The Summons To Believe God’s Promise
18Oh,
how blind and deaf you are toward God! Why won’t you listen? Why won’t you see?
19Who in all the world is as blind as My own people,e
who are designed to be my messengers of truth? Who is so blind as My “dedicated
one,” the “servant of the Lord”? 20You see and understand what is
right but won’t heed nor do it; you hear, but you won’t listen.
21The
Lord has magnified His law and made it truly glorious. Through it, He had
planned to show the world that He is righteous. 22But what a sight His
people are—these who were to demonstrate to all the world the glory of His law;f
for they are robbed, enslaved, imprisoned, trapped, fair game for all, with no
one to protect them. 23Won’t even one of you apply these lessons
from the past and see the ruin that awaits you up ahead? 24Who let
Israel be robbed and hurt? Did not the Lord? It is the Lord they sinned
against, for they would not go where He sent them nor listen to His laws. 25That
is why God poured out such fury and wrath on His people and destroyed them in
battle. Yet, though set on fire and burned, they will not understand the reason
why—that it is God, wanting them to repent. g[1] (Isaiah 42:18–25)
God now calls on the Israelites to believe the promise concerning His Servant. When Isaiah gave this prophecy, He was standing before the Israelites of his day. Naturally, the heart of God would have already reached out to them first. But God was also giving this prophecy to all the Jews who, in the future, would suffer during the Babylonian captivity. He spoke as well to all the deaf and blind people of succeeding generations. “Hear, you deaf!” God cried. “Look, you blind, that you may see” (v. 18). Four clear reasons are given why God summoned the Israelites to believe the promise regarding the coming of the Messiah:
a. The Israelites were blind servants and deaf messengers (vv. 19–20). Like so many people through the ages, most of the Israelites had blinded their eyes and shut their ears to God’s Word and His marvelous works. Although the Lord had called them to be His servants and the messengers of His promises to the world, nearly all refused to serve God or share His Word with others. In fact, they themselves disobeyed God’s Word and refused to keep His commandments. Even when God performed mighty works among them, they paid no attention. They shut their eyes and ears to both the works and the Word of God.
V “But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body
shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness,
how great is that darkness!” (Mt. 6:23).
V “And every one that heareth these sayings of
mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built His house
upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew,
and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it” (Mt. 7:26–27).
V “And He said unto him, If they hear not Moses
and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the
dead” (Lu. 16:31).
V “But their minds were blinded: for until this
day remaineth the same veil untaken away in the reading of the old testament;
which veil is done away in Christ.
But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart.
Nevertheless, when it shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away” (2 Co. 3:14–16).
V “In whom the god of this world hath blinded
the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of
Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. For we preach not
ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’
sake” (2 Co. 4:4–5).
V “This I say, therefore, and testify in the
Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of
their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life
of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their
heart: Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness,
to work all uncleanness with greediness” (Ep. 4:17–19).
V “And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be
turned unto fables” (2 Ti. 4:4).
V “But He that hateth His brother is in
darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither He goeth, because
that darkness hath blinded His eyes” (1 Jn. 2:11).
V “To whom shall I speak, and give warning,
that they may hear? behold, their ear is
uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken: behold, the word of the Lord is unto
them a reproach; they have no delight in it” (Je. 6:10).
V “Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of a
rebellious house, which have eyes to see, and see not; they have ears to hear,
and hear not: for they are a
rebellious house” (Eze. 12:2).
V “But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear” (Zec. 7:11).
b. God had magnified His law, or Word, among the Israelites (v. 21). He had given them His Word to teach them to believe Him and to live righteously. No people had ever been blessed as richly as they. God had given them the awesome responsibility of sharing His Word with the world. And His Word included the wonderful promise of the promised seed, God’s Servant and Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. For this reason, the spiritually blind and deaf had to open their eyes and ears. They had to repent, turn back to the Lord, and obey His law.
V “Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. Was then
that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might
appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the
commandment might become exceeding sinful” (Ro. 7:12–13).
V “For we know that the law is spiritual: but I
am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do I allow not: for what I would,
that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would not,
I consent unto the law that it is
good. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For I
know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is
present with me; but how to perform
that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil
which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I
that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law, that, when I would
do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the
inward man” (Ro. 7:14–22).
V “But we know that the law is good if a man uses it lawfully;
Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless
and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for
murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, For
whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers,
for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is
contrary to sound doctrine” (1
Ti. 1:8–10).
