“How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings the good news,” – Isaiah 52:7
If you haven’t read Isaiah recently, I would really encourage you to do so. It is theologically dense. Filled with beautiful poetry, imagery, and promises.
It has been called a mini-Bible for a number of reasons: it has 66 chapters (like the 66 books), it tells the full scope of the story of God’s creation, the fall, the Messiah, redemption, and the new creation. Some have even gone so far as to say you can draw a direct parallel between each chapter of Isaiah and the corresponding book of our Biblical canon.
I’ll give you two examples of what that means: Isaiah 1 = Genesis (children being raised up, but rebelling, mentions Sodom), Isaiah 66 = Revelation (new heavens, new earth, final judgment, etc.)
Here’s my disclaimer: You would have to make a few stretches to make the parallels work for every chapter of Isaiah. And even if this claim is true, telling other people about this factoid will not make you cool or interesting, nor will it convince others to believe in Jesus as their Savior. There are better uses of your time.
Anyway, I want to go back to Isaiah 52.
Most of Isaiah, leading up to this point, has been pretty grim. Lots of judgment. Israel is conquered by Assyria. Judah will be conquered by Babylon. Jerusalem will be razed, along with the Temple. The people of God’s Kingdom will be carried off into exile.
But there’s a shift in Isaiah 40: God calls His people back to Him. He reminds them of His promises. And we begin to get a picture of God’s deliverance – specifically, His Messiah. Fast-forward to chapter 52.
This is a really, really beautiful passage of Scripture.
God is calling out to His bride. He calls out to Jerusalem – to Zion – saying, “Awake”. Put on your strength, your splendor and beauty once again. You are being made clean; you are being freed from your chains. And it will come at cost you can’t even fathom, nor could you ever afford.
It must be paid by another.
Then, in verse 7, comes the One who will pay the price. He comes proclaiming good news, peace, happiness, and salvation. He has traversed mountains to bring this good news. His feet sweaty and disgusting, and somehow beautiful, because of the message they bear.
This One proclaims, “Your God reigns.” The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. Your God is King.
How beautiful are the feet of the One who brought the Good News. Who proclaimed freedom for the captives, who brought sight to the blind, who raised the dead to life. The One who became a servant to all. A light to the nations. Rejected by His own people. Marred beyond human semblance.
How beautiful are the feet of the One nailed to a cross.