Isaiah 29:9 says, Stay yourselves, and wonder; cry ye out, and cry: they are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink. Matthew Henry says that here Isaiah stands amazed at the stupidity of the people of Israel. They had been acting like drunk men, though they were not drunk with wine or strong drink, but with a lack of faith in God and with a love of pleasure. Anytime we as followers of Christ refuse to obey His commands, we are just as lacking in wisdom as people are many times when they are drunk.
Verse ten adds, For the Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered. Matthew Henry says that God caused them to be unable to wake up to His truth, but I believe that He just allowed them to sleep on, not forcing them to wake up from this spiritual sleep that they were suffering from. If God causes us to not be able to believe Him, then He would be an unjust God to punish us when we don.t, and He is never unjust.
Verse eleven continues, And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed: I believe that this refers to God sending His word to people and them refusing to be open to hearing it. It is sealed to them, even though it is sealed by their own refusal to be open to reading or hearing it. God never seals His word from anyone one, but it is open for all to hear or read in my understanding of God.
Verse twelve concludes, And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned. Others may say that even though they are given an opportunity to understand God’s word, they declare themselves unlearned, or not smart enough to understand it. That is why the gospel is so simple. Anyone, from the least educated to the most educated can understand it. I will say once again that I don't believe that God ever prevents anyone from understanding how to receive His gift of salvation, and He even gives us the faith to do so.
Verse thirteen states, Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men: Isaiah said that God knew that the people were only giving Him lip service. They were praising Him with their lips, or words, but their hearts were removed far from Him. We can go through all the motions of worship today and say all the right words, but we will never fool God if we are only paying lip service to Him.
Verse fourteen adds, Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid. Isaiah said that God was going to do a marvelous work amongst His people, but it wasn’t going to be something that they would think was great. Isaiah said that the wisdom of the wisemen, which wasn’t based on the wisdom that God would have given them, would perish and the understanding of the prudent men would be hidden. What they were teaching and what they believed even was based on lies, so it would perish. We may think that we are too smart to believe God’s word and base our lives on the truth that the world teaches instead, even in the church, but anything other than God’s truth is going to perish one day.
Verse fifteen continues, Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the Lord, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us? Isaiah warned them that even though they thought that what they did was hidden from God that He saw what they were doing and nothing could be hidden from Him. People may still think that what they are doing that is in violation of God's word is hidden from Him, but it never will be. As followers of Christ, we can even have this same attitude thinking that what we do that is wrong that others do not see is hidden from God somehow, but nothing will ever be hidden from Him.
Verse sixteen concludes, Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter's clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding? Isaiah said that they had turned things upside down, thinking that God had to bless their works whether they were doing them in obedience to His will or not. They were in effect saying that God was there to endorse what they decided to do. He then gave the comparison of the clay saying to the potter that he wasn’t the one who created whatever he had fashioned the clay in to. We can never afford to think that God is here just to bless whatever we decide to do. He is the Creator, and we are a part of His creation, so we should always look to Him for guidance and not to the powers of the world.
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