Isaiah chapter 52, and we'll begin with verse 5, here now the word of our God. And now, what do I have here declares the Lord? For my people have been taken away for nothing, and those who rule them mock declares the Lord. And all day long my name is constantly blasphemed, therefore my people will know my name that is eye who foretold it, therefore in that day they will know that it is eye who foretold it, yes it is eye. 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, design, your God reigns. Listen, your watchmen lift up their voices, together they shop for joy, when the Lord returns to Zion, they will see it with their own eyes. First do the songs of joy together, you ruins of Jerusalem, for the Lord has comforted his people. He has redeemed Jerusalem. The Lord will lay bare his holy arm in the sight of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God. May God add his rich blessing to this, the reading of his holy word, let's pray together. O Lord Jesus, we leave out before you because we are hearing words now that were spoken so, so long ago, thousands of years ago, and we confess to you Lord that while we have heard many of these phrases and many of these words, we do not see how they are to be applied to our lives today. It's just beyond us, and so we come to you seeking help. We call no one our teacher, but you Lord Jesus, so that you may be praised, and you may be honored as our teacher, and so commonly pray and teach. Amen. I would like to ask you to do something for me, I want you to think about something that you have seen recently that was so beautiful, it took your breath away, something you saw that was so lovely, so astoundingly beautiful. You just didn't even know what to say, can you think of what it was? Maybe it was a sunset, that's normal, maybe a painting or something, maybe a man or a woman that you saw, I just didn't know even what to say, just so beautiful, just couldn't take it, right? No words could come to your mouth, okay. You know, it's funny, but I would be willing to bet that even after reading the Bible passage we just read, and even after referring to it and actually saying it to each other at the beginning of the service today, I would dare to say that no one in this room thought to themselves, I know, I know, was so breathtakingly beautiful, I know what it is, is when I see somebody tell someone else the gospel of Jesus Christ, now if you thought that, don't tell us we won't believe you. Even after reading the Bible passage, even after reciting it to each other, how beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring the good news, how beautiful, that was the prophet's way of saying, I don't know what to say, so beautiful, I don't know what to say, takes my breath away. How is it that you and I can hear about the gospel of Jesus and Yon, when the prophet thinks about the gospel of Jesus and can't breathe, it's so beautiful? Maybe if we can get inside of where he was, maybe if we can get into his head and into his heart at that time when he said these words, maybe we can find ourselves renewed in believing once again that the good news about the Lord Jesus is breathtakingly beautiful, that it's really that wondrous. Now verse 7, that verse, how beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, it's a verse that's sandwiched between other verses, so what we're going to do is we're going to look at the verses above it, then we're going to look at the verses below it, then we're going to come back to verse 7 and see why it is that the prophet says how beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, so let's look and see what he talks about at the beginning, at the top of this passage, where in reality what the prophet talks about is something that's very ugly, do you remember what he says there, looking again at verse 5, now what do I have here to clear the Lord, for my people have been taken away for nothing, and those who rule them mock, and all day long my name is constantly blasphemed. Here the prophet Isaiah is looking ahead in time, to a time that was going to come very soon after his death to the people of Israel, it's the time in the Bible that we normally call the time of the exile, because what had happened was Israel had become so rebellious against God they had refused to serve him so much that eventually God sent the Babylonians to come and to destroy their capital city, to destroy the temple, and to take the people and scatter them throughout the world, it was going to be a terrible time, it was going to be a time when those who had taken them captive mocked God and mocked his people the time of the exile. Now the New Testament tells us that even though Jesus has come and Jesus has begun the end of this horrible period, that really it continues today, it really has not come to a complete end even now, because we still live in a world, don't we? Where God's people are taken away for nothing, and those who rule them mock, and God's name is blasphemed every single day. So Isaiah is looking at a world that's really not a very pretty place is coming. A world is coming that's going to be terribly ugly, a time of hardship, a time of suffering for the people of God, and it's a time that continues even into our day. But let's admit it, let's admit it, you and I living in this country where we live are so insulated from the suffering that most people in the world experience, we don't even know the meaning of a word. Isn't that fair to say? I mean think about our greatest sufferings, why our illness is bad, I don't like to be ill either, is bad, or a broken relationship or the loss of a loved one, something like that, that's about as bad as it gets for us. But for most people in the world, that is not great suffering. In fact, is no exaggeration that while we've been sitting here in this comfortable room, literally, literally tens of thousands of children have been abused by adults who are supposed to be taking care of them. Literally, while we've been sitting here in this room safe and comfortable having a good time singing and praying and things like that, literally tens of thousands of women in this world have been violated by men while we've been sitting here. That's the way like this for most people in this world, and you might be able to say to yourself, well, you know, they're not believers, they're not followers of Jesus. So, you know, well, maybe it doesn't really mean anything then. But the fact is, is that it's not just unbelief, we should suffer that way. It's your brothers and sisters too.
The vast majority of Christians today are suffering enormously. This is because of what Isaiah is talking about here in this passage, that the people of God have been cut off. They're still waiting for the day to come when things will be they knew, when things will be made right. But we don't seem to get it sometimes because we are so insulated from that kind of suffering. I'm a news of Holly. A lot of people are and that means, you know, that if I'm gone from a newspaper or gone from TV for a while, I just can't stand it. I got to know what's going on. I got to know what's going on. So I was at this retreat one time and on the way to the airport, I was with a friend and he took me by his house and I walked into his living room and there it was right there on the couch, the remote. I just had to have it. So I grabbed the remote. He was unloading the truck and so I started pushing the buttons to try to get it to turn on. I said, do you mind if I watch the news? He said, we don't watch the news in our house. I said, what was that? He said, we don't watch the news. I can't hear you. We don't watch the news. Why not? And he said, because there's too much bad news. So we watched friends instead. I'm not sure what that was exactly, but those good news are bad news, but we watched it. But we were certainly weren't going to watch the news because it's just bad news. And you know what that's like. If you watch the news ever, you watch it for more than four or five minutes and what do you see? Just horrors. It's hard to believe that the world is really like that and sometimes we actually tell each other, well, it's really not that bad. It's just newsworthy. But the reality is it's much worse than the news shows tell us. Do you know that those who keep records the such things tell us that an hour day, there is more suffering and more martyrdom of Christians today than there's ever been in the whole history of the world? Your brothers, your sisters, followers of Jesus, and God's name is blasphemed every day. It's no wonder that when Isaiah thought about that world that was coming very soon to the people of Israel, it's no wonder he said how good it is when somebody tells us some good news. How beautiful it is when somebody finally has something good to say about life. And there's a reality here that so long as you and I continue to insulate ourselves from the suffering of the world, we will never be able to understand and to believe like we once did that the good news of Jesus can take your breath away. So long as you pretend that life is okay and that life is comfortable and that there are no real serious problems around you and that there is no real true suffering out there. So long as you cut that off from yourself, you should not be surprised to find yourself yawning at the thought of Jesus. You got to know the bad news. You have to face it to know the good news. Now remember I told you verse seven that how beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news. That sandwich between other verses we've seen what comes before and that is looking at the world as it really is and seeing just how much we need some good news of salvation from this desperate world. But now let's drop down to the verses that come below. The verses that come after verse seven and these are verses that you've heard before as well. If you think about it take a look at verse let's say verse eight. 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. First in the songs of joy together you ruins of Jerusalem for the Lord has comforted his people. He has redeemed Jerusalem the Lord will they bear his holy arm in the sight of all the nations and all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God and all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God. Now the prophet is not talking about the time of the exile he's talking about the time when the exile would be over when God's people would be restored to their capital city when good would come again when in fact salvation would not just come to the people of Israel but that salvation would come to the ends of the earth. This is a world that's still future even for us we've seen the beginning of it with Jesus coming into this world but we're still waiting for the day when salvation comes to the ends of the earth aren't we? We're still waiting for that day but it's that future vision that rises out of Isaiah's awareness that the good news of Jesus is breathtakingly beautiful and leads him to think about the future world and what it's going to be like. It's a funny thing though when you hear words like you find there in verse 10 where it says the Lord will they bear his holy arm in the sight of all the nations and all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God when you hear that kind of language in the Bible and it occurs all over the Bible do you know what Christians in the past used to think the Lord will they bear his holy arm and all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God please to think that that