ISAIAH LESSON 33


     We will begin this lesson in Isaiah 29:1 "Woe to Ariel, to Ariel,
the city [where] David dwelt! add ye year to year; let them kill
sacrifices."

     Ariel is the same as Jerusalem. Ari-El means lion of God. This
leaves very little doubt this is speaking of Jerusalem. We know that
Jerusalem was the dwelling place of David. This year to year could be
saying within a year from then. It appears, this means they could go
ahead and sacrifice for that next year.

     Isaiah 29:2 "Yet I will distress Ariel, and there shall be
heaviness and sorrow: and it shall be unto me as Ariel."

     The distress will come after the year mentioned in verse 1. There
will be much sorrow for the attack on Jerusalem. Jerusalem will not
fall completely.

     Isaiah 29:3 "And I will camp against thee round about, and will
lay siege against thee with a mount, and I will raise forts against
thee."

     The siege that comes against Jerusalem is by another country, but
it is really sent against them by God as judgement. The Assyrians camp
around the walls of Jerusalem. They are not aware God is using them in
this way.

     Isaiah 29:4 "And thou shalt be brought down, [and] shalt speak
out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust, and
thy voice shall be, as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the
ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust."

     The haughtiness of Jerusalem will be no more. They will be
brought so low, it will appear they are speaking from the ground.
Sometimes evil people pretend to communicate with the dead. The evil
spirit will speak from underneath the ground.

     Isaiah 29:5 "Moreover the multitude of thy strangers shall be
like small dust, and the multitude of the terrible ones [shall be] as
chaff that passeth away: yea, it shall be at an instant suddenly."

     This, to me, is saying that God stays the attack. The attackers
shall give up and leave. God will intervene for Jerusalem, and it will
happen in an instant. The enemy will turn and run.

     Isaiah 29:6 "Thou shalt 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."

     Now, we see the reason the enemy fled. God has always fought for
Jerusalem. The enemies quickly saw that God would fight for Jerusalem,
when the earth quaked, it thundered and the storm came. The flame of
the devouring fire is the very presence of Almighty God. God appeared
in a flaming fire to hold Pharaoh away from the Israelites at the Red
Sea. This flaming fire has come against the unbelievers more than
once.  II Thessalonians 1:8 "In flaming fire taking vengeance on them
that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus
Christ:" When the Assyrians see they are not coming against Jerusalem
alone, but against God, they flee.

     Isaiah 29:7  "And the multitude of all the nations that fight
against Ariel, even all that fight against her and her munition, and
that distress her, shall be as a dream of a night vision."

     The attack will be so short lived, it will appear to have been a
dream. God fights for Jerusalem. It would not matter, if it were all
the nations coming against Jerusalem. They would still lose. They are
no match for God.

     Isaiah 29:8 "It shall even be as when an hungry [man] dreameth,
and, behold, he eateth; but he awaketh, and his soul is empty: or as
when a thirsty man dreameth, and, behold, he drinketh; but he awaketh,
and, behold, [he is] faint, and his soul hath appetite: so shall the
multitude of all the nations be, that fight against mount Zion."

     The nations who come against Jerusalem believe it is easy to win.
They have the victory in the palm of their hands and then, God comes
into the picture. The enemy could visualize victory, but they did not
take God's care of Jerusalem into consideration. They went away
sorrowful. It happened so quickly, it seems like a dream. "Mount Zion"
means Jerusalem, but it, also, means the church. To come against
Jerusalem, or the church, is to come against God. You cannot win.

     Isaiah 29:9  "Stay yourselves, and wonder; cry ye out, and cry:
they are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong
drink."

     Isaiah warns them to be steadfast in their beliefs. They are not
impressed at all with Isaiah's prophesies. He warns them to be
astonished at the great work of God on their behalf. We saw in another
lesson, where the people were drunkards. This is not the same thing
here. These people act like drunkards, but have drunk nothing
intoxicating. Their weakness is from God.

     Isaiah 29:10 "For the LORD hath poured out upon you the spirit of
deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers,
the seers hath he covered."

     The deep sleep, here, is an unawareness of their surroundings.
They have eyes to see, but do not see. This blindness is toward things
of God. They do not heed the warnings God has sent. They do not
believe the warnings to be true. They will not believe God's prophets.

     Isaiah 29:11 "And the vision of all is become unto you as the
words of a book that is sealed, which [men] deliver to one that is
learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for
it [is] sealed:"

     This is just saying that Isaiah's warnings are not believed by
the people. They will not even read them to see what they say. It is
as if the book is closed on the matter.

     Isaiah 29:12 "And the book is delivered to him that is not
learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not
learned."

     This message is even given to the unlearned people, but they will
not receive it either. It seems everyone has an excuse. Their's is
that they are unlearned. I have heard many people use that excuse for
not reading their Bible.

     Isaiah 29:13  "Wherefore 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:"

     We see a following who are not really sold out to God. They are
believers in word only. They say they are believers, but they do not
believe in their hearts. These inhabitants of Jerusalem, and many of
our church people today, profess belief with their mouth, but their
hearts do not believe. "Precept of men", I believe, has to do with
going through the motions of worship {rituals}, but having no real
commitment to God.

     Isaiah 29:14 "Therefore, 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 marvellous work, I believe, is the coming of their Messiah.
He is the Saviour of all mankind. The wonder of it all is that mankind
did not deserve to be saved. Jesus brought salvation to whosoever will
as a free gift. The only part we play in that, is we must believe, and
then receive so great salvation. Their wise men would be the Pharisees
and rulers in the temple who would not receive Jesus as Messiah. Their
{wise men} denied Jesus, and even, were instigative in crucifying Him.
They were so wise? they crucified the Lord of Glory.

