Isaiah 6:9-10: The Constant of Unbelief Base text: Isaiah 6:9-10 I. Immediate Context A. Isaiah's "call" B. Before the greatness of the glory of God; all Isaiah can do is proclaim, "woe is me!" (vv. 1-5) C. God purges Isaiah of uncleanness, desires someone to proclaim His message, Isaiah agrees to do so (vv. 6-8) D. Then we have vv. 9-10 1. Meaning fairly clear 2. We recognize, of course, that many will literally see things and literally hear things, but because of unbelief will not recognize the importance of the things seen and heard and will not change their actions accordingly E. Historical understanding: 734-732 BCE 1. "Syro-Ephraimitic War" 2. As explained in Isaiah 7, Judah threatened by coalition of Aram and Israel 3. God counsels Ahaz through Isaiah to be patient and sit out 4. Ahaz does not listen, enters vassalage agreement with Assyria 5. Seed of later destruction thus sown F. Important Hebrew point: verbs in v. 9 in hifil, or causative binyan 1. Therefore, rightly translated "make the heart dull... make ears heavy...blind eyes" 2. Gives many difficulty 3. Best explanation is that the prophet's constant proclamation wears out the hearer, or God being somewhat sarcastic G. We can see how the verse plays out in this conflict: Ahaz does not hear, does not care to hear, and does what he desires II. Applications: 701 BCE, 586 BCE A. The "prophetic call" is not seemingly limited to the events of 734-732 BCE 1. Isaiah prophesies through the end of the eighth century BCE 2. Do the people hear? B. Hezekiah, while seen in a positive light on account of his reforms of Judah (cf. 2 Kings 18-20), causes great duress to Judah by trusting in Egypt and revolting against Assyria 1. 701 BCE: Sennacherib king of Assyria invades Judah, destroys all fortified cities save Jerusalem, besieges Jerusalem (Isaiah 7:20, cf. Isaiah 1) 2. Jerusalem saved on account of prayers of Hezekiah and people; angel of the LORD destroys the Assyrian army (2 Kings 19:15-37) C. Despite the "near miss", the people have not learned their lesson, as demonstrated by Isaiah 1:1-9-- they see, but do not perceive; hear, but do not understand! D. Many later Jews saw much of Isaiah's prophecies less in terms of 701 BCE than 586 BCE 1. destruction of Jerusalem at the hands of Babylon-- 2 Kings 25 2. Not as that great of a surprise, since Jeremiah and others prophesied plenty about it occurring E. The later Jews recognized how Isaiah's prophecies referred to that generation also, who were exiled on account of their unwillingness to repent and change III. New Testament Applications A. Such prophecies, however, were surely in the past by the first century CE, no? B. After all, the Jews were no longer committing the idolatry that led them to forsake YHWH! C. Yet what do we see? D. Matthew 13:14-15 / Mark 4:12 / Luke 8:10 1. In the three synoptic Gospels, as Jesus presents parables to the people, He explains to the disciples why He speaks to the Jews in such terms 2. He demonstrates that the majority of the people do not understand, nor desire to understand, and cites Isaiah's prophecy from the Greek Old Testament, the Septuagint 3. In the Septuagint, the verbs are not causative ("make them") but a future statement of reality ("you will... but you will not...") 4. While the translation is not justified by the Hebrew, and most likely represents the Septuagint translator's attempt to smooth out the difficulty the causative provides, both nuances are perceptible 5. As the Gospels show often, the people tend to be fickle, at many points believing in Jesus, but rarely publicly and rarely for long 6. Most of the people are too afraid of the religious authorities and therefore blind themselves or are compelled to be blinded E. John 12:40 1. John in fact confirms these very things as he explains what happens to Jesus 2. As John essentially concludes Jesus' public ministry, he explains in John 12:36-43 why it is that the people in the end do not believe in Him 3. We see that the people themselves are compelled to not believe, and this seems to be from the agency of the Pharisees and others who would cast out any Jew professing Jesus as the Christ 4. Therefore, the passage rings true in this generation both in the Hebrew and Greek nuances! F. Acts 28:26-27 1. Isaiah's prediction is not limited to the Jews of Jesus' day, either! 2. Paul, addressing the Jews for the last time as revealed in the book of Acts, sees that the message of Christ is rejected yet again, and therefore brings down the condemnation of Isaiah 6:9-10 upon the Jews 3. As God spoke to their fathers, so the message is still true in the day of Paul IV. Modern Application A. We can see, therefore, that this prophecy of Isaiah is constantly used in the New Testament 1. The Jews saw plenty of application before Jesus in their foibles 2. Rarely do we see a prophecy so often explicitly applied at so many opportunities! B. The prophecy is applied as often as it is because it is a constant! 1. People seeing but not perceiving and hearing but not understanding are a constant in history 2. It was true of plenty of persons before Isaiah, and was manifestly true after him 3. Even after the Jews would cease applying it to themselves, Jesus and the Apostles apply it yet again C. Do people today see but not perceive? Do people today hear but do not understand? 1. Most absolutely! 2. People today claim tolerance and ecumenicalism-- religious plurality is to be embraced, not just accepted as reality 3. Postmodern relativism is the name of today's game, even though many recognize that the position is dubious and not really tenable 4. Even within Christian denominations, the trend is away from distinctive doctrine and toward feel-goodism and services as entertainment D. What happens when the true Gospel is preached? 1. Many are indifferent, consistent in relativism 2. Many decry its intolerance and exclusive claims 3. To many, it smacks of legalism and attributed to Pharisees E. Shall we be surprised that the message unpopular in Jesus' day, and in Paul's day, would be unpopular today? F. What about us? Are we hearing? Are we seeing? 1. The sad reality behind Isaiah 6:9-10 is that it keeps requiring application because people are not willing to consider as to whether it applies to themselves! 2. Consider John 9:39-41 3. Consider 2 Corinthians 13:5 G. We have to make sure for ourselves that we hear our Lord and Master, and not be found as guilty as people in past years H. We need to recognize that just as this was true in the prophet's day, in Jesus' and Paul's days, it is true in our own! V. Invitation