The Song of Judah

By Canaan Chapman

Scripture Reading: Isaiah 26:1-21, Lamentations 3:19-24, Revelation 4:9-11

I’m fascinated by what a skilled potter can do. The way they work the clay is mesmerizing—seeing a lump on a spinning wheel transformed into an intricate piece of art or a useful tool requires strength, imagination, and skill. Yet still, even some of the most beautiful ceramics break. I’ll admit that though I have fumbled and destroyed more than a couple vases in our house, I’ve chipped even more cereal bowls. Instead of lamenting the flaws, there’s a Japanese art form which takes the broken pieces and highlights the brokenness, turning it to beauty. It’s called kintsugi: gold and other precious metals are used to bind the fractured pieces back together and make the piece whole again and make it even more beautiful than before.

I love that idea, one where a restoration process goes beyond just mending what’s broken to creating something new and even more precious. This is the picture I had in my head as I was reading the Song of Judah, worship straight from the prophet about celebrating the Lord’s ultimate plan of what will come on the day of judgment.

This song moves between a time of future celebration and the current situation God’s people find themselves in. There is definite praise for the solid foundation we have in the Lord, “an everlasting rock” (Isaiah 26:4), but also warnings for those who “live in lofty places” because “he brings it down to the ground” (v.5).

There’s praise for God giving victory over Israel’s victories, and there are warnings for those who don’t have the same zeal for Him—Isaiah sings, “Let fire consume your adversaries” (v.11). This chapter is full of beautiful imagery, full of symbols of God’s strength and reminders of His promises. This chapter is a proclamation that despite trials and challenges, God doesn’t move, and His love and justice is unfailing.

I hope we can all hear this as a song in our own hearts—a prophetic vision for a time when God’s people, all of us today even, would respond to the day of final restoration with worship. Though sometimes we may feel like broken pottery, chipped from daily use or completely apart like a smashed vase, this song can remind us that there’s beauty in God’s process. Though we may focus on a blemish or fixate on the cracks, when God puts the pieces of our lives together, He does it with the blood of Jesus! One day, when restoration is fully realized, we’ll sing our own version of this song while restored and whole.

With the Holy Spirit indwelling the heart of every believer, we can embrace the hope and security that comes from salvation. In Christ, we don’t have to worry about the consequences of a punishment that’s not coming. And maybe we could let the broken pieces of our life be held together beautifully, bound by not just gold, but the glory of God and blood of His Son.

Written by Canaan Chapman