Through the Bible: Jeremiah 38-40, Psalm 74, 79
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor;[a]
he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;[b]
2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor,
and the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all who mourn;
3 to grant to those who mourn in Zion—
to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit;—Isaiah 61:1-3
When my family first moved to Atlanta in the early 70’s, one of the touristy things we did to get to know our new city was visit Underground Atlanta. This was before it became the nightclub and entertainment venue it is now. Back then, it was more about pre-Civil War Atlanta history. I remember walking those cobblestone streets and being told they were the original ones from before General William Sherman burned the city in 1864.
Later, when I learned that the seal of Atlanta was the phoenix rising from the ashes, I was transfixed. A mythical bird, consumed by fire but reborn out of the ashes—what a picture of resilience. For a kid new to the city, that image stuck with me.
But Atlanta isn’t the first city to stake its identity on survival after the fire. In 586 BC, Jerusalem burned. The Babylonians tore down the walls, set fire to the temple, and carried the people into exile.
Jeremiah recorded the horror as an eyewitness. Psalm 79 laments the aftermath:
O God, the nations have come into your inheritance;
they have defiled your holy temple;
they have laid Jerusalem in ruins.
2 They have given the bodies of your servants
to the birds of the heavens for food,
the flesh of your faithful to the beasts of the earth.
3 They have poured out their blood like water
all around Jerusalem,
and there was no one to bury them.Psalm 79:2-3
It is one of the darkest prayers in the Psalter—God’s people looking at their holy city reduced to rubble. And yet, even here, a stubborn hope flickers:
13 But we your people, the sheep of your pasture,
will give thanks to you forever;
from generation to generation we will recount your praise.Psalm 79:13
Even from the ashes, God’s people clung to their identity: they were still God’s sheep. Even in the ruins, they vowed to sing. Seventy years would pass, and God’s people would return from exile, and Jerusalem would be rebuilt.
Both Atlanta and Jerusalem are proof that fire and ashes are not the end of the story. cities prove that fire isn’t the end.
But here’s the difference: Atlanta’s symbol is a mythical bird. The symbol of Jerusalem is the Lion of Judah, flanked by two olive branches.
Atlanta’s seal points to a bird that never existed. The Bible points us to a Savior who was crucified, buried, and on the third day rose again. The Phoenix is a story of imagination. The resurrection of Jesus is the story of salvation.
That’s why the Christian can look at the ashes of failure, loss, or ruin and still believe. Because resurrection isn’t just a symbol—it’s a promise.
With Christ, there is always beauty from ashes.
Maybe you feel like your world has burned down. Maybe you see only rubble where once there was joy. Don’t forget: our God is a God who brings beauty from ashes. And just as he did for Jerusalem, he can do for you.
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