More than anyone else, Dr. Leonard Sweet has taught me how to think in pictures, especially with regard to the biblical storyline. Truth be told, he’s taught me how to look at all of life that way, too, and I am grateful for it. That’s how children start out their lives. They see images before they see texts. They imagine real things before they ponder invisible abstractions. (Do you see the word “image” inside the word “imagination”?)
Quite significantly, that’s how grownups dream, too—not in propositions but in pictures. One might say that visuality is viscerality when it comes to being human. It’s part and parcel of who we are as creatures made in the image of God.
That’s one of the reasons I love science; it’s really the study of God’s imagination, which comes into existence as a creation we can see and touch. With true cosmic genius, the Lord has surrounded us with terrestrial and celestial treasures, often causing our mouths to fall open in wonder. Whether we look through the telescope or through the microscope, we see incredible images. Things. Pictures. Marvels. And all of them tell a story of their maker.
For our sake, God tends to be tactile, though he himself is intangible. He is “high and lifted up,” yet “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” People touched him and heard him say, “If you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Father.” Jesus is “God with us” all the way down.
Knowing the impact Len’s teaching had on a specific subsection of my dissertation, I shared it with him a few months ago to get his feedback. A PDF of that segment is provided below should you be interested in reading it. It’s far too pedantic, but that’s because it’s an exegetical dissertation, which is just the nature of the beast.
Len did a great job distilling its essence and translating the most important parts of it for all of us. He’s still the boss when it comes to inspiring and edifying through imagery. The subsection is called “The Veil as a Garment of God.” Len writes:
My colleague Tim Valentino just blew my mind with this: the temple was never only architecture—it was anatomy. Not just structure, but story. Not just stone, but skin.
In his work on the semiotics of the Temple, Tim shows how the Bible doesn’t merely describe the tabernacle as a building—it describes it like a body. The text speaks of a “head” (rosh), “face” (paneh), “rib” (tsela), “shoulder” (katef), and even “hands/fingers” (yadot).
And the veil? It functions like a sacred garment, shielding God’s radiant presence—just as Moses once wore a veil after meeting with God.
Here’s the breathtaking part: when the temple veil was torn at Christ’s crucifixion, it wasn’t just fabric ripping. Tim suggests it was like God’s own garment being torn in grief, echoing the ancient act of rending clothes in mourning. That moment becomes a divine lament over the death of His Son—and a new opening into God’s presence.
Suddenly, New Testament images of our bodies as temples and even the puzzling line in Hebrews about Christ’s body being the curtain (Hebrews 10:20) come alive.
For anyone still doubting the importance of semiotics to understanding Scripture and culture, let me say this again: God has been speaking through patterns, symbols, and metaphors all along—if we train our eyes (and hearts) to see them.
Thanks, Len, for helping me learn how to use the right side of my brain. To use only the left side is to be half human … and only half as effective in communicating the beauty, truth, and goodness of God in Scripture.
I used to have the privilege of teaching with Len in the Doctor of Theology program at Kairos Evangelical Seminary, and I miss getting to do that. Maybe someday we’ll be able to reunite in the classroom. But right now, the research and writing call for lots of focus. And thinking in pictures.
Dr. Sweet can be found online in numerous places. If my math is correct, he has published over 70 books by now.
