Bible Study: March 22, 2023

So tonight, we are going to look at Isaiah 29. Isaiah 29 is another one of those prophetic chapters that are end-time prophecies. We know that by the three-letter phrase that's in there in that day as it turns up in this chapter here. We also look at it because in this chapter we also see some millennial visions. Now, this chapter is about Jerusalem, even though it's got the name Ariel on there. Last week in chapter 28, we read about the prophecies that had to do with Israel. So tonight, it's Jerusalem, and God has some specific things to say about Jerusalem in the future. We're going to see as we go through here how the Bible is continually symmetric. What we read about in Isaiah and other locations as well will be in Zechariah, which is an end-time prophecy. Tonight, we'll be in Revelation a little bit. We're going to see some of the quotes here in Isaiah that show up in the New Testament in Romans and 1 Corinthians and Paul's writing as as he sees those prophecies and uses them and what he is talking and writing to the people of his time. So let's go ahead and get started in chapter 29. Verse 1, the very first line there, the very first line there says, woe to Ariel, to Ariel, and it defines for us where Ariel is, the city where David dwelt. Well, we know the city where David dwelt. That's Jerusalem.

We could go back to, I think it's 1 Samuel 5 and see where God delivered Jerusalem into his hands and that God placed his name there. But this is the only place in the Bible where Ariel is used for the city Jerusalem. But when God says things twice, like woe to Ariel, comma, to Ariel, there is usually a reason that he would say things twice, just like we talked about in the time of Babylon, where it says Babylon is fallen. In some places, it has to do with a prophecy that's already been fulfilled and then one that's yet to be fulfilled, the dual prophecies that we talked about. Here where he says woe to Ariel, to Ariel, it may be that Ariel itself has two different meanings. When you look at Strong's concordance and you look up, it's number 739, number 740, and number 741 all are called Ariel. One of the Ariels is Lion or Lioness of Judah.

Some people named their daughter Ariel. It's a beautiful name. Lioness of Judah. Strong, Judah is of God. As Mr. Lamb said before, there's a British clipper ship. It may well be that that's looking back at the Israelite-ish ancestry of Britain that they would go into the Bible and pick up the word Ariel because it literally means Lioness of Judah. God placed his name in Jerusalem.

That city has stood through all these years. It's going to stand through all the tumult and all of the problems that it's going to face in the future. Of course, we know Jesus Christ was there when he was on earth as a human being. He will return to Jerusalem. Then the millennium, that's where the capital of the world will be. People will flow to Jerusalem to be taught. We know in the future, then there will be the new Jerusalem that comes down from heaven. One of the meanings of Ariel, if you look at 740 and 739, is Lioness of Judah. I'm going to give you just a scripture that you can reference. You can write down 2 Samuel 23 verse 20. It talks about a man of valor in ancient Israel. His name, I believe, was B'nai'ah, if I remember this correctly. It talks about him being a lion of Judah. That is one of the things that's translated Lion of Judah there. It comes from that same word, Ariel. The other thing that Ariel means in 739 is altar or hearth. It has this cross meaning of there's an altar. It has to do with God, right? But a hearth, a fire that burns in a hearth. It's kind of an interesting thing. We find that, referenced, I might have the numbers mixed up a little bit there, but we find that in one of the, when you're looking strong, you'll say that it'll have another, it'll have that number for Isaiah 29.1 as the second one there, that that's the fire, that's the fire of Judah. I was trying to figure out exactly what that meant, so I looked at some of the Jewish writings, and there's this website called jewishvirtuallibrary.com. Here's what they say about this word, Ariel. They say that Jerusalem here is symbolically and prophetically. Jerusalem is symbolically and prophetically, is to become like the altar.

And they say, a scene of holocaust, a scene of holocaust. I thought it was interesting that they would specifically do that as they looked at the word that was there for Ariel's, a-r-i-e-l-e, I think is what they call it as well, that they would look at that and say, that's a symbol or prophetically Jerusalem, a holocaust. I mean, we don't think of Jerusalem in that regard.

Let's look, if you keep your finger there in Isaiah 29, there are a couple verses in Ezekiel where that is as well. Ezekiel 43, yeah, Ezekiel 43.

And verse 15, yeah, verse 15, the altar hearth, where you see the altar hearth there, that is Ariel. Okay, the Ariel, the altar hearth is four cubits high. And then again, verse 16, the altar hearth. So God is talking about this altar hearth, hearth usually indicates fire.

So that's the other place that that word is. So we have it as Lion of Judah when it's referring to a man who is brave and a valor and who would fight lions. And we also have the word with altar hearth. So it might be that God is showing there's two things about Jerusalem here that we're going to be looking at. And indeed, as we go through the chapter, we're going to see fire as part of this. We're going to see Jerusalem as part of it, and Jerusalem emerging from the fire and the mess that is going to happen to it because of its rebellion against God and everything. So we'll go back to chapter 29 here and verse 1. And there it says, woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt. Well, when God says, whoa, that means here's a prophecy, not going to be great things that happen. But in the end with God, he always shows that the end is worth the pain, right? Worth the pain to get to the kingdom of God, to get to the millennium is worth the trials and troubles that we go through. And he talks here about how people come to the feast in Jerusalem. Add year to year, let feasts come around. So year after year, people will go to Jerusalem. We know that from the Old Testament. He commissioned that on three times a year at Unleavened Bread, at Pentecost, and at the Visa Tabernacles, people would travel there.

Yes, someone's got their hand up here. Yeah, I'm Jan Grounds. Hi, Jan. Hi. Just to add to the Ariel scene, I've heard it speculated that Earth is the center of the universe, and Jerusalem is the center of the Earth. In Ariel, you know, a hearth seems to be the center of the home. So, yeah, I thought it was too. Yeah, that is. And you're right. When you think back to the way homes used to be built, the hearth was in the middle of the home. We don't have that so much today, but yeah, good, good observation. So very good. Someone else? Okay.

So let feasts come around, God says in verse one. And then in verse two, He says, And yet I will distress Ariel, there will be heaviness and sorrow, and it shall be to me as Ariel. Now, what does that mean, as Ariel? Well, you know, we got this altar, we've got this hearth, we've got this fire. Let's go forward to Isaiah 31.

