September 22 | Bible in a Year: Ecclesiastes 10–12; Galatians 1

Beautiful Restoration

The past troubles will be forgotten . . . . See, I will create new heavens and a new earth. Isaiah 65:16–17

READ Isaiah 65:16–22

In his book Art + Faith: A Theology of Making, renowned artist Makoto Fujimura describes the ancient Japanese art form of Kintsugi. In it, the artist takes broken pottery (originally tea ware) and pieces the shards back together with lacquer, threading gold into the cracks. “Kintsugi,” Fujimura explains, “does not just ‘fix’ or repair a broken vessel; rather, the technique makes the broken pottery even more beautiful than the original.” Kintsugi, first implemented centuries ago when a warlord’s favourite cup was destroyed and then beautifully restored, became art that’s highly prized and desired.

Isaiah describes God artfully enacting this kind of restoration with the world. Though we’re broken by our rebellion and shattered by our selfishness, God promises to “create new heavens and a new earth” (Isaiah 65:17). He plans not merely to repair the old world but to make it entirely new, to take our ruin and fashion a world shimmering with fresh beauty. This new creation will be so stunning that “past troubles will be forgotten” and “former things will not be remembered” (vv. 16–17). With this new creation, God won’t scramble to cover our mistakes but rather will unleash His creative energy—energy where ugly things become beautiful and dead things breathe anew.

As we survey our shattered lives, there’s no need for despair. God is working His beautiful restoration.

By Winn Collier

What needs beautiful restoration? How does this imagery of God’s new creation stir hope in you?

Dear God, please restore me and renew this world.

SCRIPTURE INSIGHT

In the book of Revelation, the last book of the Bible, the apostle John writes of the certainty of “what must soon take place” (Revelation 1:1; see 22:6). At the conclusion of human history and the ushering in of eternity, God will say, “I am making everything new!” (21:5) and will gift us with “a new heaven and a new earth” (v. 1 ). This creation of a new heaven and new earth isn’t something revealed only to John. Seven hundred years before the birth of Christ, God, through the prophet Isaiah, had declared, “See, I will create new heavens and a new earth” (Isaiah 65:17)—a world that “will endure” (66:22) and “where righteousness dwells” (2 Peter 3:13).