10/18/2024
Reminder that God’s mercy and power can repair, restore and redeem.
Beauty For Ashes
Jesus Christ can bring beauty out of lives and situations which may seem completely hopeless. A great promise about the Messiah’s ministry is found in Isaiah 61:3 which says He will give “beauty for ashes,” a wonderful word of hope to people suffering under the burden of the consequences of their own sin: God will give beauty for ashes. Comparing two English translations helps bring out the loveliness of this promise.
CSB: Crown of beauty instead of ashes.
ESV: Beautiful headdress instead of ashes.
Two words are central to the promise in Isaiah 61:3: Beauty and Ashes.
The Hebrew noun translated beauty in Isaiah 61:3 is used elsewhere to describe a headdress for both women and men. In Exodus 39:28 the word describes the extravagant headdress of the priest and is also used in reference to a headdress for women in Isaiah 3:20. The word beauty in Isaiah 61:3 carries the idea of something dignified and beautiful, a headdress for celebrations. This background is why the NASB translates the word as “garland,” with the idea being the head is adorned as with a garland wreath.
The word translated ashes in Isaiah 61:3 refers to a sign of mourning. In ancient Israel people would put ashes on their heads as a sign of mourning. The same Hebrew word translated ashes in Isaiah 61:3 is used to describe Tamar grieving after her sexual assault (2 Samuel 13:19), Mordecai grieving after he discovered Haman’s wicked plan to organize an antisemitic pogrom (Esther 4:2), and Job grieving the loss of all he had and sitting among the ashes while scraping himself with a potsherd (Job 2:8).
Isaiah 61:3 says that God can take lives characterized by signs of sadness and grief – ashes – and transform them into something beautiful. Beauty for Ashes is at the heart of the Gospel. Jesus Christ transforms broken lives into something beautiful.
Kintsugi is the Japanese art form of repairing broken pottery by mending the areas of breakage with lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum. It is the art of putting broken pottery pieces back together with gold. The word Kintsugi comes from two words which mean “golden repair” or “golden seams,” referring to the beautiful gold used to mend broken pottery. It is the art of embracing damage. The skill of Kintsugi artisans is such that the pottery is worth more after it is repaired than before it was damaged. If you ever see this artwork, you are immediately struck by its beauty.
Kintsugi is a picture of the power of Jesus Christ to give beauty from ashes. Christ can take the broken pieces of someone’s life and put them back together in such a way that it is more beautiful and of more worth before sin wrecked things. All the damage, all the pain, and all the grief are put together with the seams of God’s grace and your life is more valuable than before it was broken. Beauty for Ashes.
I hope God’s grace will overflow into your life and you will discover beauty for ashes - Dr. Branch
If you would like more encouragement just like this, sign up to receive the bi-monthly newsletter.