And we'll see this fire that's there in Isaiah 31. And then in verse nine, He shall cross over, it says Isaiah 31.9, to his stronghold for fear, talking about Assyria, He shall cross over to his stronghold for fear, and his princes shall be afraid of the banner, says the eternal, whose fire is in Zion, and whose furnace is in Jerusalem. So we have this reference of a fire here as we look at chapter 29. We've got God saying there will be heaviness, there will be sorrow, there will be this turmoil that goes on with Jerusalem, and it shall be to me as Ariel. And that's, again, this fire and this problem that goes on here that we'll talk about. Now, verse three, God continues talking about the turmoil that's going to come on Jerusalem, right? I will encamp against you all around. I will lay siege against you with a mound, and I will raise siege works against you. Now, we can probably think about some of those things as we know in the future what God says about Jerusalem. We'll turn to a couple of those verses here in a minute. Verse four, he says, you shall be brought down. Let's not go to verse four, right? We'll stop there at verse three for a minute. I will encamp against you all around. I will lay siege against you with a mound, and I will raise siege works against you. Now, we know when Christ was on earth and the Olivet prophecies, as Luke talked about them, he talked about Jerusalem being surrounded by armies, and that people would be attacking it. So, let's look at a few of those scriptures in Luke.

In Luke 19, Luke 19 and verse 43. Yeah, Luke 19 43.

Yeah, verse 41. You can see the love that Christ had for Jerusalem. I mean, he weeps over Jerusalem, and Matthew 23 is a beautiful verse where he says, you know, all I ever wanted Jerusalem was just to gather you, gather you together like a hen gathers its chicks together, but you just wouldn't have any of them. He has that same sentiment here in verse 41. It says, as he drew near, he saw the city, and he wept over it saying, if you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace, but now they're hidden from your eyes. Of course, they never accepted him, for days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you, and close you in on every side, and level you and your children within you to the ground, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another because you did not know the time of your visitation. So we know that that occurred. Jerusalem had a lot of turmoil, and certainly in the years after Christ's death and resurrection, you know, that we know in 70 A.D. that city was brought low. If we go forward a couple chapters in Luke 21, the end time prophecy here where Jesus Christ is talking about the end time prophecy here where Jesus Christ is clearly talking about the time that is yet ahead of us when he returns to earth in verse 20. Is it? Yeah, Luke 21 verse 20. He says, you know, you see, verse 20, where your patients possess your souls. When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then you know that its desolation is near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains and let those who are in the midst of her depart and let not those who are in the country enter her. For these are the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. And then the very famous verses that we know from Matthew 24, where were those who are pregnant? What are those who are nursing in those days? Because there will be great distress in the land and wrath upon this people. So we have, you know, we have here in Isaiah 29, God talking about Jerusalem. They will encamp you. They will siege you. You are going to be surrounded by armies. Of course, Christ talks about the same thing in the Olivet prophecy there in Luke. So we know, again, that as you can, the prophecies that are in Isaiah, we can track into the New Testament. We could track them farther into Zechariah as well. We'll get into Zechariah in a little bit here on some of the prophecies. But as God is talking about these things here, it's not the only place he talks about it. And we know that when God says a few times here in Isaiah, when he says it, it's going to happen. We can take his word to the bank, if you will. So in verse, if we go back to Isaiah 29 then, as he's laying this groundwork about what is going to befall Jerusalem, he says you will be brought down in verse 4. You will speak out of the ground.

Your speech will be low, out of the dust. Your voice shall be like a medium's, out of the ground, and your speech shall whisper of the dust. Now that's an interesting verse. It talks about the death, of course, that will be in Jerusalem. And it throws in this concept of the medium. And we know that God forbade his people to seek mediums and sorcerers and things like that. He specifically talks about that. And back in Leviticus 10, I think it is, where specifically forbids his people. We know that part of the history of Israel is Saul as he continually departed from God, and God took his spirit away from Saul. He ended up going to the Witch of Endor and consulting mediums. It was almost like that was the epitome of falling away from God, that you would go to that extent. And remember, he conjured up a spirit, the voice of Samuel, and whatever. So it's almost like God is indicating in this verse that Jerusalem in those days would be looking at a medium. In fact, some of the commentaries will specifically go back to Isaiah 8. So let's just look at Isaiah 8, because as we look at Isaiah, we see a lot of the things that we've read. We're going to read again as we get further in the book. God's going to repeat it again as we get further and further to the end of the book, which is talking about its millennial reign. But in Isaiah 8 verse 19, in the chapter talking about the Messiah, we do have verse 19 that speaks about these mediums as well. It says, when they say to you, seek those who are mediums and wizards, and who whisper and mutter, shouldn't you say to them, shouldn't people seek their God? Should they seek the dead on behalf of the living? Get back to the book, get back to the God, get back to the Bible is what they're saying. So it indicates that there may be a time, and maybe that's what God is talking about in here, that people, in the midst of trouble and turmoil, they would actually, even in Jerusalem, look at mediums or whatever. That might be one of the meanings of there, since God has that word in there. I guess another verse that came to mind when I was reading verse 4 was, when we see nations that are destroyed, when we see people that are punished, we've read many times, not only Isaiah, but the other books we've been through, that God will repeat. The reason this happened is because you turned from me. You didn't pay attention to me, you didn't obey my law, you turned away from me, and when we turn away from God, God, you know, let's nature take its course, if you will, human nature take its course, and it usually is not the good thing that happens to us. And it reminded me of Hebrews 11.4. You can think about Hebrews 11.4. Remember, that's the faith chapter. But when God is talking about Abel, and he's talking about righteous Abel, remember what he says about him? He says, Abel, even though dead, he still speaks.

His legacy and his life, the fact that he was loyal to God, he still speaks even though he's dead.

