READ: Is. 8:16-22
Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples. … I will hope in Him. Here am I and the children whom the Lord has given me! … To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. – Is. 8:16-20
God commands Isaiah to withdraw with the Law and the Gospel into the circle of his followers. What he has to proclaim and teach as a prophet about God’s Word is now exclusively intended for that small circle and no longer for the broader population.
This means that God will hide His face from the entire house of Jacob (v.17). This is an unprecedented punishment for the people. They have turned away from the LORD. They have rejected all His promises that Isaiah has conveyed. They continue to seek salvation from the heathens and lead their lives in superficial piety.
For Isaiah and his followers, this isolation is a mandate imposed by God Himself. Isaiah already knew at his calling that the people wouldn’t listen to him and would harden their hearts (6:9,10). They have rejected the promise of Immanuel (God with us!) despite numerous calls; now the LORD deems it enough. He actively withdraws His Word and the understanding of it from the people. He leaves them to their own misguided ways.
The only thing left for them is to see Isaiah and his children as signs and wonders (v.18). They are still addressed by their meaningful names. Only the few believers among the people will understand and accept this.
In isolation, Isaiah and his followers find their strength: they continue to expect it from the LORD: the promised salvation will come someday. Isaiah is a type of Christ in this regard (Heb. 2:13). The small circle learns a profound lesson: do not seek guidance from fortune-tellers and necromancers like the people do.
God desires to be acknowledged and honored as the God who dwells on Zion (v.18,19). For those who do not live with Him, in His Word, and expect everything from Him, only a terrifying darkness remains (vv.20-22).
Can you compare the church to Isaiah’s circle?
Singing: Ps. 40:7