Who Will Listen? Who Will Understand?

Isaiah 6
Isaiah's Commission
1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3 And they were calling to one another:
"Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory."
4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.
5 "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty."
6 Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 With it he touched my mouth and said, "See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for."
8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?"
And I said, "Here am I. Send me!"
9 He said, "Go and tell this people:
" 'Be ever hearing, but never understanding;
be ever seeing, but never perceiving.'
10 Make the heart of this people calloused;
make their ears dull
and close their eyes. [a]
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts,
and turn and be healed."
11 Then I said, "For how long, O Lord?"
And he answered:
"Until the cities lie ruined
and without inhabitant,
until the houses are left deserted
and the fields ruined and ravaged,
12 until the LORD has sent everyone far away
and the land is utterly forsaken.
13 And though a tenth remains in the land,
it will again be laid waste.
But as the terebinth and oak
leave stumps when they are cut down,
so the holy seed will be the stump in the land."

Isaiah understood his words were not pure because they flow from with in sinful man. But God had knowledge of Isaiah that Isaiah measured against himself. Isaiah’s understanding of himself was that he was not good enough. Isaiah saw himself as an ordinary man, incapable of speaking the things of God because he was in fact, an ordinary sinful man.

“For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips” (vs. 5)

But look. God’s angel cleansed him of his past sin and allowed for him to be holy (vs. 6 and 7).

8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?"

I imagine a voice crying out from the depths of Isaiah’s soul; language and expression unable to communicate his sincere desire.
“Here am I! Send me! Send me!”

I will go and speak for you! Even though your words are clear, your intentions perfect and what you ask is of nobility they will not hear, or understand. But, I will go! I will speak and speak proclamation upon proclamation though no one will hear or understand. Though they will call me a fool and may want to shut me up with their wisdom and an understanding from their own knowledge, I will proclaim your desire. My words will not move to convince and give an understanding of your will to these who will not hear or perceive. But I will go!

11 Then I said, "For how long, O Lord?"
And he answered:
"Until the cities lie ruined
and without inhabitant,
until the houses are left deserted
and the fields ruined and ravaged,
12 until the LORD has sent everyone far away
and the land is utterly forsaken.
In our post resurrection relationship with God, who will comprehend the simplicity of His call: Faith in Christ and love for one another?

People continue to wrestle in explaining what God’s intentions are. They twist and toss the Word of God until it must be the topic of supreme philosophy and higher criticism. All, in an effort to unlock some complicated equation that will continue to be the debate of men “Until the cities lie ruined and without inhabitant, until the houses are left deserted and the fields ruined and ravaged, until the Lord has sent everyone far away [from Him] and the land is utterly forsaken”. Then it will be too late. What about those higher criticisms? Where will the supreme philosophies be to explain away what God has required?