And I wonder if God is indicating that. When Jerusalem endures the destruction, and it endures the trouble that it has, is God saying that, look at that, it's speaking. It's speaking to you. This is what happens when you turn away from God and don't trust him. If anyone has any other thoughts on that, those were those are kind of what came to my mind as we look at this. Again, as God is laying the groundwork here of what is going to befall his city, right? Because remember, Jerusalem is his city. That's where his name is. He loves Jerusalem. The Bible tells us that over and over. In fact, one of the Psalms—I think it's 81, but I could vote wrong or 83—says, Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. The reason we would pray for the peace of Jerusalem is because that means Christ is on earth, and finally peace, lasting peace, comes to Jerusalem at that time. So, okay, going on in verse 5 here. Moreover, he says, the multitude of your foes shall be like fine dust, and the multitude of the terrible ones like chaff that passes away, yes, it shall be in an instant subtly, suddenly. So, okay, we have all these problems that befall Jerusalem, but God will exact his vengeance on them as well. So, you know, that's what he's saying here.

Wait for me, and the multitude of your foes, and they're going to be the terrible ones. Remember, we've talked about the terrible ones before, and when you look back at ancient history, Assyria was the terrible one. We know, you know, between now and the return of Jesus Christ, there's a time of tribulation, and the foes at that time are even more fierce and ferocious than Assyria. And God said there will be this time, unlike any other time in history that lies ahead of us. And as cruel as that time was, the imaginations of men and what they can do to others to create havoc and pain and whatever is, again, as they're led by Satan's spirit, and Satan knows our frame too. He knows our weaknesses, and he knows how to hurt, and he wants to hurt where God wants to bring peace. But he says the multitude of your foes are going to be like fine dust. They're going to be like the chap that passes away, and yes, it'll be in an instant. And we can go ahead to chapter 37, and we're going to see that. This is something, chapter 37. Isaiah 37? Yes, Isaiah 37. And this is recorded also in 2 Chronicles and 2 Kings, I guess. This is Hezekiah. And we've read this before, but just to refresh our memories, right? Remember, God said that Assyria would taunt Judah, but they would never enter Jerusalem. Remember that? They would never enter Jerusalem, and history shows they never did enter Jerusalem. But if we look at Isaiah 37, something that's recorded back in Chronicles as well, in verse 33, that's exactly what God says. He says, Therefore, thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria, he won't come into the city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shield, nor build a siege bound against it. By the way that he came, by the same he will return, and he will not come into this city, for I will defend the city to save it for my own sake, and for my servant David's sake.

So God says that, and then suddenly, even though Assyria is taunting and taunting and torturing Judah and Jerusalem, and you remember Hezekiah, he takes the letter that Sennacherib sent him, and he lays it before God and says, we can't fight, we don't have the power to overcome them, it's only going to be by you. And then suddenly, suddenly we see in verses 36 and 37, suddenly God reversed the whole thing and the enemy disappeared. The angel of the Lord went out and killed in the camp of the Assyrians 185,000, and when people arose early in the morning, there were the corpses all dead. Suddenly, in an instant, just littering the ground out there like the dust of the earth. So what God told them then is exactly what happened. We've seen in other prophecies that Syria at the end of the age, Egypt at the end of the age, and God delivers His people, and He sets them free when He suddenly takes the enemies of Israel, and takes the enemies of His people and overcomes them. And Israel is as free as they were in this. Suddenly, in an instant.

And so we see God doing that, we know He can do that. When things look the bleakest, when it looks like there's no hope, there's always hope in God. It's a lesson that we just remember, no matter how tough any trial in life is, no matter how tough whatever comes against us in the future is, God can always take care of it. And it will come sometimes at the very last minute. We just have to have our faith in Him right up to the last minute because we see it over and over in the Bible where He delivers. It doesn't mean it's pain-free. It doesn't mean there isn't, you know, the faith that we have to exercise in it, but He always delivers His people. So in chapter 29 and verse 5, you know, we see that. The foes that come against you, they're going to be like chaff that passes away. In, you know, my Bible here has a reference to Job 21 verse 18. I don't know that we need a term to Job 21, 18. It specifically talks about our foes being like chaffs that blow away in the wind. And, you know, we've seen a few times in the book of Isaiah that we go back to the book of Job, which is a very in-depth study as well when we look at the book of Job because there's so much in it. I mean, there's so much in it than just the story of Job. There's all that 40 chapters of dialogue where there's a lot of truth and insight in those verses. So going on then in verse 6. So God says, you know, I'm going to take your foes away, but, verse 6, you will be punished by the Lord of hosts with thunder and earthquake and great noise with storm and tempest and the flame and the flame of devouring fire. Here we have the fire again, the fire again, the hearth, the altar and the hearth. And these are future recurrences that God is talking about now with us. Let's do turn to Zechariah 13.

Of course, those of you who are new or Zechariah is the second to last book in the Old Testament. Let's look at Zechariah 13 and verse 9, I believe. Zechariah 13 verse 9, talking about the fire.

Yeah, verse 8, kind of a sobering set of verses there about the number of people that will die and the number that will survive there. In verse 8, it says, it'll come to pass. I mean, Zechariah 13 verse 8, it'll come to pass in all the land that two-thirds in it shall be cut off and die, but one-third shall be left in it. God says, I will bring the one-third through the fire, will refine them as silver is refined, and test them as gold is tested. They will call on my name, and I will answer them, and I will say, this is my people, and each one will say, the Lord is my God.

So they will be tested in fire, these people. They will come to know, oh, this is God. We may have wanted to forget that He existed. We may have wanted to reject Him, but now we clearly see, this is God. And as you read through Revelation and the trumpet blasts, it becomes evident that all men are going to eventually have to yield and submit to God. You know, as we talk about testing by fire and this earth, this theme that's running through Isaiah 29, keep your finger there in Zechariah. We're going to come back to Zechariah 14 in a second here. But if we go back to Revelation 3, God is talking about His people there, His physical people.

It talks about a testing by fire by His spiritual people, or people as well. In Revelation 2 and 3, we have the messages to the seven churches. And in chapter 3, it begins with the sardust, then goes to the Philadelphia, the church in Philadelphia. God has very good things to say about the Philadelphia church. They don't deny God's name. They yield to Him. They do things. You don't find God saying anything negative about the Philadelphia church. They yield to Him, they follow Him, and they trust Him, and they keep His commandments.

