now if you've got your bibles perhaps you could turn with me to isaiah chapter 52
we're going to look at just a very short section from verse 7 to 10 it'll be up on the screen
as well as we think about the mission of god's people a reminder that our mission is always to
to enjoy the gospel to enjoy our good news and isaiah 52 verse 7 to 10 serves that purpose of
helping us to recover that sense of joy as it describes to us the wonder of salvation
and encouragement to us to extend the hope of the lord to the ends of the earth so let's
read these verses together how beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good
news who proclaim peace who bring good tidings who proclaim salvation who say to zion your god reigns
listen your watchmen lift up their voices together they shout for joy when the lord returns to zion
and they will see it with their own eyes burst into songs of joy together you ruins of jerusalem
for the lord has comforted his people he has redeemed jerusalem the lord will lay bare his holy arm
in the sight of all the nations and all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our god
this little text reminds us of the life transforming good news that there is in the bible at the heart
of our faith and it's good news here in light of two things in light of the current circumstances
of the people to whom this message from isaiah comes comes from god through isaiah and it's a life
transforming as we consider the character and the work of god the true king so this evening to help us to
in a sense to to grasp the circumstances of the people in isaiah's day to help us to enter into the
text we're going to go on a little guided tour and so we're going to go to the heart of the ruined
city of jerusalem in isaiah's time but we're also going to be passing by the city of stalingrad as we
think about the great siege of stalingrad in world war ii that lasted some 900 days or so between 1941
and 44 we'll be taken to a city surrounded by the nazi forces starving to death and we will also
take a very different journey we'll journey to narnia to that land where it was always winter
and never christmas and we'll do that to help us to think about the good news that we have here
that i hope these journeys will be a window for us into the life-changing joy of salvation that comes
when the king comes when help and deliverance comes and so as i said isaiah 52
came first of all to the exiles this is a message for exiles so they have been sent away from israel
because of disobedience and so they know that their city of jerusalem lies in
ruins they have been captured by enemies and perhaps god felt distant as they were in a distant
country and then comes that image of verse 7 so picture with me a breathless messenger running to the city
of jerusalem and the watchmen on the wall spot this man running over the hillside and the question is this
good news what's the news is it is it death or glory and as he gets closer and we hear his message it's
it's good news it's it's peace it's salvation it's your god reigns it's the equivalent of stalingrad
throwing a street party when the nazi forces were defeated it's narnia finding hope when they discover
that aslan the true king is on the move so let's jump into our text to see why we should celebrate
god's salvation three words that stand out from our text the first reason to celebrate because
god reigns verse 7 your god reigns now notice the answer to the despair that these people are facing
they say how beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news and we might
think well the hope is because this messenger's here but no it's not the messenger it's the message
that gives hope it's the beautiful message from their king of this king who reigns remember their
experience it's one of defeat of knowing god's judgment of being separate from their homeland and from
their temple and ultimately from the the promised land they have known humiliation and they have known
loss but now by god's grace the tide is turning hope returns joy dawns
just by way of observation this kind of picture is is helpful for us seeing that the christian message
our message our message is only ever going to sound to people as good news if we have that sense of the
spiritual danger and misery of life without jesus as savior
and when people dismiss the reality of sin or judgment or eternity jesus and his death may seem to them
pointless and so one thing that we always want to pray is that god would open people's eyes both
to have a right view of spiritual danger but also to have a right view of the the wonder of the salvation
that jesus offers now what does the reign of god mean for his people according to this messenger
in verse 7 have a look at these wonderful words the reign of god means peace means shalom it means wholeness
and flourishing it means life as it's meant to be means peace with god and peace within ourselves and
and peace in the world it's the way things ought to be when god reigns it's good tidings it's good
news just as it was in original creation when god created and proclaimed that it was good
when god as king rules over all there is goodness there is good news in that
and there is too in verse 7 salvation now for these exiles literally they might be thinking in terms of
broken chains and and the end of being captives and slaves and getting to return home but spiritually
that's a really powerful image isn't it and the bible picks up the idea of us all being spiritually
slaves jesus says we are slaves to sin and we cannot stop ourselves from being sinners and being sinful
we are unable to break free we are unable to conquer that great enemy of death spiritually we are far from god
and eternal life outside of the good news of salvation so the gospel message your god reigns comes
with that note of real celebration for the people of god
when people tell of the the siege at stalingrad one of the the crucial turning points so if you imagine a city
that's been bombarded month after month after month but there came a point where russian troops and and
armaments came and managed to to break through and they they set up a rail link so now food supplies are going into the city
and now weapons are going into the city and there was that beginning of hope that that hitler would not have
