LOOK: Beulah by Jyoti Sahi
In Isaiah 62:2–5, God talks to Zion about her future. He says that on the day of the Lord,
The nations shall see your vindication
and all the kings your glory,
and you shall be called by a new name
that the mouth of the LORD will give.
You shall be a beautiful crown in the hand of the LORD
and a royal diadem in the hand of your God.
You shall no more be termed Forsaken,
and your land shall no more be termed Desolate,
but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her
and your land Married,
for the Lord delights in you,
and your land shall be married.
For as a young man marries a young woman,
so shall your builder marry you,
and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride,
so shall your God rejoice over you.
The painting Beulah by the Indian Christian artist Jyoti Sahi (pictured below) takes its title from the Hebrew word for “married” that’s used in Isaiah 62:4. He told me the image pictures the coming together of heaven and earth, the sun marrying the land, which can also be read as Christ uniting with his bride. Christ comes as dawn, his head like flame, like the great I AM revealed to Moses in the burning bush. His glory, the yellow halo around his head, encompasses the female figure. He leans in, tenderly resting his head on hers, and their hands touch.
Beulah shows the reunion not only of humanity and the Divine at the end of time, but also of the land and the Divine. As the Isaiah passage states, the earth, too, will be redeemed and made to flourish once again.
The two figures here form a sacred mountain. A river of life flows down between them, watering the new city, which is a wilderness no longer. This is Isaiah’s vision wrapped up into John the Revelator’s.
LISTEN: “The Reign of Mercy” by Kate Bluett and Paul Zach, 2021 | Performed by Paul Zach and Lauren Plank Goans on Advent Songs by the Porter’s Gate, 2021
Oh may our world at last be just
And hilltops echo with your peace
A harvest come from barren dust
The reign of mercy never cease
He comes as rain upon the grass
High heaven’s sun to earth descends
Not as the seasons that will pass
But with a light that never endsOh come to him and find your rest
Who saw the poor and came as one
Who hears the cries of the oppressed
And rules till all oppression’s done
Someday he’ll come to reign as king
And we will see his justice done
Our souls will magnify and sing
The Christ whose kingdom now is comeAnd all the mighty and the strong
Will bow before him on that day
The silenced fill the world with song
The poor and lowly he will raise
And all our bitterness and tears
Our violence and our endless wars
Will end at last when he draws near
Come soon, come soon, oh Christ our Lord
Art & Theology 