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ISAIAH 29
` Ho to you Ariel, Ariel . . . '
Our title comes from the second of six `woes' which the prophet Isaiah `saw in the vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem'. As readers of our messages are aware, our understanding is of one complete vision given by the LORD to Isaiah which was delivered over the historical reigns of `Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah' and, as such, the vision is prophetic and has yet to be completely fulfilled. We can therefore take the principle seen in the vision and apply it to our contemporary situation - provided we keep the extracted principle within its original context. As our readers also know, we often interchange certain words of one Bible translation with those from another translation as we feel that on some occasions an `older' word gives more strength to the narrative which can be lost in some modern versions in the desire to be more readable - and we confess that this often tried the patience of our faithful scribe in her search for the words that have been interchanged!

Such a change is seen in the opening words of our title from Isaiah 29, which is recorded in our Bible as `Woe to you . . . '. However the word `woe' does have within it a summons to `listen to' a woe which is to come - which is caught in the old English word `Ho'. The chapter therefore opens up with a summons, a calling of the LORD to His Covenanted people to listen carefully concerning the `woe' which is to come so they can fully understand that this is not just a natural calamity or a capricious act of a neighbouring war-like country but an event which is within the will of the LORD in His chastening of His people. To use a more modern expression, it is a `wake-up' call to a people who had become careless in their relationship with the LORD who had called them into being in order to be witnesses of His Glory through an intimate relationship which they were now taking for granted - and so the summons rings out:

" Ho (concerning the) Woe to you, Ariel, Ariel,
the city where David settled! "
Not only is there a summons, but with it there is a double emphasis to `Ariel, Ariel' - understood by all Bible scholars to refer to Jerusalem. This could merely indicate that this summons, (this, `Ho') needed double emphasis until we stop to consider the meaning of the word `Ariel' and then place it within the context of the other five woes seen in the vision given to Isaiah.

As we have said on many occasions, modern-day `prophets' either major on the disasters that are coming upon an unrighteous people, or they talk emotionally of a loving God who overlooks unrighteousness in His people. But always there will be seen in the prophetic Scriptures God's justice and mercy because of whom He is. Judgement must fall on all unrighteousness and His mercy is extended by His Grace to all who turn to Him in trusting humility. Within these six `woes' in the vision given to Isaiah you will find this wonderful mix of justice and mercy, which is seen particularly in the use of the words `Ariel, Ariel' in this second `woe'. Our trusty Strongs gives the word as meaning `a lion' - likening Ariel to the `Lion of God' - but there is also a secondary meaning of `a hearth . . the floor of a fireplace' which is seen in the second part of verse 2: `She will be to Me like an altar hearth'. This, when related to a Temple setting gives us the sense that Ariel, although a Lion of God, will also become a place of the Bronze Altar of Judgement.

So here in these opening words of the summons of the LORD to His people we see the principle again at work of a judgement through which righteousness will come forth. Remembering the glorious songs which came forth at the commencement of the present Probation Period, one such song opened with the words:

" Lion of Judah on the Throne,
we shout Your Name, let it be known . . . . "
and yet these words do not do justice to the meaning of Ariel as the Lion of God, for in the Hebrew there comes the meaning of `a young lion' - one which is as yet immature and has much to learn before it can be called fully `Ariel, Lion of God'. This is inferred in those opening words: `Ho to you, Ariel, Ariel, the city where David settled' - a settlement which would need much work to be done within it before it could be seen as Ariel, the Lion of God. We see this principle at work in the first eight verses: The opening verses speak of a terrifying war against the people dwelling within the walls of Jerusalem, to the point where, `Brought low, you will speak from the ground; your speech will mumble out of the dust'. But into the midst of that fire in the `hearth of God' comes the LION of Judah, Whose mercy is hammered into, compounded into His Judgement: (Verse 6)

" Suddenly, in an instant,
the LORD of Hosts will come
with thunder and earthquake and great noise,
with windstorm and tempest
and flames of a devouring fire. "
We know that these events are for a time yet to come, for the narrative of the vision continues from verse 9 to show that there is no deep heart-felt understanding of why these events should happen to Ariel, the Lion of God. And here we shall use the King James translation for it seems to us to have a deeper meaning of what is being seen in the vision:

" Stay (stop and consider) yourselves and wonder;
cry out, and cry;
they (the people) are drunk, but not with wine;
they stagger, but not with strong drink.
For 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 people of Jerusalem, now the hearth of the fireplace of God in judgement, have been stupified, deprived by God of sensibility, as though drunk!

