ISAIAH 292008 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Isaiah 29

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2008.

the portion of Isaiah that's known as the chapters of woe because these prophecies that we're looking at chapter by chapter all the way up to chapter 33 are starting with the pronouncement of woe. And woe is a word that's used to pronounce judgment. It's a word that you would know, hey, there's sorrow, there's judgment, there's trouble, there's destruction coming upon those that will be talked about following that word woe.

And so as we're looking at these judgments, it's good to remember why God judges. We learned in Isaiah chapter 2 verse 11 that God brings every exalted thing low so that

He will be the only thing that is exalted because He truly is the only thing that is exalted. He is the only one that is holy. And so everything that exalts itself, everything that is high and lifted up will be brought low. And God's judgment always has to deal with man's pride, always has to deal with man being full of himself.

Whether that serve it out in disobedience as far as rebellion or disobedience as a result of ignorance or disobedience because we just want to be religious and pretend that we follow God, but in reality we live completely different lives.

Pride manifests itself in many different ways in many different areas in our lives. But anytime we disregard God's word, anytime we consider more and esteem ourselves more than God...

It's an issue of pride in our hearts. And God has been dealing with Jerusalem and Israel and the pride that is taking place. We saw that in great detail in chapter 28. And now as we go on in chapter 29 with another pronouncement of woe, we can again see that the issue is the pride of Jerusalem. We start out here in chapter 29 verse 1.

He says, woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt. Add year to year, let feasts come around. Yet I will distress Ariel. There shall be heaviness and sorrow, and it shall be to me as Ariel. Verse 3, I will encamp against you all around. I will lay siege against you with a mound, and I will raise siege works against you.

You shall be brought down. You shall speak out of the ground. Your speech shall be low out of the dust. Your voice shall be like a medium's out of the ground, and your speech shall whisper out of the dust. Here as we start Isaiah chapter 29, in the first four verses we see the foundation, the beginning of this woe.

And first of all, we find out who this woe is directed towards. Who is God pronouncing judgment upon? And it is what he calls Ariel. Now, we know Ariel to be Jerusalem, even though it's only mentioned here in the scriptures. This is the only time this name is used.

The name means Lion of God, but it tells us that we're dealing with Jerusalem because it tells us there in verse 1, it's the city where David dwelt. And Jerusalem is the city where David dwelt. And so God is pronouncing judgment, woe, upon the city of David, the city of Jerusalem.

And this judgment, this woe that's being pronounced upon Jerusalem is being pronounced upon a city, upon a nation that has come a long way since David was king. David, as you know, was a man after God's own heart. Yes, he made mistakes, he had issues, but he repented and he humbled himself before God.

But the state of Jerusalem at this point, as Isaiah is prophesying these things, we are several hundred years after David was reigning in Jerusalem. And now the city has been for some time in rebellion against God. And they would have good kings here and there and every once in a while.

But for the most part, they've been heading down the path of rebellion. They've been filled with pride, lifted up in themselves in disobedience to God and disregarding all of the prophets and all of those that God sent to warn Jerusalem and to bring them back to right relationship with God. And so they've come a long way. They've walked away from God. And so now they're at the point where God says,

Because of his holiness, his righteousness, he's forced now to pronounce woe and judgment upon them. He says, It may not be at the moment. It may take some time. And you can be assured, trouble will come. There will be heaviness and sorrow, God says. And then he says in verse 3,

I'll encamp against you, I'll lay siege against you, and I will raise siege works against you. Three specific times, in three slightly different ways, God says he's going to come against the city of Jerusalem. Which is very interesting, because we have, really in biblical history, a recording of those three different attacks against the city of Jerusalem. You can look at it from a couple of different perspectives.

First of all, Assyria is going to, immediately after Isaiah is prophesying this, within several years, in fact, you can read about it in chapter 36 and 37 here in Isaiah, Assyria will come and will encamp against Jerusalem. But they won't lay siege to the city. They'll just encamp around it, and God judges them and does a marvelous work in delivering them from the nation of Assyria. But then about 100 years later,

The nation of Babylon comes and lays siege to Jerusalem. About 400 years after that, a little bit longer, 500 years or so, the nation of Rome, the Roman army, will come and lay siege to Jerusalem. 70 AD, the nation of Jerusalem, or the city of Jerusalem, falls to the Roman emperor, not emperor, but Roman commander Titus.

who destroys Jerusalem. And so three major attacks against the city of Jerusalem, and three times God says, I will encamp, I will siege, I will raise siege works against you. He's pronouncing judgment upon this city. Another way of looking at this, another perspective, is King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, he also laid siege to the city, that was Babylon, and he

But he also laid siege three separate times to the city and had to conquer the city three separate times within a short span of time. And so some could also look and see those things referred to or prophesied about. But whichever way you go, the point is the city is going to be under attack. There's going to be destruction that comes to Jerusalem. And then notice verse 4. You shall be brought down.

