And in that day Adam blessed God and was filled, and began to prophesy concerning all the families of the earth, saying:
Blessed be the name of God, for because of my transgression my eyes are opened, and in this life I shall have joy, and again in the flesh I shall see God.
And Eve, his wife, heard all these things and was glad, saying:
Were it not for our transgression we never should have had seed, and never should have known good and evil, and the joy of our redemption, and the eternal life which God giveth unto all the obedient.
The story behind The Joy Of Our Redemption
Eve was profoundly hopeful and full of faith. She had fallen into darkness, and had taken a world with her in the tumble. She was engulfed by the consequences of her own transgression, blame, self recrimination, and every other vulnerability that beats us up whenever we give way to temptation. The darkness in which she appears in the painting is the chasm into which her world is fallen. And, yet, in the midst of everything that had come upon her, and upon everyone she would ever love in this world, she found the salvation God had prepared for her to be more than competent to the abolition of all her problems.
She is looking toward The Light and The Life and The Truth of the world.
Darkness, or evil, seeks always to disorient. It captivates by means of obfuscation, or lies. In this composition, Eve sees The Light, but cannot see how to get to it. That is part of the universal problem of Eve and all of her children. The painting summarizes not only the problem, but shows us what to do about every step along the way.
Light is always inviting us to look up. Light never ceases to reach toward us, to open the way before us, to lift us. This is true whether we are talking about a moment of temptation or despair, or about an hour, a day, a lifetime, or a whole world.
The painting presents a high contrast between light and darkness. And although the darkness is quite dark, there is actually more light in the painting—more surface area devoted to light—than the area devoted to darkness. That's the way it always is in life. It's easy to look at one's situation and be drawn into how dark the darkness seems, and overlook the fact that there's more light present and available already than there is darkness.
Notwithstanding the darkness of her surroundings, Eve is positively brilliant. More light is associated with the figure of Eve than with all the rest of the painting. When we choose to face The Light, we do so alone, just as Eve is alone in this composition. The moment we turn toward The Light in our lives, we become greater than the darkness around us.
The light in this composition is reaching toward Eve, and we feel uplifted because light always seeks to lift. Sometimes light illuminates the path in front of us that we must walk, and sometimes it doesn't matter whether we can see more around us because the light picks us up and carries us over what we could not see.
Light always tells the truth, and an important part of the truth about Eve, even in this fallen world, is that she is created in the image and likeness of that God from whose presence she fell. Being true to The Light is, in the best and finest sense, being true to one's self, a self born of Eternal parents, a self more ancient than the earth, a self that will dwell forever among the stars.
Curatorial Details
Copyright and terms of use
© By Al Young, All Rights Reserved. You may not print, copy, or reproduce this artwork or make derivative works from it without the prior written consent of the copyright holder. For permissions, please review our FAQ page.From the Newsroom
By Al R. Young
only high-end custom frames
We have framed our own artworks for more than 30 years, and during that time we have provided a variety of framing services to patrons upon request. For many reasons—including constant changes in the availability of moulding styles—we cannot offer off-the-shelf framing options or response times typically associated with such a service. Of necessity, all of our framing projects are aproached, priced, and billed as constuling projects... Read more »
Tags: Into The West, Spring Rain, North Country, The Grey Havens, Journey's End, Looking Back, Enchanted Stillness, Bedtime Story, In The High Valley, The Daydream, Before The Ball, Old Shannon, Pavane, Sweet Brier, Legend, Mountain Home, And I...
By Al R. Young
content for this page is being prepared and will be added as soon as possible
2021 October 13... Read more »
Tags: The Joy Of Our Redemption, 2021, Oil paintings and prints
By Al R. Young This blank-book journal sells for $32 (plus shipping) direct from Al Young Studios. Printed in full color on heavy paper, the book is bound with black plastic spiral to rest flat when open.
At Home: A Personal Journal features 128 original artworks consisting of 51 original oil paintings from the Artists of Al Young Studios, 44 images from the Studios' Limited Editions Collection, nine pen and ink drawings and block prints by Ashton, seven of Al's exquisitely crafted pencil drawings, and one lithograph from his private portfolios... Read more »
Tags: North Shore, Nasturtium, Wald Kirche, Scabiosa, Foxglove, Narcissus on beige paper, July, Columbine, Maine, Final Draft, Unfurling, Back Shore, Summer's End, Gifts of Morn, Black-eyed Susan, Land's End, Solitude, The Limberlost, Perdita,
By Al R. Young This blank-book journal sells for $32 (plus shipping) direct from Al Young Studios. Printed in full color on heavy paper, the book is bound with black plastic spiral to rest flat when open.
Inspirations features 163 artworks along with 53 commentaries—written by the Artists of Al Young Studios especially for this journal—on such topics as their creative process, the creative environment of the Studios, technical approaches to their artwork, and inspiration from the works of other artists... Read more »
Tags: Untitled, In the Clearing, Anne Girl, Spring Rain, Journey's End, Enchanted Stillness, Bedtime Story, In The High Valley, Mountain Home, And I Will Not Deny The Christ, Sara Crewe, And My Soul Hungered, 3.00.0246.010, The Road To Melek, We...
By Al R. Young The Essential Book of Mormon Companion, published by Covenant Communications, featured The Joy Of Our Redemption, by Al R. Young. The painting is part of Al Young Studios' Women of the Bible Fine Art Collection.... Read more »
Tags: The Joy Of Our Redemption, 3rd-party Publications, 2011, News
By Al R. Young Giver of Life: Lessons from Eve, published by Deseret Book, featured The Joy Of Our Redemption, by Al R. Young, on the cover. The painting is part of Al Young Studios' Women of the Bible Fine Art Collection.... Read more »
Tags: The Joy Of Our Redemption, 3rd-party Publications, 2010, News
By Al R. Young Women of the Old Testament by Camille Fronk Olson is the companion volume to Women of the New Testament, published by Deseret Book in 2014.
The Old Testament volume features fifty six illustrations from the Artists of Al Young Studios, listed here under the Studios' fine art collections and portfolios to which they belong.
From the Women of the Bible Fine Art CollectionFull-color details (cropped images) from the following 17 paintings appeared in the book (in the order in which they appear here)... Read more »
Tags: The Mother Of All Living, The Joy Of Our Redemption, The Protector, Blessed, By The River's Brink, What Is To Be Done For Thee, Charity Never Faileth, A Lamp Unto My Feet, Is Anything Too Hard For The Lord, God Liveth And Seeth Me, Treasure...
By Al R. Young
High-resolution digital copies are available from the Studios for use as illustrations. Use the serial number—appearing below the thumbnail—in requesting permission from the Studios (see links at the bottom of this page for detail).
The correct form of attribution when publishing an image is specified in the license agreement issued to the publisher by Al Young Studios.Guidelines for requests to copy or publish artworks created by the Artists of Al Young Studios
Guidelines for commissioning Al Young Studios to create illustrations
Return to this portfolio
Browse all portfolios
Browse Newsroom articles about Illustration
The original image is available for sale, please contact us for details... Read more »
Tags: The Joy Of Our Redemption, 2008, People and Stories of the Bible
By Al R. Young The Joy Of Our Redemption is the newest oil painting to be added to the line of original artworks from Al Young Studios.
Click here to see a larger image of the new painting, read the artist's commentary, and look at the selection of prints--if any are available.... Read more »
Tags: The Joy Of Our Redemption, 2008, Al R. Young, Legacy, News, Oil paintings and prints, Women of the Bible Art Collection