John Calvin Commentary Isaiah 65:1

"I am inquired of by them that asked not [for me]; I am found of them that sought me not: I said, Behold me, behold me, unto a nation that was not called by my name." — Isaiah 65:1 (ASV)

I have manifested myself. The Prophet now passes on to another doctrine; for he shows that God has good reason for rejecting and casting off the Jews. It is because they have profited nothing by either warnings or threats to be brought back from their errors to the right way.

But so that they might not think that the Lord’s covenant would be made void on that account, he adds that he will have another people who formerly were no people, and that where he was formerly unknown, his name will be well known and highly celebrated. The Jews looked on this as monstrous and considered it to be altogether inconsistent with the covenant which the Lord made with Abraham (Genesis 17:7), if such a benefit were extended to anyone other than his posterity.

But the Prophet intended to strip them of the foolish confidence of imagining that God was bound to the posterity of Abraham, for the Lord had not restricted himself to them except on an absolute condition. If this were violated by them, they would be deprived, like covenant-breakers and traitors, of all the advantage derived from the covenant. Nor was this promise made to Abraham alone, and to those who were descended from him, but to all who should be grafted by faith into his family.

But it will be more convenient to begin with the second verse, in which he explains the cause of the rejection, so that we may more fully understand the Prophet’s design.

To them that asked not. When he says that God manifested himself to them that asked not, he shows that the Gentiles were anticipated by the grace of God, and that they brought no merit or excellence as an inducement for God to give it to them. This obviously agrees with that passage we quoted, in which Moses calls them a foolish nation (Deuteronomy 32:21). Thus, under a universal type, he describes what the nature of human beings is before the Lord anticipates them by his mercy; for they neither call on the Lord, nor seek him, nor think about him.

And this passage should be carefully observed to establish the certainty of our calling, which may be said to be the key that opens to us the kingdom of heaven; for by means of it peace and rest are given to our consciences, which would always be in doubt and uncertainty if they did not rest on such testimonies. We see, therefore, that it did not happen accidentally or suddenly that we were called by God and considered to be his people, for it had been predicted long before in many passages. From this passage Paul earnestly contends for the calling of the Gentiles, and says that Isaiah boldly exclaims and affirms that the Gentiles have been called by God, because he spoke more clearly and loudly than the circumstances of his own time required. Here we see, therefore, that we were called by an eternal purpose of God long before the event happened.

Behold I, behold I. By repeating these words twice, he confirms still more the declaration that God has manifested himself in so friendly a manner to foreign and Gentile nations, that they do not doubt that he dwells among them. And, indeed, that sudden change needed to be confirmed, because it was difficult to believe, although by that very novelty the Prophet intended to magnify the unexpected grace of God.

The meaning may be thus summed up: “When the Lord shall have offered himself to the Gentiles, and they shall have been joined to the holy family of Abraham, there will be some Church in the world, after the Jews have been driven out.”

Now we see that all that is here predicted by the Prophet was fulfilled by the Gospel, by which the Lord actually offered and manifested himself to foreign nations. Whenever, therefore, this voice of the Gospel is sounded in our ears, or when we heed the word of the Lord, let us know that the Lord is present and offers himself, so that we may know him intimately and may call on him boldly and with confident assurance.