By Charlotte Pedersen McClure

Words that one usually wouldn't use to describe hard, shiny metal seem to come easily to those who stand among the pieces of bronze sculpture entitled "The King Is Coming." There is strength in the feet of the large Masai warrior, dignity in the body language of the Native American, tenderness in the angel's look for the child in its arms, joy in the open happiness of the Aboriginal, anticipation depicted in the Japanese girl's stride. It seems no one stands among these sculptures unmoved.

Viewers are describing a large work to be unveiled during the opening ceremonies of the fifty-seventh General Conference session in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The artist, Victor Issa, 45, has spent the past two years in his Loveland, Colorado, studio creating the life-size sculptures of 10 individuals representing all the continents of the world. "Their excitement at the approach of the King of kings, the event of all ages, is fully evident on their radiant faces," says Issa of the bronze figures. "They were created as an illustration of the Session's theme, Almost Home."

The work also includes a life-size angel carrying a child to meet Jesus and a six-foot by five-foot bas-relief sculpture showing Jesus and attendant angels.

Issa, a graduate of Union College in Lincoln, Nebraska, is the son of a Seventh-day Adventist pastor from Lebanon. Several years ago father and son had a discussion about sculpture as an art form, particularly of religious figures. "Dad asked, `Have you considered what the Bible has to say about images?'"

Victor Issa had carefully studied the Scriptures and the writings of respected theologians. "I answered Dad by reminding him that the second commandment says not to create graven images for worship. And when God gave instructions to King David for the construction of the temple, He said that 12 oxen should be sculpted to hold up the laver for the cleansing of the priests [see 1 Kings 7. God approved of sculpture as an art form, not for idolatry."

People from around the world can create their own word pictures as they "experience" the display in the Exhibit Hall of the Toronto Convention Center through Sabbath, July 8. "I feel like they are looking at me," says Linda de Leon, associate treasurer of the General Conference and the session manager, of her tour among the bronzes.