whom he should say had sent him to free the slaves, He replies, “Tell them ‘I am’ has sent you”). (Exodus 3:14) As the Light of the World, Jesus gives life, just as the Sun gives life to the world. He also leads his followers through the dark and difficult times of our lives, providing guidance and hope. A careful study of the lantern will reveal that there are little holes in the top. These are six pointed stars and crescent moons, the symbols for Judaism and Islam. This symbolises that Christians believe that Jesus is the Light for all people, and knocks at everyone’s door. Muslims revere Jesus (Isa) as an important prophet, although do not consider him to be divine”. source

Fruit

“The fruit, fallen on the ground, is rotten and has been discarded. This symbolises how some people treat Jesus’ invitation. Like the weeds around the door, it is a symbol of desolation and decay, which accompanies a life lived without the Light of the World. “ source

What the artist said:

The figure of Jesus

William Holman Hunt painted the figure to ‘emphasize solidity and mass because he wanted to avoid the implications of conventional religious art: “In England you know spiritual figures are painted as if in vapour. I had a further reason for making the figure more solid than I should have otherwise done in the fact that it is the Christ that is alive for ever more. He was to be firmly and substantially there waiting for the stirring of the sleeping soul”. source

Lighting

Hunt said that the figure of Christ was “to be seen only by the light of the star of distant dawn behind, and of some moonlight in front with most of all the light “to guide us in dark places” coming from the lantern. source

Other

The closed door was the obstinately shut mind, the weeds the cumber of daily neglect, the accumulated hindrances of sloth; the orchard the garden of delectable fruit for the dainty feast of the soul. The music of the still small voice was the summons to the sluggard to awaken and become a zealous labourer under the Divine Master; the bat flitting about only in darkness was a natural symbol of ignorance; the kingly and priestly dress of Christ, the sign of His reign over the body and the soul, to them who could give their allegiance to Him and acknowledge God’s overrule. In making it a night scene, lit mainly by the lantern carried by Christ, I had followed metaphorical explanation in the Psalms, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path,’ with also the accordant allusions by St. Paul to the sleeping soul, “The night is far spent, the day is at hand.” source