Isaiah chapter 29, hear now the word of our God. Ah, Ariel, Ariel, the city where David encamped. Add year to year, let the feasts run their round. Yet I will distress Ariel, and there shall be moaning and lamentation, and she shall be to me like an Ariel. And I will encamp against you all around. And I will besiege you with towers. And I will raise siege works against you. And you will be brought low. From the earth you shall speak. And from the dust your speech will be bowed down. Your voice shall come from the ground like the voice of a ghost. And from the dust your speech shall whisper. But the multitude of your foreign foes shall be like small dust. and the multitude of the ruthless, like passing chaff. And in an instant, suddenly, you will be visited by the Lord of hosts, with thunder and with earthquake and great noise, with whirlwind and tempest and the flame of a devouring fire. And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, all that fight against her and her stronghold and distress her, shall be like a dream, a vision of the night. as when a hungry man dreams he is eating and awakes with his hunger not satisfied. Or as when a thirsty man dreams he is drinking and awakes faint with his thirst not quenched. So shall the multitude of all the nations be that fight against Mount Zion. Astonish yourselves and be astonished. Blind yourselves and be blind. Be drunk but not with wine. Stagger but not with strong drink. For the Lord has poured out upon you a spirit of deep sleep and has closed your eyes, the prophets, and covered your heads, the seers. And the vision of all this has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed. When men give it to one who can read, saying, read this, he says, I cannot, for it is sealed. And when they give the book to one who cannot read, saying, read this, he says, I cannot read. And the Lord said, because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips while their hearts are far from me and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men, therefore behold, I will again do wonderful things with this people with wonder upon wonder and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden. Ah, you who hide deep from the board your counsel, whose deeds are in the dark, and who say, who sees us, who knows us? You turn things upside down. Shall the potter be regarded as the clay, that the thing made should say of its maker, he did not make me. Or the thing formed say of him who formed it, he has no understanding. Is it not yet a very little while until Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be regarded as a forest? In that day the deaf shall hear the words of a book, and out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind shall see. The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the Lord, and the poor among mankind shall exult in the Holy One of Israel. For the ruthless shall come to nothing, and the scoffer cease. And all who watch to do evil shall be cut off, who by a word make a man out to be an offender, and lay a snare for him who reproves in the gate, and with an empty plea turn aside him who is in the right. Therefore, thus says the Lord who redeemed Abraham concerning the house of Jacob, Jacob shall no more be ashamed. No more shall his face grow pale for when he sees his children, the work of my hands in his midst, they will sanctify my name. They will sanctify the holy one of Jacob and will stand in awe of the God of Israel. and those who go astray in spirit will come to understanding and those who murmur will accept instruction." This is the word of the Lord. In Isaiah 1 through 12, Isaiah frequently referred to God as the Holy One of Israel. In the oracles concerning the nations in chapters 13 to 27, there's only one use of the Holy One. Now, chapters 29 to 31, the Holy One of Israel is back with a vengeance, you might say. What does it mean that God is the Holy One? John Webster's little book, Holiness, it's only 100 pages long. but it's packed with just wonderful stuff on what holiness is all about. He very succinctly says, and you can see how packed this book is because in this one sentence, you're like, wow, you could write a whole book about this. Well, he did. You read the book. God's holiness is the holiness of the Father, Son, and Spirit, the one who bears his holy name, who is holy in all his works, and who is the Holy One in our midst, establishing, maintaining, and perfecting righteous fellowship with the holy people of God. We often think of God's holiness as that which makes him separate, that which makes him different from us, And well, that's true, especially because our sin has separated us from Him. But Webster points out that God's holiness is not only that which makes Him different and separate, but God's holiness also impels Him to draw near to us that He might be the Holy One in our midst. And of course, in order for a holy God to be in our midst, something had to be done about our unholiness. Because so long as we are unholy, the presence of a holy God would destroy us. And you can see how this theme is really at