To the Law and to the Testimony

We are in the book of the prophet Isaiah, a prophet often called “the evangelist of the Old Testament.” In his writings, you find the harshness and relentlessness of a typical prophet of the times, who had to wake up a people that were decaying day by day. But you also find moving words, fervent appeals for repentance, and a return to God. This chapter is no exception.

At that time, the people were straying, I mean straying completely.

• I remind you of comparisons such as, “Unless the Lord of hosts had left to us a very small remnant, we would have become like Sodom” (1:9), and we know how guilty the people of Sodom were (Genesis 13:13).

• Elsewhere, it says that “their tongue and their doings are against the Lord” (3:8), reminding us of the scenes from the Flood (Genesis 6:5) where the world is described with the same words.

• And, final blow now, when the king himself was one who sacrificed his children to pagan gods (2 Chronicles 28:2-4), we can imagine the level of decay among both the leaders and the people.

In this context, God does not remain silent; He sends a message to His people. And He does so through the prophet Isaiah. Even in this chapter (if you read it again now), on one hand, He assures those among the people that if they are faithful, despite the threats of the enemy, there will be deliverance, Immanuel — “God is with us” (Isaiah 8:10). On the other hand, He clearly states that others among the people have different, inverted standards; they see and interpret the world backward, against the Lord (Isaiah 8:12, see also Isaiah 5:20).

The prophetic message was clear: whoever fears the Lord will remain standing; whoever does not will fall (Isaiah 8:13-15, Isaiah 7:9). And the message given to the people through the prophet Isaiah is a “testimony” (and here I come to one of the key words in the mentioned verse). We read Isaiah 8:16:

“Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples.”

In other words, the message has been given; it is a testimony, a revelation. It will be appreciated, kept, and guarded as something precious (bound, sealed) by God's disciples. If you remember, the Lord Christ also said, “Do not cast your pearls before swine” (Matthew 7:6). The rebellious and the mockers will not appreciate God's words, while for His disciples, they are the most precious thing. Thus, the disciples have the Lord's testimony, that is the prophetic word.

What does the rest of the people do when they do not listen to the Lord? They go to other gods, they appeal to fortune-telling, spells, and spiritism. Here is the option that was most convenient for them: “seek those who are mediums and wizards, who whisper and mutter” (Isaiah 8:19). By whispering and muttering, we understand the description of the magic formulas they used... You remember that the Lord Christ also said, “do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do” (Matthew 6:7).

The Jews knew that God's law forbade fortune-telling and spiritism (the alleged speaking with the dead). We read in Deuteronomy 18:10-14:

There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For all who do these things are an abomination to the Lord, and because of these abominations the Lord your God drives them out from before you. You shall be blameless before the Lord your God. For these nations which you will dispossess listened to soothsayers and diviners; but as for you, the Lord your God has not appointed such for you.

So, the people had a choice. Some urged toward spiritism and fortune-telling. The healthy option, however, was different (which leads us to our verse). It was the option of appealing to God. Why ask those who guess the future when God tells the future? Why go to the dead when the living (like the prophet Isaiah) could answer them immediately?

And then the prophet shows the way out:

“To the law and to the testimony.”

The people, therefore, had to rediscover (1) the things written in God's law (see the reform that took place when they discovered the law, 2 Chronicles 34:14-21 and 29-33). And the people had to listen to (2) the testimony given through the prophet who served in their midst. That is “to the law and to the testimony.”

The two elements, the law and the prophets, never contradict each other; they go hand in hand. They are God's solution for His people. The Lord Christ confirmed their validity in His time as well, and showed that it would be the same in the future, for as long as the heavens last (Matthew 5:17-18).

The end of Isaiah's message is dark: “If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.”

The people were in darkness. God sent them the light, but they continued to choose the dead, the muttering, and the fortune-telling... The prophet warns: without God's law and without the testimony of the prophets, they will remain in darkness. They will have no future.

Therefore, when we use the verse from Isaiah 8:20, we use it as an exhortation for each of us to know the Word of God — both the Law and the Prophets. The equivalent in the New Testament would be the apostles, through the gospels, epistles, and Revelation. The prophet said, “if they do not speak according to this word…" and we understand this as an assimilation of the message, a conformity in practice with what God has said. And we can almost hear the words of the Lord Christ:

I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. [...] Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:19)

Do you have any questions?
Feel free to get in touch and we'll come back to you with an answer.