But then you have this other end-time seventh church here that's the Laodicean church. And they have an attitude. They live in a time that is wealthy, that a lot of things are going their way. And as we read in verse 17 of Revelation 3, they say, I'm rich, I'm wealthy, I have need of nothing, and God says, but you don't know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.

You don't see what you're doing. You don't see the spiritual decline that has come into your life as a result of just living here in a world and beginning to rely and let down on your spiritual life. And so in verse 18, He counsels them to do what we just read in Zechariah 13. I counsel you to buy from me gold, refined in the fire, that you may be rich, and white garments that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed, and anoint your eyes with eyesab that you may see.

So God is saying, wake up, look at the Bible, get back to who I am, understand what I'm doing, understand what I called you to, get the zeal for God's way of life, come out of the world. Isaiah says that in Revelation 18 as well, and have your eyes focused on the kingdom and becoming the type of people that He wants you and me to become, and yielding our lives to Him, always with a vision on that. So here I turn back to Isaiah.

So when God talks about this devouring, this is a devouring fire He talks about in 6, but we see this fire in other places that is meant to, I mean, it's meant to refine us, it's meant to make us stronger as gold becomes stronger. Of course, if we don't respond to that fire, it can devour us, it can strengthen us, or it can devour us if we allow it to. But God also talks about, in Isaiah 29, there about this earthquake. So let's, you know, in Zechariah 14, we have this earthquake that occurs at the time of the return of Jesus Christ.

Chapter 14, verse 1, Behold, the day of the Lord is coming. It says in verse 1, as we move down to verse 4, it says, And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west.

Split in two. You know, what causes it to split into? There's an earthquake. Half of the mountain will move toward the north, half of it toward the south. And then verse 5, You shall flee through my mountain valley, for the mountain valley shall reach to Azul. Yes, you will flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah. Of course, Uzziah is one of those kings that Isaiah prophesied under. And of course, we don't need to turn to Revelation 16. We've been back there a couple times in the last few weeks in Revelation 18 that talks about the great earthquake at the time that divides Jerusalem and many, many cities fall at that time.

So when we look at earthquakes, it's a statement from God. We look at storm, we look at tempest, we look at devouring fire here. Yeah, Reggie and Sandy? Yeah, Mr. Chabie, in the referencing earthquake, could it also be like a volcano? Because you know how lava spews out from a volcano and causes a break? I guess it could be.

That's a natural thing that doesn't happen very much. Yeah, any probably a natural design. I don't know. It says earthquake, but it could be any number of those type of things that would create the that are from God. So that caused destruction.

Okay, very good.

Okay, verse seven. The multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel. Not just one, when Christ talks about it in Matthew, or Luke 21, when we were before, the armies surrounding Jerusalem. Not just one army, the multitude of all the nations who fight against Ariel, even all who fight against her and her fortress and distress her, shall be as a dream of a night vision. It's interesting how God uses these analogies, right? That will be to me, there will be heaviness and sorrow. It should be to me as Ariel, he says. Here it's got, you know, all these people that come and want to fight against Jerusalem. It'll be as a dream of a night vision. And we know what it is. We know what it's like to dream. We can feel like we're right there.

And in verse eight, God actually describes what he's talking about here. But you dream something, it's like you're right there, and then you wake up. And yet, it was just a dream. It really didn't happen, right? In verse eight, he explains what he's talking about when all these people, they want to go to Jerusalem. What do they want to do? They want to conquer Jerusalem. They want to destroy it. They want to end it forever. Satan wants to end that city because he knows it's God's city, so he will throw everything he can against it. It'll be war, it'll be ravaged, the people are going to be, it's going to be a tough, tough, tough time because he wants to destroy it. And they're going to just almost lust after the fact, oh, we can destroy Jerusalem like Assyria. They just wanted back in those end days, they just wanted Jerusalem. God said, it's not going to happen. They'll be punished, but I won't let you ultimately destroy Jerusalem. And he says that here in verse eight. He's describing what he means by, it'll be as a dream of a night vision. It shall be even, it shall even be as when a hungry man dreams. And look, he eats. We probably had those things, right? Something in a dream is like, you know, you find yourself just living it. And look, he eats, but he awakes and his soul is still empty. He didn't need anything. He just thought he was he was just dreaming it. But when he wakes up, it's no reality is still here. It was just a dream. Or as when a thirsty man dreams and look, he drinks, but he awakes and indeed he's faint, and his soul still craves. So the multitude of all the nations shall be who fight against Mount Zion.

Oh, we can conquer it. This is the time. This is we're going to be able to do it. But they're never going to be able to realize a complete elimination of Jerusalem. God will simply not let it happen. It'll be like a dream. They may think that they're going to do it. But God is not going to let it be ultimately and completely destroyed. That is what he's saying there. It may look like it. They may feel it. But God will not allow it to happen. It'll be like a dream to them that can never be realized in reality. So in verse 9, he says, pause and wonder. Pause and wonder. Just look at what's going on, he's saying. Just wonder at what I'm doing here. What is the work I'm doing? Blind yourselves and be blind. And here we go back to this drunkenness that we talked about in chapter 28. Remember last week we talked about there's spiritual drunkenness as well as physical drunkenness and ego-freedom was drunk. And when we are in that state of intoxication, we don't see clearly.

We don't speak clearly. We can't receive clearly. We stagger around like we're in a stupor and we really don't know what's going on. And God is saying that again. Blind yourselves and be blind.

What they're doing is blinding themselves to what is going on. They're drunk, but not with wine.

They're drunk with consuming themselves, whatever what the world wants. Remember last week we went to Revelation 17 and we talked about the great harlot that sits on many waters and she has this cup full of abominations and the world just drinks out of that cup. They just drink out of that cup.

