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In
the years
1970 – 1980
artist & teacher
Jacque Richard
Sassandra
created a series of
thirty-four apocalyptic
images based on the
book of Revelation
These are all
paper-cut
collages
.
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The
Revelation
is a vision recorded
by Jesus’ apostle John
while he was on the
Isle of Patmos
.
It describes
the final chapter
of our life here
on Earth
.
The story
is too dense to
try to summarize, but
I will add a bible verse
to set the stage for
each scene
:
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“Write, therefore,
what you have seen,
what is now and what
will take place later
.
Revelation 1:19
Letters to the Seven Churches
NOTE: This is a scan from the Apocalypse book.
I can’t find a better image online
…
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The mystery
of the seven stars
that you saw in my right
hand and of the seven golden
lampstands is this: The seven
stars are the angels of the
seven churches, and the
seven lampstands are
the seven churches
.
Revelation 1:20
Vision of the Seven Candlesticks
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After this I looked,
and there before me was a
door standing open in heaven.
And the voice I had first heard
speaking to me like a trumpet
said, “Come up here, and I
will show you what must
take place after this.”
At once I was in
the Spirit
…
Revelation 4:1-2a
The Gate In Heaven
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Then I saw a Lamb,
looking as if it had been slain,
standing at the center of the throne,
encircled by the four living creatures
and the elders. The Lamb had seven
horns and seven eyes, which are
the seven spirits of God sent
out into all the earth
.
Revelation 5:6
The Lamb Slain
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I watched
as the Lamb opened
the first of the seven seals.
Then I heard one of the four
living creatures say in a
voice like thunder,
“Come!”
I looked, and
there before me was a
white horse! Its rider held
a bow, and he was given
a crown, and he rode
out as a conqueror
bent on conquest
.
Revelation 6:1-2
The Four Horsemen
The War
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When
the Lamb opened
the second seal, I heard the
second living creature say, “Come!”
Then another horse came out, a fiery
red one. Its rider was given power to
take peace from the earth and to
make people kill each other.
To him was given a
large sword
.
Revelation 6:3-4
The Tyranny
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When
the Lamb opened
the third seal, I heard
the third living creature
say,
“Come!”
I looked, and there before
me was a black horse!
Its rider was holding
a pair of scales
in his hand
.
Revelation 6:5
The Famine
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I
looked,
and there before
me was a pale
horse
!
Its rider was named
Death, and Hades was
following close behind
.
They were
given power over a
fourth of the earth to kill
by sword, famine and
plague, and by the
wild beasts of
the earth
.
Revelation 6:8
The Pale Horse
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When he
opened the fifth seal, I
saw under the altar the souls
of those who had been slain
because of the word of God
and the testimony they
had maintained
.
Revelation 6:9
The Martyrs
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I
watched
as he opened
the sixth seal. There
was a great earthquake.
The sun turned black like
sackcloth made of goat
hair, the whole moon
turned blood red
,
Revelation 6:12
They called
to the mountains
and the rocks, “Fall on
us and hide us from the
face of him who sits on
the throne and from
the wrath of the
Lamb
!
Revelation 6:16
“Mountains, Fall on Us!”
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Then I looked, and
there before me was the
Lamb, standing on Mount Zion,
and with him 144,000 who had his
name and his Father’s name written
on their foreheads. And I heard a
sound from heaven like the roar
of rushing waters and like a
loud peal of thunder. The
sound I heard was like
that of harpists
playing their
harps
.
Revelation 14:1-2
The 144,000
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The first angel
sounded his trumpet,
and there came hail and
fire mixed with blood,
and it was hurled
down on the
earth
.
A third
of the earth
was burned up,
a third of the trees
were burned up, and
all the green grass
was burned up
.
Revelation 8:7
The Scorched Earth
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The second angel
sounded his trumpet, and
something like a huge mountain,
all ablaze, was thrown into the sea.
A third of the sea turned into blood,
a third of the living creatures in the
sea died, and a third of the
ships were destroyed
.
Revelation 8:8-9
The Mountain Thrown Into the Sea
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The third angel sounded
his trumpet, and a great star,
blazing like a torch, fell from the
sky on a third of the rivers and on
the springs of water— the name of
the star is Wormwood. A third of
the waters turned bitter, and
many people died from
the waters that had
become bitter
.
Revelation 8:10-11
The Star Wormwood
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As
I watched,
I heard an eagle that
was flying in midair call out
in a loud voice: “Woe! Woe! Woe
to the inhabitants of the earth,
because of the trumpet blasts
about to be sounded by
the other three angels!”
Revelation 8:13
The Eagle and the Sun
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And out of the
smoke locusts came
down on the earth and
were given power like
that of scorpions
of the earth
.
Revelation 9:3
The Abyssal Locusts
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The horses
and riders I saw in
my vision looked like this:
Their breastplates were fiery
red, dark blue, and yellow as
sulfur. The heads of the horses
resembled the heads of lions,
and out of their mouths
came fire, smoke
and sulfur
.
A
third of
mankind was
killed by the three
plagues of fire, smoke
and sulfur that came
out of their mouths
.
