You find yourself in a dark cave. It is temperate but very dark. You hear dripping around you as you grasp the walls beside you and walk step-by-step forward toward a dim light. As you come around a bend in the cave, the light gets brighter — it is a warm, golden light emanating from a large opening in the cavern wall. As you step through the opening the whole cave opens up to an epic underground expanse where there is an ancient city covered in gold that seems to be waiting here for you to discover it. There are cracks in the rock ceiling, streaming in sunlight and there are bushes, trees and vines strewn about these ancient ruins. Birds––somehow been able to get in––are flying back and forth happily through the beams of sunlight and the flora. The light from the gold of the city walls seem to gleam. It is as if you have unearthed a mystery as old as time itself… and it is all yours to discover.
There is something about the “ancient” that is incredibly intriguing. The ancient seems both distant and present, it seems to be full of mystery and power, it seems to speak of a story long forgotten but still seared in our memories, it seems to carry its own “magic” for lack of a better term, and it seems like the bedrock for all things that have come into creation since. It is one of the reasons I love the Lord’s name “The Ancient of Days.” He is foundational and strong, He is the bedrock on which everything else rests, He is full of mystery and power, He is seared into our long-forgotten memories, He carries his own glorious, powerful, unbridled “magic,” as it were. The ancient seems like a treasure chest that we are supposed to search for and find the key and then… unlock the mysteries of time and the time before time.
If you read the bible from start to finish beginning with Genesis (the most ancient of the books of the Bible), you will find that we know three attributes of God––He speaks, He creates, and He calls things good. In His book “Imagine That!” my good friend Manuel Luz says that God being a creator is “…not just what he does; it is more precisely who he is.” (Luz, Chapter 1) When we discuss the person of God the attributes of Jesus come to mind—love, hope, servant, son, Savior—all of which are true. However, if you were a skeptic or new to the faith and you picked up a Bible, you would most likely start where every good reader starts—chapter one. The first chapter of the Bible does not mention any of those attributes—it doesn’t even mention Jesus at all (Although we know he was a significant part of it but we only know that because we have read the rest of the story)! The attributes of God—his identity—are that of creator, that who speaks, and that who assigns things moral goodness.
Then, like a good drama unfolding, in Genesis 1:26 and 27 something amazing happens. This God says, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness…” and the Bible says, “So God created man in His own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female He created them…” We find out that every attribute of this “Ancient of Days” are now our own attributes by way of us being made in His image.
We have always practiced speaking and labeling things good and bad but it seems as if the western world, in fact much of the world, has forgotten a very important part of their identity… creator. Starting with the enlightenment, we became a society addicted to reason and now, in the last twenty years, we seem to be letting our feelings dictate all truth to us, reason be damned. But a key part of our ancient identity has been lost. We know this because many people unless they are artists will deny their creative ability with phrases like, “Oh, I am left-brained… I am not a creative person,” and “My wife and daughter are the creative ones, I am the logical one.” There are a myriad of other phrases I have heard over the years where people completely deny their own creative mantle, and it is a complete lie. It is no wonder that it seems identity is arguably the number one issue facing our society right now. When you have denied an intrinsic part of your identity for generations, identity issues are sure to follow.
The Bible unsurprisingly has a lot to say about this. Have you heard of the man Bezalel? He is often cited with being the first person in the bible to be filled with the Holy Spirit and he was… an artist and craftsman. He was a creative. “Then the Lord said to Moses, “See, I have chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and I have filled him with the spirit of God, with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of crafts – to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, to cut and set stones, to work in wood, and to engage in all kinds of craftsmanship. (Exodus 31:1-4 NIV) God chose an artist to be the first person to be filled with the spirit of God in order to create the tabernacle. What a tremendous statement God is making by taking this action. He is saying, “Creativity is important and more than that, it is the way to usher my presence into the earth and among men,” which is exactly what the tabernacle did.
But this isn’t the only place we find the importance of creativity and artistry in the Bible. We know that David’s harp playing was the salve to the torment of Saul’s terrible demonic headaches (1 Samuel 16:14-23). The trumpets of the priests under Joshua were part of bringing the walls down in Jericho (Joshua 6:1-27). Jehoshaphat’s army won a battle with a praise choir leading them and as the choir sang and praised the Lord, the opposing forces were completely overthrown (2 Chronicles 20:14-24). Ezekiel created the first theatre in the Bible acting out the destruction of Israel in a prophetic, dramatic performance (Ezekiel 4). The four craftsmen in Zechariah terrified and ultimately threw down the four horns carried by the nations that took up their horns against Israel. (Zechariah 1:18-21). Jesus spoke in parables using the theatrical gift of storytelling to instruct, correct, and usher in the Kingdom of God. Revelation is full of song and praise and imagery. Lastly but certainly not the least, the Bible itself is considered by many to be the single greatest work of literary art of all time.
It is clear that God has intended the creative spirit in man to partner with the Holy Spirit to usher in the Kingdom of God. But what happens when we deny this ancient part of our identity? Is it possible through the years and generations of creative denial we have lost part of who we are or, at the very least, kept it hidden under a bushel?
“Starting with the enlightenment, we became a society addicted to reason and now, in the last twenty years, we seem to be letting our feelings dictate all truth to us, reason be damned. But a key part of our ancient identity has been lost.”
We wonder why our children are plagued with anxiety and depression like we have never seen. We are confused about the growing suicide rate among 13-24 year olds. We see the never ending list of gender labels growing, insatiably consuming the mind of our youth to where it seems you must identify first with your label and then, perhaps, with your name. The children are confused, scared, and angry. The adults feel like the problem is found in our government and the demonic cultural ideologies plaguing our nation. So many people are crying out, “Am I alone?” “Am I loved?” “Does anyone see me?” “Does anyone know me?” “Am I ok?” ––“Who am I???”
As a culture, we are on a bit of a precipice. We cannot continue in this place, but in order to leave here or discover a solution, we must accurately diagnose the problem. If you give the wrong diagnosis, you will give the wrong medicine. We have slowly and quietly robbed people of their identities as creatives. We have traded creativity for reason as if they can’t both live in the same world at the same time. We have traded creativity in for a wild mess of over-emoting under the guise of “living our truth.” We have tried to fix spiritual problems with earthly answers instead of looking at earthly problems with heavenly answers. It is no wonder we struggle.
Just as inner healing, counseling, and therapy have helped people regain a sense of who they are and whose they are, so we must continue healing our complete identity being made in the image of God. We need to accept our lost ancient identity as creators and proudly and boldly step into the power, authority, and mystery creative beings inherently have. The enemy comes to kill, steal and destroy but Jesus came so that we may have abundant life. And as Jonathan Larson, the late composer of the musical RENT, said prophetically: The opposite of war isn’t peace… it’s creation. The opposite of destruction is creation. And he is right.
What the enemy intended for evil, the Father will use for good and in the process we will gain our full inheritance as the children of the Ancient of Days.