Hearing & Never Understanding Seeing & Never Perceiving
Pastors Leslie & Adeline Chua
“This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. Indeed, in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says: “‘“You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive.” For this people’s heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.’ ”
This enigmatic prophecy describes the heart condition of believers toward God and His words. It seems mysterious at first glance. How can a person hear and see, but does not understand and perceive what God is saying? Simple. These people do not take God and His words seriously. They only pay lips service to Him.
Isaiah’s Time
God spoke these prophetic words to Isaiah at the time of his commission (Isaiah 6:10). Isaiah had responded enthusiastically to the LORD’s call to prophetic ministry - “Here I am. Send me!” He was eager and raring to go when the LORD revealed to him the kind of response he would receive. The people would hear but never understand. They would see but never perceive. It is another way of saying that Isaiah’s ministry would be futile. His warning would fall on deaf ears and the people would ignore his proclamation of judgement. Isaiah must have felt deflated.
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Isaiah prophesied for fifty-three years
and the people ignored his message of judgement
for fifty-three years. ___________________________________________
Nobody likes to hear bad news, much less anything to do with sin and judgement. It was the same then and today. Nothing has changed since then.
Isaiah prophesied for fifty-three years and the people ignored his message of judgement for fifty-three years. They must have wondered why he even bothered to speak to them. This is an interesting feature of the prophetic ministry. God uses His prophets to warn regardless of whether the people would heed the warning or not.
Eighty-one years after Isaiah died, God’s judgement fell upon Judah. The Babylonians attacked the city of Jerusalem and in three phases spanning nineteen years, the Jews were carried into exile. Finally, in 586 B.C., the beloved Jewish temple was destroyed.
Jesus’ Time
About six hundred years later, Jesus quoted these same prophetic words and applied them to the Jews in His generation. Jesus, the Son of God, and the Son of Man, had come as their Christ and Saviour. But the people exhibited similar callousness of heart. They would hear His powerful teachings but not understand, and they would see His miraculous works but not perceive that He was their long-awaited Messiah. It was a haunting repetition of what happened in Isaiah’s generation.
The irony was the Pharisees and scribes’ failure to identify Jesus as the Christ though they were extremely well-versed in the Scriptures. Granted, Jesus was an ordinary man with a humble background,and he was hailed from an insignificant village. But surely, they could hear and see for themselves His extraordinariness in His words and deeds. How could they have possibly missed their Messiah?
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They would hear His powerful teachings
but not understand,
and they would see His miraculous works
but not perceive that He was their long-awaited Messiah.
It was a haunting repetition
of what happened in Isaiah’s generation.
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Perhaps, they were blinded by their pride and self-interest. Maybe, they were offended by Jesus’ characteristic bluntness and politically incorrect manner of speaking. Not forgetting that He often publicly exposed their hypocrisy and chided them. Besides, the truth often offends. Obviously. They could not hear and see clearly with these obstacles in the way.
So, the Messiah was standing before them, and the Kingdom of God was about to burst forth. The tension was palpable. However, they could neither perceive His majesty nor the arrival of God’s Kingdom. Jesus marvelled at their abject lack of discernment – “You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times” (Matthew 16:3b).
The consequence of their refusal to hear and understand and see and perceive led to the inability to discern the times. The result was a severe judgement on the entire nation. Jesus prophesied, “See, your house is left to you desolate” (Matthew 23:38). Barely a few decades later, the Romans destroyed the temple and the city of Jerusalem and soon after, all the Jews were forcibly pushed out of the land.
Our Time
As the world approaches the end of this present age, I observe the same phenomenon repeating itself. Many contemporary Christians are taking God and His Word lightly. Reverence for the Lord Jesus Christ and a firm belief in the inerrancy and authority of the Holy Scripture are glaringly missing.
The words that Jesus quoted from Isaiah – “seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand” – prove true once again.
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Many contemporary Christians
are taking God and His Word lightly.
Reverence for the Lord Jesus Christ
and a firm belief
in the inerrancy and authority of the Holy Scripture are glaringly missing. ____________________________________________
Christians conveniently disagree with biblical truths that do not fit into their secular worldviews and opinions. They latch onto convenient truths but ditch the inconvenient and hard truths. Love and grace are always welcome, but justice and judgement are summarily dismissed.
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Thinking critically and biblically
are lost on many Christians.
They view the world
and evaluate the merits
of the latest cultural phenomena
through rose-tinted glasses
that is a mixture of biblical cum worldly perspectives.
It is a postmodern concoction of confusion.
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I believe that we are living in a critical period just before the return of Christ. Therefore, we cannot afford to ignore the truths concerning divine justice and judgement. God is now beginning to judge the world. The church will not be spared. Judgement begins in the house of God (1 Peter 4:17)
Thinking critically and biblically are lost on many Christians. They view the world and evaluate the merits of the latest cultural phenomena through rose-tinted glasses that is a mixture of biblical cum worldly perspectives. It is a postmodern concoction of confusion. That is why many Christians are sucked into the cultural confusion concerning gender, race, equality, privilege, social justice, intersectionality, wokeness, cancel culture, etcetera, without realising their roots in cultural Marxism.
If you understand what I have just said, please note that these values are not compatible with the gospel and our fundamental Christian beliefs.
I am talking about these things because I observe that these ridiculous ideologies are creeping into the mainstream churches and Christian organisations in the U.S.A. As is often the case, whatever happens in the United States are often exported overseas. Singapore churches are not immune. Some young and educated Christians are already imbibing this cultural madness.
Potentially, this is more dangerous than the hyper-grace and LGBT issues because it is nuanced. Because of its subtlety, it is more difficult to point out its danger and incompatibility with Christian beliefs.
I believe that this is Satan’s latest cultural weapon to dilute the gospel and its message. We cannot afford to let the gospel be compromised and contaminated with these issues. Confusion will inevitably lead to delusion. It will mess up your Christian faith. Therefore, be on your guard.
Guard yourself by reading the bible. Read deeply and meditate on it. Doing so allow the Holy Spirit to speak to you. When you take God and His Word seriously, you will hear and understand, and you will see and perceive. The Spirit of God will guide you and lead you into all truth (John 16:13). Then, you would not be deceived by lies, deception, and falsehoods, which will become increasingly widespread in the days ahead as we anticipate Christ’s return.