And then the beast is drunk with the blood of the saints. That's how they're satisfying themselves. And God is saying that you're looking to the world. You're believing all these things, Jerusalem. You're looking at all the wrong things. You're drunk, but not with wine. They stagger, but not with intoxicating drink. They stagger because they're relying and they're looking and they're believing on the wrong things. They're not looking to God who is their deliverer. The same thing that can happen to us if we start trusting in the world and get intoxicated with the feelings of the world and the machinations of the world and the logic of the world, the things that seem right. But God says in Proverbs 14, those things lead to death. To do things and look at things the way that God does. It's like having the biblical worldview that you and I need to constantly remind ourselves we're having. Well, this is the state of the people here in Judah or Jerusalem at that time. Then in verse 10, it says, For the Lord has poured on you the spirit of deep sleep. He's closed your eyes, namely the prophets. Why did he do it? Because they're staggering around. They're not speaking right things. They're not looking at things clearly because they've blinded themselves and they've intoxicated themselves with error and falsehood. For the Lord has poured out on you the spirit of deep sleep and has closed your eyes, namely the prophets. And he has covered your heads, namely the seers. He talks about this time of blindness that's going to be there.

Again, if we go to just a chapter forward here in Isaiah 30, we see in verse 8, we'll be in this chapter next week, but we'll look at it here now too. God talks about this time when he talks about prophets, the prophets of the world. And maybe even the prophets in the church he's talking about. There's things we don't want to hear because it's too hard to hear. And when we hear the things, it means we have to do something or change something or repent of something and turn to God in a way that we may not want to. Because without God's Holy Spirit, we can't. But in verse 8 of chapter 30, God says to Isaiah, now go, write it before them on a tablet. Note it on a scroll that it may be for time to come forever and ever. That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children who will not hear the law of the Lord. Now clearly he's talking about the nations of the world today that have the Bible that just simply are casting aside. They don't want to hear it. I hope none of these words are directed to any of us that have that resistance to God's Word. Children who will not hear the law of the Lord, who say to the seers, don't see. Don't tell us what you're seeing. Don't tell us what's going on in the world. Don't kind of remind us of all these signs that are going on that point to what the Bible says is going to be at the end time. Who say to the seers, don't see. Who say to the prophets, don't prophesy to us, write things. We don't want to hear it. Just tell us smooth things. Just tell us everything's okay. Just lull us to sleep. Speak to us smooth things. Prophesy deceits. And maybe sometimes we can feel that way. Every once in a while, I'll say some things and I'll get an email.

There are some we don't want to hear it. It is a tough time that the Bible prophesies is coming ahead. We can't bury ourselves. We can't fall asleep. That's what God is saying back in Isaiah 29. I'll reference you to the parable of the 10 virgins in Matthew 25.

They all kind of sleep. They don't really want to know what's going on, but half of them are thoroughly asleep and have departed from God. So much so that when the bridegroom comes, they're not ready. They're not ready to receive. They have to go and they have to put the oil in their lamps in another way that none of us want to be in that. We need to have our lamps continually burning before God. If we look at Romans 11, Paul quotes from Isaiah 29 there. When he's talking about what has happened to Israel, he sees that they are not receiving Jesus Christ. Their minds are close to them. We know the story of the Pharisees. They simply will not hear. They will not accept that Jesus Christ is there. In Romans 11, it says, as it is written, God has given them a spirit of stupor, eyes that they should not see and ears that they should not hear to this very day. That's what happens when we choose things. God gives us that spirit.

I saw a hand. Xavier, do you want to make a comment?

Hi, I'm Ethan, everyone. We read it last week. Isaiah 28 verse 15. The last part, it says, we have made lies over a few, and we have hidden ourselves on the false.

That's exactly right. That's exactly what we read last week. We can all pray to that, right? Sometimes we want to believe the lies we hear, but we got to know what the truth is and cling to it. Very good. Shaby, can I make one comment? You may, certainly. Oh, hey, Tae Floyd. Yes, sir.

Where it says, the Lord has poured out a spirit of deep sleep. I believe you don't just lose the Holy Spirit. God takes it from you if you grieve it enough. And what I see from what happened in the church in the past, people didn't love God's way, and he took the Holy Spirit away. And you wonder how so many people could lose the truth that quickly. Well, when he takes the Holy Spirit from you, you can't see. That's what allows us to be able to understand. And that's why I feel all.

I mean, it was amazing. It was sad. How many people fell away that quick and didn't understand anymore because of the love was gone. Yep. You're exactly right. I think we've all experienced that, people that used to be with us, and then they would make comments that just seem so foreign.

Why would they ever believe this? Why would they have ever done that? And it's like, well, what are you thinking? And you could just see the Spirit was completely gone from you. You're exactly right. So what God sees when we don't want it, when we make it clear to him, we don't want what you have, he will take it. So we give it back to him. I see a hand up there, and I've already forgotten your name. Sorry about that. So is it Jan? Your microphone's off.

Okay, there it is. I'm a little confused. Are we talking about two different groups of people here, the people that are under the veil because not any fault of their own, but the veil is over the earth and they can't understand. And then you, so what is, is this talking to us or is it talking, I'm just a little confused. No, I think that this is, this is when I'm probably mixing the two, right, and comparing the sleep that we can put ourselves into. In chapter 10, he's talking about the veil that God has put on. They can't understand. He hasn't called them. He hasn't called them yet, right? But we also can look at, you know, Isaiah, and it is them. We don't want to hear, we don't want to hear what you have to say, right? But what I just, I was questioning is we don't want to become part of those people either to say, don't, don't prophesy to us what you see, just prophesy to us smooth things, right? So yeah. So yeah, verse 10 of chapter 29, he's talking about Judah, Jerusalem, and yeah, that God has, that God has given them that spirit of deep sleep. So it's no fault of their own that they can't understand. They can't understand. One day they will, but they can't understand now. God hasn't, God hasn't opened their eyes. Okay. Yeah, Sherri.

