A large painting of Jesus Christ has survived a fire outbreak in the United States after a bolt of lightning set a 150-year-old church ablaze.

While the church was completely razed, suffering an estimated $1 million damage, the Jesus Christ portrait was miraculously unscathed.

The incident happened at the First Baptist Church in Wakefield, Massachusetts. The blaze completely burned the church spire, roof, and interior but by some stroke of luck, the human-sized painting of Jesus that once hung at the front entrance of the church was recovered practically unscathed, according to Boston25.

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For grieving worshippers, the recovered painting is a sign of hope.

“It’s a beautiful sign and a reminder that Jesus is with us,’ a worshipper, Maria Kakolowski, said.

“I’m personally just taking as a sign and a reminder that the Jesus Christ we serve is still alive and even though our church building is gone, our church is here and the God that we serve is still here,’ she added.

The portrait will be gifted for a former pastor at the church.

A team of more than 100 firefighters toiled for hours to quell the sudden inferno, some sustaining minor injuries.

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The church released a statement following the fire:

‘While we lost our historic building from a lightning strike this week, we praise Jesus that our church community was kept safe. A very big thank you to the many firefighters who did their jobs with excellence, and to the outpouring of support from the community,’ the statement said. 

‘We know that we serve a God who specializes in restoring brokenness and who can bring beauty even from ashes. So we move into the future with trust, hope, and gratitude,’ the statement continued. 

Parishioners gathered at the church site on Wednesday to see crews clear the wreckage. The remains of the spire were dismantled as was the Tall Spire Nursery School which was housed inside.

People on the scene took comfort in seeing that the painting of Jesus, standing in a white robe with his hands extended,  was successfully recovered.

A GoFundMe page has been set up to support the First Baptist Church in the aftermath of the fire.