Acts 28 - Paul's Final Plea to the His Fellow Jews!

They arranged to meet Paul on a certain day, and came in even larger numbers to the place where he was staying. He witnessed to them from morning till evening, explaining about the kingdom of God, and from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets he tried to persuade them about Jesus. 24 Some were convinced by what he said, but others would not believe. 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.’[a]
28 “Therefore I want you to know that God’s salvation has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will listen!” 
As we come to the end of Acts, we see Paul is drawing quite a bit of interest from his Jewish brothers.  Although their leaders were the reason Paul was arrested and brought to Rome, Paul has a chance to witness to his fellow Jews.  Paul spends all explaining and teaching from the Old Testament about the kingdom of God, and how it was fulfilled in Jesus.  Some were convinced, other refused to believe.  So Paul quotes from the greatest prophet of the Old Testament, Isaiah.  
Isaiah was a prophet around the end of the 8th century.  The Northern kingdom had been destroyed by the Assyrians, and the Southern kingdom located in Judah (Jerusalem) was being threatened by the Babylonians (Iraq). And just as the Israelites refused to believe and were judged, so Paul says these Jews' hearts were hardened.  Even though Paul clearly witnessed how Jesus fulfilled the prophecies of Isaiah, they could not hear or see because of their heart condition.  I can only imagine how frustrating this must have been for Paul.
Since we don't know whose hearts are open or hardened, we like Paul are called to witness to the Gospel. We are called to demonstrate how the kingdom of God works and how Jesus is the Messiah we have waited for.  This is where prayer comes in.  As we pray for others, our prayers are that the Holy Spirit would prepare people's heart.  Without the Holy Spirit the gospel is foolishness.  The Holy Spirit takes God's Word and convicts a person of their need for Jesus.  They realize the only hope of salvation is by grace through faith in Him.
Let us pray that new hearts would be open to God's amazing grace.  We only need to be faithful to preaching the gospel and maybe more importantly living it out in both word and deed.  

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