The Jacob/Israel category forms a pivot point on Isaiah’s ladder to heaven. It consists of people who believe in God but are ambivalent about making good choices in life. Tempted by Babylon’s idols and by their own foibles, they are slow to remember God and the blessings of a covenant relationship with him. They struggle to wake up from their spiritual stupor.
Susceptible to spiritual blindness and not repenting of transgressions, they suffer the curses of a broken law. Yet they don’t perceive a connection between the choices they make and their current misfortunes. Because they fail to repent, they are subject to God’s justice, not his mercy. They live in a spiritually unsaved state and are liable to descend to Babylon.
Isaiah 43:22You do not call upon me, O Jacob; you have grown weary of me, O Israel.
Isaiah 40:27Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak thus, O Israel: Our path has become obscured from Jehovah; our cause is overlooked by our God?
Isaiah 42:24Who is it that hands Jacob over to plunder and Israel to despoilers, if not Jehovah, against whom we have sinned? For they have no desire to walk in his ways or obey his law.
Jacob/Israel’s addiction to Babylon’s idols forms perhaps the biggest obstacle to its enjoying a relationship with God. Distracted by the wizardous works of men’s hands, people in this category have a hard time focusing on non-tangible, spiritual realities. Although Israel’s God has atoned for their transgressions, their failure to repent renders it of no effect.
Isaiah 44:20–21They are followers of ashes; their deluded minds have distracted them. They cannot liberate themselves [from them] or say, Surely this thing in my hand is a fraud. Ponder these things, O Jacob, and you, O Israel, for you are my servant. I have created you to be my servant, O Israel; Do not disregard me.
Isaiah 46:3–5Hear me, O house of Jacob, and all you remnant of the house of Israel, who have been a load on me since birth, borne up by me from the womb: Even to your old age, I am present; till you turn grey, it is I who sustain you. It is I who made you, and I who bear you up; it is I who carry and rescue you. To whom will you compare me or count me equal?
Isaiah 43:1But now, thus says Jehovah—he who formed you, O Jacob, he who created you, O Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you. I have called you by name; you are mine.
Prior to his Day of Judgment on the world, God sends a final warning through his servants. Calling on his people and all nations to repent of wrongs or they will be destroyed, he exhorts them to dissociate from idols and be numbered with those who exit Babylon on the eve of its destruction. Their idols can’t save them from calamity; only Israel’s God can.
Isaiah 43:11–12I myself am Jehovah; apart from me there is no savior. It is I who foretold and wrought salvation, making it known when there was no strange god among you.
Isaiah 6:9–10He said, Go, and say to these people, Go on hearing, but not understanding; Go on seeing, but not perceiving. Make the heart of these people grow fat; dull their ears and shut their eyes, lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears, understand in their heart, and repent, and be healed.
Isaiah 55:6–7Inquire of Jehovah while he is present; call upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake their ways and sinful men their thoughts. Let them return to Jehovah, and he will have mercy on them; to our God, who graciously pardons.
Isaiah 52:11Turn away, depart; touch nothing defiled as you leave [Babylon]. Come out of her and be pure, you who bear Jehovah’s vessels.