"The One Bringing Good News"

Now our attention is turned back to Zion when she is still in her desolate state.  A messenger approaches bearing good news:  "How comely upon the mountains are the feet of the one bringing good news, the one publishing peace, the one bringing good news  of something better, the one publishing salvation, the one saying to Zion:  'Your God has become king!' "  (Isaiah 52:7)  In 537 B.C.E., how can it be said that Zion's God has become King?  Has not Jehovah always been King?  Indeed, he is the "King of eternity!"  (Revelation 15:3)  But the exclamation "Your God has become king!" is appropriate because Babylon's fall and the royal proclamation to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem and restore pure worship there constitute a new expression of Jehovah's kingship. -Psalm 97:1.

In Isaiah's day, no individual or group of individuals was identified as "the one bringing good news."  Today, though,  the identity of the bearer of good news is known. Jesus Christ is Jehovah's greatest messenger of peace. While on earth, he preached the good news that there would be a release from all the effects of sin inherited from Adam, including sickness and death.  (Matthew 9:35)  Jesus set a zealous example in publishing this good news of something better, seizing every opportunity to teach people about the Kingdom of God.  (Matthew  5:1, 2; Mark 6:34; Luke 19:1-10; John 4:5-26) And his disciples followed his example. 

In his letter to the Romans, the apostle Paul quotes Isaiah 52:7 to highlight the importance of the work of preaching the good news. He poses a series of thought-provoking questions, including 'How will people hear without someone to preach?'  He then says:  "Just as it is written:  'How comely are the feet of those  who declare good news of good things!' " (Romans 10:14, 15)  Paul thus expands the application of Isaiah 52:7, using the plural form "those" instead of the singular "one,"  which appears in the original text  of Isaiah. Imitating Jesus Christ, all Christians are messengers of the good news of peace.  How are their feet "comely"?  Isaiah speaks  as if the herald is approaching Jerusalem from the nearby mountains of Judah.  From afar, it is impossible to see the messenger's feet. Rather, the focus here is on the messenger, the feet standing for the messenger himself.  Just as Jesus  and his disciples were a beautiful sight to meek ones in the first century,  present-day Witnesses are a welcome sight to humble ones who heed the life-saving message of good news.

Since when in modern times has the cry "Your God has become king!"  Been heard?  Since 1919.  In that year at a convention in Cedar Point, Ohio, J.F. Rutherford , then president of  the Watch Tower Society, stirred his listeners  with a talk entitled "Address to Co-laborers."  The talk, based on Isaiah 52:7 and Revelation 15:2, encouraged all present to take up the preaching work.  Thus, 'comely feet" began to appear on "the mountains."  First anointed Christians and later their companions of the "other sheep" zealously went forth to preach the good news that Jehovah had become King. (John 10:16)  How had Jehovah become King?  He expressed his kingship a new in 1914 when he installed his Son, Jesus Christ, as King in the newly established heavenly Kingdom.  And Jehovah made  yet another expression of his kingship in 1919 when he liberated "the Israel of God"  from Babylon the Great. -Galatians 6:16; Psalm 47:8; Revelation 11:15, 17; 19:16.

Next time: "Your Own Watchmen Have Raised Their Voice"

From the Book Isaiah's Prophecy Light for all Mankind, Volume II, 2001