And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed,
but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this
people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with
their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and
convert, and be healed. Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the
cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land
be utterly desolate, and the LORD have removed men far away, and there be a
great forsaking in the midst of the land. But yet in it shall be a tenth, and
it shall return, and shall be eaten: as a teil tree, and as an oak, whose
substance is in them, when they cast their leaves: so the holy seed shall be
the substance thereof (Isaiah 6:9-13 KJV).
(I)
Rev. Herman Hoeksema
We note:
1. That this
passage is a part of the scriptural account of the calling of Isaiah to be a
prophet in Israel. As a prophet he must proclaim to the people the Word of the
Lord. Naturally the intent of this passage is not that Isaiah shall literally
say to the people: Hear ye indeed, but understand not; see ye indeed, but
perceive not. On the contrary, as is evident from the entire prophecy, as a
watchman on the walls of Zion, he must faithfully proclaim all that the Lord
will say to him. By means of that Word
of God he preaches repentance towards the Lord and eternal mercy, yet also
destruction and misery for the wicked. In no uncertain terms, readily
understood by all who hear them, he proclaims God’s Word to Israel. This
passage deals with the preaching of the prophet Isaiah.
2. That also
the divine purpose of this preaching is revealed to the prophet. On the one
hand, those who hear this Word must, from a natural point of view, clearly
understand its content. This is expressed most emphatically. Hear ye indeed:
that is, they must emphatically and clearly hear. See ye indeed: that is, they
must clearly see that which the prophet declares to them. That is what God
wills. Afterward they must not be able to say that the prophet spoke so
ambiguously to them, proclaimed such deep and mysterious words that they could
not grasp anything of what he was saying and that it was beyond their
comprehension. But on the other hand, God’s will and purpose with the preaching
of Isaiah was that in the spiritual sense the people would not understand nor
perceive. On the contrary, according to the purpose of God the word and
preaching of Isaiah must serve to make the hearts of the people fat, their ears
heavy, in order that they should not see with their eyes, hear with their ears,
nor understand with their hearts and that they should not repent and the Lord
should not heal them. That is God’s purpose with the preaching of Isaiah to
this particular people spoken of here.
3. That this
must continue until God’s judgment is carried out in Israel. For upon the
anxious question of the prophet, “Lord, how long?” he received the answer:
“Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and
the land be utterly desolate.” For the Lord will remove this people far away, and
there will be a great forsaking in the midst of the land. Only a tenth shall
remain, but that also shall be devastated. Yet this remnant will not be
completely destroyed for the holy seed will be its real substance. The remnant
according to election of grace shall be saved.
We conclude that this portion of Scripture plainly
teaches that, according to the divine purpose, Isaiah’s preaching was no
general, well-meant offer of grace and salvation. But even while it must serve
to save the remnant, the Lord still mainly intended that the others should
thereby be hardened. God willed that this preaching would be a savor of death
unto death as well as a savor of life unto life, while the emphasis is laid on
the former. He even uses the preaching of Isaiah to harden the wicked. Here
Scripture most explicitly denies that the preaching is a general, well-meant
offer of grace and salvation on the part of God. Here it teaches us that the
very opposite is true.
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(II)
Joshua Engelsma
God is here commissioning the prophet
Isaiah to speak to the nation of Judah, which had gone astray into the worship
of other gods. God is telling Isaiah to preach to these people and to call them
to repentance. The people are to understand clearly what God is commanding them
to do. God says “hear ye indeed” and “see ye indeed.” God’s purpose is that they
clearly understand but reject that which they are called to do. They are to
hear the command to repent. But God’s purpose is that that preaching be a means
to harden them in their sin. And this is to continue until God judges them:
“Until the cities be wasted …” God’s intention in the preaching is not that the
unbelieving people of Israel be saved, but His purpose is to harden them.
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(III)
Rev. Herman Hoeksema
The first point
[of 1924] teaches that the preaching of the gospel is always grace according to
God’s intention. But this passage from Isaiah’s prophecy emphasizes that the
gospel is preached unto a curse and a hardening of the heart of the reprobate
according to God’s definitely expressed purpose. Isaiah was called to preach
the word of God to the men of his generations so that their eyes would be
blinded, their ears would be made heavy, their hearts would become fat, and
they would not turn and be healed. In order to save the wheat the chaff must
become fully ripe unto rejection through the preaching of the prophet. The
captivity of the people and the destruction of the land and the city are the
end of Isaiah’s preaching, so that he might proclaim salvation and restoration
and glory to the remnant according to the election of grace.
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(IV)
More to come! (DV)
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