Beauty for ashes….

The scenes coming to us daily from Haiti are simply incomprehensible. They are stunning and heart wrenching. The pictures of pain and suffering, of desperate families who have lost loved ones and what few possessions they had, and, most difficult to see, displaced, newly orphaned children…
In the midst of unspeakable anguish, there are images of hope…one picture, especially, grabbed my attention and my heart. The picture was captured by free-lance photographer, Matthew McDermott, as the seven-year old boy, named Kiki, was pulled from the rubble after being trapped for seven days. As he emerged from the rubble, he lifted his arms, as if in praise, and smiled from ear to ear. You Tube refers to the picture as “the smile seen round the world!” The picture speaks volumes to me, and reminds me that, regardless of how desperate and hopeless the situation in Haiti appears, our sovereign God reveals in His word that a time of healing for all nations is coming. It is the reason Christ admonished His disciples to pray, “Thy kingdom come…”


Until that prayer is fulfilled, “the creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed…creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God” (Romans 8:19-21). “The Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first” (I. Thess. 4:16). His foot will stand upon the Mount of Olives…”and the Lord will be King over all the earth.” “Thus the Lord my God will come, and all the saints with Him.” (Zechariah 14: 5, 9)

After the temptation in the wilderness, scripture records that Christ began preaching “the gospel (good news!) of the kingdom of God” (Mark 1:14). His first sermon is recorded in Luke 4, verse 18-19. He read from Isaiah 61, “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from the darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor…” Jesus stopped in the middle of the sentence, closed the book and sat down. Imagine the scene….you could have heard a leaf drop, as all eyes were fixed on Him. He went on, “Today, this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” By ending where He did, He showed that His work would be divided into two advents. In His first coming, Christ fulfilled the things mentioned in Isaiah 61:1-2. At His second coming, He will fulfill the things written in verses 2-3. . (The Bible Knowledge Commentary, New Bible Commentary, 21st edition).

The people of Haiti have a promise. God’s heart is breaking for them. Just as when Jesus saw the bitter sorrow of Mary because her brother, Lazarus, had died, He wept. Mary fell at His feet and said, “if you’d only been here, this would not have happened…” Some say, if God had been here this would not have happened! Jesus’ response was, “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?” Christ is coming again. In God’s perfect timing, the second part of Christ’s mission will be fulfilled. He will give “beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified. And they shall rebuild the old ruins. They shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the ruined cities…” (Is. 61:24). As His resurrected saints, all who are His at His coming will have a part in this massive restoration.

“Behold, the Lord God shall come with a strong hand, and His arm shall rule for Him…His reward is with Him, and His work before Him (Isaiah 40:10). He will say then as He said to Lazarus, “Come forth!” and there will be smiles seen round the world and arms lifted up in praise.