Isaiah 52:7–10 How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, Who proclaims peace, Who brings glad tidings of good things,Who proclaims salvation, Who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!” 8 Your watchmen shall lift up their voices, with their voices they shall sing together; For they shall see eye to eye When the Lord brings back Zion. 9 Break forth into joy, sing together, You waste places of Jerusalem! For the Lord has comforted His people, He has redeemed Jerusalem. 10 The Lord has made bare His holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; And all the ends of the earth shall see The salvation of our God.
Here are some Bible verses that talk about feet:
Isaiah 59:7 Their feet rush into sin; they are swift to shed innocent blood. They pursue evil schemes; acts of violence mark their ways.
Proverbs 1:15–16 My son, do not walk in the way with them. Keep your feet from their path, for their feet run to evil and they hasten to shed blood.
Mark 9:45 If your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame, than, having your two feet, to be cast into hell.
Ephesians 6:15 …and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
Matthew 10:14 Whoever does not receive you, nor heed your words, as you go out of that house or that city, shake the dust off your feet.
There is a lot of biblical culture in the Bible that is far removed from us in how we think about things in this day and age and in the West. The Iraq War has shown us some concept of how differently these people think about feet than we do. You may recall the toppling of Saddam’s statue. They hammered the fallen statue with their shoes. At one press conference over there, those who disagreed with President Bush threw their shoes at him. That is not how we would show our displeasure, but to them feet are something else. And since they can’t throw their feet, their shoes would do.
In some instances in the Bible, feet are merely feet. In other places feet are treated as an entity—much like we would talk about the heart. In reality we think with our mind and not our heart, and yet we ascribe thoughts dealing with emotions as coming from the heart.
In our text God is speaking to Isaiah about a better time to come. He will comfort His people, He will redeem Jerusalem, meaning the Church.
“The Lord has made bare His holy arm in the eyes of all the nations….” (Baring the arm is a sign of power) Jesus came humble and allowed Himself to be abused. At the Second Coming, Jesus will not come as a humble servant, but as the King of kings and every nation and every person living in every nation will see Him. Revelation puts it this way: “Behold! He is coming in the clouds. Every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him, and all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him.”
For some—it will not be a good thing, but as St Paul said in last week’s text, “Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give to me at that day; and not to me only, but also to all them that have loved His appearing.” You and I love His appearing, therefore the Second Coming will be a great thing for us! A welcomed thing!
In the meantime there is this: “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, Who proclaims peace,Who brings glad tidings of good things, Who proclaims salvation…”
We have mountains here, but maybe we do not need to go that far. Jesus also says, “What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the rooftops.” What you and I hear in the quietness of this church—share with others.
My vicarage church’s attendance was around 750. However, the pastor said he was reaching 1000’s. I asked him how he came up with that figure, and he said that many of our members work in large factories and at lunch time many shared what they had heard in church. (One of our members fed over 100,000 each noon!—Detroit auto factories) Moreover, those who did not work in factories were sharing the good news with family, friends, neighbors, and club members.
So while church and Bible study for us is a time to learn, a time to grow, and a time to be nourished, it is also a time to be equipped to share the Good News. As Jesus said, “You shall be My witnesses.” Notice—not you might want to be if you feel like it.
We can share directly with words: sin and grace, law and Gospel. Some churches actually train some of their members and send them out regularly to call upon their visitors and some on what is called, “cold calls.” (no connection to the congregation)
Often outsiders initiate the conversation by what they say—either negative or positive. Cursing—as Pastor has said before, is an invitation to say something. Like—“So—you call upon Him too?” How about someone saying something like, “It will take a miracle to make that happen?” That is an open door to talk about the One Who creates miracles—or even to share a miracle or two that you have witnessed.
My favorite is to say something like, “Boy, I really enjoyed church yesterday.” That gives them two options, ignore what you said or ask you why.
Then there is sharing with our life. Jesus said, “Let you light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” Some people have been won over simply by admiring the way some Christians face life. They want to have what the Christian has, which obviously they do not have.
So! How pretty are your feet? Are they beautiful—biblically speaking? If not, now is the time to do something about it. You have relatives, friends, club members, and neighbors who do not know Jesus.
Better for them to get to know Him now than on the Last Day! You can do something about it—with the leading of the Holy Spirit.
And speaking about beautiful feet there are two which are the most beautiful in the world; They have nail holes in them. Those, plus the pierced hands, are the basis of the Good Tidings—namely what we call the Gospel. Those feet belong to Jesus—and in a sense—to you also! Amen.
Photo credit: Studio 7042
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