Isaiah series
Human history is a continual churning of disturbed waters. At no point has man ever lived free from war, greed, fear, and the sorrow and wreckage caused by divisions that consume relationships and social bonds with a voracious narcissism.
The soil of earth is saturated with the blood of innocent victims. Men’s hatred of each other is covered daily in the media and our culture increasingly takes pleasure in rehashing the sordid details. At Christmas time, a sort of nostalgic utopia mixes with peace, goodwill and the anticipation of a fresh start in the new year. But the season ends and we return to the same routines of sorrow and threats of war and civil dissolution.
But our present study of Isaiah speaks directly into this foaming sea of disaster and provides the foundation for hope and stability.
Isaiah 9:2, 6-7 gives us profound insight into sin’s cause and cure. The world refuses to accept God’s truth regarding the problem that is the cause of all of man’s inhumanity: sin. Even those professing Christ do not receive this truth as seriously as they should.
The world refuses to accept God’s truth regarding the problem that is the cause of all of man’s inhumanity: sin
Sin entered the world through Adam and Eve’s disobedience, plunging men into a condition of alienation from God, the source of life. The result? Spiritual blindness. Isaiah 9:2 tells us that the people that walked in darkness have seen a great light.
Darkness is where we must begin.
I enjoy hiking very much and love reaching amazing vistas of rugged mountains and serene valleys. The trails to these places are made very plain in daylight, but attempting them in the blackness of night would not only prove dangerous, but possibly fatal. To walk randomly through the forest at night is folly.
Our bodies are designed in a way that corresponds with the physical world. An unaided blind person hiking even in the full light of day is the same as a sighted person walking in the night.
What is true regarding our physical ability to see is also true of our spirits. In the account of man’s creation in Genesis, there is something that really should arrest our attention. Man is the only work of creation not called collectively into existence. The birds, animals, fish, and creeping things were all brought into existence immediately by God’s command, but we read in Genesis 2:7:
Then the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.
What a marvellous mystery! Man was not formed from the substance of other creatures as evolution proposes, but from the dust to which we’ll return after our physical death. Just as man’s eyes were designed to see the physical world, the spirit breathed into him was designed to see the spiritual world.
Man is the only work of creation not called collectively into existence
God made us spiritually in the way that corresponds to a relationship with Him, but being separated from Him because of sin, we live as “blind men” for we do not “see” the light of life. This is every man’s dilemma.
Two verses in Proverbs connect this truth with the hiking analogy. Proverbs 4:18-19 say, “But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, that shines brighter and brighter until the full day. The way of the wicked is like darkness; they do not know over what they stumble.”
Some people may be reading this right now and realise they are stumbling through life, falling and wounding themselves and those around them with bad decisions, wrong choices and destructive actions. All the while, they blame others — even to the point of cursing God.
Is this you, dear reader? When a person finds himself lost in the forest because it is dark, the best thing for that person to do is stand still and wait to be found. Jesus said He came into the world to seek and to save that which is lost. Do you want to be found or are you intent on living the rest of your life in this blind condition?
You stand in sinful, arrogant pride and say, “I don’t need Jesus. I see well enough.” Jesus said in John 8:39, “…for judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.” He was referring to the blind man he healed and the self-righteous Pharisees who would not cry out to him for mercy.
Our next post in this series will cover the wonderful topic of spiritual sight restored.
Tom Horvat completed his BA in education and theology at Washington Bible College. He pastored a house church for 15 years and served as a volunteer chaplain in a local prison for 20 years. He is now retired and pursuing interests in hiking, kayaking, nature study and wood crafting. He is passionate about ecology and published a book entitled New Creation Ecology that is available on Amazon. Tom has seven children and 13 grandchildren with his wife of over 40 years.
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