While many of those knowledgeable in worship suggest that ashes are a sign of penitence, mortality and purification, others say that the ash is a superstitious, useless symbol.
 

The Bible has a number of references about ashes.  The first comes in Genesis 18:27. Here Abraham is bargaining with God to spare the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. He suddenly realizes that he, a mere mortal, has been speaking to Almighty God.  He says, "Behold I have taken upon myself to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes." 
 

The words "dust and ashes" are used together in Job 30:19, and 42:6. The Hebrew words have the same consonant sounds.  One might rightfully conclude that the word ash carries with it much the same theological connotation as the word dust.
 

Dust and ashes are also synonymns of the word earth (adamah). From this word are derived Adam and the Hebrew word for man.  Genesis 3:19 even makes a play on these words with: "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return," a sentence which is echoed in the Ash Wednesday service.
     

Ecclesiastes says it as well: "All go to one place; all are from the dust, and all turn to dust again" (Ecc. 3:20).  From these passages we get the sentence used in the committal service.   Ashes, therefore, are a symbol of our mortality, of the fact that we are tied to the earth; nothing in us is immortal unless God gives it to us.

 But ashes are also a symbol of repentance.  In Jonah 3:6, after hearing of Jonah's message of repentance, the king of Nineveh puts on sackcloth and sits "in ashes."  In those days such kings were considered godlike.  By sitting in ashes, the king of Nineveh shows his people that he is not immortal.
     

Job also makes use of the ashes symbolism.   In Job 30:19 he uses it to describe his mortality.  In 42:6, realizing these limitations compared to God's infinite power, he uses dust and ashes to symbolize the intensity of his repentance. Certainly, this act of despising one's self goes against the tomes of popular Christianity, which have lately suggested that one cannot love one's neighbor without first loving one's self.  However, we might find Job's act more in line with what Jesus said: "If anyone comes to me and does not hate . . . even his own life, he cannot be My disciple" (Luke 14:26). This act of despising in the midst of repentance is best symbolized by ashes.

Ashes also symbolize our sorrow since human sorrow is often caused by the same thing that reminds us of our mortality and/or of our need to repent.
     

In 2 Samuel 13 Amnon rapes Tamar.   Tamar's response is to "put ashes on her head" (2 Samuel 13:19).   In Jeremiah 6:26 the daughters of Jerusalem are told to "roll in ashes" because they will be destroyed.
       

In Numbers 19:9 and 17, ashes are used in the rites of purification. Hebrews 9:13-14 draws directly upon this symbolism with these words: "For if the sprinkling of defiled persons with the blood of goats and bulls and with the ashes of a heifer sanctifies for the purification of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, purify your conscience from dead works to serve the living God."
 

While we do not believe that ashes have any power to purify us of our sin, their use can remind us of the cleansing power of Jesus Christ, especially if that symbol is placed upon our bodies in the form of a cross.
      

In fact, the use of the cross is a reminder of allusions made in The Revelation.  In 7:3 and 9:4 there is the description of those who have an identifying seal on their foreheads, and this seal is the name of Christ (14:1). In 2:17 and 3:12 it is even a new name.  This concept comes from Ezekiel 9:4-6, where an angel of the Lord is instructed to mark all those who were troubled at the sin around them with a cross on their foreheads.
     

Jesus also makes use of this symbolism when he speaks of two towns that need to repent: "Woe to you, Chorazin! woe to you, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes" (Matthew 11:21. See also Luke 10:13).

The use of the ash was a part of the symbolism of the Jewish faith and, therefore, was naturally assumed by the early Christian Church, many of whose members were Christian Jews.
       

It is important for us to continue a regular regimen of repentance.  John Wesley pointed out, "This repentance and faith [should be as] full as necessary, in order to our continuance and growth in grace, as the former faith and repentance are [as when we first believed], in order to our entering into the kingdom of God."
      

It is unfortunate that so much of the Protestant church got away from the use of the ash as a symbol, as rich as it is.  We are now beginning to take our history and our integrity in worship more seriously in rediscovering some of Christendom's more significant symbols.
     

What a terrible shame it would be for us if we were to simply dismiss such beautiful and meaningful tools as being the sole possession of another denomination, such as the Roman Catholic Church.  We wouldn't think of eliminating the symbol of water in Baptism, or wind and fire as symbols of the Spirit, simply because someone else used them first.
     

