Consuming Fire – Acrylic Painting

This is my second large-scale painting. It is the same size as the last one – 120 x 100 cm (48 x 40 in) on a deep edge canvas.

Two rows of poplar tress draw our eyes toward a very bright light in the middle that turns out to be a fire. Those trees that are closest to the fire are burning, but are not consumed. In the light of the fire the skyline of a city is visible and seems to float above the ground. It is the skyline of Jerusalem. Or maybe it is the heavenly Jerusalem?

One description of Yahweh, the God of the Bible, is “Consuming Fire”:

For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.
Deut 4:24

This is also the title of the painting. In God’s presence, there is no room for anything that is sinful. God’s fire consumes anything that is not holy. On the other hand, when God appears to Moses in the desert, the flames of fire seem to burn in a thorn bush but without consuming it. (Ex 3)

 

This painting is presently exhibited at the Atrium in Bad Schallerbach.