How beautiful upon the mountains
are the feet of him who brings good news,
who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness,
who publishes salvation,
who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”

At Easter we celebrate the coming of this messenger. For the women visiting the grave, this was the angels by the tomb. For the disciples, this was the women. For the people, it was the disciples. For us, this is the written Gospel.

For great indeed is this news. There is peace between God and mankind, we are set free from the condemnation of death – our salvation is made real. For today the God of Zion has shown that he reigns over death. And on this day it becomes ours!

The voice of your watchmen – they lift up their voice;
together they sing for joy;
for eye to eye they see
the return of the LORD to Zion.

When Solomon built the first temple, when the Ark of the Covenant was brought inside, “a cloud filled the house of the LORD, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD.” (1 Ki 8:10-11 ESV)

In Ezekiel 10, Ezekiel sees this glory of the LORD leave the temple in a vision because of the idolatry of the people. In a later vision, that of the perfect temple and land, he came again to his residence in his city – “And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was coming from the east. And the sound of his coming was like the sound of many waters, and the earth shone with his glory.” (Ez 43:2 ESV)

The glory of the LORD has taken up his residence now inside the temple of each of our hearts. This we can see firsthand in ourselves, as watchpersons, “eye to eye”. The Easter event facilitated the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost; the Spirit, at our conversion and throughout our Christian lives, orchestrates the “dying away of the old self” and the “coming to life of the new”. (Heidelberg Catechism QA 8 In this way the Easter event is yet ongoing inside each of us.

Break forth together into singing,
you waste places of Jerusalem,
for the LORD has comforted his people;
he has redeemed Jerusalem.
The LORD has bared his holy arm
before the eyes of all the nations,
and all the ends of the earth shall see
the salvation of our God.

In the resurrection of Christ and the hearts of his chosen, the LORD shows his power. The LORD showed again the “mighty hand and outstretched arm” (cf. Dt 26: with which he brought the people out of Egypt with; he showed his power now over the evil and death which are intrinsic to our world. For his power reached even the “waste places”, where this evil and death is seen the most. Are we not “waste places” also? Then may we “break forth together into singing”, be driven to praise, because of the peace and redemption the LORD has brought to us troubled people. And may we be the examples of “the salvation of our God” which “the ends of the earth shall see”.

Depart, depart, go out from there;
touch no unclean thing;
go out from the midst of her; purify yourselves,
you who bear the vessels of the LORD.
For you shall not go out in haste,
and you shall not go in flight,
for the LORD will go before you,
and the God of Israel will be your rear guard.

(Is 52:7-12 ESV)

This passage alludes to the (then yet to come) return of the people and vessels to Jerusalem from exile. The Persian king Cyrus told the people to return and rebuild the temple, giving them back the vessels (cups, bowls, and such) used in the temple. (Ez 1) The LORD would facilitate this by protecting his people from harm, as a guard.

Yet God brought his people back from a greater exile, that of his condemnation, through the resurrection of Christ. Upon his death, the curtain in the temple separating the holiness of an inaccessible God from mankind was torn. (Mt 27:51) This is the great accomplishment of Easter. He still protects us by remaining near us (and in us), that we may not have fear.

And in the journey back from this exile, we carry the vessels of our bodies, as our instruments of worship. May they be used as such therefore, in special Easter praise, and in showing through ourselves always how great the good news we have received is.