Isa 50:1-5 The Lord Hath Opened my Ear - Discussion

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Isa 50:1-5 The Lord Hath Opened My Ear

[Study Aired November 24, 2019]

Isa 50:1  Thus saith the LORD, Where is the bill of your mother's divorcement, whom I have put away? or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves, and for your transgressions is your mother put away. 
Isa 50:2  Wherefore, when I came, was there no man? when I called, was there none to answer? Is my hand shortened at all, that it cannot redeem? or have I no power to deliver? behold, at my rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness: their fish stinketh, because there is no water, and dieth for thirst. 
Isa 50:3  I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering. 
Isa 50:4  The Lord GOD hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned. 
Isa 50:5  The Lord GOD hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back.

The fact that the scriptures begin with the story of the physical creation testifies to the theme of all the rest of scripture. That theme is: ‘the vessel… of clay [Adam] was marred in the Potter’s hand, so He is making it again, another vessel, as it seems good to the Potter to make it.’

Jer 18:4  And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.

The CLV correctly interprets Jeremiah 18:4 in the Qal stem:

“and marred is the vessel that he is making, as clay in the hand of the potter, and he has turned and he makes it another vessel, as it was right in the eyes of the potter to make.” (CLV)

The Qal stem in Hebrew equates to the aorist tense in the Greek. Both are spoken with no regard to any tense, but rather are a simple statement of fact. In other words, the message being delivered is a simple true statement of fact. In this case, the fact is God “is making” His clay creature, Adam and all in him, into another vessel, a “new man”, made with the spirit and mind of God.

What is not said in Jeremiah 18:4 is that in the process of making the “vessel of clay another vessel” the Lord Himself has made a “day of evil” for “the vessel of clay”:

Pro 16:4  The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.

So, the Truth of the Lord’s Word is purposely contained only in its “sum”, and it cannot be known by quoting only one verse of scripture:

Psa 119:160  The sum of thy word is truth; And every one of thy righteous ordinances endureth for ever. (ESV)

If we know and believe the Lord has made all things for Himself, yes, even the wicked for the day of evil, then we must accept the fact that Isaiah 50:1 is part of “the day of evil” for which the Lord’s harlot wife was made:

Isa 50:1 Thus saith the LORD, Where is the bill of your mother’s divorcement, whom I have put away? or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves, and for your transgressions is your mother put away.

The words “Your mother” are addressed to this “great harlot” (Rev 17:4). Notice how the holy spirit goes from “your mother” to “I have sold you”. Then it goes from “your transgressions” back to “your mother”. The fact is that these words are being spoken to “whosoever reads” (Mat 24:15), and to any of the Lord’s people to whom He has given eyes that see and ears that hear… the things of the spirit” (Mat 13:9-15 and 1Co 2:13-14). This “great harlot” is none other than God’s own first wife, whom He Himself labels as a harlot in this very prophecy of Isaiah:

Isa 1:21  How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers.
Isa 1:22  Thy silver is become dross, thy wine mixed with water:
Isa 1:23  Thy princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves: every one loveth gifts, and followeth after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them.
Isa 1:24  Therefore saith the Lord, the LORD of hosts, the mighty One of Israel, Ah, I will ease me of mine adversaries, and avenge me of mine enemies:
Isa 1:25  And I will turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross, and take away all thy tin:

Has any of this taken the Lord by surprise? Is the Lord wringing His hands because of our adulterous ways? Absolutely not! The Truth is that He is “working all things after the counsel of His own will… for our good (Eph 1:11 and Rom 8:28).

After “[He] has made us to err” He will then “return the tribes of His inheritance” by chastening and judging us for our sins, and dragging us back to Himself.

It is all written in each of our books before we were ever born:

Psa 139:16  Thine eyes did see mine unformed substance; And in thy book they were all written, Even the days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was none of them.

Look at the very next few verses which are part of the introduction to this entire prophecy:

Isa 1:26  And I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counsellors as at the beginning: afterward thou shalt be called, The city of righteousness, the faithful city.
Isa 1:27  Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts with righteousness.
Isa 1:28  And the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together, and they that forsake the LORD shall be consumed.