could be accomplished by human armies that natural armies could accomplish this they put their trust in armies to be able to accomplish bringing salvation to the ends of the earth it really wasn't that long ago when our own country right here believed that kind of thing you heard the song my eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord he is trampling out the vengeance where the grapes of wrath are stored what is that song that's the battle him of the Republic who's battle him was that at the union army that's right it was their battle him my eyes has seen the coming of the glory of the Lord they were talking about the union army now you know I'm glad that the South lost the Civil War I'm sorry I'm a southerner so I can say that okay I'm glad the African slave trade ended I'm glad we are one country I really am glad for those things and I'm confident that those were really great results from that war but I'll tell you something else I'm confident of the union army was not the coming of the glory of the Lord okay when they burned out Atlanta when they destroyed all the southern states they were not the coming of the glory of God no human army can do that and nobody in this room even believes that that's possible in fact what's happened is is that we over the last few hundred years we sort of given up on that idea that a human army could accomplish this salvation coming to the ends of the earth and so we turn to other things we turn to social programs that will do it or we turn to education that will do it or we turn to mercy ministries and medicine and things like that that will do it anything will do it surely we can find something that will bring salvation and peace to the ends of the earth and the whole world will see the great wonder display of God's glory surely we can do it but time and again we failed time and again every program is failed and failed and failed and failed so where are we now I can tell you where we are right now we don't believe it will ever happen we don't believe it's possible we don't think it's possible for the world to change we don't think it's possible for the salvation that is in Christ to be extended to the ends of the earth we have become as skeptical as the world around us has become we've become as cynical as the world around us has become we've become as pessimistic inside the church of Jesus Christ as the world around us is have you noticed that's where the world around you is they don't believe anything's really going to change do you wonder why we have a hard time getting support for the war effort we're involved in now as a country this because a lot of people just don't believe anything's going to change because of it do you wonder why we can't get anybody involved in anything with any degree of loyalty and commitment willing to give their lives to something because they don't think it's worth it do you wonder why the church of Jesus Christ is not doing much in this country anymore is because nobody in the church of Jesus Christ believes anymore that it can do anything who's going to give their life to something that won't do anything so what happens we become just as self-absorbed we become just as focused on ourselves as the world around us does what I'm interested in I'm interested in my comfort I'm interested in my safety I'm interested in my personal peace period Francis Shaper said this was the great decline and the great downfall of evangelicalism in this country was when evangelicals adopted the values of the upper middle class of the United States a personal peace and comfort and safety what do you cherish more than any of those things what do you cherish more than your own safety what do you cherish more than your own prosperity what do you cherish more than your own sense of well-being and goodness in life the answer is nothing so long as that's the case as long as we buy what the world around us tells us we'll never believe that the ends of the earth can see the salvation of our God we'll never believe it and so we'll never try to bring it to them that's the reality that we often face these days it's a skeptical cynical hopeless church of Jesus Christ I know most people in this room believe in Jesus you believe in him enough that you believe that he'll save you from your sins I know that and that's good I'm glad I know most of you in this room believe in Jesus enough to believe that he'll get you into heaven one day I know that and that's good and I'm glad if you believe that but my my question today is how much do you believe Jesus can do do you believe he just came to save yourself to get you into heaven or do you believe that he came to transform the earth let me tell you some good news that the Bible gives us salvation doesn't come just to you and to you and to you and to you and to you salvation comes to the world in Jesus that all the ends of the earth may see the salvation of our God that is our dream that is our vision and we must never lose sight of it you say rich how can you possibly believe that that's true that it can happen my answer is a really a very simple one think about where we began we began with one man and twelve followers and one of the twelve followers was the devil one man and eleven followers and look at where this religion of this one man is today it is literally everywhere in the world do you doubt that the one who went from 11 to the entire world can continue that process and bring the salvation of our God to the ends of the earth Jesus kingdom is doing just fine he's doing very well his kingdom is moving forward we have nothing to fear we have no reason to doubt we can have every hope just like the prophet did that the Lord will they bear his holy arm in the sight of all the nations and all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God