the very heartbeat of the book of Isaiah. And it's at the heart of our chapter. the six woes in chapters 28 to 35 fit together, all of them focusing on the futility of trusting in Egypt against the power of Assyria. Now, that isn't obvious yet. That'll become obvious as we go forward into these woes. But they all call Jerusalem to trust in the Lord because Assyria is coming. This is the relentless theme of chapters 1 to 35. Assyria is coming and throughout the years of Isaiah's ministry Assyria kept coming. They just kept coming and kept coming. Your only hope is to trust in the Lord because he alone can deliver you from their hand. Tonight there are two woes. The ESV translates it ah but it's The word, it's an interjection, could be translated, ah is fine, but woe also captures the theme throughout here. The woe to Ariel and the woe to those who hide from the Lord. And first we have the woe to Ariel. Now, Jerusalem is called Ariel, which could mean altar hearth or lion of God. Those, that's what, those are the two different, meanings for the word Ariel in Hebrew. And I would suggest that Lion of God doesn't really make much sense of any of the usages here, whereas altar hearth actually does. Because the language of the feasts in verse one, add year to year, let the feasts run their round, suggests something of a liturgical context. And also when you think about what an altar hearth is, The altar hearth is the place where the sacrifices are consumed. And the sacrifices were ordained by God as a picture of the final sacrifice of Jesus, as we saw this morning. And they were the way in which Israel could draw near to God. And to dwell in the presence of God means to dwell in the presence of the Holy One. And when you dwell in the presence of the Holy One, His holiness is a great blessing to those who are near to Him, but His holiness also means He comes in judgment to those who rebel against Him. David had set up his camp at Jerusalem and established a city there, but now God has encamped against you. Notice verse 1, the city where David encamped and verse 3, and now God says, and I will encamp. It's because now God has come in judgment. He is besieging the city of David, Ariel, the altar hearth, the place where God's holy fire burns. God is going to humble Jerusalem. You will be brought low. From the earth you shall speak, and from the dust your speech will be bowed down. Your voice shall come from the ground like the voice of a ghost, and from the dust your speech shall whisper. In Genesis 2, God made man of the dust of the ground. Now man is returned to dust. Isaiah 27 had said that God would return the city of man to the tohu v'bohu, the barren emptiness of Genesis 1, the primeval state of being formless and void. And now God says that man, and more precisely the house of David, will be returned to dust. And from the dust, your speech shall whisper. It's a very real prelude to John's gospel when the word became flesh and dwelt among us. Here, this is the inversion of that which came first was that man returns to dust. The speech of man whispers from the ground. God had promised in the oracles concerning the nations that he would cast down every haughty city of man And here, that haughty city is Jerusalem. But if Jerusalem is brought down to the dust, if Jerusalem's voice is like the voice of a ghost, notice what happens to her enemies in verse five. Her enemies shall be like small dust. Jerusalem's dust. Her enemies are like small dust. They should be like the chaff which the wind drives away. In other words, God is coming in judgment against Jerusalem, against Ariel, but then, in an instant, suddenly, verse six, you will be visited by the Lord of hosts with thunder and earthquake and great noise, with whirlwind and tempest and the flame of a devouring fire. Now, of course, in the context of verses one through four, this is not sounding very good because God is encamped against Jerusalem. But here, we have a but. Now God comes against their enemies. The visitation of Yahweh will first humble Jerusalem, but then destroy her enemies. And all who had besieged the city of God will be like a dream, a vision of the night. That's when a hungry man dreams, verse 8. And behold, he's eating and awakes with his hunger not satisfied. I don't know if you've ever had hungry dreams, thirsty dreams. Most of us, we live in a culture where you always have enough to eat and drink, so when do you ever fall asleep hungry, thirsty? But for those who have fallen asleep hungry, thirsty, Yeah, hungry dreams. I mean, yeah, it's bombers' dream dinners in the forest of Mirkwood. And wakes up just as hungry as before. The nations may dream of conquering Mount Zion, but God says, in your dreams. Jesus reflects on this when he says the gates of hell will not prevail against his church. There will be many who oppose the city of God. but they cannot prevail. God will again and again deliver his people from their foes. You might think that this good news would bring rejoicing to the people of God, but that's not what you hear in verses 9 and 10. Remember Isaiah was called to