Beautiful Feet

Isaiah 52:7-10

Take a look at your feet.  Would you call them beautiful?  I sure wouldn’t!  Often we don’t think much about our feet until they start hurting.  We can get painful bunions and corns on our feet.  The nails are more difficult to maintain than our fingernails, and so often the skin can get dry and cracked.  After a long day they are tired and sore.  Thus, so often feet are not a pretty sight.  However, in our Scripture for today, the Prophet Isaiah shares with us that God calls some people’s feet beautiful.  Whose feet?  A fashion model or someone on the beach?   It’s not them.  Let’s look into our Scripture passage and see who can have beautiful feet.

This brief portion of Scripture in the middle of the 52nd chapter of Isaiah proclaims God’s salvation which is available to any and all from around the world who turn to Him.  But how are people from all around the world going to hear the message of God’s salvation, especially in the days of the Bible?  Today we have computers and the Internet that reach every corner of the world, but prior to its invention, and the invention of the television and radio a little over a hundred years ago, it was much more difficult to bring the Gospel to everyone.  It took an effort on the part of the believer who wanted to share the Gospel.

For centuries those who took the Gospel to others  had to go out, usually on foot, and physically travel to where their mission field was.  In the days of the Old Testament, the prophets traveled on foot across the Holy Land bringing God’s message.  Then in the New Testament days the Apostles and the early believers headed out to all parts of the world, usually on foot, bringing the Gospel message of Jesus and His salvation.  They traveled over hills and mountains, across rivers and oceans, across deserts and wilderness, and through forests and jungles bringing the Gospel to all different people groups.  Their feet would be worn out and tired, would get dusty, dirty, wet, and cold, and yet God called their feet beautiful (vs. 7).  They brought the good news of salvation, and they proclaimed the peace we can now have with God.  Just like the angels told the shepherds, those with beautiful feet bring glad tidings of good things.

These feet are beautiful in God’s eyes because they bring the Gospel to others, which has the power to transform lives, lives that were once trapped in sin but are now set free.  These feet bring the message that brings spiritual peace and joy to all those who accept it.  These beautiful feet bring those who tell the message that God reigns, that He is sovereign and is establishing His kingdom through the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Lord also wants His people to be watchmen, watching in eager anticipation to proclaim the return of the Lord Jesus (vs. 8-10).  They are joyful because they know that God will fulfill His promises and restore His people.  The prophet Isaiah speaks about the restoration of Jerusalem in particular.  Jerusalem is the great city where David planned and his son Solomon built God’s holy Temple, and from where the Lord Jesus will set up His capital when He returns to earth.  Throughout multitudes of centuries the city of Jerusalem has not seen peace.  It has been laid waste several times, and seen the tears of God’s people.  However, now Jerusalem and her people can sing for joy, because when Jesus returns He will bring back the glory of His city.

As we come to the end of this Scripture passage, we read that God’s salvation is for “all the ends of the earth” (vs. 10).  The Gospel message of salvation through Jesus is for everyone.  Salvation is available to all nations and peoples throughout the world.

In closing, we need to share the good news of salvation with others, following the example of the messengers with beautiful feet.  In today’s world with all of the technology available, that doesn’t mean having to walk everywhere.  I have mobility difficulties, along with respiratory issues, and it is not easy for me to get around, but here I am, trying to spread the gospel message of Jesus and His Word through the internet, and I don’t need to leave my house.  When someone accepts Jesus as Savior and turns their life over to God, there is joy and praise in heaven, and should be with us, too.  Though our physical feet may not be so great, we can still have beautiful feet in God’s sight!