Transcript of the Segment on Isaiah’s Calling:
Isaiah 6 -- this is the text that was actually sung this evening, where God says, “Who will go for me? Who will I sent?” and Isaiah says, “Here am I, send me!” and all of us say together, “Go, Isaiah! Do it!” Right? But have you ever read the verses that follow? Look with me at Isaiah 6:8. “Here am I, send me!” “And he said, ‘Go, this is your message. This is what I want you to do, Isaiah. This is your task. Go, and say to 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 blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.’” And you would say, “What!” And we can’t get into the theology of what’s going on here and why God would say that, but it’s very clear that the only way in which Isaiah’s mission is going to be successful, is if God actually does a miracle and goes before him and opens up those ears, and opens up those eyes. And he says he isn’t going to do it right now in this moment. But we know that he does. You know, Isaiah had the message. We love Isaiah’s prophecies, because it’s in Isaiah that we see so many beautiful things about the coming Messiah. If we want to see a clear ‘pointing to Christ’ in the Old Testament, we might go to Isaiah. And the very message that he preached was rejected. It wasn’t understood. They didn’t see Jesus, even though he was giving it to them, because it couldn’t be understood without the enlightening work of the Spirit. |
#31 - Top Played Sermon (48-Hours) on 11/21/2016
