14 But how can they call on Him to save them unless they believe in Him? And how can they believe in Him if they have never heard about Him? And how can they hear about Him unless someone tells them? 15 And how will anyone go to tell them without being sent? That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, “ How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”16 But not everyone welcomes the Good News, for Isaiah the prophet said, “Lord, who has believed our message? 17 Yet faith comes from listening to this message of good news – the Good News about Christ.
It would be so much easier if God would just roll back the sky, look down on earth and say, “Hello mankind, I am God. I am real, I am alive, and I see all things. Believe in me.” I would have to think that a lot more people would believe in God.
Or, maybe He could dispatch a few million angels to show up around the world simultaneously and proclaim, “Believe in God!” But instead, God has chosen to use people to reach other people – to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ.
Just before Jesus ascension into heaven, He gave His disciples the Great Commission as recorded in Mark 16:15 and Matthew 28:19-20. “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone, everywhere.” “Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing then in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
Part of our job as Christians is to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ to all the world. This is the great commission, not the great suggestion. We are to go into our world, whether it be the bedroom next to ours, the house across the street, or another country around the world.
Paul began in verse 14 by asking a series of rhetorical questions: How can they call on Him unless they believe? And, how can they believe if they’ve never heard? And, how can they hear unless someone tells them? And, how can someone tell them unless they were sent?
Jesus said, “Go!” We have been sent. We have been sent to tell people of the saving grace of Christ. It’s really as simple as that.
Unfortunately, twenty centuries of human influence has taken the Good News of Christ and turned it into a confusing, often unfriendly, list of dos and don’ts that has more of a tendency to frighten people away than to draw them to Christ.
Why is that? This is Good News! We should gladly proclaim it, and people should gladly receive it. The message of Christ is the answer that everyone is looking for.
In the recent years, we have seen a rise in “spirituality”. More and more people are searching for an answer to the instinctive feeling that Paul talked about in Romans 1:19. They know in their hearts that there is more to life than what we can see and touch. They can’t escape the feeling that there must be a higher power, a spirit being, and they might be held accountable for their life.
Paul chose to include two verses from the writings of the prophet Isaiah, from Isaiah 52 & 53. Anyone who has even a casual knowledge of bible prophecy would recognize Isaiah 52 & 53 as some of the most specific prophetic verses in regards to the passion, death and resurrection of the long awaited messiah, Jesus Christ. Written around 681 BC, during the Assyrian/Babylonian captivity, Isaiah prophesized of Jerusalem
Paul paraphrased Isaiah 52:7 which reads, “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news of peace and salvation, the news that the God of Israel
The northern kingdom of Israel had fallen captive in 722 BC, and Jerusalem
In Isaiah 52:8-12, Isaiah comforts the captives by telling them of God’s plan to free them from their oppressors. Jerusalem
But, then the Lord’s message shifts to the future, and focuses on deliverance from their only true enemy – sin. Isaiah begins in verses 13 & 14 with a glimpse into the Christ’s first coming. “See, my servant will prosper; He will be highly exalted. Many were amazed when they saw Him – beaten and bloodied, so disfigured one would scarcely know He was a man.” And verse 15 as a glimpse of His second coming: “And He will again startle many nations. Kings will stand speechless in His presence. For they will see what they had not previously been told about; they will understand what they had not heard about.”
Isaiah 53:1 begins with the question that Paul quoted in Romans 10:16, “Who has believed our message? To whom will the Lord reveal His saving power?”
Isaiah 53:2-12 explains how and why Jesus had to come to earth as a man, and why He had to die.