the final word
we go to narnia you know the story we are introduced to the the white queen jadis the one who claimed the throne
of narnia but then central to the story is aslan's return the true king returns to his kingdom
and instantly how power it is broken and begins to fade that perpetual winter turns to spring father
christmas shows up because the king has come and what the bible says is that god is the true king
overall and his reign for his people is good news it's peace salvation
and it's important for us to to capture as christians it's important for us to get that sense of joy and
celebration
as we think about how do we communicate the good news it begins with appreciating just how good our good
news is especially when we think about the reign of king jesus because jesus was and is god who reigns
mark chapter 1 verse 14 and 15 jesus proclaims good news from god the kingdom of god has come near he calls
the people to repent and believe the king has come bringing in his kingdom luke chapter 4 he begins to
preach in nazareth he says the spirit of the lord is on me he has anointed me to proclaim and to proclaim
what to proclaim good news to proclaim the release for captives jesus is this king who has come and he
reigns we see it in the life of jesus what's the kingdom of jesus like his life is bringing in god's
kingdom and we see healing and we see driving out evil and we see it raising people to life and we see him
restoring peace and wholeness pictures of what his eternal kingdom is like
but then we see how he brings salvation as god's king he is a king who suffers and dies for his people
jesus in that sense is treated as an enemy
so that we who trust in him might be regarded as friends of god and today our hope is that jesus still
rules and still reigns in heaven in glory at his father's right hands as david reminded us he continues
to pray for his church he continues to pour out his spirit on his church and he will return to take his
church to be with him and we look forward to the new heavens and the new earth where we will enjoy as
god's people that perfect reign that goodness that joy forever so there is reason to celebrate because god
reigns but that's not all that is contained in this section we also have a second reason to celebrate and
that's because god returns look at verse 8 with me so we've gone from a single messenger
shouting good news this message is now picked up as it were by the watchmen on the walls of the city
and they are passing this news to the rest of the city listen your watchmen lift up their voices together
they shout for joy when the lord returns to zion they will see it with their own eyes what's the good news
for this city and ruins the lord is coming back our king will return
so so again this is the context of exile and part of the tragedy of exile is that
this people who had known so much of god's goodness and kindness and living in that covenant relationship with god
had left the land due to their sin due to their idolatry due to their turning their back on the one true god
and so god announced judgment and that judgment came from king nebuchadnezzar who came and he destroyed
jerusalem and he took captives away
and another prophet a prophet now by the name of ezekiel chapters 8 to 11
it reminds us that part of that judgment from god is that god himself left the building
the glory of god departed from the temple
of all the losses that the people of god knew the loss of fellowship with the one true god
it was a great loss so now now they can celebrate with joy because here is the promise
it's the promise of the return of the king king coming to save the day
again think about stalingrad bombarded hungry desperate citizens but then on the horizon
seeing tank after tank from their russian comrades seeing hordes of soldiers coming
and all of a sudden there's hope this will not last forever we have not been forgotten
or to think of that wonderful ancient rhyme that mr beaver shares with the children in narnia
says wrong will be right when aslan comes in sight at the sound of his roar sorrows will be no more
when he bears his teeth winter meets its day and when he shakes his mane we shall have spring
again the great hope for narnia the return of the true king the hope for the people of god is that
god wouldn't leave them in exile god wouldn't say i'm done with my people rather he would return
why was there the separation the bible is really clear why is there separation is because of the
people's sin because of the people's turning to idols and that's that's true for us why is it that we
are by nature separate from god it's because of our sin because our our hearts don't turn towards god
they're naturally turned away from god
different question why does god return why would god return and the answer is entirely because of his
grace and his mercy it's not that the people deserve it it's that god delights to show mercy and grace
and that's still true for us today that still remains the hope of god's people the hope of the world that
though we are by nature sinners and rebels and enemies against god that god in his grace and mercy
is willing to come to us and to save us and to return us back to himself
and when we think about who is jesus we recognize jesus was and is god who returns the gospels are
full of that in malachi chapter 3 so so the last book in the old testament there was this future hope
that the lord would return to his temple and then you think about so we've been in john's gospel it's no
wonder there's so much attention on jesus coming to the temple he is the lord who comes
literally comes to his temple the son of god comes to be among his people to rescue them and he declares
i am actually the true temple if you want to meet with god you need to come to jesus he says
another one of the old testament prophets zechariah zechariah 9 9 spoke of um that future hope of the the king
who would come riding on a donkey the king who would return to them gentle and riding on a donkey
and that's what we see with jesus shortly before his death jesus returns the king returns to jerusalem
riding on a donkey as our humble servant king and that's not the end of that theme because now
as the people of god we are still awaiting another return of king jesus so he came once he returned once
