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!”

‘The Eloquent Heavens’

“The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows His handiwork.  Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge.  There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard.  Their line has gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.  In them He has set a tabernacle for the sun, which is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoices like a strong man to run its race.  Its rising is from one end of heaven, and its circuit to the other end; and there is nothing hidden from its heat.” –Psalm 19: 1-6 (NKJV).

‘The Eloquent Heavens’ is the title the New English Bible study helps writer gives to Psalm 19:1-6.  Perhaps you, as I, memorized these verses in the King James Version when  young.  The beauty, insight and wisdom of these verses indicate that God manifests Himself in His creation.  Indeed, as one considers the magnitude of God’s creation, how can one but wonder about the power and superiority of the One who formed the heavens and the earth?  They are, indeed, ready testimony to the omnipotent God, declaring His glory throughout the earth.  Regardless of what ‘speech or language” is spoken anywhere in the earth, ‘their voice (meaning that of the heavens, of the firmament, of night and day) is heard.’  The whole creation is such a perfect revelation of the Lord that one wonders, as expressed in the words of Paul the Apostle, in Romans 1:24 how people cannot figure out that One all-powerful made and rules over all that is, but instead:  “who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever.”

This story is told about the remarkable life of Helen Keller, who was both deaf and blind but who accomplished great things with her life.  The noted minister, Dr. Phillips Brooks, had been asked to give the blind/deaf child her first instruction about God.  Her response to Dr. Brooks, when revelation came to her was “I have always known there was God, but I didn’t know what His name was!”  If one who could never see the heavens stretched above and the earth in its beauty and  majesty, how much more should we, with both sight and hearing, take into account the power and might of the Creator. As Dr. Brooks, in giving instruction to blind Helen Keller, we too who know and recognize that God is the Lord have a responsibility to help others relate to the Voice that is already calling to them through the creation.  Paul quoted the Septuagint Version of Psalm 19:4 in Romans 10:18:  “But I say, have they not heard?  Yes, indeed:  ‘Their sound has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.’”  But how often do they, as the young blind and deaf Helen Keller, need someone to tell them about Jesus?  And that’s where God asks us to be His partner in spreading His message. David looked at the sky above the Judean hills, and contemplated the heavens and looked to the earth that fed and watered animals and people and was awed.  But how much has been learned since David’s day!  Scientists have taught us that there could be as many as 1.6 million species of fungi, 10,000 species of ants, and at least 300,000 species of flowering plants, and these numbers only begin to enumerate the countless plant and animal kingdoms that operate with precision within the universe.  And then there are “the heavens,” that space exploration has discovered is larger and more complex than our finite minds can imagine.  We can but declare with awe as did David:  “The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shows His handiwork!”

In Awe of the Glory of God

“The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath He set a tabernacle for the sun, Which is as bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hidden from the heat thereof.” –Psalm 19:1-6 (KJV)

I chose to use the King James Version of these verses because I memorized these a number of years ago in this beautiful version. Oftentimes when I go to the paper box early in the morning, even before the sun has begun to lighten the eastern sky, I quote these verses with a delightful feeling of awe and reverence for Creator God. Psalm 19 has two distinct parts. Verses 1 through 6 describe the glory of God revealed in the excellence of the firmament and the skies. Verses 7-14 describe God’s revelation through the law. We will come back to verses 7-14 later, but for today let us take cognizance of the great truths we can learn from verses 1-6. I ask that you read also Psalm 8. It is a companion psalm to 19:1-6. Verses I have memorized from Psalm 8 are 1, and 3-6: "O Lord our Lord, how excellent is Thy name in all the earth! Who hast set Thy glory above the heavens…When I consider Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which Thou hast ordained; What is man that Thou art mindful of him? And the son of man, that Thou visitest him? For Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honor. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of Thy hands; Thou hast put all things under his feet.”

David, attributed as the author of both Psalm 19 and Psalm 8 would have been quite familiar with the broad expanse of the firmament. His days as a youth when he shepherded his father’s flocks gave him opportunities to be in nature, to observe the skies and meadows, to see the changing light from early morning to dusk and into the evening. The sun, myriad stars, the moon--all were his companions. To the Hebrew mind, the sky was conceived of as a solid canopy. As day follows night in rapid succession, this marking of time testifies to God’s glory. Do you say with gratitude each day: “This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will be glad and rejoice in it” (Psalm 118:24)? The heavens and the firmament above, the sun, moon and stars are a testimony to God’s might, power and glory. This testimony extends worldwide, wherever there are people to observe the created order. Paul the Apostle attests that there is “no excuse” (Romans 1:19b-20) for anyone not turning to God, because “God has shown it (the truth) to them. For His invisible attirbutes, namely His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world in the things that have been made.” Paul of course knew that salvation was in believing: “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Romans 10: 17). But then he immediately returns to the fact that there is enough revelation for anyone to come to faith. He asks a pertinent question and quotes Psalm 19:3 in Romans 10:18: “But I ask, have they not heard? Indeed they have, for ‘Their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.’” The silent, unrelenting testimony of the skies, the sun, the moon and the stars points us to the greatness, majesty and power of God. David gives an analogy as the sun being the bridegroom coming forth from his chamber. God’s majesty in nature points to the Bridegroom God sent, in due time, to be the Savior of the world. George Washington Carver, the great scientist and Christian of another century wrote: “I like to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting station through which God speaks to us every hour, if we will only tune in.”