Go And Tell

And He said, Go, and tell this people: Keep on hearing, but do not understand;
Keep on seeing, but do not perceive. Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; Lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and return and be healed.”

Isaiah 6:9-10

Not every messenger brings good news. It is up to the sender to assign to each messenger the communication. Once God had prepared Isaiah to be His speaker, He gave him the message. As we read our text it sounds rather dire. God does not send Isaiah with a message of hope and good things. Rather his word is one of condemnation. If we understand the larger context, we realize that Israel had become degenerate spiritually. They had begun to participate in idolatry and had ceased to follow God and His ways. Thus, Isaiah’s message, while it has tremendous evangelical content was not going to be well-received. He was going to be preaching to a people who were not going to hear, understand, or perceive the truth. History is full of such prophets. At one point Christ lamented over Jerusalem and described it as having killed the prophets and rejected the messengers He had sent to them. This certainly would not have been encouraging to Isaiah, or any of the other prophets. The fact remains that God says what He says and gives different messages to His various messengers. The speaker has the obligation to deliver the word. That is true faithfulness, ‘we cannot but speak the things that we have seen and heard.’

Our Holy and Righteous God,
we rejoice that You communicate truth to us.
We praise You that Your truth
 brings us to Christ.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning