25 They disagreed among themselves and began to leave after Paul had made this final statement: “The Holy Spirit spoke the truth to your ancestors when he said through Isaiah the prophet:

26 “‘Go to this people and say,
“You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.”
27 For this people’s heart has become calloused;
they hardly hear with their ears,
and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them.’

28 “Therefore I want you to know that God’s salvation has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will listen!” Acts 28:25-29

In one fell swoop, Paul denounced the hard hearts of the Jews and elevated the role of the Gentiles in the Kingdom of God. His primary audience was Jewish leaders who would’ve known the passage Paul cited. They wouldn’t have admitted it applied to their generation, because God couldn’t possibly talking about them. Those verses were for the really hard-hearted Jews of old. But the truth was the Jews had become hard-hearted and calloused.

The same truth applies to us. When we read a passage, it’s easy to say it doesn’t apply to us but often it does. Take this passage for example. Isaiah wrote it for the Jews of his day, and for the generations of Jews to follow. But it certainly is relevant today as well. Who among us hasn’t grown cold and calloused at times?

Likewise, we’ve also turned from our ways and allowed Christ the healer to touch us.