Isaiah 29:14, commentary and pictures

It is spoken to those who honor God with mouth and lips while the heart stays far from Him, whose worship rests on human precepts, and its marvelous work and wonder is God's decisive act among them that overturns false confidence so the wisdom of the wise perishes and understanding is hidden in spiritual blindness. It was fulfilled when human traditions and ceremonies obscured divinely appointed ordinances, as in washings and the Corban rule setting aside the fifth commandment, and it applies to all who set aside God's commandments for men's doctrines, especially the seventh-day Sabbath of the fourth commandment for the man-made first-day sabbath. The marvelous work is Christ appearing in human form and winning converts among ordinary people not under priestly control, who hear, believe and acknowledge Him for what He is, while the nation failed to recognize Him as the reality of its rites and types and demanded further signs. The same fulfillment is seen when publicans and harlots repent and believe while self-trusting leaders reject the message, bringing the promised reversal in which the deaf hear the words of the book, the blind see out of darkness, the meek and poor rejoice, and those who erred come to understanding. That renewal also brings judgment when the terrible one is brought to nothing, the scorner consumed, and those who ensnare the reprover and turn aside the just are cut off, while God still keeps a remnant purified, made white and tried. Human learning, reasoning, philosophy and oratory cannot by themselves give knowledge of God, but what the world calls foolishness, the preaching of Christ crucified, is God's power and wisdom to save, so preaching must be in simple testimony rather than wisdom of words, and hearers must trust in the Lord rather than self-kindled sparks and glory only in knowing Him.

Setting and Judgment

The verse is spoken to a people who draw near with mouth and lips and honor God outwardly while the heart is far from Him, whose fear and worship are taught by human precepts and commandments of men. It declares that among such a people God will proceed to do a decisive, astonishing work, even a marvellous work and a wonder. That work overturns their false confidence, for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid. Even the learned are left in spiritual blindness unable to grasp the vision, their supposed wisdom failing to give clear spiritual sight.

That hidden unfaithfulness includes seeking deep to hide counsel from the Lord with works in darkness, saying who sees and who knows, turning things upside down as if the work could deny its maker and the thing framed deny understanding to him that framed it. It includes professing much love with the mouth while the heart goes after covetousness and hearing words without doing them, speculating with God and robbing Him. It includes refusing correction and concealing wrongdoing while misleading others under profession of faith, and walking in finite erring human counsel and practicing principles God has warned against instead of walking in the way He has shown. It includes living in discord and contention and strife when called to a certain work, standing apart as independent atoms instead of doing it, and claiming religion while lacking Christ, faith, good works and a spirit of sacrifice.

This judgment was fulfilled among the Jews, whose human traditions and ceremonies obscured the spiritual meaning of divinely appointed ordinances. Their worship became vain when the commandments of men were taught for doctrine, laying aside the commandment of God to hold traditions of men such as washings of cups, pots, brazen vessels and tables. The scribes and Pharisees rejected the commandment of God to keep their own tradition, setting aside the fifth commandment to honor father and mother by the Corban rule that freed a man who declared his means a gift from helping his father or mother, thus making the word of God of none effect. The same applies to all who lay aside the commandments of God to teach the commandments of men as doctrine, especially those who set aside the seventh-day Sabbath of the fourth commandment and exalt the man-made first-day sabbath above what is sacred and heavenly.

In the present it describes conditions workers for the third angel's message would encounter, including deceptive ideas and false teachings that lead people away from the truth. It warns trusted leaders at Battle Creek whose course violated God's commandments and whose confidence in their own judgment led them to reject God's message and mistreat its messengers. It was fulfilled when unconverted men in responsible positions obstructed God's work with negative destructive words instead of helping it advance, showing they were out of the way in a spirit God did not accept, misrepresenting His character in cruelty and hardness of heart and cultivating traits belonging to Satan. It applies to professed believers who set truth aside for error, do not understand Jesus Christ, and act like spiritually drunken people, and to people now who reject truth for error and are deceived by false science and spiritual darkness.

