Bringing the light of Jesus Christ into a sin-darkened world. This is the Lighthouse Radio Bible Study. Hello, my name is Ben Fordham, and I invite you to join us now as we study God's Word together. Welcome to the Lighthouse Radio Bible Study. I greet you all in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, and thank you for tuning in. As we look to the Word of God today, I would like to draw your attention to the book of Isaiah and chapter 29 as we look at verses one through eight. This chapter begins with a woe pronounced against Ariel. I know that many of you may be asking, who is Ariel, or what is Ariel? Is it that the Lord is about to pronounce judgment upon the Little Mermaid? And if so, why? I think that we could fairly say that the Lord may be displeased with Disney, but that is not what this is all about. We will quickly find from the context of our text that this word Ariel is referring to Jerusalem. This is a woe pronounced against Jerusalem. This is that old familiar feeling, the one that Isaiah has that is repeated quite often, that Jerusalem is guilty of the worship of God, but not because he is worthy of worship, but because the Jews believe that he can be placated or pacified with the blood of bulls and goats. So it is a way of worshiping God that is not really worshiping God. We hear that old phrase all the way from Isaiah chapter one. You recall as we read Isaiah chapter one and verse 11, to what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me, saith the Lord? I am full of the burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed beasts, and I delight not in the blood of bullocks or of lambs or of he goats. The thrust of the passage tells us about falling away from righteousness and the empty dreams of the wicked. The city of David has fallen from righteousness, that lovely Jerusalem. This is that same David who was a man after God's own heart. And what a thought it is that Jerusalem had fallen away from the kind of man that worshiped God with his whole heart to a place where men worshipped by piling up sacrifices in an effort, and a vain one at that, to pacify God in the most heartless way possible. Their hands were full of blood. It was as though they thought what made David so special was the mechanics and the motions of the deeds, and not the heart behind them. For the Christian, it seems, the why matters. For this sin of thoughtless and heartless sacrifice, the Lord would judge Jerusalem, and they would be the sacrifice. How far have we fallen from the founders of the Church? I imagine if we read this passage correctly, the statement would be akin to saying, Woe to America, referring to the United States, the nation of Washington and Whitefield. Or, maybe if we were in England, Woe to Britain and the land of Spurgeon and Knox. We might be more like the Jews at Jerusalem than you think. Surely they thought they were better than their fathers. We know better than David, they might say, nice and progressive as their society now is. He trusted in the Lord, but we believe that he had it all wrong. We can sin and pacify God. As long as we ape the deeds of David, then that'll be enough. We can sin and pacify God and make league with other nations to have the best of all of it. And while we worship God, we can worship other gods to boot. This was the thought of Jerusalem at the time that the Assyrian army was invading Judah. This is the same kind of chronological snobbery that we are guilty of today. This chronological snobbery allows us to look down our nose at the founders of our nation and the founding fathers of our churches. It allows us to tear down old statues and fences without ever following Chesterton's rule about fences and finding out why they are there in the first place before we tear them down. We make heroes of men that are more depraved than our fathers, and we call our forefathers wicked and think we are righteous in doing so. How far have we fallen? We are, like Jerusalem, low in the dust. And what are we to do now? Let us look to our text. The text. Isaiah 29, beginning in verse one, and we will read verses one through eight. Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt. Add ye year to year, let them kill sacrifices. Yet I will distress Ariel, and there shall be heaviness and sorrow, and it shall be unto me as Ariel. And I will camp against thee round about, and will lay siege against thee with a mount, and I will raise forts against thee. 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 one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust. 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. 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. And the multitude of all 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. And it shall be even 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. Back in verse one, we read, Woe to Ariel, to Ariel the city where David dwelt. Add ye year to year, let them kill sacrifices. The wo pronounced is to Jerusalem, but here the name or title Ariel is used. How do we know that this is Jerusalem? First, the context is clear. We see that this is the city where David dwelt. Lest you think that that means some other city. We will find other instances to tell us or other words and context to affirm what we've stated. This David, the man after God's own heart, the most famous and revered king in Israel's history, dwelt at Jerusalem. We see that sacrifices are made in this place year after year. This alludes to the multitude of sacrifices offered at the temple in the city of Jerusalem. Still not convinced? This same Ariel is also called Mount Zion at the end of verse eight, as we find the Lord fighting on behalf of his people in verses seven and eight. And so we conclude that Jerusalem is the one being spoken of, being called Ariel. The word Ariel means Lion of God, and so we see that is a fitting title to use for the name of the capital city of God's kingdom of Judah, you know, that lion's whelp from Genesis under David. The tone of this verse is familiar. It points back to the same sentiment we read earlier in Isaiah chapter 1, where the Lord asks, in verses 11 through 13, To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me, saith the Lord? I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts, and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he-goats. When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts? Bring no more vain oblations. Incense is an abomination unto me. The new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with. It is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. In verse 15 of the same chapter he tells them that their hands are full of blood. God here says to their shame, woe Ariel, this is the place where David dwelt, the one who worshipped me with the whole heart, but this people offers nothing but ceremony year after year, sacrificing animals as though the Lord only wanted the blood of animals, and he could by such an offering be placated or pacified. They had missed the point. And God is mocking them by saying, keep it up. Keep offering these sacrifices and add to them year after year. Pile them up. They are piling up like sins because they are sins. They will not keep his chastening and judgment away. This hypocrisy is not going to go unpunished. David himself warned in Psalm 50 verse 21, These things hast thou done, and I kept silence. Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such in one as thyself. But I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes. Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver. There is a coming judgment, and that coming judgment appears to be the judgment of Assyria coming against Judah and Jerusalem. We know, ultimately, the enemy's goal will be, or dream, will be thwarted because we have the understanding of verses seven and eight. Nevertheless, judgment is coming against the people of God who have thought that they could get away with lifeless or heartless worship. Verse two. Yet I will distress Ariel, and there shall be heaviness and sorrow, and it shall be unto me as Ariel. Despite the continual sacrifices, we see that God is not pleased with Ariel, and will distress them. So we may conclude that the mere mechanics of worship are not pleasing to God. A theme repeated, again, throughout Scripture. There are those who offer lip service, but their hearts are far from God. There are those who offer sacrifices, but will not obey God. They find it easy to sin and slaughter an animal, as though God did not mind the sin as long as there was a sacrifice. God is not pleased with this kind of worship. Heaviness and sorrow are promised to Jerusalem for this, not blessing and peace. So what does God mean when He says, It shall be unto me as Ariel? God had mocked Jerusalem for their perpetual sacrifices and declared that Ariel would be the sacrifice now. He would kill them as though they were the sacrifices that they had offered. The Lord would judge the city, and as they had used the city of Jerusalem for the killing of sacrifices, so he would offer them up instead. The invasion of Sennacherib is here described by distress and heaviness and the sorrow that is to come. Verse 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. We see here a picture of Jerusalem under siege, which could point us to other enemies and not just Sennacherib. However, we know Sennacherib would take all of Judah around Jerusalem. And, as described in other passages of Scripture, other passages in Isaiah, the waters of Assyria would overflow Judah all the way up to the Neck, which we would call Jerusalem. We read in 2 Kings chapter 18 and verse 13, Now in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah did Sennacherib king of Assyria come up against all the fenced cities of Judah and took them. Sennacherib would surround Jerusalem. This verse points us in the direction of Assyria and gives us an understanding of what is happening in the remaining verses. Verse four. And thou shalt be brought down, again he is speaking to Jerusalem, and shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust, and thy voice shall be as one that hath a familiar spirit out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust. The city would be brought low. Hezekiah would take all the silver and gold from the temple and send it to the king of Assyria. They