So, when you look at Jesus, Whom do you see? Some see only a great teacher and moral example. Others see a prophet, like John the Baptist or Isaiah. These days, many dismiss him as just another “dead white guy,” whose opinions need no longer be considered, especially by the fashionable “woke.”

Well, there was just as much disagreement about Him during Jesus’ earthly ministry. In fact, that’s one of the principal subjects of all of the gospels, describing as they do the increasing tension between Jesus and the religious leaders of the day. And Jesus Himself pointed to Isaiah 29:13 to explain what was really going on, as both Matthew and Mark record (Matthew 15:8-9; Mark 7:6-7).

So, what was the problem? Why do people still have a hard time seeing Jesus clearly? Isaiah 29:14 points out that many consider themselves to be so wise and so discerning that they refuse to believe in Anyone they can’t understand. Isaiah 29:15 indicates that those who are doing things they know aren’t right, those who try to hide their plans from God and from others reject the idea of a righteous ruler Who brings justice (Isaiah 29:20). And of course, Isaiah 29:13 reminds us that many people would prefer to cling to their own traditions than to make any of the changes Jesus might be calling them to make in their lives.

And so it didn’t matter that Jesus set out systematically to fulfill all the prophecies Isaiah spells out in 29:17-20. It didn’t matter that, immediately after Jesus quoted Isaiah 29 to the Pharisees, He then travelled to Tyre, in Lebanon, to cast a demon out of a Gentile’s daughter (Isaiah 29:17; Matthew 15:21-28). It didn’t matter than He then healed the deaf and the blind (Isaiah 29:18; Matthew 15:29-31). It didn’t matter that He then blessed the afflicted and the needy with food (Isaiah 29:19; Matthew 15:32-38). No, the ruthless and the scorners continued to oppose Him (Isaiah 29:20-21; Matthew 15:39-16:4). No matter how much evidence He presented to them, they just couldn’t bring themselves to believe that He really is the Holy One of Israel (Isaiah 29:19).

And even today, when proud, self-righteous people see Jesus they are just as blind as those ancient Pharisees and Sadducees (Isaiah 29:9-10). The Bible is still to them a closed book, as useless as if they could not read at all (Isaiah 29:11-12). They simply have no use for Jesus, or for any God Who might call them to humility and holiness.

So, how about you? When you look at Jesus, Whom do you see? And what does that say about you?

Isaiah 29:9-21 (NASB)

9 Be delayed and wait. Blind yourselves and be blind. They become drunk, but not with wine; They stagger, but not with strong drink.
10 For the LORD has poured over you a spirit of deep sleep, He has shut your eyes, the prophets; And He has covered your heads, the seers.
11 And the entire vision shall be to you like the words of a sealed book, which when they give it to the one who is literate, saying, “Please read this,” he will say, “I cannot, for it is sealed.”
12 Then the book will be given to the one who is illiterate, saying, “Please read this.” And he will say, “I cannot read.”
13 Then the Lord said, “Because this people draw near with their words And honor Me with their lip service, But they remove their hearts far from Me, And their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote,
14 Therefore behold, I will once again deal marvelously with this people, wondrously marvelous; And the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, And the discernment of their discerning men shall be concealed.”
15 Woe to those who deeply hide their plans from the LORD, And whose deeds are done in a dark place, And they say, “Who sees us?” or “Who knows us?”
16 You turn things around! Shall the potter be considered as equal with the clay, That what is made should say to its maker, “He did not make me”; Or what is formed say to him who formed it, “He has no understanding “?
17 Is it not yet just a little while Before Lebanon will be turned into a fertile field, And the fertile field will be considered as a forest?
18 And on that day the deaf shall hear words of a book, And out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind shall see.
19 The afflicted also shall increase their gladness in the LORD, And the needy of mankind shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.
20 For the ruthless will come to an end, and the scorner will be finished, Indeed all who are intent on doing evil will be cut off;
21 Who cause a person to be indicted by a word, And ensnare him who adjudicates at the gate, And defraud the one in the right with meaningless arguments.