Your God reigns!
Isaiah 52:7 - God is always in control, even when we may feel that things are spiraling out of control in our current circumstances.
Image generated by ChatGPT (OpenAI) using the DALL·E model.
“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!””
Isaiah 52:7 NIV
The words of the prophet Isaiah are always a joy to read and to study, as they’re not only messianic (foretelling the birth, ministry, trials, death, and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ), but poetic as well.
Enduring Word titles Isaiah chapter 52 as “Joy when the Lord reigns in Zion”. It occurred to me that in almost 1,500 daily devotionals, I don’t believe we’ve ever looked at the word “Zion” in any detail.
In ancient Hebrew, the word is צִיּוֹן — ṣîyôn — meaning “parched place”. It was used to describe the city of Jerusalem as well. In particular, Zion describes “the higher and southern hill on which Jerusalem was built. It included the more ancient part of the city, with the citadel and temple.” (Gesenius’ Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon, cited in Blue Letter Bible). It has apparently been misidentified geographically for the past two thousand years as “a hill south of the Old City's Armenian Quarter, not to the Temple Mount” (Wikipedia). To the Jews to whom Isaiah what making his prophecies, Zion and Jerusalem were synonymous.
In Old English, it was translated as gōdspel (gōd "good" + spel "news"
The prophet begins this rather long verse with the words “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news.” Who are “those who bring good news”? Remember that the gospel is “the good news” (from the Old English gōdspel, gōd “good” + spel “news”), the message of Jesus about salvation. Isaiah is talking about all those who evangelize, who bring the good news to mankind. But what’s this talk about “beautiful… feet”? In Isaiah’s time, this would refer to messengers walking the rocky hills and mountains of Israel to bring good news to Jerusalem.
David Guzik explains in his Enduring Word commentary:
i. No wonder those who bring good news have beautiful feet; they are out partnering with God for the salvation of men. The feet speak of activity, motion, and progress, and those who are active and moving in the work of preaching the gospel have beautiful…feet.
This is followed by another wonderful example of repetition in Scripture — “who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!”” Repetition is used in the Bible to emphasize important themes, to make sure that the reader understands the significance of those themes, and to ensure that the theme is remembered.
The prophet repeats the theme of those who preach the gospel doing God’s work — “bring good news”, “proclaim peace”, “bring good tidings”, “proclaim salvation” — building up to the truly good news that “Your God reigns!”
Looking at each these short phrases in turn and in the context of the time of Isaiah (the 8th century BC), the good news at the time would have been interpreted as a message of hope and redemption for Israel. We know from historical records that the time of Isaiah was far from peaceful, so he was praising those who were the bringers of the positive news that could mark the transformation of the people of Israel from idol-worshipping sinners into a nation in a righteous relationship with God.
To proclaim peace was both a desire for the absence of war between Israel and the neighboring countries, as well as a foreshadowing of the Messianic kingdom when true peace will be established forevermore. Jesus, the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6) fulfilled this prophecy through His life, death, and resurrection.
In lauding those “who bring good tidings”, Isaiah would see this as the eventual announcement of Israel being delivered from exile and restored to sovereignty. For Christians, this is once again synonymous with the gospel, the victory of Jesus Christ over sin and death, and the offering of eternal life to believers.
The sure-footed messengers would also be those “who proclaim salvation,” in the context of the time being deliverance from oppression and captivity in Babylon, as well as the restoration of God’s people to their rightful home. In the Christian view, this is the salvation offered through Jesus Christ, who cleared the path for humanity to reconcile with God.
The verse ends with the messengers delivering the message “Your God reigns!” to Zion. At the time this would have represented Jerusalem and God’s chosen people, and the message is one of assurance — that God is sovereign over all! God is always in control, even when we may feel that things are spiraling out of control in our current circumstances.
Heaven On Wheels Daily Prayer:
Father in Heaven, thank You for the words of Your prophet Isaiah, who reminds us in this verse of both the gospel and two very important truths — that You are in control, and You are faithful to Your people. I thank You also for Your Son, Jesus Christ, who through His sacrifice on the cross brought the good news to believers for all time. AMEN.