had previously sought Assyria's help against Syria and Ephraim, and now would seek help from other nations. Hezekiah would beg Sennacherib for mercy, and offer payment for him to withdraw. During the time of the sieges and the destruction of Judah, much of the wealth of Judah was stored up in Jerusalem. And so, Hezekiah had plenty of stores of silver and of gold in the temple to give Sennacherib to tell him to back off, to placate him, if you will. This is a low point for Jerusalem. They are brought low and would be whispering out of the dust. Calling out from the dust is an image of Jerusalem and Hezekiah himself laying prostrate before Sennacherib and seeking mercy. They would be brought so low that their voices were crying out from the ground. Picture them face down on the ground seeking mercy. And it would sound as though these voices were coming from the graves like a ghost whispering out of the dust. This is how low God would bring Judah for their disobedience and their false worship. They had worshipped false gods and now they would have to lay prostrate before tyrants. 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. Many times we have seen Israel and Judah entertain strangers to get their help. Here the Lord continues to speak of judgment by saying moreover, and he declares that the multitude of the strangers that Judah had sought would be made like small dust. Those terrible and strong allies would be like chaff that passes away. you know and remember that they had sought strength from Egypt and Ethiopia back in Isaiah chapter 20. If you go back and look, Egypt was mocked severely in Isaiah chapter 20. The Ethiopians in Isaiah chapter 18 verses one and two were described as terrible ones, to give an idea of their strength, and yet we find that Sennacherib would crush these helpers, these strangers. they would be destroyed suddenly. They'd be no more help later with Babylon either. This would put Judah in a desperate place, having nowhere else to go but God. The ones that they thought could save them as mighty allies are going to be ground to dust, and that will be happening right quickly. Verse 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. We do not understand this as a literal storm sent from the Lord, but rather as a symbolic rendering of the events that would occur. We are all keenly aware of the destructive forces that a storm has, and we are certainly aware of the great devouring of flames, and certainly earthquakes we are familiar with as well. But these are not literal destructive forces and events, these are metaphors for the forces that would be brought to bear upon Judah and Jerusalem. They would face the fury of a storm that would be very destructive, and the strangers that they thought to associate themselves with to prevent the storm from coming would be destroyed. Verse 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. This verse turns to tell us of the nations that fight against Ariel, not the strangers she entertained as her helpers. But this is Assyria and all the nations under that empire that are coming against Jerusalem. The simile here is that the nations under the Assyrian Empire that come against Jerusalem would be like a dream of a night vision. That is to say, they would have a dream. They would come up to her walls and fortifications and distress her. The ambition would be, or the dream would be, to destroy Jerusalem, and ultimately her God. Verse 8. It shall even be as when a 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. Again a simile, describing the dream these nations coming against Jerusalem had. The nations would have the appetite, hunger, and then a dream of eating. And even though they would eat or dream that they had eaten, they would wake and find themselves still hungry, their souls completely unsatisfied. They would be like one that is thirsting, and in their dreams they drink, but when they awake they are still thirsty. They are not able to be satisfied. Assyria and Sennacherib had a dream of conquering Jerusalem, but they were unable to conquer her. If the odds were counted, there would be no chance of Jerusalem surviving the attack of the Assyrian army. Jerusalem is a severe underdog in this fight, in other words. The Assyrians saw Jerusalem as ripe to be picked, and they lusted after the wealth that Jerusalem had stored up. The tyrant that Hezekiah had offered silver and gold was, not surprisingly, unsatisfied with the offering. So, as tyrants do, they cannot be appeased. Once you give them something, they want everything. So instead of the dream though, the spoils of Jerusalem, Sennacherib would have the nightmare of 185,000 of his mighty men killed in one night. He would not achieve the dream. Some lessons for us. Emptiness in worship and empty dreams. We Christians need routine heart checkups. This is not medical advice, but spiritual advice. This is a reminder that ultimately Christianity is not about rites and rituals, even though we have them. The scriptures are very prescriptive with regard to sacrifice, priesthood, and worship. If you start your Bible reading in Genesis and you do not leave during the Exodus, you may find that funny later, you will inevitably get to Leviticus and find a prescription for every kind of offering the Lord required, and every move the priests were to make. These form a liturgical basis for the worship we participate in today. The problem with men and their practice of worship is that we repeat the rites without understanding the why of worship, and remembering who we are to worship, and so we end up worshiping the ritual itself. This removes all the heart behind the worship. Some men see this and decide they need to completely do away with all rituals, but this is also a problem. It is not whether we will have a ritual, but which ritual we will have. And so we must follow the Word of God for the prescription of the way we should worship. Put another way, brushing your teeth is a ritual, and it is a good one, as you will find your teeth rotting out without that ritual. But, not brushing your teeth is a ritual too. So it isn't the ritual so much, but why we do it. What is the purpose? What is our why? So, we don't throw out our toothbrush for the ritual, but we remember the purpose. Who is it that we are to worship? God, the Lord Jesus Christ. We do not worship Him as we see fit, as though we tell Him how we should worship Him, but we do as He commands, and so there is a prescription for worship. We do not worship with mere ritual, as though the ritual were the object of our worship, but we worship God with our whole hearts devoted to pleasing Him. This requires what is said in Romans chapter 12 verse 1. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service, also translated worship. And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. The worship of God is quite empty in many places in our day, and the world is absolutely satisfied with the current state of the Church. You might say that this is their dream. The consequences are not what they expected though. The society we live in has made what C.S. Lewis called men without chests. A quote from C.S. Lewis's Abolition of Man goes like this, And all the time, such is the tragic comedy of our situation, we continue to clamor for those very qualities that we are rendering impossible. You can hardly open a periodical without coming across the statement that what our civilization needs is more drive, or dynamism, or self-sacrifice, or creativity. In a sort of ghastly simplicity, we remove the organ and demand the function. We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honor and are shocked to find traitors in our midst. We castrate and bid the geldings be fruitful. Their dream is to remove God from all levels of society and all regions but the inner thoughts of man, and they dream even of removing him there as well. They do this, and then marvel at the consequences. They take the heart from the man and demand of him virtue. Their dream will be like that of the nations that came against Jerusalem. They will wake up and find their plates empty and no water to drink. They will not be able to reach their dream of destroying God. That is the ultimate goal, and they will fail. Their dream will be their nightmare, and they will fall in the pit they have dug for themselves. In the meantime, let us keep our hearts with all diligence and worship the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. What are we to do? Let us be true worshipers, followers of Christ. If we follow Christ as men with chest, and this is not a light thing, we will find many great things in the world changing around us. The walk to which we are called is not an easy one, but the Lord will turn the dreams of the wicked to nothing and restore the joy of our salvation if we walk as men with chests. So let us remember our first love and return to Him with our whole heart, and may the Lord give us more light. bringing the light of Jesus Christ into a sin-darkened world. This is the Lighthouse Radio Bible Study. The Primitive Baptists who bring you this program each week do so with the following conviction. We believe that the Bible is the Word of God. It is our guide for what we are to believe, and it is our guide for what we are to do. We believe that Jesus Christ is the Messiah, the Son of God, and He is to be followed as Lord and Savior. And, we believe that His salvation is a free gift of God's sovereign grace, not dependent on any work that we do, but wholly dependent on His finished work done on our behalf. We present this weekly Bible study based on the premise of Psalm 119 verse 105, Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. If you would like to contribute to the furtherance of this program, then please send your donation to this address. The Lighthouse P.O. Box 1317 Baxley, GA 31515. Again, that is The Lighthouse EO Box 1317, Baxley, GA 31515. Or if you would like to send a question or comment to us, you can also send your correspondence to that address. We also have a website where you can access our programs and other helpful information. It can be found at www.lighthousebiblestudy.org. That's all one word and with all lowercase letters. Again, that's www.lighthousebiblestudy.org. Until next week, this is your speaker, Ben Fordham, praying that God will light your world.