The Host of Heavens

“Who else commands all the hosts of heaven?”

That opening lyric from Only a Holy God by CityAlight stayed with me throughout the creation of this painting. It became the foundation for The Host of Heavens, a work that explores the quiet threshold of divine presence and a the symbolic moment of emerging from the deep waters into light.

Inspired by the natural spiral of a pearl shell, I noticed that when viewed from just the right angle, the shell appeared to bow. That quiet gesture became the beginning of the painting. I imagined the shell slightly revealed by a warm source of light, hidden within the folds of a luminous veil. The veil was once concealed the Holy of Holies, the most sacred place of God's presence in the Old Testament Tabernacle.

After Jesus sacrificed his life, that veil was torn, inviting us to be reunited with our divine God. In the same way in the moment a veil is lifted from a new bride, it is a symbol of an eternal covenant love and an invitation to draw near. I wanted this painting to evoke the experience of approaching Him, where patient attention gives way to encounter.

Painted as the sixth work in the Divine Maps series, The Host of Heavens marks the destination of the journey the earlier paintings begin. The storms quiet, the search gives way to presence, and the invitation becomes beautifully simple: come and behold.