Let Us Adore Him

Have you seen this painting by Joni before? It is one of the paintings used for this year’s Joni and Friends Christmas cards. Sometimes when you study a painting, it is important to ask why the artist chose to show something the way she did. And in this painting, that is a good question to ask about the angel. In the Bible, we read about Michael and Gabriel who are archangels. And the Bible says “he” and “him” when it mentions these leaders of the angels. So why does Joni make this angel look like a lady angel? The Bible doesn’t say a whole lot about what all angels look like. The cherubim and seraphim are described a little bit, but there isn’t any clear description of angels who are sometimes called “mighty ones”, “his heavenly hosts,” or “ministering spirits” (Psalm 103:20-21; Hebrews 1:14).

So Joni decided to make this angel look more like how angels have been pictured in art for a long time. If Joni had decided to use an image of an archangel as they are described in the Bible, it would have been easy to think this painting was all about the mighty angel.

And that is not what this painting is about! If we don’t get too distracted thinking about how the angel looks, where does our attention go? It goes where the angel and shepherd boys are looking… it goes to where baby Jesus must be in the manger. And that is where Joni wants to direct our attention… to Jesus!

–Joni Eareckson Tada