“My servant grew up in the Lord’s presence like a tender green shoot, sprouting from the root in dry and sterile ground. There was nothing beautiful or majestic about His appearance, nothing to attract us to Him. He was despised and rejected – a man of sorrows, acquainted with bitterest grief. We turned our backs on Him and looked the other way when He went by. He was despised, and we did not care. Yet it was our weakness He carried; it was our sorrows that weighed Him down. And we thought His troubles were a punishment from God for His own sins! But He was wounded and crushed for our sins. He was beaten that we might have peace. He was whipped, and we were healed! All of us have strayed away like sheep. We have left God’s path to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on Him the guilt and sins of us all. He was oppressed and treated harshly, yet He never said a word. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter. And as a sheep is silent before the shearers, He did not open His mouth. From prison and trial they led Him away to His death. But who among the people realized that He was dying for their sins – that He suffered their punishment? He had done no wrong, and He never deceived anyone. But He was buried like a criminal; He was put in a rich man’s grave. But it was the Lord’s good plan to crush Him and fill Him with grief. Yet when His life is made an offering for sin, He will have a multitude of children, many heirs. He will enjoy a long life, and the Lord’s plan will prosper in His hands. When He sees all that is accomplished by His anguish, He will be satisfied. And because of what He has experienced, My righteous servant will make it possible for many to be counted righteous, for He will bear all their sins. I will give Him the honors of one who is mighty and great, because He exposed Himself to death. He was counted among those who were sinners. He bore the sins of many and interceded for sinners.” (Isaiah 53:2-12 NLT)
You need only to read the last few chapters of the gospels to see how this prophecy was fulfilled perfectly.
Before time even began, God knew that we would rebel against Him. But, He loved us so much that He created us anyway. And, He knew that He would have to make a way for us to be made right with Himself. There is no way that we can make ourselves right on our own. We know in our hearts that if we are left to our own judgment, we will sin. It is impossible for any human, born of a human father, to live a perfect sinless life. It is our nature. Isaiah wrote, “All of us have strayed away like sheep. We have left God’s path to follow our own.” (Isaiah 53:6 NLT)
Sin is still our greatest enemy. Always has been, always will be.
When you realize that these prophetic verses were written 700 years before Jesus Christ suffered the beatings, the scourging, and ultimately the death on the Roman cross, you begin to understand the perfect plan that God had put in motion to redeem us to Himself.
Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death…” We struggle with this statement. We want to think that the creator God that we serve is a kind and loving God that would give us a break because of our inherent sinfulness.
Think of it this way. A person who was driving drunk caused an accident that killed someone that you loved very much. The drunk driver stood before the judge, awaiting his sentence. Your sense of right and wrong would tell you that the drunk driver should be sentenced to prison. But instead, the judge says to the drunk driver, “I know that you are a good person at heart, and I know that you didn’t mean to do this, so I am letting you go with no punishment at all.” You would be furious! You would say that it’s not fair, and that justice was not served.
So how can we expect God to treat us any differently? We sinned against Him. We broke His law.
But God is a loving, perfect, holy and righteous God. His plan of redemption is perfect. As Paul wrote, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23 NLT)
Isaiah wrote; Yet it was our weakness He carried; it was our sorrows that weighed Him down. And we thought His troubles were a punishment from God for His own sins! But He was wounded and crushed for our sins. He was beaten that we might have peace. He was whipped, and we were healed! All of us have strayed away like sheep. We have left God’s path to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on Him the guilt and sins of us all.
Then he asked the question, "But who among the people realized that He was dying for their sins – that He suffered their punishment?"
Do you?
This is great news! Christ said to “Go into all the world…” so, go.
Study Questions
Do you realize that He died for your sins?
Take some time and read through Isaiah 53. Knowing that it was written 700 years before Christ died on the cross, let the words of the prophet sink in. Then read of the death and resurrection of Christ at the end of all four Gospels. Can you see how God’s plan of redemption was laid out perfectly? Do you realize that He did it all for you?
Do you have a clear understanding of God’s plan of redemption through Christ Jesus?
I said in an earlier lesson that God didn’t tell us to stay at home and save ourselves, He commanded us to go into the world and spread the Good News of Jesus Christ. This starts with knowing what the Good News is. Can you put it into words? Here’s a basic outline; We are all sinners, separated from God by our sins. Christ came and paid the price for the sins of all mankind because He knew that we could never pay that debt on our own. He lived the perfect life, and died the perfect death that we could never do. And, if we believe this in our hearts, turn from our sins, and call on His name, we will be saved.
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