Isaiah 65:2, commentary and pictures

God Himself through Christ pleads persistently all the day with outstretched hands toward a disobedient and gainsaying people who walk in a way that is not good after their own harmful thoughts and continually provoke Him. Israel was His chosen people to bless the whole race, yet they refused prophet after prophet and finally rejected the Son they should have first recognized, while those never numbered among Israel found Him and He was made manifest to the Gentiles. He still holds out His hand all day long to the sinful, fallen and needy, receiving all who come and rejecting none, with glory and delight in pardoning even the chief of sinners and lifting the most debased from the lowest depths by mercy from an open fountain. He bears patiently with perversity, wandering, weakness, ignorance and ingratitude without treating sinners as they deserve, and His hand remains stretched out still even to apostates and in the time of judgments, yet He forces no one and the invitation must be accepted now and not put off to a more convenient season. The rebuke speaks in a most decided manner not only to the Jewish age but to the present age with great light, calling for putting away evil, repentance and conversion, and for following the same pattern of hands stretched out all day by burdened, prayerful work to seek the lost sheep and bring salvation close to hearts.

Words and Historical Setting

The outstretched hands held out all the day are God Himself pleading and inviting persistently through the whole day toward a rebellious people, a work carried on by Christ toward the same rebellious ones. He holds them out continually though His labor among them brings Him no worldly glory, yet He keeps seeking and working for them. The rebellious ones are disobedient and gainsaying, walking in a way that is not good after their own thoughts by choosing their own harmful ways and continually provoking Him. Though they are sinful and wander from what is good, He keeps His hand extended to help and receive them, and His dealings reveal enduring compassion, love, and mercy despite stubbornness.

Their provoking of Him continually took the concrete forms set around the utterance: sacrificing in gardens, burning incense upon brick altars, remaining among graves and monuments, and eating swine's flesh with broth of abominable things in their vessels. The eating of swine's flesh is in itself unclean and unfit for food because of the nature of the animal, and its condemnation is not Jewish prejudice, because God changes not.

Israel were His chosen people through whom He purposed to bless the entire race, yet they walked in rejection, refusing prophet after prophet raised up from among them and finally rejecting the Son of God whom they should have been first to recognize as the Promised One and Redeemer. The outstretched hands to that disobedient people stand in contrast to the acceptance of the Redeemer by those who had never before been numbered among Israel. During His ministry to Israel Jesus fulfilled the pleading by stretching forth His hands all day long to a disobedient people, persistently offering Himself though they rejected Him. That appeal to Israel stands joined to being found by those who sought Him not and being made manifest among a people who had not called upon His name, that is the Gentiles, and the rabbis' mocking question whether He would go to the dispersed and teach the Gentiles unknowingly pictured this mission.

God's Enduring Merciful Invitation

The Lord God through Jesus Christ holds out His hand all the day long in invitation to the sinful, the fallen, and the needy, to help them and to receive them. He receives all who come, welcomes all, and rejects none. His glory and delight is to pardon even the chief and worst of sinners, giving mercy and love and the gift of eternal life as from an open fountain of eternal truth continually flowing. He takes the prey from the mighty, delivers the captive, and plucks the brand from the burning, lowering the golden chain of mercy to the lowest depths of human wretchedness, guilt, and contamination with sin to lift up the soul debased by sin.

He bears patiently with the erring through all their perversity, wandering, hard hearts, neglect of His Word, weakness, ignorance, and ingratitude, rather than treating them as their sins deserve. His love does not grow cold and His efforts to win the rebellious do not cease, but with outstretched arms He waits to welcome again and again the erring, the rebellious, and even the apostate. Though all are precious to Him, the rough, sullen, and stubborn draw most heavily on His sympathy and love, and the one most easily tempted and most inclined to err is the special object of His solicitude, because He traces from cause to effect. His dealings reveal enduring compassion, love, and mercy despite stubbornness, and His hand remains stretched out to save even in the time of destructive judgments. While His Spirit strives with many who have had no opportunity to learn what is truth and He looks upon them tenderly with mercy touched, He makes the time of judgment a time of mercy for them to hear and respond.

The mercy must be cooperated with by availing of the opportunities given, for the Lord forces no one. Self-exaltation and self-sufficiency keep people from being controlled by the Holy Spirit and prevent God from being revealed and honored. Those with clear truth who turn away, tell the Spirit to depart until a more convenient season, heed the deceiver, and profess truth while protracting rebellion have less and less conviction of sin, less power to break the spell, and less inclination to resist temptation, with sin lying at the door as with Cain. To exhaust compassionate patience is terrible, for the spotless wedding garment of Christ's righteousness is prepared to clothe the sinner but if refused he must perish, and convictions and resolutions for some future time will not save him.

Even when professed followers have gone on against light and knowledge, dishonored God, sold themselves to sin, helped others in strange paths, resisted appeals, abused mercy, slighted invitations, turned away from the outstretched hand to save, and rejected the provisions of redeeming love made by infinite sacrifice, His hand is stretched out still. It holds open mercy and provision so that all who receive Him shall be given power to become the sons of God.

Reproof and Present Duty

The rebuke is not confined to the Jewish age but applies to the present age. It speaks in a most decided manner to those who have received great light and to those in high positions carrying great responsibilities. It charges them with disregarding reproofs, accepting only the words they choose, and failing to consecrate themselves fully to God and make thorough work. It further charges them with neglecting the duty to warn people to understand what is truth, and with complaining, evil working, and ways that are not accepted of God.

It calls them to heed the Lord and take its words. It calls them to stop complaining and doing evil, to put away the evil of their works, to come nigh, repent, accept the truth, and be converted. When they do this God will bring conviction and conversion of souls. Then the Lord will appear to the conviction and conversion of souls, and a reformation will go through the congregation of Israel.

The verse applies to the church's failure to seek after lost people, for God's people are rebellious when they follow their own way instead of doing their duty to bring the lost sheep into the fold. The image of hands stretched out all day is also the pattern for members of a living, working church. This means carrying a burden for souls and offering sincere prayers for fellow creatures and for others, working to bring them the message of salvation. It means delivering an effective testimony to the world by precept and example, hunting for souls and striving to bring truth close to hearts rather than resting on theories and arguments.

The warning could describe the Wessels family if they remain away from God, as a rebellious people persistently pleaded with who follow their own thoughts and choose a way that is not good and by continued rebellion provoke Him. Christ's outstretched hand represents the invitation offered to Dr. Kellogg, which he rejected by pulling away from Christ. He could still be saved if he humbled himself, repented, and accepted his proper place, but reliance on human calculations showed he did not recognize the time of his visitation. His hand remains stretched out to save during the time of judgments, giving those who have had no opportunity to learn the truth a chance to hear and respond, while those who have already refused to enter are no longer admitted.