The Daily Herald

DEVOTION

ROMANS

THE DAILY HERALD

Rom 10:14-21

14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15 And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!"   16 But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed our message?"   17 Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ. 18 But I ask: Did they not hear? Of course they did:

"Their voice has gone out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world."   19 Again I ask: Did Israel not understand? First, Moses says, "I will make you envious by those who are not a nation; I will make you angry by a nation that has no understanding."   20 And Isaiah boldly says, "I was found by those who did not seek me; I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me." 21 But concerning Israel he says, "All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people."  

NIV

This is still not the end of the rational explanation of how the Gentiles became Israel while the Israelites are still walking in darkness. This “How, then” refers back to all who call upon the name of the will be saved. It still requires someone to tell them the message. That is what the whole of {how can they believe if not heard and how can they hear if no one is sent} is about. Although this reasoning is all about Paul being the one to give them the message so they can hear and thus believe, it also applies to us. Someone told us the message and we heard it and we believed and thus we are saved. But does the cycle end with us? Do we not have the responsibility to carry on the cycle? Should we not be seeing those who need to call on the one they have not believed in? Should we not be the one who can be responsible for them to hear? Then we would be the one preaching the message. Well, maybe not preaching, but speaking or heralding the truth as the Greek work translated as preaching is not actually occupying the office of preacher, but merely proclaiming, no, more like heralding, like a town crier. This means we cannot leave the job of telling the message to the preacher at church. His messages are to the saved, or at least are for the most part. The preacher(shepherd) tells the church how to live as believers. But the preacher,(herald) the town crier is not meant for those in the church. The town crier goes about throughout the town proclaiming something which has been done, being the herald. Has God sent us?

Mark 16:15-18

15 He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. 17 And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well." 

NIV

If this was meant just for the eleven, it would have been impossible for them to go into all the world. They could not even go into all the known world of their time. For eleven men to travel all over the world by foot it would have taken more than ten times their lifespans. For them to stop at every village, town or city and reach all the residents of those places would have taken forever. The evidence of that is today there are still people who have not heard the message throughout the world. So those words of Jesus are speaking to all of us who have been called. We believed when we heard because someone spoke the message to us, and we have to continue on speaking the message for we have been sent by Christ to go into all the world and herald, same Greek word translated as preach, the message. We have been sent to be a herald, proclaiming the good news. We will have to deal with the rest of this reasoning by Paul later. For now we are focused on being sent. Just look how beautiful our feet are if we are bringing glad tidings. It is not about preaching the gospel, it is about bringing glad tidings.

Isa 52:7

7 How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation,

NIV

We have been sent to do this, it is the plan of God. We are not to have the mindset of it being all about us, that we are the elect who have been saved. It is about the Kingdom of God and we as his ambassadors have been sent into the world to speak for our sovereign King. We are to herald the good news wherever we go. It is like being a newspaper, the daily herald.