say to this people back in chapter six, keep on hearing but do not understand. Keep on seeing but do not perceive. Make the heart of this people dull and their ears heavy and blind their eyes lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts and turn and be healed. But Jerusalem doesn't see. Astonish yourselves and be astonished. Be stunned. Be indecisive. Be bewildered. Be astonished. Blind yourselves and be blind. You don't even need wine to get drunk. You stagger even without strong drink. Why has Jerusalem failed to understand God's deliverance? Verse 10. For the Lord has poured out upon you a spirit. Not the gift of the Holy Spirit, alas, not yet. That comes at Pentecost. Rather here it is a spirit of deep sleep and he has closed their eyes. The prophets who should have seen what God was doing are blind. The seers who should have had visions from God have their heads covered. and they cannot see. Their access to God has been removed. And the vision of all this has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed and no one can read it. No one can understand what God is doing. We'll hear in Isaiah 37 of how God will strike down the Assyrian army. But will Judah understand? No. Jerusalem cannot read the words of God because their hearts are hardened against him. Paul will quote from verse 10 in Romans 11. Paul will ask, what then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened. As it is written, God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, down to this very day. In Romans 11, Paul is explaining the partial hardening that has come upon Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And then Paul says that in this way all Israel will be saved. Paul says this because that's what Isaiah had taught. Jerusalem was the Ariel, the altar hearth, the place where the atoning sacrifice is made and the judgment of God against sin and death falls upon Israel because Israel sinned. Paul will say that through that judgment, salvation will come to the nations. If their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead? Long before Paul talks about the purposes of God for Israel in Romans 11, Isaiah was saying the same thing. God's judgment must first fall upon Jerusalem. So that Jerusalem becomes, you might say, bears the wrath and curse of God that was due to humanity for their sin. Jerusalem stands in the place of humanity in order for the blessing of Abraham to come to the nations. First, Israel must bear that. And yes, as we'll see, Jesus is the one who bears that even in place of Israel. But there's a principle that God continues to show that his people, most emphatically his beloved son, is the sin bearer. But his people, Israel, bear the curse, you might say, upon humanity. And just in case this connection hasn't hit you yet throughout the New Testament, The apostles will point out that this then becomes true of the church. When Paul says, I fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ and the sufferings of Christ. And I know when you've read that in Colossians, you've been like, huh? What's lacking in the afflictions of Christ? How can anything, if his atoning sacrifice was perfect and full, how could anything be lacking? Well, it's not that Christ's sacrifice lacked anything in its efficacy to save sinners. What's lacking is that then his people, in imitation of him and in participation with him, continue to bear the afflictions of the nations. What do you think is happening today? When you think about COVID, when you think about the pandemic that sweeps the world, how the church becomes the place where the affliction falls upon us. That we bear this affliction, not just for our own sakes, but no, for the sake of the world. That through our afflictions, through our suffering, we might be conformed to the likeness of Christ. As you think about how we walk before the watching world, how do we bear the afflictions of the nations? How do we bear the afflictions of the peoples around us? Well, as we deny ourselves and take up our cross and follow Jesus, as we love our neighbors in the ways that we seek to walk before those around us. Isaiah explains the problem, you might say, in verses 13 and 14. And the Lord said, because this people draw near me with their mouth and honor me with their lips while their hearts are far from me and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men. Jesus quotes this in Matthew 15. The problem in Isaiah's day still haunts the people of God in Jesus' day. They behold the wondrous works of God with blind eyes. In Isaiah's day, God delivered Jerusalem by wiping out 185,000 Assyrian soldiers. You couldn't see that. In Jesus' day, God sends his own son to redeem his people. He came to his own and his own did not receive him. Their hearts are still far away. and we need to be aware of that problem. It's not like this was their problem way back then. It's easy to draw near with our mouth. It's easy to say that we honor God, we love God, we praise God. But where are our hearts? Is your heart near to God or is your heart far away? This is part of the problem because, well, I