It is applied to a coming spread of deception in which people with great light and privileges will accept falsehoods, be misled by fallen angels, and in turn deceive others, so that even ministers, lawyers and doctors may lose discernment and become spiritually blinded while God knows their hidden actions. Those who yield to Satan's agents through ambitious men and hear, report and half believe slanders, boasts and menaces come under a bewitching power and become prejudiced and misled. Yet the same work opens the way for the deaf to hear the words of the book and the eyes of the blind to see out of obscurity and darkness, for the meek to increase joy in the Lord and the poor to rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.

Fulfillment in Christ and Renewal

The marvellous work and wonder is Christ Himself coming in human form and gathering believers from among ordinary hearers who stood outside the control of priests and rulers, who listened to His word, were converted, believed on Him, and acknowledged Him for what He is, while the wisdom of the wise leaders perished and the understanding of the prudent was hidden. The Jewish nation met this work with outward honor joined to hearts far from God and worship shaped by human precepts, so that human traditions and ceremonies hid the spiritual meaning of the divinely given ordinances and darkened understanding until even the learned could not grasp the vision. When Christ came as the reality to which those rites and types and shadows pointed, they did not recognize Him but rejected Him while still demanding further signs, and in that rejection the wisdom of their wise and prudent leaders failed and was exposed.

The same fulfillment appears when publicans and harlots accept the call to repentance given through John and believe in Christ, while religious leaders trusting their own judgment reject the message. That work overturns false confidence rooted in lip-honor, a distant heart, and religion taught by human precept, hiding the understanding of the prudent and opening the way for truth and righteousness. Then comes the promised reversal in which the deaf hear the words of the book and the eyes of the blind see out of obscurity and darkness, the meek increase their joy in the Lord and the poor among men rejoice in the Holy One of Israel, and those who erred in spirit come to understanding.

That renewal carries judgment with it, for the terrible one is brought to nothing and the scorner is consumed and all who watch for iniquity are cut off. This includes those who make a man an offender for a word and lay a snare for him who reproves in the gate and turn aside the just for a thing of nothing, whose secret counsels and works in darkness are laid bare. Even when unconverted men in responsible positions set themselves up as counselors and wise men, mingle their own spirit with the work, pervert principle, and weaken the cause until their wisdom perishes and their eyes are greatly blinded, God still keeps a remnant people who are purified and made white and tried.

Wisdom Overturned by the Cross

Human learning and reasoning by themselves cannot give knowledge of God, for the wisdom of the wise perishes and the understanding of the prudent is brought to nothing and hid. Logic, philosophy, learning and oratory are powerless in themselves to reveal Him, while what worldly wisdom calls foolishness, the preaching of the cross and of Christ crucified, is God's power to save those who believe. To those who are perishing the cross seems foolish, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, and to all who are being saved, Christ crucified is God's wisdom and God's power. Christ is made unto believers wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that no one can glory in human wisdom or ability but all glory belongs to the Lord.

Gospel preaching must therefore not be with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ be made of none effect, but through the simple testimony of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Eloquent reasoning proved powerless to move hearts when it won only three converts at Athens, showing that the great work is done not by human eloquence but by the preaching of the cross, which is foolishness to those who perish and the power of God unto salvation to those who are saved. God uses what the world calls foolish and weak to confound the wise and mighty, so that no flesh can boast before Him, and Christ becomes God's wisdom and righteousness for those who are in Him.

The marvellous work and wonder calls hearers to trust in the name of the Lord and stay upon God rather than walking in self-kindled sparks, human schemes, or self-made sources of light. It is a grand theme to be studied in the churches, for when church members give entrance to the Word of God it gives light and understanding to the simple. True knowledge is found by searching Scripture to know God and Jesus Christ, since learning shaped by human interpretations cannot provide true knowledge while seeking God and Christ through Scripture reveals the wisdom that comes from God. Glory is not to be in wisdom or might or riches, but in understanding and knowing the Lord who exercises loving-kindness and judgment and righteousness in the earth. Plans made in worldly wisdom and without God's guidance cannot be sustained by Him, however confident their planners may be.