I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me;
I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me.
I said, “Here I am, here I am,”
to a nation that was not called by my name.

Isaiah 65:1

In Genesis, God promised Abraham that “all the families of the earth would be blessed” by Abraham’s descendent and that pledge was fulfilled through the life of the Messiah.

As Paul wrote in Romans that the blessings and judgement will come to every person, first to the Jew and then to the Gentile (the rest of us) because God is no respecter of persons (Romans 2:10,11).

And so, in the passage above the promised Messiah proclaims the same thought. Israel anticipated the Messiah as their Savior. The rest of the world did not. Even after Jesus’ resurrection, the early church was made up of Jewish believers until Peter visited the household of Cornelius (Acts 10: 34) indicating God’s intent on providing Salvation to all who would believe because “God shows no partiality.”

And so Isaiah’s words remind me of the parable Jesus told. It’s a bit long, but worth the read –

But he said to him, “A man once gave a great banquet and invited many. And at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused.’ And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them. Please have me excused.’ And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’ So the servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house became angry and said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’ And the servant said, ‘Sir, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’ And the master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled.

Luke 14: 16-23

Let’s be counted among those who respond to the call.