1:2Isaiah 1:2

God himself calls heaven and earth to hear as witnesses to his case against his people, showing how serious their rebellion is.Lt 1a, 1890, par. 3–4+2 He declares that he nourished and brought up Israel as his own children with loving care, yet those children have rebelled against him.Ms 127, 1899, par. 32–37+3 Their perversity is exposed by contrast with animals that know and respond to their owners, while Israel did not know its Maker or consider what he had done for them.Ms 29, 1911, par. 1–2+1 That rebellion is the reason for their chastisement and destruction, and it stands as a rebuke to all who have received great advantages yet resist God and reject his dealings with them.Ms 127, 1899, par. 32–37+2 The same call to hear and be astonished frames the coming of God's own Son, the long-expected Instructor clothed in humanity without outward display to reveal God in human flesh and win the stubborn heart.Ms 148, 1903, par. 24–28+3

It is the Lord himself who speaks, summoning the heavens to hear and the earth to give ear as witnesses to his case against his people, and that summons to the universe to bear witness marks how grave their rebellion is.Lt 1a, 1890, par. 3–4+4 The charge he lays before those witnesses is that he has cared for and raised his people as his own children, yet they have turned against him.Lt 1a, 1890, par. 3–4+4 In the appeal to Battle Creek that same charge is directed to those who have received great advantages but resist God and reject his dealings with them.Ms 108, 1905, par. 1–7

He declares that he has nourished and brought up Israel as children with loving care.Ms 127, 1899, par. 32–37+4 That upbringing is spoken of as his raising of Israel and of his people as children whom he has cared for.Lt 1a, 1890, par. 3–4+2 His charge is that those children have rebelled against him, and in this the spiritual condition of Israel is introduced as rebellion against the God who had nurtured them.Ms 127, 1899, par. 32–37+1

What was opened to Isaiah in vision was the true and faithful spiritual condition of ancient Israel, the once favored people of God.Ms 127, 1899, par. 32–37 Judah and Jerusalem had been called to hold universal dominion, and the scepter had been given to the seed of David.Ms 127, 1899, par. 32–37 The perversity of their course is exposed by contrast with animals that recognize and respond to their owners, for Israel showed less gratitude and attachment and acknowledgment of belonging to God than beasts show toward their masters, not knowing its Maker nor considering what he has done for them.Ms 29, 1911, par. 1–2+1

Rebellion against the God who reared His people is the cause of their punishment, and He holds them up as a people He will completely destroy because of their wrongdoing.Ms 127, 1899, par. 32–37 The same charge lays bare the inner state of the men expelled from the temple courts, revealing how He regards those who profess righteousness while breaking His holy law.Ms 127, 1899, par. 32–37

The call to heaven to listen is turned against a nation that defied God by permitting slavery, with heaven summoned to hear the cry of the oppressed while the oppressors stand under judgment for what they have done.1T 259.1 That nation is to be brought low, and its internal division leaves it enfeebled and open to harm.1T 259.1 The charge is also a rebuke to those granted great privileges who yet oppose God and refuse His dealings with them, as in the appeal to Battle Creek, summoning them to weigh their conduct as their Creator sees it and to acknowledge where they have come short.Ms 137, 1908, par. 3–5+1

The same word reaches the individual who has known the truth and then abandons it, warning that revolt against God imperils not only himself but the faith and eternal life of his wife and children.Lt 317a, 1904, par. 1–7 It presses the need for unceasing training of children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, to be set before students day after day, since even teachers remain sadly unaware of their own character.Lt 178, 1898, par. 15–21

Heaven and earth are summoned to hear and be astonished at the appearing of the long-expected Instructor, God's own Son, who came clothed in humanity rather than in outward display, power, or rank to reveal what humanity could be without sin.Ms 148, 1903, par. 24–28+2 When the fullness of time had come the promised One who came was no less a person than the only begotten Son of God, the Eternal Word, with His divinity veiled by humanity to touch humanity and reveal God in human flesh.Ms 72, 1896, par. 8–10+1 Mercy and benevolence came to dwell on earth to subdue the stubborn, obdurate heart and to win the heart and mind of man, a surprise of grace to all the heavenly host.Ms 72, 1896, par. 8–10

Truth as a golden treasure had been entrusted to the Jewish nation in a heavenly-signed economy instituted by Christ, where important truths and mysteries were veiled in types and shadows pointing to the substance, and Jesus came to let spiritual light shine and make plain the treasures of truth with God revealed in Christ.Ms 76, 1897, par. 17–18 That astonishment centers on Christ displacing the rubbish piled on the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, declaring Himself Lord of the Sabbath as the One who made the world and made man and made the Sabbath and gave it to man to keep holy.Ms 76, 1897, par. 17–18

Despite His love, sympathy, and condescension toward humanity as the heavenly Messenger, people repel Him through indifference, unkindness, and neglect.Ms 75, 1886, par. 13–14 The same call to witness rebellion also frames the spectacle of Christ, God's Son, oppressed and led to crucifixion by a crowd whose mockery and blasphemy were stirred by Satan.5RED 68.1+1