like I like a little thing Ginger had on our fridge once. I can't change Peter's heart. I can't change Nina's heart. I can't change Robert's heart. I can't change, okay, the whole list of all the kids. I can't change my own heart. Who can? Question mark. Only God can change our hearts. We're not very good at changing our own hearts. If you've ever tried to change your own heart, you've probably noticed this. God must act. He must do something to change us. And so Isaiah concludes the well upon Ariel by saying in verse 14, therefore behold, I will again, the Lord speaking, I will again do wonderful things with this people with wonder upon wonder and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden. God's wondrous works of redemption come. and are done and are only comprehensible to those who believe. Paul will use this verse in 1 Corinthians 1 to show that the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. Human wisdom cannot understand the things of God. We must humble ourselves and learn wisdom from the Lord. Paul says that God will change our hearts through the foolishness of preaching. It may feel as though your heart is far away. What can you do? If I can't change my own heart, I feel pretty helpless here. What can you do? Well, you can seek the Lord. Seek his face. Devote yourself to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. The Puritans used to say, put yourself in the way of the means of grace. That, yeah, oh, if your heart's far away and you follow your heart, well, then you're going to go far away. So if you can't do anything else, physically place yourself in the way of God's grace. And God has done this. Remarkably, over the centuries, he uses the foolishness of preaching. How many times have you heard stories, or have you had that experience yourself, of people who showed up at church not expecting anything, but then somehow the word got through in that particular moment. So, the first woe warns Jerusalem that they have a spiritual problem far worse than the presenting problem of the Assyrian army. The second woe, in verses 15 to 24, reminds us that God is still sovereign. Ah, you who hide deep from the Lord your counsel, whose deeds are in the dark, and who say, who sees us, who knows us? What is Judah trying to hide? We'll see this next week in chapter 30, but they're trying to hide their treaty with Egypt. God had made clear that Egypt was no refuge. As we saw previously, the last thing that the northern kingdom of Ephraim did was enter an alliance with Egypt, and then they got wiped out. Egypt failed to protect Ephraim and Egypt will fail Judah. And yet Judah thinks they can hide this from God. They think they can keep God's favor even as they break covenant with him by entering into an Egyptian alliance. And it's in this context that Isaiah uses the language of the potter and the clay for the first time. He'll use this language five times in the book of Isaiah and they keep building on each other each time. But the first is right here in verse 16. You turn things upside down. Shall the potter be regarded as the clay that the thing made should say of its maker, he did not make me, or the thing formed say of him who formed it, he has no understanding. Now, we've been seeing dust, humanity, dust language, There's a connection with that formation of man. As the first woe spoke of the son of David, in a sense, returning to dust, so also here we have the potter and the clay. God is the maker of all things. Can anyone suppose that he has no understanding? As Paul puts it in Romans 9 verse 20, will what is molded say to the molder, why have you made me like this? The rulers of Judah have turned things upside down. They have exalted themselves over the Lord. But God is in the habit of turning things right side up, which, of course, when you're living upside down, it feels like God's turning everything upside down. Remember that sometimes? When you feel like God is turning your world upside down, he's actually turning it back right side up. Our world was already upside down. And sometimes what feels upside down is simply the disorientation that comes as God is turning you back around into the right order. You may have noticed, and I think some of you have noticed, that I've been emphasizing the importance of creation, particularly how we were made in the image of God. The doctrine of creation is essential to how we understand ourselves. Isaiah's use of the potter and the clay illustrates this. Too often we act as though God isn't there. It's easy to think, oh, well, he didn't do anything about it last time, so I can get away with it this time. What happens when we do that? Well, we're saying, in effect, he didn't make me. He has no understanding. And yet, Isaiah says, is it not yet a very little while until Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field. The cities will become fields and the fields will become forests. In other words, everything will be returned to barrenness, emptiness. And in that day, verse 18, the deaf shall hear the words of a book and out of their gloom and darkness, the