Simply Good News: The Welcome Announcement of Jesus the KingНамуна

Day Three: Your God Reigns

When we reflect on the story of Israel in exile, we see the ways in which idolatry led to everything going horribly wrong. Maybe in your own past experience, you can relate to suffering or regret that follows disobedience or worshipping things other than God. Maybe you have felt the pain of being far from home or you have been isolated by unwise choices. If so, you might be able to imagine how the Israelites needed comfort and longed for freedom and restoration.

Even though Cyrus released the Jews after 70 years in captivity, there remained a sense in which Israel was still in exile. Various empires continued to rule over Israel and oppress them, mocking and blaspheming God. Thus, a longing remained for the news that God’s people would be free to go home, and that God himself would return to Jerusalem. 

Seven hundred years before Jesus was born, the prophet Isaiah envisioned one who would arrive and bring good news to the captives yet exiled. This divine messenger would announce and reassure: Everything is going to be alright. God has come to rescue you and take charge. He will release you from pagan rule. He will sort out injustice and put things right once and for all. 

This welcome announcement imagined comfort for God’s people and the end of suffering at the hand of Israel’s enemies. Isaiah prophesied that the one who was coming would bring good tidings and proclaim peace and salvation because now everyone would see, ‘Your God reigns’ (Isaiah 52:7).

God would not give up on Israel being his people through whom the world would discover a pathway to freedom and release from the bondage of sin and idolatry. Isaiah pointed to God’s eventual return and rescue whereby his Servant, Jesus, would recreate a new world out of the ruin of the old. And, through Jesus, Israel’s representative, God’s people and all of creation would once again sing and laugh and shout for joy because God would renew humanity and restore the world by becoming its true King. 

The Christian message is all about the good news that:

·      the one true God has decisively acted in the world to recreate it

·     He continues to work now by the Spirit in the Church, 

·      He will act again to fully complete his new creation, finally and forever. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the ancient hopes for news that brings comfort: news that God has come back and once again reigns.

The question to consider: 

Reflect on the ways in which the good news of God’s forgiveness of sins releases captives from bondage and enables the return from exile to a life of freedom in the Spirit.

Living it out: 

Reflect on what it means to share the Gospel, putting the message into your own words. Look for opportunities to share this good news with someone today.