J.A. Matteson
Employing the Hebrew literary technique of parallelism the prophet underscores God's sovereignty in salvation. "Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?" (Isa. 53:1). That none seek after God or believe apart from divine enablement is an indisputable fact throughout scripture. The LORD is Spirit and He cannot be known apart from His self-revelation to an individual. Those who believe are those to whom the arm of the LORD has been revealed. How, then, ought servants of the LORD pray for the unregenerate? We begin by beseeching that His grace and mercy of self-disclosure rest upon the lost; that He would regenerate them, enabling them to see, to hear, to respond in faith. As the Lord Jesus Christ stated, 'The flesh profits nothing.' According to the good purpose of His will the LORD has both foreordained the end of His plan of salvation, but also the means. And it is His delight to employ human instrumentality to bring to pass what He has purposed regarding the heirs of salvation from eternity. It is a marvelous dawning to realize that as a recipient of grace pilgrims are called to in turn operate as instruments of grace to those in their sphere of influence.
Copyright (c) 2013 Immutable Word Ministries ("...the word of our God stands forever." Isa. 40:8)