Nahum Stands Before the Storm With a Scrollby emmanuel_higgins

Nahum 1:15

Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace! O Judah, keep thy solemn feasts, perform thy vows: for the wicked shall no more pass through thee; he is utterly cut off.

The chapter portrays the second advent and the day of God, and the cutting off of the wicked belongs to the final judgment in the last days rather than being limited to ancient Nineveh. It depicts the event for which the day of God's preparation is appointed. The words about the messenger must be read in their immediate context with the surrounding prophecy about judgment on the wicked. They are not to be quoted in part in isolation and applied to preachers in the present age as a standalone proof of a theory.

The wicked who shall no more pass through Judah and is utterly cut off is Satan, entangled like thorns and drunken with drink and consumed utterly as dry stubble. God breaks his yoke from off His afflicted people and bursts their bonds in sunder so He will afflict them no more. The good tidings that publish peace announce final peace after the full end of sin because affliction shall not rise up the second time. Then the wicked are utterly destroyed, wars and rumors of wars trouble God's people no more, and the holy city, the New Jerusalem, will be inhabited safely by the righteous alone.

Judah keeping solemn feasts and performing vows means those who have sworn fealty to God and stood faithful to their vows, for whom the end of the reign of sin is not their end because God has something better for them. Those who bring good tidings and publish peace are beautiful. Beautiful feet are not feet adorned with costly clothing but feet that go to and fro on kindly ministries, down the lowliest ways if God wills so, doing good to the poor instead of serving rich display.

The picture of beautiful feet upon the mountains bringing good tidings and peace applies to messengers carrying the gospel of the coming kingdom, fitting the laborers spreading the third angel's message through the Alpine valleys where people receive the truth and rejoice in the hope it brings. The feet of those who publish peace and good tidings are a welcome sign of deliverance, applied to missionaries returning from every land at the glad reunion when their work is done, bringing the people they have gathered as precious sheaves. The verse presents messengers who bring good tidings and proclaim peace, applied to workers carrying the message among people with the call for peace to replace war.