Calvin on Is 65.1

Calvin, after discussing the Jews’ rejection of God in Is 65.2, here interprets the meaning of Is 65.1, “Having pointed out the cause of this rejection, we must come to the calling of the Gentiles, who succeeded in the room of the Jews; for that is undoubtedly the subject treated in the first verse. The Lord had long ago foretold it by Moses, so that they ought not to have thought that there was anything new in this prediction. “They have provoked me by that which is not God; they have moved me to anger by their vanities; and I also will provoke them by that which is not a people, by a foolish nation I will enrage them.” (Deut. 32:21 Finally, the Prophet now threatens the same thing which was afterwards foretold by Christ when that blinding was at hand. ‘The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and shall be given to a nation which shall bring forth fruit.’” (Matt. 21:43 John Calvin and William Pringle, [Commentary on the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, vol. 4 (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2010), 379.]