eyes of the blind shall see. God has blinded the eyes of the rulers, but he will open the eyes of the poor and the humble. In verses 11 and 12, even the readers couldn't read the book. Now the deaf shall hear the words of a book. In verse 10, the eyes of the prophets were shut fast, but now the eyes of the blind shall see. Jesus says this is what he came to do. In Matthew 11, verse 5, John the Baptist had asked if Jesus is the one or if he should look for another. And Jesus quotes again, you may have noticed now, the New Testament used, like Isaiah 29, an awful lot. And Jesus uses verse 18 in his reply, that he came in order that the blind might see, the deaf might hear. He came to bring salvation to all the earth. And therefore, verse 19, the meek shall obtain fresh joy in the Lord, and the poor among mankind shall exult in the Holy One of Israel. The rulers of Judah are not just guilty of entering into foreign alliances, but also of oppressing the poor and needy. Those who ally with the enemies of God will surely mistreat the people of God. Because when you forget the Lord, you don't care about the things that he cares about. And Isaiah says that the ruthless shall come to nothing. What does it mean to be ruthless? Well, the ruthless man is one who stops at nothing to get what he wants. But Isaiah says that the ruthless man will become nothing. So yes, he will stop at nothing. And the scoffer shall cease. The scoffer is not just one who mocks and ridicules. The scoffer is one who uses words to tear down and destroy. Paul will use the term reviler to speak of this sort of person. And all who watch to do evil shall be cut off. Those who are focused on doing evil, those who by a word make a man out to be an offender and lay a snare for him who reproves in the gate and with an empty plea turn aside him who is in the right. It's easy right now to see this happening all around us. I'm not sure that Isaiah was actually thinking of modern identity politics, but when he said, who by a word make a man out to be an offender, this is literally happening every day. If you use the wrong word, you can be shunned pretty quick. And it's a landmine out there. There are snares and traps wherever you go. And if, and if you should reprove someone in the gate, in other words, if you try to point out the problem in the public square, Well, let's just say we live in a day when the ruthless rule and the scoffers lay their snares. And with an empty plea, turn aside him who is in the right. How often have we seen this in, well, when we've had a problem in this country with race, we've had a problem with people who have brought false charges against people who didn't do it. And they wind up on death row. And it's a little bit disconcerting how many of the people on death row happen to be black or So how did this happen? Well it comes about when people are with an empty plea turning aside him who is in the right. If we have power we can make this happen. We live in a day when things are not the way they should be. But this is why Jesus came. We do not yet see everything in subjection under his feet but we see Jesus sitting at the right hand of the father crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death. And because of him, there is still hope for the meek. Notice what the Lord says. Thus says the Lord, verse 22, who redeemed Abraham concerning the house of Jacob. Jacob shall no more be ashamed. No more shall his face grow pale. For when he sees his children, the work of my hands in his midst, they will sanctify my name. They will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob and will stand in awe of the God of Israel. and those who go astray in spirit will come to understanding, and those who murmur will accept instruction." Are you tempted to murmur? Are you tempted to grumble against God's providence? Well, in the cross of Jesus, God has demonstrated his faithfulness to his promises to Abraham. Now, this is the first time Abraham has been named in the book of Isaiah. He's only named four times in Isaiah, God's promises to Abraham underlie the message of the prophet. Here, the focus is on how the Lord redeemed Abraham. Now, the idea of redemption is that of buying back or bailing out, rescuing from trouble. And so at first, some commentators have been like, uh, redeemed Abraham? When did Abraham ever have to be bought back? Well, we oftentimes hear in the scriptures of how the Lord has redeemed Jacob or redeemed Israel, which is simply another name for Jacob. So if you're talking about when did God redeem Abraham, when he brought Israel out of Egypt, he redeemed Abraham because Abraham's seed was brought out of Egypt. And as we keep seeing in this section of Isaiah, the emphasis is on how God's blessing will come upon the nations. So it's hardly surprising for Isaiah to bring Abraham here. Because in Abraham's seed, all the nations of the earth will be blessed. God will yet deliver his people and bring back the wayward. Those who go astray in spirit will come to understanding. Those who murmur will accept instruction. God's purposes in this judgment upon Jerusalem is that he will bring his people back in the end. And that's where both Isaiah here and Throughout the scriptures we are called to remember that God is the sovereign Lord of creation and redemption. You may think that you see the enemies of Christ in power. You may think that God's purposes have been thwarted but God remains the potter who molded all things. And sure as Paul says he has molded some vessels for destruction and others for glory. but he calls us to sanctify the Holy One of Jacob and stand in awe of the God of Israel. What does it mean to sanctify the Holy One? How can you sanctify God? Well, it's like Jesus taught us to pray. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. May your name be treated as holy. May your name be sanctified. We pray that God will sanctify his own name and that we will thus be drawn to sanctify it in him. Sure, God's name is holy. There's a sense in which we couldn't possibly make it more holy than it already is. But when we act as though God didn't make us, when we act as though God doesn't see us, we're treating God's name like dirt. When we stand in awe of him, when we marvel at his wondrous works in Jesus Christ, when we humble ourselves before him, then we sanctify the Holy One of Jacob. And that's what we're called to do. We're called to stand in awe of him, to marvel at him, to humble ourselves before him. And we sanctify his holy name in our words, in our deeds, in our lives. It's like when Moses taught us not to take the name of the Lord our God in vain. What does it mean to take the name of the Lord your God in vain? That means not to sanctify it. This is the exact opposite of, if you take the Lord's name in vain, well, you take the Lord's name in vain every time you treat him like dirt, every time you ignore him. So you sanctify his name every time you hear his voice and respond with faith, with love, with repentance. Because that's where, when you failed to sanctify his name, What do you do? Is it too late for you? By no means. Repent and believe the gospel. That's how you say, that's the one of the main ways in which we sanctify the holy name of God is because remember what his holiness was just what his holiness is all about. His holiness impels him to draw near to us that he might draw us near to himself. And so therefore we sanctify his name when we draw near, when we come near, repenting, forgiving those who have wronged us, loving and humbling ourselves before him. So let's pray. Oh Lord our God, have mercy on us. Have mercy because we too often turn things upside down and act as though you did not make us. who act as though you have no understanding. Saying it out loud causes us to see how silly we are. Because you are the one who made all things. You are the one who knows us better than we know ourselves. And we have turned everything upside down. And so Lord, have mercy on us. Forgive us. Turn us back right side up. And we know it's going to hurt, Lord, because we've been getting so used to walking upside down. So, Lord, have mercy on us and help us and renew us by your Holy Spirit that we might walk before you as your children, that we might hear your voice and humble ourselves before you and draw near to you. Lord, have mercy. Have mercy on all those who are suffering and afflicted and bring to them the comfort of your holy gospel. Have mercy upon those who are tempted, those who are falling away and renew them and catch them and draw them back to yourself. Have mercy, oh Lord, on those who are suffering from bodily ailments and grant to them your grace and give wisdom to the doctors as they seek to treat and bring comfort to their hearts that they might draw near to you in the midst of their afflictions. Lord, have mercy upon those who are drawing near to death, and have mercy, Lord, on all of us, because we do not know the hour of our death. So help us to draw near to you, trusting that you will do all your holy will, and so we may walk before you with great confidence and with great joy, because you have loved us with an everlasting love, and we We are yours. So Lord, do with us as you see fit that we might, that we might be for your honor and your glory. Lord, have mercy upon our nation and our rulers. Give wisdom, Lord, to rulers both in this land and throughout the world as they seek to govern wisely and well in the midst of this pandemic. Have mercy, O Lord. Have mercy and grant that this pandemic might pass from these lands and that you would have mercy upon all the nations. Have mercy, Lord, upon those who preach your gospel. Give them boldness and courage to preach the good news of our Savior, Jesus Christ, boldly and faithfully throughout all the nations of the earth, that in every land and in every tongue, those who hear the gospel of Jesus might repent and believe the good news that your gospel might flourish and grow and triumph throughout all lands. Lord, have mercy. Have mercy upon us as we now go to our rest this night, that you would strengthen and sustain us, that you would bless us as we walk before you. For we pray in Jesus' name, amen.