and he has begun building his kingdom begun the work of establishing salvation but the end of history
jesus will come back again his return is when we will see that prayer answered your kingdom come
perfectly salvation will be complete on that day all his enemies will be defeated on that day
eternal life will be secured on that day so our hope and our joy remains the same as those of the people
in isaiah's day the return of the king we live in between that the first return the first coming of
jesus and the second coming of jesus our king
and there's one other reason to celebrate in this short section verses 9 and 10 and we celebrate the
reality that god redeems
now the message spreads beyond the single runner beyond the watchman on the walls to the ends of the
earth from the ruins of jerusalem to the ends of the earth a song of god who redeems
burst into songs of joy together you ruins of jerusalem for the lord has comforted his people
he has redeemed jerusalem the lord will lay bare his holy arm in the sight of all the nations
and all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our god in the book of isaiah from from chapter 40
onwards the theme of comfort becomes really prominent and important and an end to the loss and the
misery and the defeat and and we're told here in part how that comfort will come the lord has
comforted his people and he has redeemed jerusalem and that word there is the idea of the kinsman
redeemer for those of us perhaps who know the story of ruth boaz was her kinsman redeemer a close
relative who was able to to buy back land or to buy someone out of slavery to to pay a price to bring
restoration and god says to his people i will be your kinsman redeemer
that speaks to us of relationship of costly love of commitment on god's part to to save his church and to
keep his church and so it's no wonder this message in verse 9 and 10 it becomes a song
from the the ruined city of jerusalem to the ends of the earth there's this song that god saves
maybe we think of a psalm like psalm 96 verse 10 say among the nations god reigns this is this is the hope
not just for the exiles not just for the people of jerusalem it's hope for the world that god reigns
that jesus saves
when stalingrad was eventually freed from that siege after 900 days there were reports of of tears of joy of
of street parties breaking out of wild celebration after years freedom had come
in narnia when aslan leapt into battle and crushed the witch and and won the victory there is joy
among people and animals because the king has come and the king had saved
and in the same way and much much greater jesus was and is god who redeems god who saves
that's how he was announced by the angels the savior who has been born to you is the messiah
the lord god's chosen savior had been born and he was none other than god in human form
jesus the son of god and in his life don't we see at the arm of the lord at work
pushing back darkness acting as the light of the world acting with the power of god to bring in his kingdom
and then in his death
the arm of the lord nailed to a cross in order to secure our forgiveness
and our salvation when we trust in him
so we praise and celebrate the god who redeems
the whole story of the bible is the story of jesus
and it's the story of salvation that we are called
to celebrate
as we close
let's go back to verse 7 let's think about that
that single messenger on the hillside
it's speaking for the king
it's peace
it's good news
we are saved
doesn't that represent a brilliant picture of
the church
and of us as christians
we are sent by
king jesus
and and the hope for the world is not us as messengers but it's in the message that we declare
jesus
has come to make peace between people and god
by dealing with the problem of sin that leads to death
jesus is good news because in him we can have eternal life we can have
relationship with god that lasts forever
he jesus is the king
who saves
and that's why we preach
this is why we want to spend time on monday evenings praying for those we know
and care about who aren't christians yet
it's why we want to show compassion
in our community in our workplaces to our families
it's why we
seek with the help of the spirit to bring him into our conversations because we know
that jesus really is good news
we know that salvation is a cause for celebration
so as the people of god as we discover again and again as we rediscover in the word of god
how amazing our good news is
may we pray
that we would want others to hear
and that we would be ready to be that messenger
bearing that good news from our king
spreading the joy of his salvation
let's pray together
lord our god we thank you that throughout
the whole bible
we find the wonderful story
of your saving grace
we thank you that you are the god who reigns
that you have created all things including us
we thank you
that despite our sin
despite our rebellion against you
that in your mercy and grace
that you have sent your son jesus
to live
and die
and rise
and return to the glory of heaven
as our king
we thank you that
he is your king who reigns
we thank you that
he is the king who has come
and who will come again
and we thank you that
jesus is the king who on the cross
secured salvation
for all who would put their trust in him
father again as we think of this
good news spreading through the world
as we think of the
the misery and the suffering and the darkness
that we hear and see so much of in the world
and we pray that your spirit would be at work
turning back the darkness
bringing people from that kingdom of darkness
into your wonderful kingdom of light
and lord we pray it so that you would have the glory that you deserve
we pray it so that more and more people would have true
and lasting joy
please help us
never to forget
the good news of jesus
help us never to take it for granted
give us that boldness and help that we need
to share it with others
to pray for others
to work
for the sake of others coming
to know jesus as savior too
now we pray in his name
amen
now let's close together
singing the hymn
nothing but the blood of jesus
and we will stand together to sing
all right
sing
are still there
it is
there
in
funny
but they usually
remember
we would not do it
still
how
can
d
and
for
those
you
and
you
amiga