Acts 13:40-41:

And by Him (the Lord Jesus raised from the dead as Saviour) all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses. Beware therefore, lest that come upon you, which is spoken of in the prophets. “Behold, ye despisers, and wonder and perish; for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you”

Habakkuk 1:5

Behold ye among the heathen, and regards, and wonder marvellously; for I will work a work in your days which ye will not believe, though it be told to you.

The first part of this study noted this “work” by God was the fulfilment of a dire warning for Israel first spoken by Moses in Deuteronomy 29:4 and later re-pronounced by other Old Testament prophets and then by Jesus Himself in his earthly ministry. It reads:

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 (Isaiah 6:9-10).

The last repeat of this prophecy came in 46 A. D. when (Acts 28:27-28) the Lord through Paul pronounced its fulfilment in taking the salvation message from the defunct, rebellious nation, Israel, and sending it to the Gentiles. Israel lost its standing before God as the instrument of his salvation and its divine status as his special people. From then until now proclaiming the gospel has been and still is a purely Gentile prerogative.

Let’s take a closer look at the Isaiah 6:9-10 prophecy cited or referred to in four Old Testament scriptures and five others in the New Testament canon. Thus, nine times in all, highlighting that in God’s view it is of great significance. Later we must ask what it means even to us today.

It is rightly said that the first mention of a biblical word or subject conveys its essential meaning. So, the following declaration by Moses in Deuteronomy 29:4 is foundational:

The great temptations (trials) which thine eyes have seen, the signs and those great miracles. Yet the Lord hath not given you a heart to perceive, and eyes to see and ears to hear unto this day.

In Jeremiah’s time Israel was so deaf and blind the Lord God considered them “revolting”, a “people without understanding; which have ears that hear not and eyes that see not and ears (Jeremiah 5:21-22).

Ezekiel12:2 declares: “Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of a rebellious house, which have eyes to see, and see not; they have ears to hear and hear not, for they are a rebellious house”.

In case you thought Israel was blind and deaf because God did not give them a heart to perceive, Zechariah 7;12 makes plain, that actually they hardened their hearts themselves:

Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law and the words which the Lord of hosts sent in his Spirit by the former prophets; therefore, came a great wrath from the Lord of Hosts.

Perhaps like me you thought things would get better when their Messiah, Jesus showed up. But no, they were just as bad. In Matthew 13:14 the Lord having told the parable of the sower and the seed explained why to the disciples:

It is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. Therefore, I speak to them in parables: because seeing they see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.

Mark 4:12 and Luke 8:10 record similar passages, Jesus clearly inferring that speaking kingdom truth deliberately in parables was so that “those without” might see and hear but not understand.

Had God Himself closed their eyes, stopped their ears and hardened their hearts so they would not understand?  The Apostle John thought so. In John 12:39-40 he says that though the Lord had “done so many miracles (including publicly raising Lazarus from the dead) yet they believed not on him.

Why? Because, said John, Isaiah had prophesied asking: “Who hath believed our report and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?” They “could not believe”, John continues, because Isaiah said again:

He (the Lord) hath blinded their eyes and, and hardened their heart, that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.

Here we learn an amazing thing that’s still true today. That it is the actual preaching of the truth, whether by parable or otherwise, that hardens the heart of those not chosen by God and individually called to hear and believe the gospel.

But despite the gospel being “preached to every creature” throughout the Book of Acts, by the end of that Pentecostal dispensation God concluded that, bar a small remnant, the nation Israel still could not see and would not listen. Declaring this in Acts 28:27-28, the Apostle Paul again quotes Isaiah 6:9:

Saying, go unto this people, and say, hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see and not perceive.

Then the prophetic doom was pronounced: Be it known unto you therefore that salvation is sent to the Gentiles (i.e. away from you) and they will hear it.

To be continued

John Dudley Aldworth

Email: johndaldworth42@hotmail.com