Isaiah

29:1-14

“Most people, if they had really learned to look into their own hearts, would know that they do want, and want acutely, something that cannot be had in this world. There are all sorts of things in this world that offer to give it to you, but they never quite keep their promise…. If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world."
"Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing. If that is so, I must take care, on the one hand, never to despise, or be unthankful for, these earthly blessings, and on the other, never to mistake them for the something else of which they are only a kind of copy, or echo, or mirage. I must keep alive in myself the desire for my true country, which I shall not find till after death; I must never let it get snowed under or turned aside; I must make it the main object of life to press on to that other country and to help others to do the same.” C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

Isaiah

29:1-14

  Isaiah 29:1     Woe, O Ariel, Ariel the city where David once camped!
         Add year to year, observe your feasts on schedule.
               2      I will bring distress to Ariel,
         And she will be a city of lamenting and mourning;
         And she will be like an Ariel to me.
               3      I will camp against you encircling you,
         And I will set siegeworks against you,
         And I will raise up battle towers against you.
               4      Then you will be brought low;
         From the earth you will speak,
         And from the dust where you are prostrate
         Your words will come.
         Your voice will also be like that of a spirit from the ground,
         And your speech will whisper from the dust.

   5 But the multitude of your enemies will become like fine dust, And the multitude of the ruthless ones like the chaff which blows away; And it will happen instantly, suddenly. 6 From the LORD of hosts you will be punished with thunder and earthquake and loud noise, With whirlwind and tempest and the flame of a consuming fire.
   7 And the multitude of all the nations who wage war against Ariel, Even all who wage war against her and her stronghold, and who distress her, Will be like a dream, a vision of the night.
   8 It will be as when a hungry man dreams—And behold, he is eating; But when he awakens, his hunger is not satisfied, Or as when a thirsty man dreams—And behold, he is drinking, But when he awakens, behold, he is faint And his thirst is not quenched. Thus the multitude of all the nations will be Who wage war against Mount Zion.

      9   Be delayed and wait, Blind yourselves and be blind; They become drunk, but not with wine, They stagger, but not with strong drink.
     10  For the LORD has poured over you a spirit of deep sleep, He has shut your eyes, the prophets; And He has covered your heads, the seers.
     11  The entire vision will be to you like the words of a sealed book, which when they give it to the one who is literate, saying, “Please read this,” he will say, “I cannot, for it is sealed.”
     12   Then the book will be given to the one who is illiterate, saying, “Please read this.” And he will say, “I cannot read.”

13 Then the Lord said,

     “Because this people draw near with their words
     And honor Me with their lip service,
     But they remove their hearts far from Me,
     And their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote,
14 Therefore behold, I will once again deal marvelously with this people, wondrously marvelous;
     And the wisdom of their wise men will perish,
     And the discernment of their discerning men will be concealed.”

1 Woe to you, Ariel, Ariel, the city where David settled! Add year to year and let your cycle of festivals go on. 2 Yet I will besiege Ariel; she will mourn and lament, she will be to me like an altar hearth. 3 I will encamp against you on all sides; I will encircle you with towers and set up my siege works against you. 4 Brought low, you will speak from the ground; your speech will mumble out of the dust. Your voice will come ghostlike from the earth; out of the dust your speech will whisper.

Sacrifice or Sacrificed (vv. 1-4)

1 Woe to you, Ariel, Ariel, the city where David settled! Add year to year and let your cycle of festivals go on. 2 Yet I will besiege Ariel; she will mourn and lament, she will be to me like an altar hearth. 3 I will encamp against you on all sides; I will encircle you with towers and set up my siege works against you. 4 Brought low, you will speak from the ground; your speech will mumble out of the dust. Your voice will come ghostlike from the earth; out of the dust your speech will whisper.

Sacrifice or Sacrificed (vv. 1-4)

5 But your many enemies will become like fine dust,
the ruthless hordes like blown chaff.
Suddenly, in an instant,
6 the LORD Almighty will come
with thunder and earthquake and great noise,
with windstorm and tempest and flames of a devouring fire.

Available Deliverance (vv. 5-6)

7 Then the hordes of all the nations that fight against Ariel, that attack her and her fortress and besiege her, will be as it is with a dream, with a vision in the night—8 as when a hungry person dreams of eating, but awakens hungry still; as when a thirsty person dreams of drinking, but awakens faint and thirsty still. So will it be with the hordes of all the nations that fight against Mount Zion.

The Shadowlands (vv. 7-8)

Spiritual Refusal, Spiritual Blindness (vv. 9-12)

9 Be stunned and amazed,
blind yourselves and be sightless;
be drunk, but not from wine,
stagger, but not from beer.
10 The LORD has brought over you a deep sleep:
He has sealed your eyes (the prophets);
he has covered your heads (the seers). 

11 For you this whole vision is nothing but words sealed in a scroll. And if you give the scroll to someone who can read, and say, “Read this, please,” they will answer, “I can’t; it is sealed.” 12 Or if you give the scroll to someone who cannot read, and say, “Read this, please,” they will answer, “I don’t know how to read.”

“Alright, go ahead and be blind; be insensible, like a drunk. But your problem does not come from alcohol, like the [Pagans’]; your problem comes from God, whom you have offended so deeply that he no longer enables you to hear.”

--John Oswalt on Isa 29:9-12

Spiritual Refusal, Spiritual Blindness (vv. 9-12)

9 Be stunned and amazed,
blind yourselves and be sightless;
be drunk, but not from wine,
stagger, but not from beer.
10 The LORD has brought over you a deep sleep:
He has sealed your eyes (the prophets);
he has covered your heads (the seers). 

11 For you this whole vision is nothing but words sealed in a scroll. And if you give the scroll to someone who can read, and say, “Read this, please,” they will answer, “I can’t; it is sealed.” 12 Or if you give the scroll to someone who cannot read, and say, “Read this, please,” they will answer, “I don’t know how to read.”

 Matthew 13 “11 To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. 12 For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 13 This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.

13 The Lord says: “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught. 14 Therefore once more I will astound these people with wonder upon wonder; the wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish.”

James 4:8 – “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.”

James 4:8 – “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.”

1 Peter 3:18a – “Because Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, to bring you to God.”

James 4:8 – “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.”
1 Peter 3:18a – “Because Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, to bring you to God.”
Heb 10:22 – “let us draw near with a sincere heart in the assurance that faith brings, because we have had our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water.”

13 The Lord says: “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught. 14 Therefore once more I will astound these people with wonder upon wonder; the wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish.”