I was talking with my son one day and he looked at me and he said, I don't want to hear anything about God. And he's like, stop talking to me about that stuff. And I just, I was dumbfounded. And I don't normally sit there and talk to him about a lot of stuff because he's 40 years old. And he just, it's just that spirit of I don't want to know. I don't want to know anything about it. But I was like, literally dumbfounded. I was like, really? Yeah, it hurts. It hurts, right? When our relatives, I don't want to hear it. Just don't talk to me about it. Yeah. Yeah, that's exactly what God is talking about here. It's a close, well, closing our minds. I don't, I just don't want to hear it. So yeah, it hurts when we hear that. So yeah. Yep. Dale? Good evening. Hello. Yeah, yeah, it just reminds me of the parable of the seed and sower. You know, Satan comes and snatches away what what was sown right away, just takes it right away. And then the cares of the world, and the deceitfulness, and riches, and all those things keep people away from the truth. I guess Satan's working overtime. Yep. And he does a marvelous job. And people fall right into the prey, right? Or right into the trap. So. Okay. Verse 10. Okay, so God says, verse 11, the whole vision, right? The whole vision here has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed. I'm going to refer you to Daniel 12, right? Where God says, Daniel, go away. The book is sealed until the time of the end. Today we can understand the book of Daniel.

You know, we talk about the seals of Revelation. You know, when John is seeing this, the seven seals, it's like he he he weeps, because who's going to open these seals, right? But it's Christ, the only one who can unveil them. So, you know, when he talks about the whole vision has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed, which men delivered to one who is literate, saying, can you read this, please? And he says, well, I can't. It's sealed. I can't understand it. I can't understand it. Then the book is delivered to one who is illiterate, saying, read this, please. And he says, I'm not literate. I can't understand it. And so, you know, it's sealed. They can't understand it. Like the lady that was just saying, God has not given them the ability to understand. He's given you and me the ability. No, not the ability. He's given us the spirit so that we can. It has nothing to do with our ability. It has everything to do with what he gives us and that we can understand these things. So, you know, so he says, the pastor, what does it mean? In a way, we kind of see this in the world, right? There are people who are looking at the Bible. There are some people in the world who are kind of curious. What is going on with that Bible? They just don't get it. They can't understand what does it mean. And they're seeking for understanding.

But it'll only be when God opens their minds. So anyway, in verse 13, it says, Therefore, the Lord said, and as much as these people draw near with their mouths, then they kind of acknowledge me. They say they follow me. They want it. They say they believe in God. They honor me with their lips, but they remove their hearts far from me. And their fear toward me is taught by the commandments of men. They've been misled. So we have a whole, you know, what is they say, there's a what, a billion, a billion so-called Christians on earth who believe in Jesus Christ, maybe a billion Christians and a billion Catholics who, you know, will say Jesus Christ is a Savior. But their fear toward God is not from the Bible. They're not looking at the words of truth. They're being taught by the commandment of men. This is what men have told us to do. Don't do what God said and worship me on the Sabbath. Do it on Sunday. Don't keep the Holy Days. Keep Christmas and Easter and all these other things that we've done.

And so they're going by the commandment of men. And if anyone would look at that verse and say, this is exactly what the Pharisees did, right? If we go back to Matthew 15, Jesus Christ, that's what he talked about to the people back then. You're putting more stock into the commandment of men than the commandments of God. In verse 8 of Matthew 15, he quotes right here from Isaiah. Jesus Christ's words, right? He takes right from the book of Isaiah. We just read it here. These people draw near to me with their mouth. In verse 7, he calls them hypocrites. You say that you're following me, but you don't even do what I say. These people draw near to me with their mouth. They honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. And in vain, they worship me. Feudally, they worship me. Wrongly, they worship me. Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. Christ validating what's written in here. What will come in the time before his return? People think that they're obeying God, but they aren't really. They're listening to men and doing what men say rather than what God says. Xavier?

Yeah, Brother Chebi. Do we see here, Christina was saying, and I agree with her, that in verse 10 and 11, there is also the, as you state, the operation of incremental decline of understanding. And hence, God gives them over to more deceit and so forth. And we see that happening nationally and in many nations. And God talks about it in Poxaea, where he says he has given to us the great things of his law, but men have counted them as strange, or rather maybe become extreme from them, because they want to hear itching things, things that made them feel good. And so the Protestants and others, they continue with the lie, because they're afraid, even though they may know some of the truth. Like, everyone knows Saturday is the Sabbath. Even that is, you don't need anything to be able to count on, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. I know we need that calling to really understand it, but that's the letter of the law people are turning against.

Yeah, they know it, but they convince themselves of something else, right? They let people lead them astray from what the truth is. So, exactly. Yeah, the natural things, even some of that symbol is, you know, a husband and a wife. That's natural. Very good. Male, female, that's natural.

Yeah. Okay, verse 14, Isaiah 29. God says, you know, I mean, here's what they're done. They removed their hearts from me. Therefore, they don't want to hear what I have to say. Therefore, behold, I will again do a marvelous work among this people, a marvelous work and a wonder, for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hidden. So, sometimes when we hear the word marvelous, we think, oh, that's wonderful, exciting, and whatever. And ultimately, what God is going to do is exciting, and it is great, and it ends up very well. But in the meantime, this work is, you know, he punishes his people in an effort to get them to look at him again. So, you know, here Habakkuk, you know, he uses the same words, and we could go look at Habakkuk, but you might later just look at Habakkuk 1. I think I wrote down 1 through Habakkuk 1 through 11. 1 versus 1 through 11. I'm looking at my notes here.

Just a couple verses. I was going to refer you to before, but that's okay. We've hit the most of it. Let's go back, because Paul quotes this verse as well in 1 Corinthians 1. You know, he quotes from Isaiah. I know Isaiah—I don't believe Isaiah is the most quoted book in the New Testament. I think Deuteronomy is, but showing the validity of the law that's back there in the early books of the Bible. But in 1 Corinthians 1 verse 19, you know, Paul, as he's talking about God's calling and to the wise of the world, its foolishness, because they just don't understand. Verse 19, he says, For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.

And that's exactly what God has done. God hasn't called. He goes on to say in verse 26 of 1 Corinthians 1, he hasn't called the wise. He hasn't called the mighty. He hasn't called the wealthy of the earth. He's called the weak and base things that he may be glorified because what he does through us, we don't have the natural abilities that the very elite of the world have and the very rich of the world have and the ones who can put all this stuff together that we can kind of marvel at as we look at computers and technology and even this AI stuff that boggles the mind that mankind can even develop this AI stuff.