The “transgressors and… sinners” are our rebellious carnal mind which is destroyed within us by the fire of His Words. That is accomplished in very few indeed in this age, but through those who are chosen in this age, the carnal mind of “every man” will be destroyed in “the lake of fire… the second death… prepared for the devil and His angels”:

Mat 25:41  Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:

Rom 11:30  For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief:
Rom 11:31  Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.

1Co 3:13  Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.
1Co 3:14  If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
1Co 3:15  If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

The only works which “abide” the fire are works which are purified by fire. All others are burned up by the fire, and the ‘fire’ is the Word of God (Deu 33:2; Jer 5:14; Jer 20:9; 23:9, Rev 11:5). Only those who overcome the lies and false doctrines of the adversary during “this present time… shall receive a reward”. This “reward” for those whose works endure the fire is contrasted with the “man [whose] works are burned” who “shall suffer loss” of the reward given to those who are in the first resurrection (Rev 20:1-6).

Contrary to what we have all been taught about those whose works are burned up by the fire, notice what we are told about what that fire does to “every man”:

1Co 3:13  Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.

1Co 3:15  If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire [“the lake of fire”, Rev 20:14-15).

The “fire” of scripture is not designed to torment with no other purpose in view, rather, as a symbol of the word of God, it is designed to chasten and scourge us until we repent of our rebellions and sins. Repentance which produces the “fruits of repentance” is the fruit of the fires which “shall try every man’s works of what sort it is”.

Heb 12:6  For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. 
Heb 12:7  If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?

This is all exactly what the Lord tells us He does to us when we commit spiritual adultery against Him:

Isa 50:2  Wherefore, when I came, was there no man? when I called, was there none to answer? Is my hand shortened at all, that it cannot redeem? or have I no power to deliver? behold, at my rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness: their fish stinketh, because there is no water, and dieth for thirst.

The Lord poses two questions: 1) Why when I came was there no man? and 2) Why was there none to answer? Does anyone really believe the Lord did not know the answer to those questions? If so, why then does He go on to ask two more questions: 1) Is My hand shortened at all that I cannot redeem? Or 2) Have I no power to deliver? Then He goes on to demonstrate that He has all the power in the world to redeem and to deliver just as He delivered Israel out of Egypt: “Behold, at my rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness: their fish stinketh, because there is no water, and dieth for thirst.”

To answer the Lord’s questions in the bluntest of terms, the Lord Himself reveals this to be the reason “there… was… no man… when [He] came, [and] there was none to answer”:

Isa 63:17  O LORD, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants' sake, the tribes of thine inheritance.

“All these things happened unto [Israel of old], and they are written for our admonition… (1Co 10:11), and Christ tells us the same was true of “those Jews which believed on Hm” but could not “continue in His word”. The Israel and Jews during Christ’s days in the flesh were the same as the Jews and Israel of old. Christ tells us of both, “(His) Word had no place in [them]” (Joh 8 37):

Joh 8:31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
Joh 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
Joh 8:33 They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?
Joh 8:34 Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.
Joh 8:35 And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever.
Joh 8:36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
Joh 8:37 I know that ye are Abraham’s seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you.

One tool the spirit uses to keep the truth hidden right out in the open is the fact that the Word of God is both light and darkness as is demonstrated by that cloud which is Christ at the Red Sea:

Exo 14:18  And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I have gotten me honour upon Pharaoh, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen.
Exo 14:19  And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them:
Exo 14:20  And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the  camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these: so that the one came not near the other all the night.

The very same “pillar of the cloud” which was darkness to the Egyptians was “light by night” to the Lord’s Israel.

That “pillar of the cloud” was Christ, and He had the same effect upon men when He “emptied Himself” of His divinity and came down to this earth in the form of a man.

Php 2:6  who, existing in the form of God, counted not the being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped,
Php 2:7  but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men;

So Christ “emptied Himself“ of His divinity to come down into the realm of the flesh, which is the realm of death. He is no longer a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, and yet even in His humbled position as sinful flesh (2Co 5:21), He still has the effect of being light to those who are His and darkness to those who are not His.

