THE KING’S BUSINESS
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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 ( turn again), and be healed." Very little encouragement was given 4:o Isaiah for the success of his min istry. He was assured from the outset that the people would not hear. While they ' would hear with their ears they would not understand with their heart, so they did not really hear. While they saw as far as mere ocular vision was concerned, there was no real perception of the mean ing of God’s dealings. The effect of Isa iah’s ministry Was simply to make the heart of the people fat and to make their ears heavy. This making their ears heavy would be through the proclamation of the truth which, if they had -received it right, would have made their ears keen and their hearts obedient. The' truth of God saves or hardens according to the attitude that we take toward that truth. The truth that would bless us if we would heed it and understand it, brings a curse if we will not hearken to it and obey it. When men do not receive the love of the truth so that they are saved then God gives them over to a working of error to believe a lie that they may be condemned and lost (cf. 2 Thess: 2:11, 12). vs, 11, 12., “Then said I, Lord, how long? And he .answered, Until the .cities be waste without inhabitant, and the houses without men, and the land become utterly desolate (.waste), and the Lord have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking (and the forsaken places be many) in the midst of the land.” Jeho vah here declares to Isaiah that there will not be repentance on the part of Israel ■until they are visited with the severest judgment, until her cities be waste without inhabitant, and her houses without man, and the land utterly waste, until indeed Jehovah have removed men far away, and the worsaken places in the midst of the land be many. This prophecy was ful filled to the very letter in the deportations of the times that followed Isaiah and the
made us clean that we are fit to run on His errands. Isaiah’s cleansing was by fire and blood —the “live Coal” "from off the altar.” In the live coal we have the fire, in its coming off the altar we have the blood. The fire was the fire of the Holy Ghost (cf. Matt. 3:11; Isa. 4:4) and that is the fire that cleanses man in his inmost being. The blood was the blood of the Lamb of God. Each of us needs this two fold cleansing to be fitted for service, cleansing with the fire of the Holy Ghost and cleansing with the blood of Christ. The coal touched his “Ups” because it was espe cially the iniquity of his lips that he had confessed (v. S) and because it was espe cially his lips that he was to use for God (Jer. 1:9; Dan. 10:16). v. 8. “And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.” Here we have the last step in Isaiah’s preparation,. a call from God. It was the voice of the Lord Him self that Isaiah heard calling him to the work (cf. Acts 13:2-4). Not only did the Lord send him, but it was in the Lord’s interests that he went. We have in this verse another indication of the Trinity of the Godhead, for the Lord does not ask, “Who will go for me?” but “Who will go for us?” In the very first chapter of the Bible we have this same hint of the plurality of the persons in the Godhead by the use of the plural pronoun in God’s referring to Himself (Gen. 1:26). Indeed, ihe most commonly used name for God in the Old Testament is a plural one. This plural noun is used many hundreds of times as the name of God. Isaiah’s reply to the call was prompt and hearty, “Here am I; send me.” The Lord is calling today as He did in Isaiah’s time, “Whom shall I send ?’’ but how few there are who so promptly and heartily reply as Isaiah did: “Here am I; send me.” vs. 9, 10. “And He said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but under- . stand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and
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