It's just kind of incredible, but you know, God's allowed it to happen. But that's not any of us. He gives us the wisdom the world would like to have, but they have absolutely no idea. But the weak and base things he works with and he opens our minds with his with his Holy Spirit. So he says again, I'll do a work. If I go back to Isaiah 29 there, I'll do a work among this people. Whoa, verse 15.

Whoa, he says in verse 15. Whoa to those who seek deep to hide their counsel far from the Lord and their works are in the dark and they say, who sees us and who knows us? Who, you know, think, okay, well just kind of do these things and, you know, where is God? Is he really looking at what's going on? I mean, I'm sure most of us on here heard our parents say, you know, you can fool me, but you can't hide anything from God, right?

That's, you know, you may be telling me one thing, but God knows what the truth is and everything. And that's exactly, exactly right. I know when I read that verse, I had to think of Ezekiel. So let's go back, or let's go forward to Ezekiel because God, that's exactly what he's talking about in Ezekiel 8 when he's talking about these secret things that Israel does.

They turn from him, they're looking at ways of the world, and you know, you look at Ezekiel 8 and he talks about that and he tells, you know, Ezekiel, come here, come here, come in, look here what they're doing. Ezekiel 8 verse 6, for instance, it says, Furthermore, God said to me, Son of man, do you see what they're doing? The great abominations that the house of Israel commits here to make me go far away from my sanctuary? Turn again and you'll see greater abominations. So he brought me to the door of the court, and when I looked, there was a hole in the wall.

And he said to me, Son of man, dig into the wall. Digging deep is what he says there in Isaiah. And when I dug into the wall, there was a door. And he said to me, Go in and see the wicked abominations which they're doing there.

So I went in and saw. And there every sort of creeping thing, abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, portrayed all around on the walls. And there stood before them seven the men of the elders of the house of Israel, and their midst stood these guys. Each man had a sensor in his hand, and a thick cloud of incense went up.

And God said to Ezekiel, Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel do in the dark? Every man in the room of his idols. For they say, The Lord doesn't see us. The Lord has forsaken the land. And he said, Turn again, you'll see greater abominations that they're doing. So he brought me into the door of the North Gate.

And there they were. Women were sitting there weeping for tammuz. You could do a search on tammuz and see what that's about. And he says, Turn again. And on and on and on, as you read through the rest of that chapter, the great abominations that they're doing in secret that God says causes me to turn away.

They'll tell me to kind of act like they're doing the things for God. But in secret, they're doing all these things that are of God that causes me to turn away from them. Woe to those, he says, we're back in Isaiah 29, woe to those who seek deep to hide their counsel far from God, who say, Can God see us? Of course God can see us. Who knows us? Of course God knows what's going on.

There's nothing hidden from his eyes that we do. That's why he continually admonishes us. Worship him with a pure heart, right? A pure heart. I mentioned it in a sermon I gave last week. People don't like to hear the word perfect. A perfect heart. A heart that's completely loyal to God doesn't mean we're perfect because none of us are perfect yet.

It's Christ, you know, God's Spirit in us that is making us perfect, or leading us on perfection as we live this life. But to have a perfect heart before him that we're completely yielded to him and want his will to be done in our lives. Now I've got written down here, and I'm looking at this Hebrews 4.13. That's not the correct verse, obviously. Oh, I'm in the wrong chapter.

I have a wrong book, Hebrews 4. Hebrews 4.13 says, oh, there is no creature hidden from God's sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of him to whom we must give account. You know, worship God in spirit and truth. Worship him with a pure heart is what he's saying. And don't think you're going to fool God. Don't come. Look one way to church. Live it 24-7. Committed to him.

Verse 16, I guess. Surely God says to people who might think that way, right? And some of this is what's caused Jerusalem's fall and could even cause our fall if we fall prey to some of these thoughts. Surely he says you have things turned around. Shall the potter be esteemed as the clay? I don't know. I mean, shall the potter be esteemed as the clay? For shall the thing made, say, of him who made it? He didn't make me. Or shall the thing formed, say of him who formed it? He has no understanding. I think we've talked about the potter and the clay before, and Paul will talk about this. You know, in Romans 9, he reverses, you know, you can write down Romans 9, 20, and 21 because I want to get to the millennial vision here before we close tonight. And he'll talk about, you know, God is the potter. We're the clay. We're here to let him shape us and mold us into who he wants us to become. That's the yielding that we have to him. That we, you know, we don't, we don't, you know, become that clay that just will not be molded. We've got to let God be able to mold us into who he wants to be in that malleable substance that the potter can make into a vessel, you know, for his honor. And that's what he's saying here. And I think it's Isaiah 45. I think he talks about this potter and clay again, so we'll come back to that again. So again, he's talking about all these things of Jerusalem. And then when we come to verse 17, we have this millennial vision that out of all this mess that Jerusalem has brought upon itself by their resistance to God, by their trying to depart from him, by trying to hide things from him, by, you know, all these things that, you know, that they just did not yield, they did not yield to Christ and whatever. In verse 17, he says, Isn't it yet a very little while when all these things happen? It's just yet a very little while till Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field will be esteemed as a forest. In that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity and out of darkness. You know these millennial chapters, right? Isaiah 35, we'll be doing that in four or five weeks from now. Isaiah 35, a beautiful picture of the world when Christ returns, the deserts bloom, the blind see, the deaf hear, the lame walk. We talked, we were there before, we were talking about this highway between Israel and Assyria, where people will come back to the promised land. And that day the deaf will hear, the eyes of the blind will see. Verse 19, The humble will increase their joy in the Lord.