And he goes on to emphasize that you're going to speak out of the ground, out of the dust. You're just going to be low down. Your voice is going to come from there. It's going to be like you're whispering and muttering because you've been completely humbled. You've been brought down. Again, I'll share that judgment of God is always against judgment.

Pride. It's always an issue of pride. And Jerusalem has been puffed up and lifted up with pride. And so God says, you shall be brought down. You shall be brought down. Everything that is high and lifted up, everything that is exalted, everyone who exalts himself will be brought down, will be humbled. It is a promise, a guarantee of God. And like I said, we...

Puff ourselves up and we lift ourselves up in various ways. In rebellion to God, in hypocrisy. Whatever way it is, everything that's exalted, everything that exalts itself will be brought down. Remember, and I'll share this example because this is in a lot of ways specifically what we're dealing with with the city of Jerusalem and many times in our own lives as well. Remember in Luke chapter 18, Jesus tells a story about

of a man who is praying. And alongside of this man who is praying is a religious leader who is praying. There's these two men praying before the Lord and the religious leader, well, he's praying

Quite lifted up in pride. And he thinks, God, that he's not like this other guy here, this sinner that has all these mistakes and messes up and really blows it. And he thinks, God, that he's so faithful to tithe and to do all the legalistic things of the law. He thinks, God. And so he's praying to God. But alongside of this religious leader who is praying these things is this man who is just...

He's completely broken before God. And it says he can't even lift his head up, but he beats his chest and says, God have mercy on me, a sinner. And so you have this religious leader who keeps the law. He's the ideal picture of, well, this is what you're supposed to look like if you love God and follow God. And then you have this guy who's blown it, who's messed it up, who's had all kinds of mistakes and bad choices. And he there cries out and says, God have mercy on me.

And Jesus said of this man who cried out to God, God have mercy on me. Jesus said of him, this man went home justified rather than the other, not the religious leader, but this man. And he says in Luke chapter 18 verse 14, for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled and he who humbles himself will be exalted.

Here Jesus says, he gives this story to prove this point, to illustrate this point. Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but whoever humbles himself will be exalted. This religious leader exalted himself, was full of himself. He was really religiously hypocritical. He was living in religious hypocrisy, having on a good show, a good outward appearance,

But he had no real relationship with God, no reliance or dependence upon God. He was puffed up and full of himself and his own religiosity.

But this other man who stood there before God but not even able to look up, just beat his chest and said, God have mercy on me. He humbled himself before God. He wasn't full of himself. He was humbled and repentant before God. And so God says, that's the man that's justified, not the person who is so religious and full of himself and so full of his religious duties and ability to keep the law and religious practices and rituals.

No, instead God says it's the one who humbles himself that will be exalted. But the one who exalts himself will be humbled. And I think that's very important for you and I today because we need to be careful. There's a great danger of us having the same type of hypocrisy, religious hypocrisy.

The outward show, we use the Christian lingo, we come to church, but on the inside, there's no real relationship with God. The rest of the week, there's no real walking with God. There's not a changed life, it's just an outward show. And we're real proud of ourselves and how good we do, but we have not truly humbled ourselves before God and cried out to Him to have mercy upon us.

Jesus, or rather God, is speaking to Jerusalem and says, whoa, judgment's coming to you, Jerusalem, because Jerusalem was in the same situation. They were proud of themselves. They were very religious. They had the temple of God there in the city of Jerusalem. They were full of themselves. And God says, you shall be brought down. No longer were they trusting in God, seeking God. And it was evident that

By the way that they lived, and we'll get into that a little bit later, but let's move on. Look at verses 5 through 8 with me. It says,

The multitude of all the nations who fight against Ariel, even all who fight against her and her fortress and distress her, shall be as a dream of a night vision. Verse 8. It shall even be as when a hungry man dreams and look, he eats, but he awakes and his soul is still empty. Or as when a thirsty man dreams and look, he drinks. Verse 8.

