Seeing and Hearing

Isaiah has two famous passages that refer to hearing with our ears and seeing with our eyes.  The first is part of the call that he received from the Lord.  He was told, “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” (Isaiah 6:10).  I see this not as an instruction to actually make the people deaf to his words, but rather a prophecy that this is how the people would respond to him.  They would not hear with their ears or see with their eyes the great truths that Isaiah would teach them.  The second scripture is found at the end of his writings and is phrased in a much more positive way: “For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him” (Isaiah 64:4).  Both of these scriptures influenced the words of many other prophets and invite us to consider what kind of ears and eyes we have. 

Paul quoted the first passage in this way: “Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet unto our fathers, Saying… he heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them” (Acts 28:27).  The Savior likewise referred to Isaiah and applied the scripture to His day as He lamented the people’s wickedness saying, “For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them” (Matt. 13:15). Nephi referred to the passage as well in 2 Nephi 16:10 as part of his long quotation of Isaiah.  Enoch gave us very similar language (obviously not a direct quotation since he came before) in the words the Lord spake to him: “I am angry with this people, and my fierce anger is kindled against them; for their hearts have waxed hard, and their fears are dull of hearing, and their eyes cannot see afar off” (Moses 6:27).   

The passage from Isaiah 64 about hearing and seeing is also quoted in several other places in the scriptures.  Paul used that one as well in his epistle to the Corinthians, saying, “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9).  The Lord also quoted it in His appendix to the Doctrine and Covenants: “For since the beginning of the world have not men heard nor perceived by the ear, neither hath any eye seen, O God, besides thee, how great things thou hast prepared for him that waiteth for thee” (D&C 133:45).  The Savior also employed the language of Isaiah 64:4 in the revelation revealing the three degrees of glory: “For by my Spirit will I enlighten them, and by my power will I make known unto them the secrets of my will—yea, even those things which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor yet entered into the heart of man” (D&C 76:10).  And it seems that Mormon was really quoting or at least borrowing from Isaiah when he described the transcendent Nephite experience as the risen Lord visited them: “And after this manner do they bear record: The eye hath never seen, neither hath the ear heard, before, so great and marvelous things as we saw and heard Jesus speak unto the Father” (3 Nephi 17:16).

                So I guess for us we have to decide what kind of eyes and ears we will have.  Will we let the world darken and dull them so that we cannot perceive spiritual things?  Or will we “love God” enough and “wait for him” so that we can see and hear the great things the Lord has prepared for us?  Jesus told his disciples, “But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear”—that’s the kind of description we want the Savior to one day give of us (Matt. 13:16).