“HEARKEN”

PART THREE
(Part Three of a Five Part Series)
ISAIAH 51

To those who slumber in this day.

“Hearken unto me, my people;
and give ear unto me, O my nation:
for a law shall proceed from me,
and I will make my judgment to rest
for a light of the people.
My righteousness is near;
my salvation is gone forth,
and mine arms shall judge the people;
the isles shall wait upon me,
and on mine arm shall they trust.
Lift up your eyes to the heavens,
and look upon the earth beneath:
for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke,
and the earth shall wax old like a garment,
and they that dwell therein
shall die in like manner:
but my salvation shall be forever,
and my righteousness shall not be abolished”
ISAIAH 51:4-6

The Hebrew word for “hearken” used here is quite different from the one used in Isaiah 51:1 (see Hearken – Part Two). It is a word spoken to get someone’s attention; its tone is much stronger in its usage. Literally it means to “prick up the ears” or to “pay attention”. It is spoken to a people who have become “comfortable” in their ways. They are HIS own but there is a casualness in their walk; a satisfaction with the status quo in their attitude. Their expectation is no longer in God but, in a very subtle way, has turned from HIM towards an event. There is a doctrinal expectation; a hope based in a teaching not in the realization of a pure heart. In the verse below we see these two Hebrew words contrasted with each other. The “hearken” used to those who are pursuing righteousness is translated “hear”*. “To whom shall I speak and give warning that they may HEAR” (take heed and obey). The “hearken”* used in speaking to this people is used in the second part of this verse “…their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot even hear” what the Lord is speaking.

“To whom shall I speak, and give warning, that they may hear*?
behold, their ear is uncircumcised,
and they cannot (even) hearken*:
behold,the word of the LORD is unto them a reproach;
they have no delight in it”
Jeremiah 6:10

We need to see and understand that the Lord “is a God of Knowledge” and that His heart is ever towards HIS OWN. He speaks to people according to the condition of their heart, not their intellect. Doctrinal statements and understanding will only take us so far in God for the Christian walk is a RELATIONSHIP not a theological treatise!

Here God is pleading and imploring this people to GIVE HEED to HIS WORD. He is speaking to the collective, to the masses who have become dull of hearing and slow of heart. We see Jesus weeping over Jerusalem with the cry that IF they had only known, IF they had only given HEED to God’s gracious invitation they would have been prepared for the destruction that was soon to befall her. These are HIS PEOPLE and as such HE greatly desires to call out and to gather them under the wings of HIS love and protection.

God is giving a stern reminder that the earth is going to pass away and ALL THAT DWELL in it shall die in like manner. Romans Chapter 8 tells us that to be carnally minded is death. To be a “Christian” and to love the things of this world will reap the judgements of this world (Revelation 18:4) [https://aword.info/2010/10/31/the-two-voices-3/].

Let us HEARKEN and give heed to our ways. It is a DAY for us to “weigh” whether our HOPE is a living one or a doctrinal one. The difference between the two is subtle and of the utmost importance. A LIVING HOPE will produce a PURE HEART; a doctrinal hope produces little or no actual change within the heart.

“And every man that hath this hope
in him purifies himself, even as he is pure”
1 JOHN 3:3

The flood is coming to test the foundation of every man’s house and only those who have built on the foundation of hearing and doing will stand in the day that is upon us.

“But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’
and not do the things which I say?
Whoever comes to Me,
and hears My sayings and does them,
I will show you whom he is like:
He is like a man building a house,
who dug deep
and laid the foundation on the rock.
And when the flood arose,
the stream beat vehemently against that house,
and could not shake it,
for it was founded on the rock.
But he who heard and did nothing
is like a man who built a house on the earth
without a foundation,
against which the stream beat vehemently;
and immediately it fell.
And the ruin of that house was great.“
Luke 6:46-49

This is a parable to the Church not the world. This is a parable to those who are slumbering in this hour, busy with the affairs of this life and who have not taken to heart the “Hearken” that God is speaking. May God raise up a prophetic people who will declare to this generation the solemn and sobering Word of the Lord to all who would hear.

Brian Troxel