Who among you will give ear to this? who will hearken and hear for the time to come?
The question is addressed to God's people who have had light and knowledge, asking who among them will give ear, listen and heed what God is doing and saying, and keep listening for the time to come. The call to listen carries continuing significance for the future, requiring attention not only to the present message but to its bearing on what lies ahead. It comes in its setting after the promise to uphold the Messiah, to make Him a covenant for the people and a light to the Gentiles, and to bring sight and freedom to those in darkness. In the appeal of the chapter it turns attention directly to God's work and purposes.
The verse belongs to passages that reveal God's purpose for His people, which are to be studied prayerfully. Those passages direct people to seek wisdom from God rather than from finite human beings. The chapter is full of promises and assurance, calling for attention to the Lord's word and encouragement in the latter days, when that word will be fulfilled.
Isaiah 40 and Isaiah 42 are to be studied together with 2 Peter to understand the deeply spiritual reformatory work to be carried forward. Such study shows the need for hearts prepared to receive God's messages. It calls for men of clear understanding worked by the Holy Spirit to lead out in thorough reformation with no haphazard work.
The question means God's people have not carried out His high and holy purposes, have not advanced from victory to victory by sowing unworked fields with the seeds of truth, adding new territory, and lifting up the standard in cities and their suburbs. It points to great spiritual blindness in those who had light flashed upon them but did not advance in the light to greater and still greater light. Church members fed only with milk remain as weak as babies, not encouraged to use spiritual nerve and muscle in the work of advancement. Ministers cannot work out the people's salvation by hovering over them, which keeps them as weaklings when they ought to be strong men.
The question is addressed to God's people who have had light and knowledge, asking who among them will give ear, listen and heed what God is doing and saying, and keep listening for the time to come. The call to listen carries continuing significance for the future, requiring attention not only to the present message but to its bearing on what lies ahead. It comes in its setting after the promise to uphold the Messiah, to make Him a covenant for the people and a light to the Gentiles, and to bring sight and freedom to those in darkness. In the appeal of the chapter it turns attention directly to God's work and purposes.
The verse belongs to passages that reveal God's purpose for His people, which are to be studied prayerfully. Those passages direct people to seek wisdom from God rather than from finite human beings. The chapter is full of promises and assurance, calling for attention to the Lord's word and encouragement in the latter days, when that word will be fulfilled.
Isaiah 40 and Isaiah 42 are to be studied together with 2 Peter to understand the deeply spiritual reformatory work to be carried forward. Such study shows the need for hearts prepared to receive God's messages. It calls for men of clear understanding worked by the Holy Spirit to lead out in thorough reformation with no haphazard work.
The question means God's people have not carried out His high and holy purposes, have not advanced from victory to victory by sowing unworked fields with the seeds of truth, adding new territory, and lifting up the standard in cities and their suburbs. It points to great spiritual blindness in those who had light flashed upon them but did not advance in the light to greater and still greater light. Church members fed only with milk remain as weak as babies, not encouraged to use spiritual nerve and muscle in the work of advancement. Ministers cannot work out the people's salvation by hovering over them, which keeps them as weaklings when they ought to be strong men.