Sunday morning at The Way we finished our mini-series out of Isaiah Chapters 1-6. The series centered on the repentance of God’s people. We took a chapter a week and it was not an easy six weeks!
God spoke to “His people,” the nation of Israel. He warned them that if they failed to repent, they would “reap” the consequences of that failure. As we looked at God’s Words, we applied them to the church today, to “His people” in our time and our place.
I am sure we all looked forward to Isaiah 6 and that wonderful vision Isaiah had of the LORD, high and lifted up! We could not wait to hear the seraphs cry, “Holy, Holy, Holy.” We could not wait to hear Isaiah respond, “Here am I, send me!”
I wonder, however, how familiar we are with the rest of the chapter? After the vision, the cleansing coal, the volunteering to go, God gave Isaiah a glimpse of the struggles he would have when he brought God’s message to the people.
“Go! Say to these people: Keep listening, but do not understand; keep looking, but do not perceive. Dull the minds of these people; deafen their ears and blind their eyes; otherwise they might see with their eyes and hear with their ears, understand with their minds, turn back, and be healed.” [Isaiah 6:9-10 HCSB]
Some people think that if the message is truly from God people will listen, but that is not always the case. Often the exact opposite happens, people refuse to hear God. That does not mean the prophet was wrong or a failure, in fact, it often proves him to be a true prophet.
Isaiah listened to God’s warning. He did not ask for success. He did not ask for a different message. He did not ask for a Plan B or C. He simply obeyed, taking God’s message to the people. We know from history that they did not heed the message of God through the prophet. They ended up with judgment, a 70-year banishment into captivity.
We are to give God’s message, as He wants us to give it. It is His message. We might see people repent and change; we might not. But as Isaiah was obedient to God’s Word, we must be also.