But he awakes, and indeed he is faint, and his soul still craves. So the multitude of all the nations shall be who fight against Mount Zion. Here in verses 5 through 8, we have some a little bit peculiar verses and some interesting things to discuss, but we'll just cover them pretty briefly or vaguely. Basically, here's what he's saying. In verse 5, he says...

The multitude of your foes. There's going to be a multitude of enemies against Jerusalem. Now, just without really digging in depth into biblical history or anything, can you think of a multitude of enemies against Jerusalem today? We see it all around us. It's continual. For basically all of its history, Jerusalem has had a multitude of foes.

Now, during David's time, there was great peace. During Solomon's time, there was great peace. Jerusalem was a city of peace, and the name Jerusalem means a place of peace. But since then, it's been a constant place of turmoil. Why? Well, because woe has been pronounced.

God prophesied and promised that this judgment would come, that there would be a multitude of foes against the city of Jerusalem because they failed to rely upon God. They exalted themselves and did not humble themselves before God. He says, moreover, the multitude of your foes shall be like fine dust and a multitude of the terrible ones like chaff that passes away. Yes, it shall be in an instant, suddenly. So we're dealing with two things.

kind of two sides of the same coin. On the one hand, there's a multitude of foes, but on the other hand, these foes come and go quite quickly. It's like chaff. And if you don't know what chaff is, it's like these dry flakes off the grain and the wind would just blow them away. They wouldn't be around very long. They would be...

sifted away by the wind and taken away and carried away, much like our tumbleweeds would today or things like that. And they're just passing by. The wind carries them away very quickly. And so God says there's going to be a multitude and they're going to come and go quite quickly. But verse 6, he says, "...you will be punished by the Lord of hosts with thunder and earthquake and great noise, with storm and tempest and the flame of devouring fire."

Jerusalem, you will be punished. There's going to be a multitude of foes. They're going to come and go quite quickly, but you will be punished. These foes will come. Now, it's interesting. There's different ways to account this as you look at history, but it's been estimated that roughly 38 times the city of Jerusalem has been conquered and reconquered.

38 times. That's quite a lot. In fact, it's the most of any city in the rest of the world. More than any other city, this city has been fought over. There's been a multitude of foes against Jerusalem continually. God promised you will be punished by the Lord of hosts.

In verse 7, he says, The multitude of the nations who fight against Ariel, even all who fight against her and her fortress and distress her shall be as a dream of a night vision. And so now he goes on to talk about this dream. It's kind of a funny dream. I don't know if you've ever had this dream, but you know, you dream that you're hungry and so you eat, but then when you wake up, you realize it was just a dream and that you're still hungry. And so that's the idea that God is saying here, or he gives the same thing with thirsty. And the point here is,

These nations, as they come against, as they conquer, again, 38 times Jerusalem has been conquered, they come and go very quickly and they're not satisfied. It's not what they thought it was. It's as a dream. They come and they conquer it and they're not satisfied and they wake up and now the next nation is upon them, conquering them and they're never satisfied. Their soul is not satisfied. Every nation

the attention of the world is upon Jerusalem, and we know of all the issues currently going on there, and the decisions to divide the city, and all of the negotiations that are taking place. But even if the, for the Palestinians, even if the negotiations went exactly the way they wanted, and everything was agreed to, they would still not be satisfied. Because Jerusalem, well, it's God's city.

And that place will not have peace. There will never be peace there until Jesus comes and establishes his kingdom. So he tells Jerusalem, you're going to be brought low. Judgment is coming. There's going to be many foes. Many nations will come against you. We looked at chapter 28 last week and talked about how God was promising to work miraculously against Judah if they did not repent. And that's what he's saying is happening here.

He's working miraculously against them. The whole world, many foes, a multitude of foes has come against Jerusalem. Going on in verse 9 through 12, it says, Pause and wonder. Blind yourselves and be blind. They are drunk, but not with wine. They stagger, but not with intoxicating drink. For the Lord has poured out on you the spirit of deep sleep and has closed your eyes, namely the prophet's.

