How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that announceth glad tidings, that publisheth peace; that announceth glad tidings of good, that publisheth salvation, that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!
Isaiah 52 speaks to a ruined Jerusalem. Verse 7 pictures a messenger on the hills bringing news to that city, and it raises two questions: whose feet are these, and has the announcement already come?
The verse answers a call given earlier in Isaiah. It also changes the job of the watchmen on Jerusalem's walls.
Beautiful then in their eyes, as in His, are the feet of him who brings good news and publishes peace. Earlier (Isaiah 40:9) the cities of Judah were told, "Behold your God!" Now Zion hears, "Your God reigns!" The watchmen lift up their voice and sing instead of warning. The ruins of Jerusalem, forsaken so long, sing together with joy they cannot hold back.
One test settles the question: did history ever match the promise?
These words came in connection with Babylon's overthrow, but their wider application and meaning is future. The overthrow of Babylon and Nineveh did not result in the glorious things spoken of by Isaiah and Nahum. At that time the ends of the earth did not see the salvation of God. Jerusalem was not redeemed, and God was not enthroned as King in Zion. It is all yet to come. When that day comes, the messengers will go out from Jerusalem and declare the good news to the nations of the world. The good news of the kingdom will be announced far and wide at the start of the thousand-year reign. Then the lasting, abundant peace will come, so that all the nations see the salvation of the God of Israel.
One word shifts when Paul takes the verse up in Romans.
Though Romans 10:15 speaks of "the feet of THEM," Isaiah 52:7, which Paul is quoting there, speaks of "the feet of HIM."
That one Messenger has already walked the earth.
Isaiah 52:7 had a fulfilment when our Lord stepped into public service, at about thirty years of age. In the Gospels we see how beautiful His feet were as He walked the land of Israel preaching the gospel of the kingdom. Did He not say in the synagogue at Nazareth, "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing" (Luke 4:21)? And what Scripture was this? Just what Isaiah had prophesied seven centuries before.
Between the singing of chapter 52 and the singing of chapter 54 stands Isaiah 53. Its placement explains the joy.
Note carefully that between these two chapters we have perhaps the best-known chapter in the Old Testament — Isaiah 53. The position of this chapter between Isaiah 52 and 54 gives the key to all the rejoicing of God's people.
When Paul quotes this verse in Romans, he stops before the last clause.
The apostle does not quote the last clause of the verse: "who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, 'Your God reigns.'" For in truth, taking prophecy in its plain sense, the very opposite has been seen from that day to this. Days of vengeance were near for that Christ-rejecting generation, not days of salvation for the holy city. And Jerusalem is still trampled down by the nations until the times of the nations are fulfilled. But the joyful news must surely come, for the mouth of Jehovah has spoken it. No dust on their feet can make them anything but beautiful, because of the good news they carry.
Paul's plural draws ordinary messengers in. The beauty is not their own.
We see beauty in its perfection in Christ as He publishes peace (Isaiah 52:7; Nahum 1:15). We see that same beauty, in measure, in the movements of believers who are sent by the Lord and who love to preach the gospel of peace in a world disturbed by sin (Romans 10).
What believers announce now runs ahead of Israel's coming day, and it carries its own motive.
The apostle shows that in this, as in so many other things, the gospel gives us now, in advance, what repentant and restored Israel will receive from God in the coming day. And grace, as we know it in Christ, gives the deepest motives for spreading the good news earnestly.
- Ruin. The message comes to a Jerusalem in ruins, forsaken for so long. Good news is beautiful because the case was desperate.
- Message. The news is peace, good, salvation and a King. "Behold your God" becomes "Your God reigns," and the watchmen stop warning and start singing.
- Messenger. Isaiah says "the feet of him" — one Messenger. Writers identify Him with Christ, who read Isaiah aloud at Nazareth and said it was fulfilled that day.
- Cost. Isaiah 53 stands between the two songs of joy, and its place there is the key to all the rejoicing of God's people.