Remember, it's to the humble that God looks. We have to be humble people, realizing everything we have, our ever will be. We owe to Him. It's never about us except the yieldedness that we give Him. The humble will increase their joy in the Lord, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. For the terrible one, okay, remember the terrible one is Syria in Old Testament times, there will be a terrible one at the end of the age as well that will bring havoc on the world. For the terrible one is brought to nothing. The scornful one is consumed. The NSV is destroyed. The scornful one, you know, we talked about the scornful, I believe, last chapter as well. Yeah, verse 14 of Isaiah 25, Hear the word of the Lord, you scornful man, who ruled as people who are in Jerusalem. People who will mock God's word. He was just like, oh, that's the word of God. You know, who needs to hear this? The terrible one is brought to nothing. The enemy is destroyed. Christ returns. The scornful, those who resist God, reject God, make fun of His word. Say you're a silly person, if you believe in it. The scornful one is consumed, and all who watch for iniquity are cut off. Ah, all who watch for iniquity are cut off. That's an interesting thing that God says that He explains in verse 21, who make a man an offender by a word, and lay a snare for him who reproves in the gate, and turn aside the just by empty words. What He's talking about there is, you know, if there are some who will just lie in wait, waiting for you to make a mistake, right? I have a feeling in days ahead, you know, people will look at those who are in God's church, and they will just be waiting for us to say a wrong thing, or pick up on a word that they can discredit us. Maybe we've even been in that. We live in an age that's that way now. Not for any of us, I hope. But when you watch the news, you can just see how people are, you know, this cancel culture. Oh, they said that. They said that, therefore we just are going to eliminate them, right? They're discredited by something they said, or we saw them doing that, or whatever. All who watch for iniquity, I want to judge you. I'm going to discredit you. I'm going to do whatever I can to bring you low. They watch for iniquity. They will all be cut off. It won't be those people that'll be there then, who make a man an offender by a word. Look, he said that. Therefore, whatever good he did all of his life, he said this word, get rid of him. Let's not even believe a word he says. They lay a snare, maybe even set traps for him. Last week we talked about the snare, the fowler snare, and the bird gets caught in it, right? They lay a trap for him who reproves in the gate. They're saying, ah, this isn't the way of God. Turn back to God. Those who cry aloud and spare not, tell my people their sin, God says. They lay a snare for him who reproves in the gate, and they turn aside the just by empty words. Didn't they do that to Jesus Christ?

Didn't they do that to him? If we look at Matthew 26, that's exactly what they did to him in Matthew 26, verse 57. You know, all he did when he was on earth was love the people of Jerusalem. He was there, and he healed everyone who was brought to them. He was teaching truth turned back to God, pay attention to the commandments of God and not the attention on the commandments of men. And yet they hated him. They looked for a way. They looked for every word that they could find to lay against him or to use against him. We see that in Matthew 26, verse 57. And those who laid hold of Jesus led him away to Caiaphas, the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were assembled. But Peter followed him at a distance, and he went in and sat with the servants to see the end. Okay, verse 59. Now, the chief priests, the elders, and all the council sought false testimony against Jesus to put him to death, but they found none. Even though many false witnesses came forward, they found none. But at last, two false witnesses came forward and said, This fellow said, I'm able to destroy the temple of God and build it in three days. Now, the high priest arose. There's a word. That's what we're looking for. Look what he said. Let's cling on to that word. And they said, Do you answer? It rose and said to him, Do you answer nothing? What is it that these men testify against you? They nailed him on that and falsely accused him and put him to death. And this is exactly what Isaiah is talking about here, that God inspired him in verses 20 and 21 to say the same thing that is likely to happen to you and me. Every word will be put under a microscope. And so we need to be living by God's word, setting the example, and not be people who are held up. But you know, if we're persecuted for righteousness sake, God says, Blessed are you. What time do we have here? I'm gonna stop there. Well, I can do chapter 22 or not chapter 22, verses 22, 23, 24. We'll pick that up next week and get into chapter 30. It'll fit in well with that. Next week, we'll talk about the rebellious children. But we'll finish up chapter 29 there. Said I want to keep you more than an hour here. But let me open it up to any questions that anyone has. Mark W.

Yeah, Mr. Shabe, I think one of the things we have to also be careful of is that it was the religious leaders who called for Christ's death. So when we point the finger to the world and look at what they're doing, we have to be careful that we don't get sucked in by what seems to be religious out there because people don't agree with what we observe. And a lot of the religious groups look at us as a cult. Or you observe Sabbath and you observe those holy days.

You don't really believe in Christ. So the attitude sometimes is, well, we've got to side with those who are more like us religiously. I'm like, they're not really like you religiously because you can use that mantle to think that you're on the same side. And it's the religious people who may be turning you in more so than, as we said, the people in the world. And Satan will use religion to try to tear the church down using other religious people. So we can't allow ourselves to get veiled and masked, thinking we're on their side and they're on our side. They may be the very ones who may be attacking us because we aren't a peculiar different type of people. So I think we just have to be on our own P's and Q's and not think that everybody who seems to be religious out there is on our side. You are exactly right. You are exactly right. Now we have to remember that. There are people that call themselves Christians, but they don't believe what we believe.

God has opened our minds to see it. It doesn't mean we look down on them or we hate them or anything like that, but they are not Christians. They are not the same church as us. And sometimes I know some can get lulled into the sleep that you're talking about, thinking, oh, they're like us. No, they're not. No, they're not. And they will turn against us. And we will see. We've already seen in this world with some of the reality decline that's gone on where the churches of this world will just cave into it. They're just going to give into whatever the world says, even though the Bible has strict guidelines that we abide by. The church of God will never do that. And so, yes, you will see the difference between the people who follow God's word implicitly and the others who call themselves Christians. You make a very good point. And I agree with you.

We've even had those of us who have been pastors, and I never had it happen in Florida when I was down there. But I've heard where people, when they learn, for instance, that we don't keep the Trinity, some churches that have been being met in it, it's like, oh, then you can't be here anymore. You can't be here anymore. You're not one of us because you don't believe in the Trinity. So, yeah, when it becomes evident that we're preaching something different than what they're preaching, I think we'll see exactly what you're talking about. So, okay, anything else? Anyone?

Okay, well, very good. It's always great to see everyone. So, I hope you all have a great rest of the week. And, Sabbath, we will look forward to seeing all of you next Wednesday. Okay. Okay. Good night, everyone.