Me? A Sculptor?

When I was ten years old, I got to see Michelangelo's marvelous sculpture David in person. What an amazing statue! Stunning in it's size and beauty, and unlike anything else I've ever seen. Except all the replicas running around this planet. Come to think of it, those are nothing like the real thing, either.

N. T. Wright says an implication of Paul's resurrection theology is that in the new creation--the new heavens and the new earth--nothing good that we've done in this age will be wasted. Everything just, righteous, and beautiful will somehow get included. Still trying to wrap my mind around that.

If you care to join me on a speculative adventure, think about this with me. Evangelism makes sense: everyone introduced to the glory of our good, servant King Jesus, who chooses into his Kingdom, will be there.

Relationships make sense, too. If you and I will both live forever on the new planet, any reconciling and trust-building we do here would naturally carry over in our relationship, right? Anything we don't reconcile will have to be worked through somehow, I imagine.

But what about everything else? Works of art, for example? A great worship song makes sense to me. Why wouldn't we sing the great pieces from Handel's Messiah for all eternity? I never grow weary of it here ,and I can't imagine I would in a couple thousand years. The contemporary hymn In Christ Alone strikes me as similar. Maybe you'll write a great worship song that will stand the test of the ages.

But Michelangelo's David and his Pieta, which I think I could also gaze at frequently for millions of years, surely won't make it through the great fire, will they? Does that mean Matt Redman's art will last, but Michelangelo's won't? Something about that struck me funny . . . 

Recently a new idea dawned in my head. The statues won't be on the new earth, but Michelangelo himself will be there! I doubt he'll recreate David, but can you imagine the glory of the planet after Michelangelo's been sculpting and painting for a thousand years? I'm sure he can bring not only his talent but also all the experience that came out of creating the great pieces we have in this present age into the ages to come.

The new world is starting to sound better and better to me. (I may even see if I can sign up for a master class with him . . . after I take a hundred years to get down the basics of sculpture! :-)