Nahum 1:15

Some prefer to read this last verse as the beginning of chapter 2. Either way, the chapter closes with the beautiful words, "Behold, upon the mountains, the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace!" The judgment of the Assyrian will be the settled peace of Israel. That peace will be proclaimed everywhere when the LORD has completed His full work in Jerusalem.

But does judgment close the story? It never has, and it never could. It only makes way for the purpose of God… "God's vengeance is the deliverance of the world from the oppression and misery of the yoke of the enemy and of lust. Then the world may flourish under the peaceful eye of its Deliverer."

Romans 10:15 speaks of "the feet of THOSE" who preach the good news. But Isaiah 52:7, which it quotes, speaks of "the feet of HIM… who brings good news, who publishes peace, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, 'Your God reigns.'" Nahum says the same: the feet of HIM (Nahum 1:15).

We know that the only one who can bring peace to the earth is the Lord Himself. Peace will not come from the destruction of dictatorships by the vengeful sword of the democracies. It will come by the personal appearance of the Son of Man. His nail-pierced feet will appear on the mountains of Judea, and He will judge the nations for the glory of God and for the peace of Israel.

Isaiah 52:7 was spoken in connection with Babylon's overthrow, but its wider application and meaning is future. The overthrow of Babylon and Nineveh did not bring the glorious things Isaiah and Nahum spoke of. The ends of the earth did not then see the salvation of God. Jerusalem was not redeemed. God was not enthroned as King in Zion. It is all yet to come. When that day comes, messengers will go out from Jerusalem and declare the good news to the nations of the world. The wicked, opposing powers of the world will then be no more.

I have no doubt that the invasion of Sennacherib was the occasion of this prophecy. But it clearly goes far beyond that event, and the judgment is final. This is another instance of what we have so often seen in the prophets. A partial judgment serves as a warning or an encouragement to the people of God, while it is only a forerunner of a future judgment.

The yoke of the Assyrian would be broken for ever, and the proud, hostile power of the world destroyed… The good news of full deliverance would be spread everywhere, and Judah would keep her solemn feasts in peace.

The Israelites were not told to make vows. But if they made them freely, God said they must keep them faithfully. Man is always ready to boast of his strength, without being conscious of his own weakness.

In Romans 3, the feet of those who did not know the way of peace were marked by violence. Now, through the precious "gospel of peace," those feet have such moral worth and dignity that God can use them to crush the one who brought violence and murder into this world. The perfection of beauty is seen in Christ publishing peace (Isaiah 52:7; Nahum 1:15). The same beauty is seen, in measure, in believers who delight to preach the gospel of peace, as sent by the Lord, in a world disturbed by sin.