“An Old Man in Military Costume” was painted by Rembrandt van Rijn in 1630 and is obviously a portrait of an old man in his uniform. Some say it could have been a portrait of his father. But this painting by Rembrandt has a secret that has only recently been revealed. During a routine cleaning in 1978, a ghost image was detected by technicians. Using X-ray and atomic spectrograph, they discovered an underlying portrait of a young man! Evidently, Rembrandt had painted a portrait of a young man, but later repurposed the canvas, painting a portrait of an old man over top of the young man. After 350 years (and modern technology), the secret came to light! The canvas held not one but two paintings by the Dutch master. Hey, your sinful heart holds secrets as well. But God can regenerate your sinful heart, remove those skeletons, and restore the pure heart that God Himself had originally made. Paul said in II Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” The old sinful self has hidden God’s inner self that has been covered up for years. Only the Holy Spirit can reveal the new creature that is in Christ Jesus. Hey, let Jesus make your old portrait into a brand-new picture! Jesus can give you a beautiful, new life … a new life in Him!
