Abide With Me
2003
Most of human kind has experienced some yearning for what might be described as a time of heavenly rest. This image represents that welcome arrival recorded in Matthew 25:21, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant…enter thou into the joy of thy lord.”
The book of Revelations 7:17 declares: “For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.”
The fountain in the background is a reminder of those living waters and is based on an earlier painting entitled Be Not Afraid. In that image Jesus is shown helping two small children across a turbulent stream, leading and even carrying them to the safety of the other side. This painting represents the “other side” of that turbulent stream, a place of eternal rest, where we might imagine Him to say, “Abide with me.”
by Greg Olsen