     Isaiah 29:15 "Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel
from the LORD, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who
seeth us? and who knoweth us?"

     There is nothing hidden from God. They believe their evil will be
hidden, because it is done in the dark. The Light reveals all the
hidden things. Light does away with darkness.

     Isaiah 29:16 "Surely your turning of things upside down shall be
esteemed as the potter's clay: for shall the work say of him that made
it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed
it, He had no understanding?"
     God is omniscience. Omniscience means having perfect and complete
knowledge of all things. How ridiculous for the thing that was created
by God, to not realize God knows everything about them. He is the
Potter, we are the clay. He can mould us as He wishes. How could any
creation of God doubt His ability to know His creation fully?

     Isaiah 29:17 "[Is] 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?"

     In the last few years, we have seen this come to pass. That part
of the world has certainly become fruitful. They ship fruit and
vegetables to many parts of the world.

     Isaiah 29:18  "And 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."

     Jesus had said, they have ears to hear, and they do not hear.
There is a receiving unto yourself that comes with the type of
hearing, spoken of here. The book, of course, is the Bible. Their
understanding will be opened. They had eyes to see, and did not see.
Their spiritual eyesight will be opened, and they will see and know
the truth. Their spiritual darkness shall be turned into light.

     Isaiah 29:19 "The meek also shall increase [their] joy in the
LORD, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel."

     Look, with me, at two Scriptures that Jesus spoke about the poor.
Matthew 11:5 "The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the
lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and
the poor have the gospel preached to them."  Luke 4:18 "The Spirit of
the Lord [is] upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the
gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to
preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the
blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,"  The meek and the
poor accepted Jesus as their Saviour, when the more learned in the law
rejected Him.

     Isaiah 29:20 "For the terrible one is brought to nought, and the
scorner is consumed, and all that watch for iniquity are cut off:"

     The terrible one is Satan. He is defeated by Jesus. Remember, the
scorners are those who scorned God. This says they are destroyed.
Those who look for sin will find it. The sinners will be cut off.

     Isaiah 29:21 "That make a man an offender for a word, and lay a
snare for him that reproveth in the gate, and turn aside the just for
a thing of nought."

     It seems this is some one speaking false accusations against
another. It could, also, be some sort of false words being spoken
about the character of another. The gate area was where many of the
people went to accuse others. This was similar to our court. The one
word I see of importance in this, is reprover. It seems these verbal,
false attacks are against someone like Isaiah, who has reproved them
for their wrong doing.

     Isaiah 29:22 "Therefore thus saith the LORD, who redeemed
Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob, Jacob shall not now be
ashamed, neither shall his face now wax pale."

     Abraham lived in a land filled with idolatry. When God told him
to leave and go where He would show him, he believed and went.
Abraham's faith was counted unto him for righteousness. Abraham was
the father of Isaac, and Isaac was the father of Jacob {Israel}. In
this, God remembers His covenant with Abraham and restores Jacob. He
will no longer be ashamed, for God will help him. It happens, because
the LORD said it.

     Isaiah 29:23 "But when he seeth his children, the work of mine
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."

     God restores Jacob to his former greatness. The descendents of
Abraham belong to God. They are a separated people. They are set aside
for God's purpose. The chastisement of God's people is to help them
become what God wants in their lives. The Holy One of Jacob is the
LORD. The surrounding people will see that God fights for Israel
{Jacob} and will fear their God. They are not afraid of Jacob, but
they are afraid of Jacob's God.

     Isaiah 29:24 "They also that erred in spirit shall come to
understanding, and they that murmured shall learn doctrine."

     Now, we see why they were chastised. They understand better about
the loyalty they must have to God. They learned more about God's ways
and stopped murmuring {complaining}. The growth of these Israelites
was that their understanding in their spirit is improved.

     What can we learn from this lesson?  We must realize that we are
not exempt from punishment from God, just because we have professed
faith in Him. We must live like Christians every day to please Him.















                          Isaiah 33 Questions


1.  What is Ariel?
2.  Who dwelt there?
3.  How long will it be from the time Isaiah spoke this, until
    judgement came?
4.  Ari-el means what?
5.  Who is really behind this siege against Jerusalem?
6.  What are the Assyrians unaware of?
7.  Explain the speaking from the ground in verse 4.
8.  What happens to the enemies of Jerusalem in verse 5?
9.  What show of power from the LORD turns the enemy away?
10. What does the flame of fire indicate?
11. When did God appear in a flaming fire to Pharaoh?
12. Quote 2 Thessalonians chapter 1 verse 8.
13. What is the battle likened to in verse 7?
14. In verse 8, What physical comparisons are made to the enemy's
    thoughts?
15. What does "Mount Zion" mean?
16. What is the staggering, in verse 9, caused by?
17. What is the deep sleep in verse 10?
18. What is the vision of all this likened unto?
19. What excuse do they give, in verse 12, for not reading the book?
20. What is the book they are talking about?
21. What are these people like in verse 13?
22. What is meant by "precept of men"?
23. What is the marvellous work mentioned in verse 14?
24. Who did Jesus offer salvation to?
25. Who were the wise men of verse 14?
26. Light does away with ____________.
27. Who has control of the clay?
28. What does "omniscience" mean?
29. What will Lebanon be turned into?
30. When was that fulfilled?
31. What kind of blindness is verse 18 speaking of?
32. Quote Matthew chapter 11 verse 5.
33. Quote Luke chapter 4 verse 18.
34. Who is the terrible one, mentioned in verse 20?
35. Who are the scorners?
36. What restoration does God make in verse 22?
37. What causes the surrounding people to fear God?
38. They that erred in spirit shall come to ________________.
39. They that murmured shall learn _____________.
40. What lesson can we take from all this?