Performance Art in the Bible?

When I first started learning about art in the Bible, I was sad that I couldn’t find theater. Songs, poems, and literature were obviously featured. And even architecture, sculpture, and textiles were significant too. But I couldn’t find my field. 

I still pursued theater anyways, confident that God the Creator had given us the gift of creativity. I knew that He generally approved of it. And I continued to learn more through our organization, our ministry board, and Danielle about the spiritual significance of art-making. But still, I was bummed that I couldn’t find examples of the craft I dedicated my life to! 

Did God care about acting?

But then I started noticing weird things in unexpected places.

Passages like Isaiah 20: God tells Isaiah to walk around barefoot and naked for three years, as a sign against Egypt and Cush that they would be led into exile barefoot and naked! 

Or Jeremiah 27: God tells Jeremiah to wear a yoke around his neck to warn the kings of surrounding nations that if they don’t submit to Babylon’s “yoke”, God will destroy them. 

Or even Ezekiel 12: God tells Ezekiel to pack a bag, dig a hole through his wall at night, and leave through the hole while covering his eyes so he can’t see the land anymore. And he tells him to do this in front of everyone, so that he can demonstrate how the prince of Israel will be literally fleeing like an exile. 

How dramatic!

I held them close to my heart. Was God really using drama to speak His Word? Were the prophets being actors, like me? Or was I just seeing what I wanted to see?

Turns out–I’m not the first one to notice this! A few months ago, I had to give a talk about the Biblical significance of creativity, so I started deep-diving into Scripture and research. And I discovered that this observable pattern actually has a name: “sign acts!” 

In times of crises, God spoke critical messages to His people. But he knew it was not enough to verbally communicate – he needed nonverbal communication too.

He needed someone to embody characters, use props, use sets, and wear costumes (or not wear anything)! He needed the prophets to carry a narrative and perform messages in front of an audience. 

Sound familiar?

It validated me; what could be more Biblical than telling a story with characters, props, set, costumes, and an audience? But it also challenged me; what were my plays saying? 

Since then, theater-making has taken on new meaning for me. If God used drama to convey clarifying truth in times of confusion and crises, then my work has more power than I’ve recognized. It’s no longer just about what I’m saying; I have to make room for God to speak, too.

I recently wrote two plays because, well, they wouldn’t leave me alone. 

Ideas had just sort of… come into my head and wouldn’t leave it. In my mind were these images and sensations that fascinated me, characters and voices that I felt like I knew. 

I know God speaks to me. Now I know that God speaks through plays. So maybe this was God speaking through my plays. 

I needed to write them to find out.

So: what have you been questioning God about lately? What have you seen God do in your life? What images, sensations, voices can’t leave you? What characters do you need to play? Or what dialogue do you need to write?

Act it. Write it. God can use your drama to make you a prophet.