Bringing the Good News – Isaiah 52:7

How lovely on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, Who announces peace and brings good news of happiness, Who announces salvation, and says to Zion, “Your God reigns!”

How beautiful are those who carried the Good News of Jesus Christ to us while we were still alienated from God. How heartening was the message that our God, splendid and majestic, high and lifted up, loves us, not as part of global humanity, but as individuals, unique and precious in His sight. How welcome was the Word that rescued us from our futility and brought us into God’s family as beloved children.[1] As those touched by Jesus’ amazing love, we can but fall before Him in praise for His loving-kindness. With awe, we rejoice that He chose us to spend eternity with Him.[2] We sing in gratitude for our salvation, and delight in knowing that our Lord reigns in victory and power over all the nations.[3]

Indeed, happy are we who know the Lord, but what of those who have not heard of Jesus’ desire to bring them out of darkness into the pure light of heaven? How will they come to know of the Lord’s redeeming grace and reconciling love?[4] Will we tell them?  Will we carry the story of Jesus to them that they might hear, and upon hearing, receive, and upon receiving, enter into eternal life?

We must, for God is calling us to take the Good News to the lost.  When the Lord asks, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us,” we should answer, “Here I am, Lord; send me.”[5]  Follow the footpath walked by Peter, who, in obedience to the Lord, went to Cornelius’ home in Caesarea to share about peace through Jesus Christ with the many assembled there. Participate in the miracle of salvation as did Peter when his listeners’ hungry souls received the Word with gladness and entered into the Lord’s salvation, even while his testimony was still fresh on his lips.[6]

Bearer of the Good News, lift your voice and announce, “Jesus Christ is Lord” to any who have not heard. Shod your feet with the Gospel of Peace and prepare yourself to make known the message of Christ, which He entrusted to you.[7]  Lift your voice and proclaim, “Here is your God,[8]” the One who “so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”[9]  Be faithful to declare the message of salvation, and rejoice as you see the light of the knowledge of Jesus Christ dawn upon those who were sitting in darkness.[10]

How glorious the message

Of the King, His Majesty

The Creator of the heavens

The mountains, fields, and sea

The One who hung the stars

Giving each its name

Who arranged the galaxies

For His glory and His fame

The One who formed each person

Within his mother’s womb

The One who causes seeds to fall

And brings the rose to bloom

The One who sent His servant

Loving, true, and kind

To share in love the Message

With the seeking and the blind

How beautiful the feet

Of the faithful one who brought

The story of salvation

To the one who sought

[1] Ephesians 1:5

[2] 1 John 5:13

[3] Psalm 47:8

[4] Romans 10:14

[5] Isaiah 6:8

[6] Acts 10:19-22, 34-44

[7] Ephesians 6:15

[8] Isaiah 40:9

[9] John 3:16

[10] Matthew 4:16