AP

Isaiah 52:7-10   How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!”  Listen!   Your watchmen lift up their voices; together they shout for joy.  When the LORD returns to Zion, they will see it with their own eyes.  Burst into songs of joy together, you ruins of Jerusalem, for the LORD has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem.  The LORD will lay bare his holy arm in the sight of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God. 

Isaiah chapters 40-66 have been referred to as “The Gospel according to Isaiah”.  The prophet is bringing to God’s people the message of his power to save them in the midst of their brokenness and despair.  There are many gatherings of his people (his Church) around the world today who would find this message extremely relevant – and even we, in the West, might be heading in the same direction!  He calls them to rejoice in this news.  They were ‘sold for nothing’ (worthless), and will be ‘redeemed without money’ (3) – ‘without money’, yes, but from this side of the cross, we know it won’t be without cost, as the apostle Peter reminds us: “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect” (1 Peter 1:19)!

The bearers of this good news ‘on the mountains’ ‘will have beautiful feet’ (7).  They will proclaim to the shattered people: ‘Your God reigns’ (7).  And this message will go beyond just them to ‘sprinkle many nations’ (15).  The LORD’s victory will be strong and powerful, inspired by the holiness of his character; but it will also be achieved through his own suffering, as Isaiah will spell out so clearly and so powerfully in the next chapter.  John Morrison expresses this in his old hymn: “His voice commands the tempest forth, and stills the stormy wave; and though His arm be strong to smite, ’tis also strong to save.”

We also know, as Isaiah could only foreshadow: that,

(1) in the outworking of God’s Eternal Plan of Salvation, the Holy City of Jerusalem would once again be reduced to ruins (by the Romans in AD 70) after God’s people had rejected his promised Messiah, Saviour and King, and dealt with him along the lines the prophet would predict in Chapter 53; and that

(ii) the ultimate fulfilment of Isaiah’s whole prophecy would not be until Jesus returned and heralded in the New Jerusalem that John saw in the glorious vision given to him:  “I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.  And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them.  They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.  “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death” or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.’  He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new!’  Then he said, ‘Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true’”  (Revelation 21:2-5).

May our feet be ‘beautiful upon the mountains’, challenging as many people as possible with these truths before it is too late.  “And how can anyone preach unless they are sent?  As it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’” (Romans 10:10)

– Bruce Christian