Did you notice all the references in Isaiah 64 to the human condition – our sin sickness?
Since ancient times no ear has heard, and no eye has seen a God like You, who works for those who wait for Him!
You welcome those who gladly do good, who follow godly ways.
But You have been very angry with us, for we are not godly. We are constant sinners; how can people like us be saved?
We are all infected and impure with sin . . . our sins sweep us away like the wind.
Yet no one calls on Your name or pleads with You for mercy.
Therefore, You have turned away from us and turned us over to our sins.
Please don’t remember our sins forever . . .
must You still refuse to help us? Will You continue to be silent and punish us?
Isaiah 64:4-12 (Selected verses)
7No, the wisdom we speak of is the mystery of God—His plan that was previously hidden, even though He made it for our ultimate glory before the world began. 8But the rulers of this world have not understood it; if they had, they would not have crucified our glorious Lord. 9That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love Him.”
1Corinthians 2:7-9
Verse 7 and verse 9 are linked. “The wisdom we speak of is the mystery of God.” Make sure you put the passage together and don’t assume each part is a separate thought. In picking up the reference to “No eye has seen, no ear has heard” Paul is wanting the Corinthians minds to immediately think of Isaiah 64. This plan, this mystery of God is to deal with the human condition and their separation from Him. Who could have imagined God doing this? No one has seen anything like this. No one has heard anything like this. No one could have imagined anything like this. This is all too wonderful to conceive of. That God should die for us!!! If the rulers of this world had even caught a glimpse of it they would not have crucified the Lord of all Glory. The human rulers wouldn’t have and the principalities and powers wouldn’t have. The latter would have seen their own defeat was imminent.
Paul undoubtedly was quoting from Isaiah 64. It is the passage of Isaiah 64 that he is connecting with: the amazing mystery and plan that God had in mind. It is this that no human or demonic power could conceive of. Wow! To seek other sources in the Apocryphal writings is folly which only confirms us in our sin sickness. How could it be that those intelligent men could not perceive this wisdom? Paul answers: because we preach those things which surpass man’s understanding. Man cannot so much as think of them, much less conceive them with his senses.
This whole passage hangs together until Paul says to the Corinthians (Chapter 3) effectively but you are not like that as long as you are controlled by your sinful nature. Spirit or flesh – which is it? Many claim this verse to mean we can’t know the plans God has for us. We can’t seek to know God’s will for us. How can we know God’s pathway ahead for us? But that is like living in the dark past before God revealed His great plan. We now have the light of the incarnate Christ and the indwelling Holy Spirit to shine His light on our way.
Some more to ponder on:
“neither have entered into the heart of man” – this clause is not in the original text; but is a phrase often used by the Jews, for that which never came into a man’s mind, was never thought of by him, or he ever had any conception, or the least notion and idea of; so the elders of the city, at the beheading of the heifer, are represented not only as saying, “our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it”; but neither”hath it entered into our hearts”, that the Sanhedrim has shed blood. This clause is pregnant with meaning related to sin and its covering by an act of sacrifice.
Honest criticism is hard to take, particularly from a relative, a friend, an acquaintance, or a stranger.
Anon
The greater the leader you become the more your personal success depends on others.
Ron Edmondson
Jesus Can Never Exalt You Publicly Until He 1st Tutors You Privately.
Robb Thompson
I think v9 relates to the previous verse, v8.
Those who …. crucified (hate) “Him”
Those who … love “Him”
The last “Him” in 64:4
But surely Uncle Smiff, the connection is between verses 7 and 9.
7No, the wisdom we speak of is the mystery of God—His plan that was previously hidden, even though He made it for our ultimate glory before the world began. 8But the rulers of this world have not understood it; if they had, they would not have crucified our glorious Lord. 9That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love Him.”
1Corinthians 2:7-9
Verse 8 is the negative of the proposition in that the rulers of this world have failed to understand the mystery. While God’s overall plan has been grasped by those of us who have accepted Him. Oh yes there is more to grasp of course, that is the nature of a mystery. Ian