Make the heart of this people dull,
and their ears heavy,
and blind their eyes;
lest they see with their eyes,
and hear with their ears,
and understand with their hearts,
and turn and be healed.”
Then I said, “How long, O Lord?”
And he said:
“Until cities lie waste
without inhabitant,
and houses without people,
and the land is a desolate waste,
and the LORD removes people far away,
and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.
And though a tenth remain in it,
it will be burned again,
like a terebinth or an oak,
whose stump remains
when it is felled.”
The holy seed is its stump.
Isaiah has just been commissioned to become the prophet God needs to speak truth to His people, the rebellious nation of Israel. Isaiah has been cleansed and called for such a mission; in that order:
Isaiah 6:7-8 (ESV)
And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”
And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.”
Having been cleansed, Isaiah can speak truth. Having been called, Isaiah can speak truth with authority. You would think that would be the perfect formula for converting the sinful heart back to God. However, that is not what we read in the above passage. Isaiah was about to be sent on a difficult mission. These people that Isaiah is sent to will have ears to hear his message by no heart to receive and obey the message. They have in the past rejected God’s Word (read again chapters 1-5). Since they refused to obey God’s Word (even though they could hear it), they would not, under Isaiah’s prophecy, obey it. God would allow the natural impact of disobedience to fulfill is result: More disobedience. The people could not hear Isaiah’s message because they refused to believe that God would do such a thing to them. They were full of pride. They were God’s chose people, after all. Their pride would not allow them to think that God would indeed send foreign nations to take them captive; especially nations who also dishonored God and His Word. They turned to idols and God would allow that false worship to close their hearts. He gave them over to what they wanted. Notice how Paul says the same thing about mankind here:
Romans 1:24 (ESV)
Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves,
Romans 1:26 (ESV)
For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature;
Romans 1:28 (ESV)
And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.
When mankind refuses to obey God they are allowed by God to close their hearts to God. It is the natural progression of disobedience. Disobedience begets more disobedience. It is only in obedience and the breaking down of these false strongholds that the cycle of disobedience is broken. Note:
2 Corinthians 10:3-6 (ESV)
3 For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, 6 being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.
When we obey, our disobeying is actually neutralized: It is punished. However, the nation of Israel refused to obey and that is why they could hear, but not respond. We need to be careful in our disobedience. It can cause a stronghold and produce more and more disobedience.
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