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Isaiah 6: The Call—The Pedagogy of God VI
https://fidesetratio.us/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Isaiah-VI-The-Call-VI.m4a
VII. Response of His Contemporary Hearers: Hard to Hear, Harder to Live
The message entrusted to Isaiah was difficult to proclaim and even harder to receive. His commission begins with a paradox: “Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes” (Isa. 6:10). Far from offering comforting words, Isaiah is sent to confirm Israel in its rebellion. His oracles, though urgent and full of divine pleading, would fall on spiritually deaf ears. John Oswalt writes: “God’s word always accomplishes something, but sometimes what it accomplishes is judgment, not repentance.”[17] Isaiah’s task, then, was not to measure success by acceptance but to remain faithful even when the message hardened rather than healed.
Isaiah’s audience particularly under the reign of Ahaz was marked by political anxiety and religious compromise. His calls for trust in God and rejection of foreign alliances (see Isa. 7–8) were viewed as naïve or threatening. According to Alec Motyer, “The prophet is seen not as a friend of the nation’s survival but as an obstacle to its pragmatic politics.”[18] This opposition was not merely intellectual it was personal and eventually lethal. As the prophetic warnings increased and judgment loomed, Isaiah became a public symbol of inconvenient truth. His unwavering witness before kings and priests invited resentment from both court and temple.
According to early Jewish tradition preserved in the Talmud and echoed by many Protestant scholars, Isaiah met his end under the wicked reign of King Manasseh, who had him sawn in two (cf. Heb. 11:37).[19] Though Scripture does not narrate his death directly, his martyrdom has been a touchstone of prophetic suffering, cited as the ultimate consequence of preaching truth to a people unwilling to repent. As R. C. Sproul notes, “The greater the holiness revealed, the more violently the sinner recoils.”[20] Isaiah’s message was rejected not because it was unclear but because it was unbearable to those clinging to sin. His life and death witness that God’s messengers are often most faithful when they are least welcome.
Success of prophecy Jonah to Ninevah, reluctant, accept message, Jonah doent like that. Faithfulness of Isaiah despite lack of reception. Amazing figure in OT, life seems like all for nothing. In reality broader and bigger than his cultural moment, King to Come.
Citations
The post Isaiah 6: The Call—The Pedagogy of God VI appeared first on Fides et Ratio | Reflections on life from a theological and rational perspective.
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https://fidesetratio.us/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Isaiah-VI-The-Call-VI.m4a
VII. Response of His Contemporary Hearers: Hard to Hear, Harder to Live
The message entrusted to Isaiah was difficult to proclaim and even harder to receive. His commission begins with a paradox: “Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes” (Isa. 6:10). Far from offering comforting words, Isaiah is sent to confirm Israel in its rebellion. His oracles, though urgent and full of divine pleading, would fall on spiritually deaf ears. John Oswalt writes: “God’s word always accomplishes something, but sometimes what it accomplishes is judgment, not repentance.”[17] Isaiah’s task, then, was not to measure success by acceptance but to remain faithful even when the message hardened rather than healed.
Isaiah’s audience particularly under the reign of Ahaz was marked by political anxiety and religious compromise. His calls for trust in God and rejection of foreign alliances (see Isa. 7–8) were viewed as naïve or threatening. According to Alec Motyer, “The prophet is seen not as a friend of the nation’s survival but as an obstacle to its pragmatic politics.”[18] This opposition was not merely intellectual it was personal and eventually lethal. As the prophetic warnings increased and judgment loomed, Isaiah became a public symbol of inconvenient truth. His unwavering witness before kings and priests invited resentment from both court and temple.
According to early Jewish tradition preserved in the Talmud and echoed by many Protestant scholars, Isaiah met his end under the wicked reign of King Manasseh, who had him sawn in two (cf. Heb. 11:37).[19] Though Scripture does not narrate his death directly, his martyrdom has been a touchstone of prophetic suffering, cited as the ultimate consequence of preaching truth to a people unwilling to repent. As R. C. Sproul notes, “The greater the holiness revealed, the more violently the sinner recoils.”[20] Isaiah’s message was rejected not because it was unclear but because it was unbearable to those clinging to sin. His life and death witness that God’s messengers are often most faithful when they are least welcome.
Success of prophecy Jonah to Ninevah, reluctant, accept message, Jonah doent like that. Faithfulness of Isaiah despite lack of reception. Amazing figure in OT, life seems like all for nothing. In reality broader and bigger than his cultural moment, King to Come.
Citations
The post Isaiah 6: The Call—The Pedagogy of God VI appeared first on Fides et Ratio | Reflections on life from a theological and rational perspective.