The Dutch painter Rijn van Rembrandt (1609-1669) was truly an awesome artist. I have seen many photographs of his paintings, and I am amazed at his tremendous talent. Rembrandt produced two most interesting self-portraits. The first of these is a painting titled Raising the Cross. It is a great work of art, but the thing most interesting is Rembrandt paints himself as one of those that is raising Christ’s cross to crucify Him. The other self-portrait also involves the crucifixion of Jesus; except in this portrait, titled Descent From the Cross, Rembrandt is one of the individuals that is recovering the body of Jesus for burial.

Rembrandt understood that even though he lived 1600 years after the death of Christ; he was responsible for his crucifixion. Christ died to save sinners and Rembrandt knew he was a sinner in need of a saviour. The second portrait is wonderful, because we see him as a disciple of Christ. Here he is a repentant sinner saved by Jesus’ sacrifice.

I first saw these two paintings in a very good book by Francis Schaeffer titled How Should We Then Live: The Rise an Decline Of Western Thought And Culture. This is a work I highly recommend. It gives a good history of the development of Christian and secular thought, and their consequences for Western culture. It starts with the fall of Rome and comes down to the 1970's. If you have ever wondered how we have developed into a post-Christian culture this is a good book to read.

Rembrandt saw that he stood guilty before the LORD as a sinner, and because he understood his true guilt, he could paint himself as one of Christ executioners. There is no salvation possible unless we see that we to are guilty before God and are in need of a Saviour. If we come to that point, then salvation is possible in our risen Lord.

There is no other means of salvation outside of Christ, and only sinners that know they are guilty can be saved.

Soli Deo Gloria,
Kenith