The ancient Greeks once divided the cosmos into four elements: earth, fire, air and water.  Another element was added later which was described as being the substance of the heavenly bodies.  In many ways these five elements have played an important part throughout the history of God's people. The use of all of the elements, including the ash, therefore, is something that belongs to all of the Church.
 

Beauty for Ashes - Rod Parsley

Believe for God to take the ashes of yesterday's ruin and give you beauty in every area of your life! Isaiah spoke of it prophetically before the proclamation was uttered from the lips of our great High Priest, Jesus, when he promised:

To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified (Isaiah 61:3). God wants to give you beauty for ashes!

Throughout the Old Testament, men and women who were confronted with crises and paralyzed with problems sat in sackcloth and ashes before the Lord. Take, for instance, King David who became an adulterer and murderer then sat in sackcloth and ashes before the Lord in repentance for his sin.

Job, whose children had died, his fields were pillaged and his house was burned, bowed in sackcloth before the Lord. But it was out of the ashes of his life that God was able to bless his latter end more than his beginning (read Job 42:12 for yourself).

One of the major symbols of repentance throughout the Bible is sackcloth. Second Chronicles 7:14 says, "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."

Repentance is preceded by sackcloth and ashes. It is preceded by the turning of our hearts toward God and ascribing His Lordship once again. Of what are we repenting? The one thing that is keeping you from being all God has destined you to be.

As we repent, we, along with our families, our cities and our nation, are refreshed and revived in His presence. Get ready for a mighty move of the Holy Spirit as you humble yourself before the Lord and announce His Lordship!

Concerning the freedom through the anointing of hyssop: Our first record of hyssop is found in Exodus 12:21,23: Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said unto them, Draw out and take you a lamb according to your families, and kill the passover.

And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the bason, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the bason; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning.

For the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the Lord will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your house to smite you.

The hyssop plant was the most aromatic of all the shrubs in Israel. And, in preparation for their greatest deliverance (the first Passover), the Lord commanded Israel to take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in blood and paint the doorposts and the lintels of their homes. In doing so they were shielded from the wrath of God and the attack of the enemy.

Your forgiveness, healing and deliverance has absolutely nothing to do with you and everything to do with the blood of Jesus. It's not about your good works, the church you attend or how many times a day you pray. It is through nothing but the blood of Jesus.

David knew the effect of crying out before God with a broken and contrite heart when he said, "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow" (Psalm 51:7). There are two things which take place as you humble yourself before God in repentance.

1. ACQUITTAL.
When you are purged with hyssop you are cleared of guilt. I like to say it this way: You are guilty but blameless. The blood of Jesus covers sin and hangs a "No Vacancy" sign on your heart's door.

2. ACCEPTANCE.
It is here the Lord washes you with His Spirit. The Bible declares, "That He might sanctify and cleanse it (you) with the washing of water by the word" (Ephesians 5:26). You are restored to the original state of affairs. Your privileges as "accepted in the beloved" are returned to you. You are a child of God!

In Luke 15, Jesus shared with His disciples a parable of a woman who had lost a coin. What did she do? She took a light, representing the Word of God, and a bunch of hyssop and began to sweep her house. Why? She was cleaning out the dust, sweeping away the cobwebs and anything that would keep her from retrieving what was so precious to her!

What have you lost? Allow the Holy Spirit to take the blood of Jesus and begin to paint your heart and restore everything the devil has stolen! As the Israelites painted their doorposts and lintels with the blood of a sacrificial lamb, so are you being painted with the blood of the spotless Lamb.

When I was a boy, my father and I would go camping, and we would build a fire. At night he would begin to cover the fire and bank it in on all sides, and it would appear as though the fire was about to burn out. But, as you well know, appearances can be deceiving. In the morning he would take a long stick and begin to stir the ashes, and from them would come a blazing burst of flames.

The Lord is doing this with so many even now. The fire in your heart for God may seem to be growing cold. The love for your spouse may seem but a flicker. The hope and belief for any future good may seem but a remnant of bygone days. But from the smoldering embers of your past God is smoldering the ashes and rekindling His promise of hope in your life. He is restoring unto you the joy of your salvation. (See Psalm 51:12.)

For your ashes, the Lord will transform you with beauty. In return for the spirit of heaviness, He will cover you with the garment of praise.