- Reach. Paul stops his quotation before "Your God reigns" and leaves that clause for a day still ahead. He applies the rest in the plural, so the beauty now belongs to everyone sent to publish peace.
-- The voice of thy watchmen, they lift up the voice, they sing aloud together; for they shall see eye to eye, when Jehovah shall bring again Zion.
In Isaiah 52 a runner reaches the mountains with news that God reigns. The city's lookouts hear it. It raises three questions: why the watchmen sing instead of warning, what "eye to eye" means, and when this song happens.
A watchman's voice normally warns of danger. Here it does something else.
Watchmen usually lift up the voice to warn. Now it will be to sing. There will be no disharmony, for they will agree in what they see. And indeed the joyful song will be everywhere. It will break out even in the "waste places of Jerusalem." It will be a song based on the redemption the Lord has accomplished for them.
The message to Zion has moved on from the one given earlier in the book.
Earlier (Isaiah 40:9) the word to the cities of Judah was, "Behold your God." Now Zion hears, "Your God reigns!" The watchmen lift up their voice. They sing; they do not warn. The wastes of Jerusalem, forsaken so long, sing together in joy they cannot hold back.
They sing together because they see eye to eye. Agreement follows sight, and what they see is the Lord returning to Zion.
The good news will sound out far and wide. The word about Zion will be, "Your God reigns." Then at last the nation will be restored. Israel and Judah will sing together, for they shall see eye to eye. But all this blessing will be wholly the work of the LORD, for it will be "when the LORD shall bring again Zion."
Commentators agree that this has not happened yet. One of them also gives the reason.
No — the watchmen of Jerusalem cannot yet raise their voice or sing together. Jerusalem is still in the hands of the cruel enemy, and the hearts of the Jews are still under a tyrant more deadly still. But they shall see eye to eye when Jehovah restores Zion. After ages of ruin, the waste places of Jerusalem will burst out and sing together. … Zion remains in the hands of the stranger because Zion's sons did not receive their divine King. They killed Him on the cross by the hands of lawless outsiders whom they could sway to join them in that fatal deed. Out of that deed God has caused the richest mercy to shine for both, if they will only heed His message.
The New Testament handles this passage in a striking way. Paul takes up verse 7 in Romans 10, but he stops before the words about Zion.
Look also at Romans 10:15. It quotes Isaiah 52: "As it is written, 'How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!'" Now, why does the Apostle stop there in the middle of the sentence and leave out what follows? The reason is clear. The next words are, "who says to Zion, 'Your God reigns.'" They cannot be fulfilled yet. They wait for the Lord Jesus to take His rightful place as Son of David and to reign in glory before His elders as King of Israel.
This verse also speaks to believers now. It names the one condition under which people sing as one.
We can sing together only in His presence, with every heart taken up with Himself. That is what the prophet says: "With the voice together shall they sing; for they shall see eye to eye." Only when every eye rests on Him shall we see eye to eye. Away from His presence we are easily offended because of Christ, and offended with one another. Offended saints will soon part company and become scattered sheep.
Another writer sees the same failure in the world today. Men "do not see eye to eye" because ambition, selfishness and greed set them against each other. Real unity comes only when grace enters the human heart (A. J. Pollock).
The watchmen are not the last to hear. The joy keeps travelling outward.
His Israel on the earth shall see "eye to eye." The light and the joy of Zion's salvation will travel with holy speed. It will pass from the messengers on the mountains to the watchmen of the city, from them to the people, and from the people to the nations.
- Sight first. They sing together because they see together. Unity here is a result, never the starting point.
- One object. What they see is the Lord returning to Zion — every eye on the same Person is what makes one voice possible.
- His work. The whole scene waits on the LORD returning to Zion. The restoration is His doing, not the watchmen's.
- Not yet. Zion's sons rejected their King, so the song still waits. Paul quotes verse 7 and stops short of the reign in Zion.
- Then outward. From messengers to watchmen, to the people, to the nations — the song that starts with a few messengers ends among the nations.