I Am the Resurrection, John 11:25 Empty Tomb Wall Art

What is painted

The tomb is cut into a rocky hillside on the right, its opening dark and empty, and the great round stone that sealed it has been rolled aside. Along the path in front of it walks a figure in a cream robe, seen from behind, heading into the garden. A broad old olive tree spreads its branches over the left side, slender cypresses rise in the distance, and white lilies bloom among the stones in the foreground.

The sun is just clearing the hills, and the sky glows peach and gold behind the trees. The painting has the soft texture of oil on paper, with edges that melt into the cream margin. The verse runs beneath in flowing script: “I am the resurrection, and the life”, with John 11:25.

Spoken at a grave, before Easter

Jesus says these words before his own resurrection, on the road outside Bethany. His friend Lazarus has been dead four days when he arrives, and Martha goes out to meet him. She tells him her brother would not have died if he had been there. When he answers that Lazarus will rise again, she thinks he means the last day. Jesus replies: “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.”

It is one of the great “I am” sayings of the Gospel of John. Martha answers with a confession of faith, “Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God” (John 11:27). A little later Jesus weeps at the tomb, and then calls Lazarus out of it.

The painting joins that promise to its fulfillment. John 20 tells how Mary Magdalene came to the sepulchre early, while it was still dark, and found the stone taken away. The garden, the dawn and the empty grave belong to that morning; the words belong to the promise made to Martha.

For Easter, and for grief

This is Christian wall art for Easter that can stay up all year. In a living room or on a landing it speaks of hope rather than of the season. It is also one of the most common verses at Christian funerals, so it is given as a sympathy gift or hung in memory of someone loved, a quiet way of saying that death does not have the last word.

The Christian poster is made to order in the United States on thick matte archival paper, with a white margin around the painting, and it ships free and without a frame. Sizes run from 5x7 to 24x36, with metric and A options, and a digital file is available.