An International Invitation

“Praise the Lord, all nations!  Extol Him, all peoples!  For great is His steadfast love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever.  Praise the Lord!” –Psalm 117 (ESV).

I find it very encouraging that the shortest chapter in the Bible, Psalm 117, with just two verses, is an invitation for all peoples everywhere to recognize God’s steadfast love and faithfulness and to praise Him. 

The hope recurs in the Psalms as well as in the remaining 65 books of the Bible that the Gentiles will come to belief in the one true God.  Paul the Apostle quoted Psalm 117:1 in Romans 15:11, and then launched into his reasons why he became a “minister to the Gentiles.”  At the heart of Christian missions lies God’s love for and inclusion of all peoples in His plan of redemption. Paul again quoted from the Old Testament in Romans 15:21:  “Those who have never been told of Him will see, and those who have never heard will understand” (quoting Isaiah 52:15)

Christian missions is at the heart of everyone internationally hearing, understanding and coming to salvation in Christ.  When Jesus was ready to ascend into heaven, after His mission of redemption was completed, He gathered with His disciples and other believers on a hillside outside Jerusalem.  He was ready to ascend back to the Father in Heaven, but He had a final word for believers.  In this powerful message He repeated what He had told them was their major task:  “And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.  And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:18-20. ESV).

In my church and denomination, we have a special missions emphasis throughout the month of December.  It is a time of remembering that Christ came to earth at Christmastime because God loved all the world.  Because of this love, we in turn have the responsibility to follow through on the Lord’s Great Commission to us to make disciples of all nation, to go and spread abroad the Good News of salvation, to make disciples, to baptize believers, and to teach converts  how to live the Christian way.  A timely theme has been selected for this December’s missions emphasis.  It is “Be Obedient:  Be His Heart, Be His Hands, Be His Voice.”  With that theme we hear victorious accounts of how God is touching lives throughout the world because missionaries are being obedient servants—going, making disciples, baptizing and teaching—as ambassadors of Christ whose heart, hands and voice they (and we) are.  We can have a vital part in this international invitation as we are faithful where we live and work in our own Christian witness and as we give of our means to support missions.

Prayer.  As we refresh our minds on God’s wonderful invitation to all peoples, may we rejoice that we can share through witnessing where we are, praying for those who go as missionaries, and giving our money to support missions.  Thank you that in being obedient we are Your heart, hands and voice to others. In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

How Beautiful the Feet of God’s Messenger

“How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet  of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, ‘your God reigns.’  The voice of your watchmen—they lift up their voice, together they sing for joy; for eye to eye they see the return of the Lord to Zion.  Break forth together into singing you waste places of Jerusalem, for the Lord has comforted His people:  He has redeemed Jerusalem.  The Lord has bared His holy arm before the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.” –Isaiah 52:7-10 (ESV).

Today we cannot tune onto a television or radio newscast, read a newspaper or talk with friends without hearing bad news.  Doom and gloom are too often the subjects we talk about and dwell upon.  “In these times,” we often say, “all we hear is bad news.”  Contrast our day to the time when Isaiah penned the words in our focus for today.  He was writing a message to Zion—to the Israelites in Babylonian captivity.  In this beautiful hymn telling of God’s coming deliverance and salvation, he implores “Awake, awake, put on your strength, O Zion; put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city.”  How like Paul’s admonition in Ephesians 6:10-20 to put on the whole armor of God!This message of Isaiah was intended to bring hope and encouragement, even joy, to the captives in Babylon.  The day of the Lord, a time of deliverance was coming.  No longer would they have to cower in sackcloth and ashes, but they could put on the garments of rejoicing; for oppression—the bad news, even living the bad news—would have its end. This message also speaks of “end times” hope and the triumph of the believers.  So much is carried with the messenger with “beautiful feet”!

This section of Isaiah and subsequent chapters, especially Isaiah 53, constitute the Messianic hope message of the prophet.  “Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.  But He was wounded for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:4-5).  And how beautiful upon the mountains are those who tell forth this message!  The good news may at times be ignored and seemingly lost amidst all the clamor of bad news.  The main message, despite the naysayers, is “Your God reigns!”(Isaiah 52:7)  God’s people are to take hope and listen to the messengers who bear God’s news.  It is the news that will ultimately triumph.  This is a sure promise from Sovereign God:  “all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God” (Isaiah 52:10) The Israelites in captivity may have wondered at Isaiah’s optimistic message.  How could he hold forth hope when they were oppressed and far from their beloved Jerusalem, with not even the hope of going to the holy city at times of religious festival to worship God in “His holy hill”? Isaiah wanted his own people, and us today to hear, for his message miraculously has come to us, and we hold forth hope.

Hope is at the heart of God’s message of love for any age.  And they who bear that message, are distinctive and engender hope:“How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news!” (v. 7).  Paul reiterates this theme in Romans 10:14-17: “How, then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?  And how are they to hear without someone preaching?  And how are they to preach unless they are sent?  As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!’  But they have not all obeyed the gospel.  For Isaiah says, ‘Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?’  So, then, faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”  I recall with gratitude when my husband felt the distinctive call of God to be a bearer of this marvelous message of the ages.  His ministry was, geographically, to the people who dwelt in the mountain region of the state of Georgia. His were, indeed, as the prophet foretold, “beautiful feet upon the mountains.” Such are the feet of those who bear the good news of Jesus Christ wherever they are.  Thank God today for the beautiful feet of those who are faithful to tell God’s message and who give hope amidst the bad news!  Indeed, “our God reigns!”