An even more severe expression of Judgement has now come upon His people! The LORD has closed their eyes (the prophets), their intellect (the seers) so that they cannot understand what their natural eyes see as a denial of God's promises to them as a Covenanted People - and in verse 13 we hear the LORD speak into their `drunken state' of loss of sensibility:

" The LORD says:
` These people come near to Me with their mouth
and honour Me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
Their worship of Me
is made up of rules taught by men'. "
Through long years of waiting for the LORD to fulfil His promises, how easy it is for what began in the lives of His people by the Holy Spirit to become religious work in man's spirit, and so we turn to programmes and compassionate work of our own understanding in order to fulfil our religious needs! However, lest we too enter into that despair and speak unrighteous words of condemnation, we need to hear the words of the `Summons' that takes us from the hearth of the fireplace of God into our standing as the Lion of God - and to understand that we come to what could be called a summons within the summons as God declares: (v 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 with vanish. "
Verse 14 onwards now resounds with that summons, and it is a summons against those who cannot see the faithfulness of God towards His people! If we may paraphrase the next few verses, it is a summons to listen to God's Word against unbelief because of the chastening fires that have come against His people in order that He may bring them back into that relationship He longs for: (16-18 in part)

"Shall what is formed say to Him who formed it,
`He did not make me'?
Can the pot say to the Potter,
`He knows nothing'? . . . . .
In that Day the deaf will hear the
words of the scroll,
and out of the gloom and darkness
the eyes of the blind will see. "
(If there is such a word as `unstupify') - in that Day God will unstupify the eyes and ears of His people; He will restore the sensibility He removed! The words of Scripture speak more eloquently than any of man's exposition on them and the concluding verses of Isaiah 29 speak clearly of God's faithfulness in what He will do `in that Day' and we will see in `the work of His Hands, they will keep His Name holy'. The Promise seen in this second `Summons', which reveals that the Lion of Judah will emerge from the judgement fires, is beautifully seen in verse 22: `Therefore this is what the LORD, who redeemed Abraham, says to the house of Jacob . . .'. The God of Abraham, who called him and enabled him to believe and trust in His Promise, speaks here to descendents of Jacob, who with all his impetuousness and deceitfulness finally became a Prince of Israel and is recorded in Hebrews as one who at the end of his days `worshipped as he leaned on the top of his staff! The `Church', on a parallel journey with Israel, and moving even deeper into the Laodecean Age of Apostacy and towards the end of the present Probation Period, will once again hear the voice of the LORD . . a summons . . a `Ho' . . to listen to the Voice of God.

There are many voices exhorting the Church to `wake up', but within the context of the chapter we have been looking at such a message will be meaningless if `the LORD has brought over you a deep sleep; (if) He has sealed your eyes (the prophets); (if) He has covered your heads (the seers) '! Such exhortations will, at the very least, produce indifference, and at the worst, condemnation leading to a self-righteous hardening of the hearts of the speakers. At such times we need to remember that within the message of Isaiah 29 there is a summons to Ariel (the hearth of God) and to Ariel (the Lion of God)! Whilst not closing our eyes to the signs around us of a purging fire to come, we must also see this and proclaim that:

"In that Day the deaf will hear the
the words of the scroll. . . . . .
and the eyes of the blind will see.
Once more the humble will rejoice in the LORD. "
for it is the God of Abraham Who summons and speaks to His people - and He is faithful to His Word!

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