| The Christian Life | October 1943 |
Happy Transformations
Beauty for Ashes, Joy for Mourning
“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because He hath anointed me … to comfort all that mourn, … to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning.”—Isaiah 61:1-3
NO ONE can have the Spirit of the Lord and be interested only in self. The Holy Spirit not only gives authority to proclaim the truth, but also the inspiration to do so. We have in Jesus a good example of this. He read a part of this passage in the synagogue at Nazareth and explained that it applied to Him and the ministry He was conducting. (Luke 4:16-21) Jesus was anointed to proclaim the good tidings, and was faithful to His commission. Even while dying upon the cross He used His fast-ebbing strength to speak a word of comfort to one of the thieves who was dying with Him. Let us never get the idea that the time is so short that they should be interested only in ourselves.
Jesus quoted only a part of this passage as applying to Himself, ending with the expression in the second verse concerning the “acceptable year of the Lord.”
It has been the privilege of the entire church—as members of the Christ body—to proclaim the “acceptable year of the Lord”—that is, that this Gospel age is the period during which the sacrifices of the Christ, Head and body, are acceptable to God—“now is the accepted time.” (II Corinthians 6:2) But the “day” of vengeance is only at the end of the acceptable year, the acceptable time, hence only the consecrated living at the very end of the age have the privilege of announcing the truths concerning it.
Proclaiming the day of vengeance is not pronouncing vengeance—it is merely explaining the meaning of the distress that comes upon the people at the end of the age. That explanation should always include the fact that it is a preparation for Messiah’s Kingdom. When the tell of that glorious coming Kingdom, the message will be one of comfort to those who are now mourning because of the heavy hand of trouble that is upon the world.
The effect of this comfort as it is received by the meek, will be to give them “beauty for ashes.” The word beauty in this passage is the translation of a Hebrew word meaning a fancy head-dress, or embellishment (Revised Version, “a garland”) emblematic of joy. It is contrasted with the ancient custom of covering the head with ashes as a symbol of one’s great sorrow.
The “oil of joy” is also a symbol of contentment and rejoicing. What a privilege is ours today to give the meek of the earth a real cause for rejoicing by telling them that the Kingdom of Christ is at the door, that all tears will soon be wiped away and that sickness and death will be no more!