CHAPTER 29

(712 B.C.)

JUDGMENT ON JERUSALEM

¹Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt! add you year to year; let them kill sacrifices. (The word Ariel means the Lion of God, which is another name for Jerusalem.

Judah thought that their religious activity [the offering of the Sacrifices] would cancel the judgment that was determined upon Jerusalem; however, their experience was ceremony only, with no relationship with the Lord.)

²Yet I will distress Ariel, and there shall be heaviness and sorrow: and it shall be unto me as Ariel. (Two things are said here: 1. The religious activity, for all the obvious reasons, would not stop Gods Hand of Judgment and 2. Despite what will happen, Jerusalem will ultimately be the Lion of God.

³And I will camp against you round about, and will lay siege against you with a mount, and I will raise forts against you. (These things did not happen when Sennacherib invaded Judah and threatened Jerusalem. So, the coming Tribulation will see its total fulfillment.)

⁴And you shall be brought down, and shall speak out of the ground, and your speech shall be low out of the dust, and your voice shall be, as of one who has a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and your speech shall whisper out of the dust. (This Passage has to do with the Antichrist breaking his seven-year covenant with Israel at the midpoint and actually invading the land.

The familiar spirit that is spoken of here speaks of the Antichrist setting up his statue in the Temple and demanding worship [II Thess. 2:4].)

⁵Moreover the multitude of your s trangers shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the terrible ones shall be as chaff that passes away: yes, it shall be at an instant suddenly. (The strangers speak of the hordes who are with the Antichrist when he comes into Israel at the end of the seven-year period, determined to completely destroy the holy people.

Even though the Antichrist will have so many men in his army that they are likened by the Holy Spirit as small dust, still, they will pass away as chaff. Isaiah also said it would be done suddenly, which will take place at the Coming of the Lord.)

⁶You shall be visited of the LORD of Hosts with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise, with storm and tempest, and the flame of devouring fire. (This will no doubt be the greatest phenomenon the world has ever known. At times in the past, the Lord has used the elements; however, He will use them here as never before [Ezek. 38:17-23].)

JUDGMENT ON HER ENEMIES

⁷And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, even all who fight against her and her munition, and who distress her, shall be as a dream of a night vision. (Both Verses 7 and 8 continue to speak of the coming Battle of Armageddon, but also have reference to Jerusalems Deliverance from the Assyrian horde.

Most, if not all, of Psalm 126 is devoted to the miraculous deliverance of Jerusalem from the Assyrian.)

⁸It shall even be as when an hungry man dreams, and, behold, he eats; but he awakes, and his soul is empty: or as when a thirsty man dreams, and, behold, he drinks; but he awakes, and, behold, he is faint, and his soul has appetite: so shall the multitude of all the nations be, that fight against Mount Zion. (The idea is, the Antichrist will feel certain that he is going to take Jerusalem and destroy every Jew down to the last man.

He is like a hungry man who dreams he has eaten a full meal, and awakens and finds that, in fact, he has not eaten anything, but rather is empty. Contrary to his thoughts, his efforts as well are going to come up empty.)

THE BLINDNESS OF ISRAEL

⁹Stay yourselves, and wonder; cry you out, and cry: they are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink. (This Verse should read: Be ye amazed and you shall be amazed! Blind yourselves and you shall become blind! that is, a judicial blindness would descend upon them, and they would be amazed at Gods Action toward them.

But these Verses actually belong to the future. Because Israel shut her eyes to the Work and Person of the Messiah at His First Advent, the Book of God and its Vision have ever since been covered with a veil to them and will so remain up to the Second Advent.)

¹⁰For the LORD has poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your eyes: the Prophets and your rulers, the seers has He covered. (The deep sleep spoken of here refers to a spiritual deadness and impassiveness an inability to appreciate or even to understand spiritual warnings.)