don't lose that dream that's why he came and that's why he's coming back again and that's why you live in his world so wonder then with that kind of vision of this is what the world's going to be like when the exiles over with that kind of vision is no wonder Isaiah says how beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news how beautiful how breathtakingly beautiful and the picture he gives us there in verse seven is one that was very common in the ancient world it was that of a city that was normally built on a hill but surrounding that city would be mountains and this is back in the days before they had helicopters and satellites and things so what they would do is they put watchman on the mountain peaks and the watchman on the mountain peaks would look over the horizon away from the city and they'd be able to see when enemies were coming or when friends were approaching the city and when that would happen they'd run to the edge of the cliff and they start shouting back at the city as loud as they could close the gates sound the trumpets prepare for war here comes the enemy but that's not quite the picture that Isaiah has here you have watchman on the mountains it's true and they're looking over the horizon that's true and Jerusalem is back behind them on its hill but nevertheless surrounded by higher mountains and what do these people see as they look over the horizon not an enemy coming that's not what they see how beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news who proclaim peace who bring glad tidings to salvation who say to Zion or Jerusalem your God reigns your God reigns the kingdom of God the good news of the kingdom of God this is where the New Testament gets its expression the gospel of the kingdom of God it's right here in this passage here's the glad tidings here's the good news your God reigns this means that God defeated his enemies that means God defeated the enemies of his people and that God was coming back to Jerusalem to set up his kingdom to spread his kingdom throughout the world and this would be the glorious end of it all the great and wonderful time of salvation and Isaiah says the watchman has seen it and they begun to shout good news good news your God reigns stand up and begin to shout stand up and begin to sing because you have nothing to fear anymore you have nothing to be afraid of anymore that verse traumatized me when I was a child how beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news I remember being at a revival service and the preacher just kept on saying the preacher's feet are so beautiful the preacher's feet are so beautiful and even when I was 10 years old I had feet about this long and I had the ugliest feet in the universe okay and now I won't show you so don't ask me afterwards they're really very ugly and and I was convinced I couldn't be a preacher because my feet were so ugly okay that of course is not what he means what he's talking about is the coming the approach the running of the one with the good news that's what you are you are a person who has been put up on a mountain peak and you have looked over the horizon and you have seen things that people you go to school with people you go to work people you go to play with people you go to sporting events with they haven't seen less over the horizon yet you've seen it they haven't they're back here still wondering is anything ever going to change is anything ever going to be fixed or is this world always going to be falling apart like it seems to be falling apart right now but you are on the top of the mountain and you are looking over the horizon you have seen something you've seen a man who lived an absolutely perfect life you've seen a man who died on a cross to pay for the sins of people who were not as perfect as he you've seen a man who was given his just reward for having been so perfect and that reward was that he was raised from the dead and he was given a throne and now he rules now over over heaven and he rules over earth and he just waits and he waits and he waits until all of his enemies are put under his feet and when he's his enemies are put under his feet he will come back here and make all things new and he will give all things to you that's good news that anyone who follows Christ will be one who inherits the earth so perhaps you look at your life now and you say you know my life feels like the first part of this passage where things are just falling to pieces good news Jesus can change that maybe you have been thinking about that future world and you wish you would come and you just not even sure that you can believe that that is going to happen ever again that it's just you just can't believe it good news Jesus has come and Jesus has secured it he has paid the price for your sins he's paid the price and he's been given all authority in heaven and on earth to make all things new and so we really can affirm what the prophet said here how breathtakingly beautiful it is when someone brings good news super claims peace super claims salvation who says your God not theirs your God reigns let's pray together Lord Jesus leave now before you because we confess you to be the Lord of heaven and earth we're so grateful that you have not left us without hope in this miserable world but that you've given us hope that you have the power to change things and so we pray now that we'll be able to hear that good news for ourselves so we can be encouraged and also for our relatives our fathers our mothers our children we pray also Lord that you will help us to understand this good news so that we can give it to others around us that we might be people who are able to say is the prophet did how beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring the good news