When Isaiah received His call He was looking at the Lord seated on His throne and asking, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” In response, Isaiah cried out, “Here am I. Send me!” and the Lord said, “Go and tell this people: ‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’ Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”
Isaiah’s call was a difficult one. It was a call to a hard hearted people. A people who had lived with the presence of God for generations, but wasn’t listening or seeking Him. In fact, they did not want Him. They just wanted the blessings that He offered. They wanted security and wealth and health and every good and useful thing, but they did not want any responsibilities from God Most High, who bestows every good and useful thing. So God called a prophet to go to speak to them. It is not an understatement to say that Isaiah was among the greatest prophets the world had ever seen. Under his watch, Hezekiah was able to escape the Assyrian army. Nevertheless, by the end of his career Israel had been fallen to the Babylonians – the hardness of heart generations within Israel had nurtured had run its full course.
Israel in Jesus’ day was little different. The temple had been restored under Herod, but the bitterness of soul most felt over their occupation by a foreign power kept them from realizing God in their midst. And truly He was. To that generation in that age was given that God incarnate should walk among them, teaching and instructing them.
Recognizing their hardness of heart, Jesus said, “In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: “ ‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.’””
Jesus uses the past tense when speaking of the condition of their hearts. Where Isaiah was sent to callous their hearts, Jesus notes it already is. Where Isaiah was sent to make their ears dull and to close their eyes, Jesus notes it already is so.
Every generation is given the privilege of building on what the prior generations have done. So each generation chooses – they can either apply faith and see God at work through the ages (up to and including their time), or they can be faithless and see nothing but mere circumstances handed down to them. But we are never given just circumstance. We are given all of God’s prior work, written down for us in the pages of history. We just need to open our eyes and see it.
As God was preparing the people of Israel for the coming of Messiah, so He is likewise preparing all peoples for the coming of Jesus our King. Can we see that, or are our eyes closed to it? Can we hear Him still speaking to us, or are our ears barely able to hear?
One of the significant costs Christians pay for not immersing themselves in the Scriptures is the inability to recognize God’s voice, presence, and activity when it occurs outside the pages of the Bible.
Mike Erre
APPLICATION: Intentionality
When was the last time you heard God speak to you? What has been saying lately? More importantly, what did you do with what He told you?