How Beautiful on the Mountains

A watchman squints into the distance. Something is moving on the far hills. A figure. Running. Running hard, towards the city. Is it bad news, or good? The watchman holds his breath.

In the ancient world there were no phones, no radios, no newspapers. When a battle was won or lost far away, news travelled on foot. A runner would set off from the battlefield and race over the hills towards the city. Meanwhile, watchmen stood on the city walls, scanning the horizon. In the book of Second Samuel, King David waits at the city gate while a watchman on the wall calls down: I see a man running alone. Then another! Each time, everyone wonders: what news is he bringing? Isaiah takes this scene and paints it over Jerusalem. But Jerusalem is in ruins. Her walls are broken. Her people have been taken away. What news could possibly come to a city like that?

“How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of good, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, Your God reigns!” Feet are not usually called beautiful. A runner's feet would be dusty, cracked and sore from the rocky hills. But when someone is bringing the news you have longed for, even their dirty feet look wonderful. Peace. Good. Salvation. And the best news of all: your God reigns. He is still King. He has not lost. He has not forgotten you.

And then the watchmen hear it. “Your watchmen lift up their voice, together they sing; for they shall see eye to eye when the Lord returns to Zion.” Not just one watchman, all of them, shouting together. And what do they see? Not only the runner, but the King himself, coming back to his city. God is returning to Zion. Then Isaiah calls out to the ruins themselves. “Break out into joy, sing together, you waste places of Jerusalem; for the Lord has comforted his people. He has redeemed Jerusalem.” Picture fallen stones and burned beams starting to sing. The very rubble bursts into song, because God has bought his people back.

And this news is not only for Jerusalem. “The Lord has made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.” Making bare his arm is like a warrior rolling up his sleeve, ready to act. God is about to do something the whole world will see. Centuries later, on a hillside near Bethlehem, a messenger from heaven appeared to shepherds keeping watch at night. I bring you good tidings of great joy, he said, which will be to all people. And the Apostle Paul quoted Isaiah's words about the feet of those who bring good news, to describe everyone who carries the message of Jesus to others.

Isaiah's phrase bringing good news gave us a famous word. About two hundred years before Jesus, Jewish scholars translated the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek, in a version known as the Septuagint. Here they used the Greek verb euangelizo, to announce good news. From the same family of words comes euangelion, the word the New Testament uses for gospel, and the root of our English word evangelist.

How beautiful on the mountains. You'll find it in Isaiah chapter fifty-two, verses seven to ten. A runner brings the news a broken city longed for: peace, salvation, your God reigns. So here is a question to carry with you. What is one piece of good news about God that you could carry to someone else this Christmas?