(Revelation 1:13-18) When I think of Jesus as being with the Father during creation of the universe, and His glorified appearance to John in Revelation, I think of how pallid and static He is so often depicted. Imagine how glorious the apocalyptic language makes it to hold "stars in His hands." I thought why not illustrate verbatim what John described. After taking some artistic license to simplify the list, the painting was laid out. To make the figure more overwhelming I placed it center canvas as large as possible. At first, I thought the image was to be mostly gold and white; as illuminated as possible. I soon realized contrasting the dark void of space was more dramatic. Hubble telescope pictures inspired the intertwined cosmic clouds making up the sleeves. The "star hand" looks as if the figure is making stars out of nothing. For a time there was a concern the sword dangling from the mouth might look silly, but it finally occurred to me the "Sword of the World" might be energy - maybe a beam of light and it was no longer a problem. I hope this painting reflects a little of what I believe the power of the Lord to be.