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!”
8 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.
9 Burst into songs of joy together,
you ruins of Jerusalem,
for the LORD has comforted his people,
he has redeemed Jerusalem. –Isaiah 52:7-9
Isaiah, speaking to people not even born yet, prophesies here to comfort those who would be in exile in Babylon. He writes these words some 150 years before the children of Israel would see their king blinded and taken away in chains, their temple destroyed, their city burnt to the ground, and their people led away as captives to a land with a different language and with no knowledge of the God of Israel.
The message here is simple and comes at the tale end of verse 7, “Your God reigns!” Despite the constant reminders that the rulers that took the captives far from home are the masters of the universe, God rules!
Someone is coming soon, who will come running over the mountains with the news that the captives can return home, that Jerusalem can be rebuilt.
We read these words at Advent, because God still reigns, and the coming of Jesus is about redemption, peace, a longed for news coming to people in distant places–“Your God reigns!”
In spite of the powers that seem to have dominion in our world–godless governments, greed, self-centeredness, death–the list could go on–but OUR GOD REIGNS!
Jesus has come into the world to set the people of God free from bondage and redeem what was ruined. “Burst into songs of joy together, you ruins of Jerusalem, for the Lord has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem.”
Those are some beautiful feet!