Proclaim, “Our God Reigns!”

Introduction

God’s people are a people who proclaim the gospel of Christ. The gospel is good news. But what is this good news? The word gospel “is one of those words that is so basic, so fundamental to [the Christian faith] that it can be taken for granted” (Dickson). There is a real danger that its meaning can be distorted or diminished. The gospel is so comprehensive and so deep. We must know and understand the full gospel of Christ. We cannot proclaim a watered down version. To proclaim the gospel is to make disciples, to teach the full meaning of the gospel and its implications for our lives, here and now, so that we will learn to obey everything our Lord taught us.

Again we will again start with the Old Testament. Why? The gospel is “in accordance with the Scriptures” (1 Cor 15:3-4). “Scripture announced the gospel in advance to Abraham” (Gal 3:8). For Paul the Scriptures were the Old Testament. The biblical gospel begins not in Matthew but in Genesis. God’s Story, God’s good news, the gospel of God begins with creation.

The New Testament words for gospel and evangelism have their roots in the Old Testament.  In Isaiah (40:9; 41:27; 52:7; 61:1) the Hebrew word for good news is baser, which means to bring or announce good news. The Greek translation of the Old Testament, the Septuagint, used the Greek word euangelizomai, which was later used in the New Testament. This is where our English words evangelize, evangelism, evangelization come from. 

1.  Good News!

Let’s read Is 52:5-10. Israel was in exile. It seemed as if everything was lost. There was no hope. They could certainly do with some good news. At last, in verse 7 we see the messenger running across the mountains bringing good news. What is this good news? “It’s peace!” “It’s good!” “We are saved!” “Your God reigns!”

1.1  God Reigns (Is. 52:7)

God reigns! This is the heart of the message. The reign of God means “shalom.” It is a reign of peace. It means the end of violence and conflict; the end of brokenness. God’s reign brings wholeness and fullness of life. All things are as God intended them to be. Peace and harmony are restored in all relationships. We are at peace with God, with ourselves, with one another, with the world, and with creation. 

The reign of God means good. God will restore his creation to what it was when he first created it, and saw that “it was very good.” (Gen 1:31). When God rules over all creation and over all humanity, it will be good, for God is good.

The reign of God means salvation. God’s victory and God’s rule bring an end to all that holds people in slavery. God saves, God rescues, God delivers from all forms of oppression, bondage, addiction. God’s rule brings freedom. It breaks the chains of evil, sin and Satan. So when God reigns, there will be peace, life will be good, and we will be saved.

1.2  God Returns (Is 52:8)

YHWH himself is on his way home! When Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem, the glory of YHWH left the temple, moved away, and deserted the city (Ezek 8-11). But God did return with his people when the exiles returned to Jerusalem. The city and temple were rebuilt. Worship was restored. 

When the Lord Jesus entered his temple on Palm Sunday, God returned to Zion again. And God will return yet again, when the Lord Jesus returns to claim the whole of creation as his temple, and to dwell with his redeemed people forever. (Wright)

1.3  God Redeems (Is 52:9-10)

God redeems. When God redeems, his people are comforted and liberated. YHWH is the redeemer who took powerful action, paid whatever cost was needed to liberate, release, and restore his people. How will God redeem his people? “The Lord will lay bare his holy arm” (v10). This metaphor or image has rich meaning in Isaiah.

In Isaiah 40:10-11, the arm of the Lord is sovereign power combined with tender compassion—He tends his flock like a shepherd; He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart. 

Isaiah 51:9-11 identifies the arm of the Lord with YHWH himself who showed his great saving power when he brought Israel out of Egypt.

Isaiah 51:5 says, “and my arm will bring justice to the nations” — the same words that Isaiah 42:1-4 uses for the servant of the Lord. God will redeem through his servant. The servant is the arm of the Lord. Isaiah 53:1 identifies the arm of the Lord with the servant who would suffer and die for God’s people, but ultimately God would vindicate and glorify his servant. The arm of the Lord, the Servant of the Lord, through his calling, ministry, suffering, and victory accomplishes God’s redemption.

