God Sends A Preacher Series

Same for Judah: harassed by your enemies, slated to go into exile, devoid of hope, God must have seemed a world away. And that’s exactly what Judah was saying. Think of Isaiah 40, where the prophet admonishes the people, “Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel? ‘My way is hidden from the LORD?’” (v 27). There’s nothing worse than feeling forgotten: forgotten by others, and forgotten by God.

But here comes God’s messenger, and this is his good news in a nutshell, “Your God reigns.” The LORD is still on his throne! Your king has not died and been replaced by someone else, but our God reigns. And that means God has established his kingship over all. When Judah was dreading Assyria, and then Babylon, and then the next enemy, they could know: “Your God reigns.” When we fear all manner of things in this life, from the uncertainties of our health, to the weight of our sin and guilt, the gospel tells us, “Your God reigns.”

Don’t forget it. Don’t think that this has changed when you weren’t paying attention. The Lord is still directing every event in your life—and in human history—by his perfect goodness and flawless wisdom. So you are secure, and you are free, through God’s power.

It’s only a three-word message—“Your God reigns”—but Isaiah works it out through describing the different parts of the message. God’s messenger comes flying over the hills, and as soon as he’s within earshot, he “proclaims peace” (v 7). This is one of Isaiah’s favourite words—peace—and it stands for the wholeness that God restores. There is the end of war, the removal of enemy threat and of internal strife.

But it is much more. Real peace goes deeper than surface realities. It is deeper than Judah’s politics, and deeper than your mental state. God’s peace, under God’s reign, means that He is putting all things right. Not just among the nations and not just in your head, but fundamentally: He is creating peace through Jesus Christ. Christ has reconciled us to God, so that He has become our Father.

God’s preacher comes proclaiming peace and bringing “glad tidings of good things” (v 7). ‘Glad tidings’ is a message that makes people glad, a word that people receive with joy. There’s nothing bad here to ruin the mood, but the preacher’s message is unmistakably good. “Your God reigns,” and He reigns for your benefit.

There have been many preachers of this good news, and Isaiah himself was one of the greatest. Isaiah might even be referring to himself in that final description of the preacher’s work, as one “who proclaims salvation” (v 7). That’s what the name Isaiah means: ‘God saves.’ What is happening in Judah is the work of God alone—what is happening in the church is the work of God alone: God saves.

A couple verses later, Isaiah says more about this saving work. Verse 10: “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.” The phrase to highlight is about God “baring his arm.” In the Bible, someone’s arm often stands for their ability to get things done—even God, who saved his people “with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm” (Ps 136:12).