Why did both Isaiah and Jesus not want the stubborn and unrepentant to understand? Are we repentant? Let’s look at Isaiah 6.
Is Uzziah the first of four kings during whose reign Isaiah prophesied? Was he one of the good kings of Judah?
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up; and his train filled the temple. (Isa 6:1 WEB)
Are the seraphs around God’s throne a unique kind of angel? The Hebrew im-ending is the same plural as our English s-ending. What did they look like? What were they doing?
Winged creatures [Seraphim] were stationed around him. Each had six wings: with two they veiled their faces, with two their feet, and with two they flew about. They shouted to each other, saying: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of heavenly forces! All the earth is filled with God’s glory!” The doorframe shook at the sound of their shouting, and the house was filled with smoke. (Isa 6: 2-4 CEB)
Does a mature believer realize deeply how sinful our nature actually is?
Then I cried out, “I'm doomed! Everything I say is sinful, and so are the words of everyone around me. Yet I have seen the King, the Lord All-Powerful.” One of the flaming creatures flew over to me with a burning coal that it had taken from the altar with a pair of metal tongs. It touched my lips with the hot coal and said, “This has touched your lips. Your sins are forgiven, and you are no longer guilty.” (Isa 6:5-7 CEV)
Did God call for a volunteer to go and did Isaiah respond? Is God asking for volunteers today?
And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” (Isa 6:8 ESV)
How did God respond to Isaiah volunteering? Was his message to be similar to that of Jesus, who spoke in parables to hide the meaning from unrepentant crowds?
And He replied: Go! Say to these people: Keep listening, but do not understand; keep looking, but do not perceive. Dull the minds of these people; deafen their ears and blind their eyes; otherwise they might see with their eyes and hear with their ears, understand with their minds, turn back, and be healed. (Isa 6:9-10 HCSB)
How long was Isaiah to prophecy during the reigns of four kings of Judah? Who is the holy seed?
Then I asked, “For how long, Lord?” He replied: “Until cities lie waste, without inhabitants, and houses without people; and the land becomes utterly desolate. Until the Lord removes people far away, and there are many empty places in the middle of the land. Even though a tenth of its people remain in it, it will once again be burned, like a terebinth or an oak tree, the stump of which, though the tree has been felled, still contains holy seed.” (Isa 6:11-13 ISV)
When asked why He spoke in parables to people who did not really want to repent, did Jesus echo this chapter of Isaiah?
And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. (Mat 13:14-15 KJV)
Why did both Isaiah and Jesus not want the stubborn and unrepentant to understand? Are we repentant? You decide!
