Isaiah 28:9-13 KJV
Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts. [10] For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little: [11] For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people. [12] To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear. [13] But the word of the Lord was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.
God spoke (that is "the word of the Lord"). But the people would not hear. The stammering lips and foreign language God speaks to His people is not listened to nor obeyed. It is a sign to the unbelieving, in fact.
The whole point of the prophecy is that God's people had erred and departed from God. How? By disobedience. Notice:
Psalm 95:6-11 KJV
O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the Lord our maker. [7] For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. To day if ye will hear his voice, [8] Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness: [9] When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work. [10] Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways: [11] Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest.
Ephraim in
Isaiah 28 was repeating the error of their fathers in not believing God and provoking Him to anger through their disobedience. The result? They would not enter the Lord's rest. They would remain at war with God. He tried to tell them, He tells us today through the outpouring of His Holy Ghost:
Isaiah 30:18-21 KJV
And therefore will the Lord wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for the Lord is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him. [19] For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem: thou shalt weep no more: he will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry; when he shall hear it, he will answer thee. [20] And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any more, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers: [21]
And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.
What way?
Isaiah 40:1-3 KJV
Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. [2] Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins. [3] The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord , make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
What did John preach? REPENTANCE, which includes a return to obedience!
Psalm 25:6-14 KJV
Remember, O Lord , thy tender mercies and thy lovingkindnesses; for they have been ever of old. [7] Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions: according to thy mercy remember thou me for thy goodness' sake, O Lord . [8] Good and upright is the Lord :
therefore will he teach sinners in the way. [9] The meek will he guide in judgment:
and the meek will he teach his way. [10] All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies. [11] For thy name's sake, O Lord , pardon mine iniquity; for it is great. [12] What man is he that feareth the Lord ?
him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose. [13] His soul shall dwell at ease; and his seed shall inherit the earth. [14] The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant.
Jeremiah 6:16 KJV
Thus saith the Lord , Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein .