Isa 6:10 Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.

In Isaiah 6, Isaiah was privileged to see a vision of God (v.1-7). God said He needed a man to tell a sinful nation of its sins; Isaiah volunteered (v.8). God told Isaiah to go and preach to a people who wouldn’t respond (v.9-10). And, the result of their rejection to God’s message was their holy city would be destroyed and the nation taken into captivity (v.11-13). God said to Isaiah: “Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed” (v.10). It is not God’s intention to harden the hearts of the people so that He could destroy them. God did not do the hardening. Did God harden Pharaoh’s heart? Pharaoh saw the power of God in the plagues but instead of falling down at the feet of God, he hardened his heart. Pharaoh would not surrender but continue to defy God’s command. The miracles God did through Moses were designed to show Pharaoh the power of God (Exodus 9:16). But Pharaoh chose rebellion. God told Isaiah to preach and warn a rebellious people that they would be taken into captivity if they refused to repent of their sins. Isaiah preached to them. True enough, they did not respond in repentance but they rebelled and sin more wickedly. They closed their eyes and ears to the message of the prophet, and in so doing, chose to reject healing from God. In Acts 7, we see the faithful evangelist Stephen preaching to the Jews. What was their reaction to the gospel? They stopped their ears and killed God’s messenger: “Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, And cast him out of the city, and stoned him” (Acts 7:57, 58a). In Lystra, the apostle Paul was stoned for preaching Christ (Acts 14:19). We see that he gospel message has the power both to convict and harden the sinners. In Acts 2, when the first sermon was preached, the people were pricked in their hearts and responded favourably to the message of salvation (Acts 2:37-42). But in some other places, the message did not go down well with the hearers. The gospel message produces the same two effects on people today. Some will believe and the majority will harden their hearts. God did not harden their hearts. The gospel message is for their salvation (Romans 1:16). But they hardened their hearts to the message that can save them. What about you? Is your heart fat? A fatty heart is unhealthy. What happens when one has a fatty heart? He has problems with his ears and eyes. God said: “Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes” (v.10). Christ says their ears are dull of hearing and their eyes they have closed (Matthew 13:15). They won’t listen and they fall asleep when the word of God is preached. When one is dull of hearing, he switches off to the voice of preaching. The opposite is a joyous heart that loves to listen to the word of God: “How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” (Psalm 119:103). Is the word of God sweet as honey or bitter as medicine to you? May we be like the Jews in Ezra’s days. Ezra read the Law from morning until midday. What was their reaction? “The ears of all the people were attentive unto the book of the law” (Nehemiah 8:3). If you have fatty heart, it’s time to do some spiritual exercises to get rid of those fats.