Ep 756 – Isaiah 6:9-13

Free will. It's a hotly debated topic in Christian circles and has been for centuries. But in our blatantly self-reliant, me-centered society, it seems to have taken on a life of its own. Modern man sees himself as thoroughly autonomous and self-ruled, vehemently opposed to any outside control and determined to be the master of his own fate. Even God-fearing Christians wrestle with the idea that God might somehow be in control of their lives. Self-rule and self-determination have become like badges of honor that we proudly display and strongly defend. But in Isaiah 6:9-13, we have one of those passages that seems to throw a wrench in our cherished concept of free well and self-determination. As God commissions Isaiah as His mouthpiece, He warns him that the people of Judah were not going to listen to what he had to say. They would prove to be spiritually deaf and blind – incapable of hearing and heeding the message of the prophet. And it would all be the sovereign work of God. The only thing the people of Judah would find themselves free to do would be to continue in sin.