¹¹And the Vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one who is learned, saying, Read this, I pray you: and he says, I cannot; for it is sealed (these were learned men; in other words, they were knowledgeable in the Word of God; these were the spiritual leaders of Israel, and yet they were totally without spiritual understanding; they were devoid of spiritual discernment; even the rulers were but blind leaders of the blind):

¹²And the book is delivered to him who is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray you: and he said, I am not learned. (The thrust of this Message has little to do with academic excellence. Isaiah is speaking of the spiritual deadness of the people, irrespective of their ability to read or write.)

¹³Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near Me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour Me, but have removed their heart far from Me, and their fear toward Me is taught by the precept of men (this Passage was quoted by Christ [Mat. 15:7-9]; there are four causes of spiritual blindness recorded here: 1. Drawing near to God with the mouth only; 2. Honoring Him with the lips only; 3. Removing the heart far from Him; and, 4. Fearing Him only after the precept of men):

¹⁴Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid. (The idea of the Passage is that despite the unbelief of men, Gods Work would nevertheless be carried out. While it is true that the unbelief would cause millions to die eternally lost, still, some would accept. Those who accept will receive Eternal Life.)

¹⁵Woe unto them who seek deep to hide their counsel from the LORD, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who sees us? and who knows us? (In particular, this Passage applies to the secret negotiations between the rulers in Jerusalem and the king of Egypt. They conducted themselves as if the Lord did not know their actions.)

¹⁶Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potters clay: for shall the work say of him who made it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him who framed it, He had no understanding? (These people were so perverse and wrong-headed that they inverted the relation in which they stood to God and God to them. In their thinking, God was to be passive, or merely given opportunities of action; they were to mold, or so they thought, their own plans and carve out their own destinies. Taking their destinies into their own hands was equivalent to saying that they were their own masters, which they could not be if God made them.

To refuse to take counsel of God and to direct the national policy by the light of their own reason was to tax God with having no understanding.)

THE REDEMPTION OF ISRAEL

¹⁷Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest? (The Holy Spirit through Isaiah leaps ahead, leaving behind the unbelief, the doubting, and the spiritual obstinacy of Judah. The time that He now speaks of is the coming Kingdom Age, which has not even yet come to pass, but most surely will.)

¹⁸And in that day shall the deaf hear the Words of the Book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness. (The words, in that day, at least as far as total fulfillment is concerned, refer to the coming Millennial Reign.)

¹⁹The meek also shall increase their joy in the LORD, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. (In effect, the Holy Spirit is saying that even though the men of Judah would not hear the Holy One of Israel, nevertheless, the meek and the poor among men, referring to the Gentiles, would rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.

This is a veiled reference to the Church, which even Isaiah himself probably did not understand.)

²⁰For the terrible one is brought to nought, and the scorner is consumed, and all who watch for iniquity are cut off (this refers to the Battle of Armageddon, when the Antichrist will be killed, with all the scorners at that time set straight; this, of course, will take place at the Second Coming):

²¹That make a man an offender for a word, and lay a snare for him who reproves in the gate, and turn aside the just for a thing of nought. (This is the spirit of self-righteousness, which prevailed upon the First Advent of Christ. The Pharisees laid many snares for Christ; still, they never caught Him. As well, Christ was the Only Truly Just Individual Who ever lived. Israel turned Him aside for a thing of naught. In other words, for no reason at all!)

²²Therefore thus says the LORD, Who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob, Jacob shall not now be ashamed, neither shall his face now wax pale. (In the coming Kingdom Age, Israel will finally conduct herself as she should, because of her acceptance of Christ. This means that Jacob will no longer be ashamed.)

²³But when he sees his children, the work of My Hands, in the midst of him, they shall sanctify My Name, and sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and shall fear the God of Israel. (This will take place during the coming Kingdom Age, when Israel will accept the Christ Whom they so long rejected. At that time, they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob [Zech. 13:1].)

²⁴They also who erred in spirit shall come to understanding, and they who murmured shall learn doctrine. (The murmuring speaks of doubt and unbelief. The phrase, shall learn doctrine, means that they will willingly receive the teaching of Gods Prophets and profit by it.)