As it was when Christ was in the flesh, so it is now. It is those “who believed on Him who wanted to kill Him because they “[could] not receive [His] words”:

Joh 8:31  Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
Joh 8:32  And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
Joh 8:33  They answered him, We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?

Joh 8:37  I know that ye are Abraham's seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you.
Joh 8:38  I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and ye do that which ye have seen with your father.
Joh 8:39  They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham.
Joh 8:40  But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham.
Joh 8:41  Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God.
Joh 8:42  Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me.
Joh 8:43  Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.
Joh 8:44  Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

That is “the doctrine of Christ”:

Heb 6:1  Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,

2Jn 1:9  Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.

That doctrine has never changed. From Genesis to Revelation Christ has always taught “Many are called but few are chosen… in this present time” (Mat 22:14 and Rom 8:18). Israel was typically “the fewest of all people”:

Deu 7:6  For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.
Deu 7:7  The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people:

“The doctrine of Christ” has always taught that the natural was first “and afterward that which is spiritual” (1Co 15:44-46). He has always taught that the seed of the serpent would first wound the heel of the seed of the woman, then the seed of the woman, Christ, would in the end bruise the head of the seed of the serpent, who Christ has just informed us includes “those… which believed on Him”.

The point being made by “the doctrine of Christ” is that He makes all things for Himself, to the extent that He “makes the wicked for the day of evil” [and He] forms light and darkness and He creates evil. These are His own words:

Pro 16:4  The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.

Isa 45:7  I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

The Lord explains why “there was no man… when He came [and] when [He] called, there was none to answer”. Here it is in His own words:

Isa 50:3  I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering. 

We have demonstrated in previous studies that when the Lord speaks of “the heavens and the earth” He is speaking of our heavens and our earth:

Job 37:2  Hear attentively the noise of his voice, and the sound that goeth out of his mouth.
Job 37:3  He directeth it under the whole heaven, and his lightning unto the ends of the earth.

Lam 2:1  How hath the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in his anger, and cast down from heaven unto the earth the beauty of Israel, and remembered not his footstool in the day of his anger!

There are few indeed who understand how Christ could be in heaven while He was on earth:

Joh 3:13  And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is [Greek present tense] in heaven.

Read this Biblically-based study entitled ‘What and Where Is Heaven’ to understand how the Lord can say He “covers the heavens with darkness”: http://www.iswasandwillbe.com/what-and-where-is-heaven-2009/

‘Darkness’ in scripture symbolizes the absence of Truth and lack of understanding. The healing of the man who was born blind in John 9 typifies how every man is first born spiritually blind “…that the works of God should be made manifest in [us]”:

Joh 9:1  And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth.
Joh 9:2  And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?
Joh 9:3  Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.

The total spiritual darkness of the ‘heavens’ of our old man is the “darkness” with which the Lord “covers [our] heavens” before he does this:

Isa 50:4  The Lord GOD hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned. 
Isa 50:5  The Lord GOD hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back.

This all happened to Isaiah, and it is written for our admonition (1Co 10:11). But why has the Lord chosen us instead of people who are without a doubt far more qualified to speak and to lead others than we are?

The Lord wants us to understand why He has chosen us and why He has “opened [our] ears to hear the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven”:

Deu 9:3  Understand therefore this day, that the LORD thy God is he which goeth over before thee; as a consuming fire he shall destroy them, and he shall bring them down before thy face: so shalt thou drive them out, and destroy them quickly, as the LORD hath said unto thee.
Deu 9:4  Speak not thou in thine heart, after that the LORD thy God hath cast them out from before thee, saying, For my righteousness the LORD hath brought me in to possess this land: but for the wickedness of these nations the LORD doth drive them out from before thee.
Deu 9:5  Not for thy righteousness, or for the uprightness of thine heart, dost thou go to possess their land: but for the wickedness of these nations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee, and that he may perform the word which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Deu 9:6  Understand therefore, that the LORD thy God giveth thee not this good land to possess it for thy righteousness; for thou art a stiffnecked people.

‘The land’ of any people is speaking of the people of that ‘land’. When the Lord speaks of “this land” He is speaking of us as His people, and He is telling us who and what we are. He is telling us we are not a righteous people. “Stiffnecked” means ‘rebellious’, and He is telling us we are a very rebellious people who just naturally hate the bright light of His Words. This is what the Lord wants us to know about ourselves as we all are by nature:

Joh 3:19  And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

We just naturally hate the light and love the darkness because we are just naturally adulterous, both physically and spiritually. “[Our] deeds are evil” by nature, by being “in Adam” (1Co 15:22). That is what Christ meant when He told “those Jews which believed on Him… you cannot hear my words”:

Joh 8:37  I know that ye are Abraham's seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you.

Joh 8:43  Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.

“My word has no place in you… because you cannot hear my word”. Those are Christ’s own words here in John 8. It is no accident that the very next chapter is the story of the healing of the man who was “blind from his birth”.

Joh 9:1  And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth.
Joh 9:2  And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?
Joh 9:3  Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.

This man was “of age”. He was an adult, and he had never once seen the light of day:

Joh 9:18  But the Jews did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind, and received his sight, until they called the parents of him that had received his sight.
Joh 9:19  And they asked them, saying, Is this your son, who ye say was born blind? how then doth he now see?
Joh 9:20  His parents answered them and said, We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind:
Joh 9:21  But by what means he now seeth, we know not; or who hath opened his eyes, we know not: he is of age; ask him: he shall speak for himself.

Can you imagine what it must have been like for this adult man when He was first able to see? We should all be able to identify with this man because this man typifies us. We can all remember when we, too, were spiritually blind as a bat, and then one day we saw things we simply could not have seen before because His words had no place in us (Joh 8:37), and we simply could not at that time “hear [His] Word”:

Joh 8:43  Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.

There was a time, and I remember it well, when I simply could hear neither the Lord’s word nor His voice. Every one of us has had that very same experience. Our blinded eyes were opened, and we began to see “the things of the spirit”. Our deaf ears were opened, and we began to hear the voice of the True shepherd. Until that time, we were completely blinded by the lies of our spiritual darkness, and we could not hear the Lord’s words because we could hear nothing but “the voice of a stranger… another Jesus." This Truth is revealed in the very next chapter of John:

Joh 10:4  And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.
Joh 10:5  And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.

Recognizing the voice of the True Shepherd is a very rare gift. It is as rare as being healed of being blind since birth, and when we cannot make that distinction we are ignorantly being led about by “the voice of strangers” or what Paul calls “another Jesus”:

2Co 11:4 For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.

For no other reason than:

Joh 9:3  Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him [us].

Jesus, who through His Father’s spirit is “working all things after the counsel of His own will” (Eph 1:11), comes by us and sees our blindness and our spiritually deaf condition, and He takes mercy upon us and heals us. Now we can see and now we can hear and distinguish the voice of the True Shepherd from the voice of a stranger.

That is the message of these last two verses of our study today. It has been all a miraculous work of “the Lord God [who] has given us ears that hear and eyes that see the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven” (Mat 13:9-15):

Isa 50:4  The Lord GOD hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned. 
Isa 50:5  The Lord GOD hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back.

Mat 13:9  Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.
Mat 13:10  And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?
Mat 13:11  He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. 
Mat 13:12  For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.
Mat 13:13  Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.
Mat 13:14  And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:
Mat 13:15  For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.
Mat 13:16  But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.
Mat 13:17  For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.

That’s our study for today. Here are next week’s verses:

Isa 50:6  I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting.
Isa 50:7  For the Lord GOD will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed.
Isa 50:8  He is near that justifieth me; who will contend with me? let us stand together: who is mine adversary? let him come near to me.
Isa 50:9  Behold, the Lord GOD will help me; who is he that shall condemn me? lo, they all shall wax old as a garment; the moth shall eat them up.
Isa 50:10  Who is among you that feareth the LORD, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? let him trust in the name of the LORD, and stay upon his God.
Isa 50:11  Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that compass yourselves about with sparks: walk in the light of your fire, and in the sparks that ye have kindled. This shall ye have of mine hand; ye shall lie down in sorrow.