Bring forth the blind people that have eyes, and the deaf that have ears.
The command pictures people who possess eyes yet cannot see and ears yet cannot hear, for their blindness and deafness are spiritual, and it pictures them being brought forth into clear spiritual sight. The speaker is Christ speaking through Isaiah to declare His eternal presence as the I AM, to whom past, present and future are alike clear. He is the same One who later blinded the eyes of unbelievers so that they did not see Him when He passed from the temple.
He summons the blind and the deaf to be brought forth before all nations gathered together, to hear evidence about God. There the challenge is put to test who among them can declare former things and prove truth by witnesses, so that they may hear, recognize the truth, and acknowledge the Lord's witness. His people are His witnesses to know and believe and understand that He is He, that before Him no God was formed and none shall be after. He alone is God and Savior and Lord beside whom there is no Savior, who has declared and accomplished and saved and shown what He said, and as Lord, Holy One, Creator of Israel and King, none can deliver out of His hand and none can thwart or hinder His work.
The verse stands in Isaiah 41 through 45, where God very fully reveals His purpose for His people, and these chapters should be prayerfully studied. In that setting it means God's church has the wisdom of the Infinite at her command for her exalted privilege. God does not direct or instruct His people to turn from Him and seek wisdom from finite human beings, but to look to Him and be saved.
The verse belongs to prophecies still to be fulfilled in the setting of the last days, when God's law is made void and God's people are robbed and spoiled, trapped and imprisoned, oppressed, with no one to deliver them or call for their restoration. As prophecy it foretells the work of presenting a startling warning message to the world to awaken its hearers and confront the spiritually blind and deaf so they may recognize the truth, including explaining why people believe as they do. The call applies to those the Lord chooses and appoints as His servants, who are to carry out His will even when they do not yet understand it fully.
For the individual, coming into clear sight means keeping the mind free from the rubbish Satan would pile into it and laying it open to the bright beams of the Sun of Righteousness so as to see God with a well-cultivated intellect and well-disciplined character. That work is done by a partaker of the divine nature standing in holy trust as God's steward, guarding every avenue of the soul, faithfully using entrusted faculties to reach the highest point of excellence. He thus presents his portion of the vineyard well-cultivated and beautiful by planting, sowing, and extending his domains. The chapter is a source of assurance and promises for believers in the latter days, and its words encourage them to trust that the Lord will fulfill what He has promised as they follow His instruction.
The command pictures people who possess eyes yet cannot see and ears yet cannot hear, for their blindness and deafness are spiritual, and it pictures them being brought forth into clear spiritual sight. The speaker is Christ speaking through Isaiah to declare His eternal presence as the I AM, to whom past, present and future are alike clear. He is the same One who later blinded the eyes of unbelievers so that they did not see Him when He passed from the temple.
He summons the blind and the deaf to be brought forth before all nations gathered together, to hear evidence about God. There the challenge is put to test who among them can declare former things and prove truth by witnesses, so that they may hear, recognize the truth, and acknowledge the Lord's witness. His people are His witnesses to know and believe and understand that He is He, that before Him no God was formed and none shall be after. He alone is God and Savior and Lord beside whom there is no Savior, who has declared and accomplished and saved and shown what He said, and as Lord, Holy One, Creator of Israel and King, none can deliver out of His hand and none can thwart or hinder His work.
The verse stands in Isaiah 41 through 45, where God very fully reveals His purpose for His people, and these chapters should be prayerfully studied. In that setting it means God's church has the wisdom of the Infinite at her command for her exalted privilege. God does not direct or instruct His people to turn from Him and seek wisdom from finite human beings, but to look to Him and be saved.
The verse belongs to prophecies still to be fulfilled in the setting of the last days, when God's law is made void and God's people are robbed and spoiled, trapped and imprisoned, oppressed, with no one to deliver them or call for their restoration. As prophecy it foretells the work of presenting a startling warning message to the world to awaken its hearers and confront the spiritually blind and deaf so they may recognize the truth, including explaining why people believe as they do. The call applies to those the Lord chooses and appoints as His servants, who are to carry out His will even when they do not yet understand it fully.
For the individual, coming into clear sight means keeping the mind free from the rubbish Satan would pile into it and laying it open to the bright beams of the Sun of Righteousness so as to see God with a well-cultivated intellect and well-disciplined character. That work is done by a partaker of the divine nature standing in holy trust as God's steward, guarding every avenue of the soul, faithfully using entrusted faculties to reach the highest point of excellence. He thus presents his portion of the vineyard well-cultivated and beautiful by planting, sowing, and extending his domains. The chapter is a source of assurance and promises for believers in the latter days, and its words encourage them to trust that the Lord will fulfill what He has promised as they follow His instruction.