V “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple” (Ps. 19:7).
c. The Israelites were suffering God’s punishment because they had disobeyed His law (v. 22). Down through the generations, Israel and all other nations who disobeyed God’s Word had suffered the judgment and discipline of God. Due to their sins, God had allowed them to be imprisoned and enslaved by enemies. In Israel’s case, there was no one to rescue them from God’s judgment. And there will be no one to rescue any of the wicked who continue to disobey God’s Holy Word and commandments.
V “But fornication, and all uncleanness, or
covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints; Neither
filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but
rather giving of thanks. For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean
person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the
kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive you with vain words: for
because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of
disobedience” (Ep. 5:3–6).
V “And to you who are troubled rest with us,
when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, In
flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the
gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting
destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power” (2 Th. 1:7–9).
V “For if the word spoken by angels was
stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense
of reward; How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the
first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that
heard him” (He. 2:2–3).
V “And a curse, if ye will not obey the
commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside out of the way which I
command you this day, to go after other gods, which ye have not known” (De. 11:28).
V “But if ye will not obey the voice of the Lord, but rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then shall the hand of the Lord be against you, as it was against your fathers” (1 S. 12:15).
d. The Israelites needed to believe God’s Servant because they had refused to learn from past experience (vv. 23–25). Isaiah asked a critical question: “Who will listen and pay close attention to the summons of God to believe His servant, the Messiah?” Few people seem to learn from past experience, and the Israelites were no exception. In the future, God would discipline and punish them through the Babylonian captivity and exile. But like their forefathers, they would refuse to believe that God would actually judge and punish them. The thought that their sin would cause God to judge them so severely would never cross their minds. They would still choose to be blinded by sin and refuse to follow the Lord or obey His Word (vv. 24–25). Due to their terrible sin, God would pour out His anger on them in judgment; still, they would refuse to understand His discipline. Like so many people down through the years, they would refuse to heed God’s warnings. They would harden their hearts toward Him and become insensitive to His warnings.
V “For the heart of this people is waxed gross,
and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they
should see with their eyes, and hear
with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted,
and I should heal them” (Ac.
28:27).
V “But after thy hardness and impenitent heart
treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the
righteous judgment of God; Who will render to every man according to His deeds:
To them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and honor and
immortality, eternal life: But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey
the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, Tribulation and
anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of
the Gentile” (Ro. 2:5–9).
V “They are all gone out of the way, they are
together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Their
throat is an open sepulcher; with
their tongues, they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips” (Ro.
3:12–13).
V “This I say, therefore, and testify in the
Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of
their mind, Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of
God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their
heart: Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness,
to work all uncleanness with greediness” (Ep. 4:17–19).
V “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in
the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing
spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their
conscience seared with a hot iron” (1
Ti. 4:1–2).
V “Harden, not your heart, as in the
provocation, and as in the day of
temptation in the wilderness: When your fathers tempted Me, proved Me and saw My
work. Forty years long was I grieved with this
generation, and said, It is a
people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways: Unto whom I
sware in My wrath that they should not enter into My rest” (Ps. 95:8–11).
V “Happy is
the man that feareth always: but He that hardeneth His heart shall fall into
mischief” (Pr. 28:14).
V “He, that being often reproved hardeneth His neck, shall suddenly be destroyed,
and that without remedy” (Pr.
29:1).[2]
How could Israel
and Judah be god’s servants and yet be so blind? How could they be so close to God
and see so little? Jesus condemned the religious leaders of his day for the
same disregard of God (John 9:39–41). Yet do we not fail in the same
way? Sometimes partial blindness—seeing but not understanding, or knowing what
is right but not doing it—can be worse than not seeing at all.
We may condemn
our predecessors for their failures, but we are twice as guilty if we repeat
the same mistakes that we recognize as failures. We may be so ready to direct
God’s message at others that we can’t see how it touches our own life. Make
sure you are willing to take your own advice as you teach or lead.[3]
e 42:19
as my own people, literally,
“as my servant.”
f 42:22
these who were to demonstrate to
all the world the glory of his law, implied in previous verse.
g 42:25
wanting them to repent,
implied.
[1] Taylor, Kenneth Nathaniel. 1997. The Living Bible,
Paraphrased. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House.
[2] Leadership Ministries Worldwide. 2005. Isaiah: Chapters 36–66. Vol. II. The Preacher’s Outline & Sermon Bible. Chattanooga, TN: Leadership Ministries Worldwide.
[3] Life Application Bible Notes. 2007. Tyndale.
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