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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation.
Isaiah 52:7
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
Today, we come to the next to the last message on the theme of peace, the central focus of the second week of the Advent season. The text for today comes from the words of the prophet Isaiah, one of God’s greatest messengers of Old Testament times. In this verse from the fifty-second chapter, we find these opening words:
“How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news...”
The original foundation for these words came from when messengers would run from where a battle was taking place to convey the outcome to the king and his people but in this verse, they referred to the coming deliverance of the Israelite people from their Babylonian captivity, a deliverance orchestrated by the Lord that allowed them to return to their homeland in order to rebuild their cities, their homes, and their relationship with God.
This was truly good news for the people of God who had paid a heavy penalty for their covenant-breaking disobedience and blatant disrespect for the God who had brought them out of Egyptian slavery, leading them to a promised land that would be their own.
This verse also has further meaning in that it foreshadows the coming of Jesus, the Lamb of God who would serve as a substitutionary sacrifice so to purchase the pardon of sinners. Of course, this group includes all people (Romans 3:23) and so there has been, and still are a multitude of people who have received and hopefully will receive the beauty of someone willing to bring the ultimate good news to them, the good news of Jesus and the eternal life that is only found through Him.
Indeed, God has wrapped up the greatest good tidings one could hope for in His Son and everyone who believes in Him are called to tell others all about it with the goal of making disciples of all nations while helping them be baptized and obey all that Jesus has commanded. The Great Commission of Christ appoints every single person to be an evangelist (Matthew 28:18-20).
What happens when a believer embraces their calling to evangelize and bring good news and tidings to others about the salvation available to anyone if they would place their belief in Jesus as Savior?
They not only become a Gospel sharer but they proclaim and promote peace through their work.
You see, when a person sees themselves as a sinner destined for the judgment of Hell, a sinner who can’t find saving in themselves or anyone else, then they are in a place where they can easily realize the special gift of grace God extends to them through the life, death, and resurrection of His Son, a special gift of grace that costs the sinner nothing except a willing submission and surrender to the ways and will of their Lord. And in gaining God’s sure promise of everlasting life, they also gain another important thing in this life: peace.
This is what the good news of salvation brings to every single believer, a peace that is beyond imagination or comprehension (Philippians 4:6-7), a peace that brings the guarantee that Heaven is ahead, a far better life than the one we endure here on earth.
Through Christ, death has lost its sting and the believer’s future is secure. Hell with its eternal torment, damnation, and suffering is no longer in play.
Friends, every Christian believer that is still alive has yet to live the best life ever, a life that will be free from pain and hardship and heartbreak and sin. Despite our physical and mental condition at the time we draw our last breath, the Lord will make us new and usher us into His Kingdom where we will dwell with Him in a spirit of love, worship, and yes, peace.
Until then, let’s all do everything we can every day to be the beautiful feet of Jesus as we proclaim the good news and tidings of God’s gift of salvation, not just proclaiming the Gospel but the wonderful peace that accompanies it, a message that serves to be a blessing to all we share it with.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.
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