Isaiah 43:8

"Bring forth the blind people that have eyes, and the deaf that have ears. Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the peoples be assembled: who among them can declare this, and show us former things? let them bring their witnesses, that they may be justified; or let them hear, and say, It is truth, Ye are my witnesses, saith Jehovah, and my servant whom I have chosen; that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he; before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. I, even I, am Jehovah; and besides me there is no saviour. I have declared, and I have saved, and I have showed; and there was no strange god among you: therefore, ye are my witnesses, saith Jehovah, and I am God. Yea, since the day was; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand: I will work, and who can hinder it?"

One of the big things in this paragraph is that the fleshly Israel, the deaf and blind Israel, are here commissioned as God's witness, whether or not they were willing; and this tremendous predictive prophecy is this very day being fulfilled all over the earth. The very existence of Israel is a witness for every single line of the Old Testament; and "These are they that testify of me," as Jesus stated it. Note that the imaginary court scene is again used as a device for emphasizing these significant facts.

The greatest possible triumph over false gods was demonstrated in the delivery of Israel from Egypt; and, in the conquest of Canaan under Joshua, the same sensational triumph was again demonstrated.

Israel (the old fleshly one) did not actually wish to be God's witness; but God required it of her any way. They did not wish to preach to the Gentiles; but, in spite of their efforts to avoid it, their greatest men, of whom was Paul the Apostle, preached the word to the Gentiles in spite of all Jewish efforts to stop it. That fulfilled the type seen in Jonah, who preferred death to preaching to Nineveh; but God put his hook in the nose of that prophet and compelled him to do it contrary to his personal desire.

There should be no misunderstanding relative to who are meant by those called "the blind with eyes, and the deaf with ears." "These are the Jews who had mixed themselves up with the heathen, learned their ways, and had rejected the Word of God."[9] It is the height of folly to suppose that the gracious promises of the first seven verses may be logically applied to such racial Israelites.

Yes indeed, Israel in time would witness for God; but it would not be by the controlling majority of the rebellious nation, but by that pitifully small remnant composed of people such as the apostles of Christ. That witnessing would not occur in the lifetime of Isaiah, nor in any of the events following the end of the exile; but, for ages, the fleshly Israel would continue to be "a passive and reluctant exhibit."[10] What a poor witness fleshly Israel proved to be! As Kelley wrote, "One of the amazing things that emerges from this passage is that a task so momentous should have been entrusted to a people as unfit as Israel (cf. 2 Corinthians 4:7)."[11]