The Meaning

“Mouth of the Lion” was inspired by the fourth chapter of Song Of Songs, verses 1 through 3, where it says, “You have doves’ eyes behind your veil.” At the time, this spoke to my heart in a way that said, underneath all the baggage of broken relationships you have experienced in the past, is a real person I can love and can love others.

During this time, I was attending a charismatic ministry that was centered around eschatology and it was interesting for a time, but I started to notice how the leaders had used it to try to scare and manipulate many younger, and more vulnerable souls who knew very little about the true nature of God.

To me it was more about trusting God to release the fear of death and the world, not to take in more of it and hold onto it to make one obey God more. That is what I tried to illustrate here, was the personal interaction between taking the fearful leap of faith and “jumping into the lion’s mouth” to experience the compassion and kindness of God through Christ.

A roaring lion is coming down the golden stairs, with the sea of glass mingled with fire (Revelation 15:2) around him.

Jump in the Mouth of the Lion

Christ is in the mouth holding out His hands for people to come to Him despite their fear of being judged and condemned because of their personal struggles and issues inside.

Casting His Crown

To the right of the lion is one of the twenty-four elders casting his crown before Christ in adoration of Him.

God’s Vision Through Intimacy

To the upper right, there is a scroll on fire with Hebrew writing on it (Revelation 5:1-6) which is symbolism for receiving the knowledge of God’s visions and intimacy with Him. You can see a bleeding rose under (and to the right of) the scroll which indicates the beauty of a real relationship in Him.

This painting was done shortly after the “Song of Songs Sketches” which were the foundation for pieces such as this one.

The Process

This piece was one of the first in which I learned how to illustrate deeper theological meanings to what I was experiencing inside me. Having little experience sketching characters and inanimate objects (such as the stairs), I had to improvise with acrylic paint on canvas. I relied on color to create dimensional effects such as the white and yellow paint to delinate the stairs.

I was also still learning how to blend the colors of hair (such as the lion’s mane) and did not sketch it beforehand. The blue background was painted around the hair later to give it definition (on the right side).