1.4  Good news for the whole world (Is 52:10)

This is good news for the whole world, not just for Israel. God’s promise of salvation has universal scope and power. The good news of God’s kingdom must go out to the nations to bring comfort and joy to all nations. And this gospel is the good news that the living God reigns. He returns to his people, and He redeems the whole world. This promised good news, became real, fulfilled good news in Jesus. God did all this in our Lord, Jesus Christ.

2. Jesus was and is God reigning

Jesus began his public ministry with “proclaiming the good news of God, ‘The time has come,’ he said, ‘The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news.” (Mk 1:14-15). Mt 4:17—“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

Let’s read Luke 4:16-21. “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” God’s kingdom has come. God was reigning in and through Jesus, through his words and his works. How do we know this? The things Luke 4 spoke of were exactly the things Jesus did. They were the evidence that God’s kingdom had indeed come in Him. “If I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.” (Lk 11:20). “The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor” (Mt 11:5). 

God’s kingdom came in Jesus Christ. And today God still reigns. God’s kingdom is at work through the lives of God’s people. God reigns in our lives through repentance and faith in Christ. Jesus rules in our lives as Lord. We are committed to His ways. We seek first the kingdom of God and his justice. God’s reign can be found and seen among his people when they love others, make peace, do good, and proclaim God’s salvation. 

The gospel is fundamentally good news about the reign of God. At the heart of the gospel message is God’s rule as king and lord over our lives. Through Jesus’ birth, miracles, teaching, death, and resurrection God’s kingdom has come. And God’s kingdom will be fulfilled, completed when Jesus returns. Telling the gospel, involves telling the deeds of the Messiah, Jesus; telling the world that Jesus is the King and Lord.

3. Jesus was and is God returning

When Jesus came the day of the Lord had arrived. In the person of Jesus the Lord himself was here. That is why Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. He walked all the way from Galilee. He could have walked that last few hundred yards also. But Jesus wanted to show Israel that the king was coming home, bringing God’s righteousness and salvation. 

First, the Lord returned to Jerusalem with the exiles. Then the Lord returned in the person of Jesus Christ, the first coming of Jesus. And we know that “this same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11) The gospel is good news of the God who came, who came back as he first promised, and who will come again, bringing both judgment and salvation.

4. Jesus was and is God redeeming

Jesus’ name means salvation — yeshua, YHWH saves. Jesus was the one who was going to redeem Israel (Lk 24:21). At Bethlehem the Servant of the Lord, the arm of the Lord, came into the world. There the Son of God became human, and came to be with his people. Finally He went to Calvary. And there on the cross the arm of the Lord was indeed stretched out for the redemption of the world. But God raised him from the dead. And by doing that God gave his clear, decisive “No” to death, to sin, and evil. God gave a clear, decisive “Yes” to Jesus. The Servant suffered. He paid the price for the sins of the world. He redeemed his people and his creation. With the resurrection God said also “Yes” to a broken creation. There will be a new creation. God said “Yes” to all those who repent and believe. They will have new, eternal life. In Christ “we all have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Col 1:14).The good news of Isaiah becomes the gospel of Christ, which is the gospel of God. In Jesus Christ the good news of God’s Story, is being realized and fulfilled. Jesus Christ is the reigning, returning, redeeming God. 

So, what does it mean for us that Jesus is the reigning Lord of history, the returning king of creation, and the redeemer and savior of the world? The world, billions of people out there, do not know this. How can they know if they have never heard it, or heard but don’t understand it yet? We must tell the good news to everyone so that they will acknowledge that Jesus reigns. So that they will submit to God’s kingship and lordship over their lives. We are all called to share the good news of Christ. And we can. It is not difficult. To proclaim the gospel means to tell the story of Jesus, who is and what he has done. Tell God’s story from creation to new creation. Tell the story of how Jesus changed your life, give your personal testimony. Believe and trust in the power of the Holy Spirit. He will teach you what to say, how to tell the good news. 

People live in arrogance and pride, trying to be lords of their own lives. People live in despair and without hope. People are in bondage, enslaved, oppressed. Our mission is to go, and tell the good news on the mountains. On the mountain of human arrogance, tell that Jesus Christ is born and is reigning. On the mountain of human despair, tell that Jesus Christ is born and is returning. On the mountain of human bondage and slavery, tell that Jesus Christ is born, and He is Redeemer, Savior, and Lord. Tell the world — Our God reigns!