Revelation 9:17-18
The Lion Horses
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And
I will appoint
my two witnesses,
and they will prophesy for
1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.”
They are “the two olive trees” and
the two lampstands, and “they
stand before the Lord
of the earth.”
Revelation 11:3-4
The Two Witnesses
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Then
God’s temple
in heaven was opened,
and within his temple was
seen the ark of his covenant
.
And there came flashes
of lightning, rumblings,
peals of thunder, an
earthquake and a
severe hailstorm
.
Revelation 11:19
The Ark in the Sky
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A great sign
appeared in heaven:
a woman clothed with the sun,
with the moon under her feet and
a crown of twelve stars on her head.
She was pregnant and cried out
in pain as she was about
to give birth
.
Then another
sign appeared in heaven:
an enormous red dragon with
seven heads and ten horns and
seven crowns on its heads
.
Revelation 12:1-3
The Woman and the Dragon
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The dragon stood
on the shore of the sea.
And I saw a beast coming out
of the sea. It had ten horns and
seven heads, with ten crowns on
its horns, and on each head
a blasphemous name
.
Revelation 13:1
The Beast that Rises from the Sea
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Then I saw
a second beast,
coming out of
the earth
.
It
had two
horns like a
lamb, but it
spoke like a
dragon
.
Revelation 13:11
The Beast that Rises from the Earth
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Then
another angel
came out of the temple
and called in a loud voice to
him who was sitting on the cloud,
“Take your sickle and reap, because
the time to reap has come, for the
harvest of the earth is ripe.”
So
he who
was seated
on the cloud
swung his sickle
over the earth, and
the earth was harvested
.
Revelation 14:15-16
The Wrath of God
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Then
I heard a
loud voice from
the temple saying
to the seven angels,
“Go, pour out the
seven bowls of God’s
wrath on the earth.”
The first angel went and
poured out his bowl on the
land, and ugly, festering sores
broke out on the people who
had the mark of the beast
and worshiped its image
.
Revelation 16:1-2
Malignant Ulcer
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The
second
angel poured
out his bowl on the
sea, and it turned into
blood like that of a dead
person, and every living
thing in the sea died
.
Revelation 16:3
Sea of Blood
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The third
angel poured out
his bowl on the rivers
and springs of water,
and they became
blood
.
Revelation 16:4
The Great Pollution
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The
fourth angel
poured out his bowl
on the sun, and the sun
was allowed to scorch people
with fire. They were seared by
the intense heat, and they
cursed the name of God,
who had control over
these plagues, but
they refused to
repent and
glorify
him
.
Revelation 16:8-9
The Great Heat
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The fifth angel
poured out his bowl on
the throne of the beast,
and its kingdom was
plunged into
darkness
.
People gnawed
their tongues in agony
and cursed the God of heaven
because of their pains and their
sores, but they refused to
repent of what they
had done
.
Revelation 16:10-11
The Reign of Darkness
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Then
they gathered the
kings together to the place
that in Hebrew is called
Armageddon
.
Revelation 16:16
Armageddon
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The seventh angel
poured out his bowl into
the air, and out of the temple
came a loud voice from
the throne, saying,
“It is done!”
Then
there came
flashes of lightning,
rumblings, peals of thunder
and a severe earthquake. No
earthquake like it has ever
occurred since mankind
has been on earth, so
tremendous was
the quake
.
Revelation 16:17-18
The Great Earthquake
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After this
I saw another
angel coming down
from heaven. He had great
authority, and the earth was
illuminated by his splendor.
With a mighty voice
he shouted
:
“‘Fallen!
Fallen is Babylon
the Great!’
She
has become
a dwelling for demons
and a haunt for every impure
spirit, a haunt for every unclean
bird, a haunt for every unclean
and detestable animal
.
Revelation 18:1-2
The Fall of Babylon
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I saw heaven
standing open and
there before me was a
white horse, whose rider
is called Faithful and True.
With justice he judges
and wages war
.
Revelation 19:11
He is dressed in a robe
dipped in blood, and his
name is the Word of God
.
Revelation 19:13
The Faithful and the True
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The
sea gave
up the dead
that were in it, and
death and Hades gave
up the dead that were in
them, and each person
was judged according
to what they had
done
.
Revelation 20:13
The Final Judgement
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I saw
the Holy City, the
new Jerusalem, coming
down out of heaven from God,
prepared as a bride beautifully
dressed for her husband
.
And I heard
a loud voice from
the throne saying, “Look!
God’s dwelling place is now
among the people, and he
will dwell with them. They
will be his people, and
God himself will be
with them and
be their God
.
Revelation 21:2-3
The New Jerusalem
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Sassandra
believed that his
art should glorify God,
expressing the invisible
through visible forms
.
He hoped that the
church would recognize the
potential of art to enhance
the communication of
the Gospel
.
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Jacque Richard
Sassandra
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The icon
for this article is a
detail from Sassandra’s
exposition cover art
:
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!!! BONUS !!!
Here is the study for the
artwork that was later renamed
“The Four Horsemen, The War”
:
Red Rider
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