Isaiah's Vision pat 2

Isaiah 6:8 “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.””

6:8

Isaiah hears the voice of the Lord asking, “Who should I send? “Isaiah responds to the question, “Send me.” We see that Isaiah responds to God's question with the willingness to be used by God. I wonder if you or I would answer in

the way that Isaiah did?

Isaiah 6:9 “And he said, “Go, and say to this people: “ ‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’”

Isaiah 6:10 “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.””

6:9-10

God gives Isaiah instructions on what to tell the people. The people hear God's word, but they do not understand it they keep on seeing but they do not perceive (paraphrase Isaiah v6:9-10). The result of this message is that the

people will hear the words of God, but their hearts will become hardened by the message that God has given to Isaiah. When you examine the message that God gave Isaiah, you can see that the message is harsh in tone towards

God's people. Because of the lack of response to the message, God is going to justly pass judgment on the people because of the hardness of the people's hearts.

We see similarities in the time of Christ just like in the time of Isaiah where the people hear but do not understand and see, but do not perceive the truth that is right in front of them (Matt 13:14). I would venture to say that we could

take it a step further and apply this to our cultural context here and now. At times people do not want to hear the gospel; they do not want to hear the truth because their ears are closed, and their hearts are hardened to the truth.

How many of us can relate to that? Trying to share the message of the gospel with someone and it feels like you get shut down almost immediately. This brings the question of why to mind. I would say that it is the prophecy of Isaiah

being played out in real-time.

Isaiah 6:11 “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,”

Isaiah 6:12 “and the Lord removes people far away, and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.”

Isaiah 6:13 “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.”

6:11-13

Isaiah asked God How long will these things happen to God's people? In other words, how long will the hardening of their hearts take place? Then the Lord answers him with the following statement until the cities are desolate. If we

can just, try to put ourselves in the mind of Isaiah hearing these things from his point of view for the first time. It must have been heartbreaking to hear about the judgment that God’s people were going to face.

Now the text does not state this but, we can see some distress in how Isaiah asked his question to God (v6:11). Verses 11-13 paints us a picture of hopelessness and destruction; with only a small portion of God's people remaining.

Even though there is destruction and disaster. There is still hope in (6:13b) because the stump of the tree remains and has not been uprooted!

In closing

We also have hope for the future just like Isaiah did while hearing hard news from God. Our hope is built on Jesus Christ the one that was foretold about by the prophets. They would boldly proclaim unapologetically the coming of the

one that was going to set them all free.

In the same way, I would be remiss if I did not point you to the cross of Christ which is our very living hope. Because he is the one who paid the debt for sin once and for all. By His blood on the cross. Dyeing and being resurrected on

the third day rising in victory so, that we can have the privilege of being known as sons and daughters of God for those who believe (John 1:12).