And he has covered your heads, namely the seers. Verse 11. The whole vision has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one who is literate, saying, Read this. And he says, I cannot, for it is sealed. Then the book is delivered to one who is illiterate, saying, Read this, please. And he says, I am not literate. Here God explains now

The reason for this judgment that is coming upon Jerusalem. Why is he promising this trouble? What's going on here? Well, he says Jerusalem has become blind. There's been a blindness that's been brought upon them. Why? Why this blindness? He says they're drunk, but not with wine. They stagger, but not with intoxicating drink because the Lord has poured out on them a deep sleep. He's closed your eyes. He's closed the mouths of the prophets and the seers.

Revelation is not taking place any longer in the life and the nation of Jerusalem. It's evidenced by the prophets that are there, Isaiah and Jeremiah. They're preaching and nobody's listening. We often note that, you know, Jeremiah, he preached for like 40 years but never had a convert. Nobody listened. They were blind. They were deaf. They would not hear. Now here's what's interesting about this. In Deuteronomy chapter 28, in Deuteronomy chapter 28, God...

lays before his people his word, his commands. He lays before Israel and he says, look, this is what I want you to do. And if you follow me and if you obey me and if you keep my commands, then you will receive all of these blessings and just incredible blessings that he promised to the nation of Israel if they would walk with him and keep his commands. But also in chapter 28 of Deuteronomy, God says, but if you don't,

If you choose to disobey me and worship other gods and follow the gods of other people and walk not with me but with other nations and their gods, worshipping their gods. If you disregard my commandments, if you don't keep the things that I've given to you, then God goes on to list an incredible list of curses that would come upon them.

There would be curses that would happen as a result of them rejecting God and disregarding His word. Part of that, Deuteronomy chapter 28 verse 28, God says, The Lord will strike you with madness and blindness and confusion of heart.

And you shall grope at noonday as a blind man gropes in darkness. You shall not prosper in your ways. You shall be only oppressed and plundered continually, and no one shall save you. Here's what God says. Look, if you reject me, if you reject my commands, if you refuse to walk in relationship with me, then the result will be you will be struck with blindness.

And you'll grope around, but it'll be noonday. It'll be like you're in darkness, but it's bright day, but you're groping around like you're blind. You're going to be oppressed and plundered continually. It's what God told them from the beginning. And here we see it being fulfilled. The city of Jerusalem, blind, groping, even though it's noonday. Why?

Because they had rejected God. They're drunk, but it's not with wine. They're blind. Why? Because they've been in rebellion against God. Now, there's a strong connection that God is building here between blindness and the neglect of His Word. Because they failed to keep His Word and heed His Word, they've become blind. And I can very easily relate myself to that promise.

If I neglect the Word of God, if I neglect to follow it, it will lead to blindness in my life. Those who neglect the Word of God, to read it, to study it, to follow it, they will experience a spiritual blindness. And it will be like madness. It will be like they're drunk, but it's not with wine. And sometimes we wonder, how did I get here?

What in the world happened that I knew better? How in the world did I end up in this situation? And if you follow your tracks, it'll take you back. Where did it happen? When did it start? What took place at the beginning? Oh, I stopped giving heed to the Word of God. I neglected the Word of God. It will lead to blindness in our lives. James 1, verse 22 says, Hey, don't be just hearers of the Word.

and deceive yourselves or become blind. That's another way of talking about it. Be doers of the Word. As Christians, we need desperately to spend time in the Word of God and to live it out, to put it into practice. And if we neglect it, we need to know it will bring blindness in our lives. Now, it starts a bad cycle.

Because neglect of the word will result in blindness in our lives. And then blindness in our lives results in us being unable to understand the word. And that's what's going on in verses 11 and 12. He says, the whole vision has become like the words of a book that is sealed. And so you give it to someone, hey, can you read this please? And they go, I can't read it, it's sealed. So they take it to someone else, hey, can you read this? I'm not literate, I don't know how to read. The whole vision has become sealed. It's been completely shut off. And that happens.

That happens in the life of believers. Blindness leads to not being able to understand the Word of God. There are those today who say, yeah, we can't understand the Word of God. There's not much point in you reading it. In fact, you shouldn't read it, some would say. You should only hear as it's interpreted and translated and shared by someone who's qualified, by a pastor or someone like that.

Because it's too difficult for us to really understand. They're using a lot of words to say, the book is sealed, I can't read it. And there's many who teach that today. Why? Because, well, they've neglected the word. It's led to blindness. And that blindness had led to not being able any longer to understand the word of God. How scary that is and how dangerous that is. This is the problem with playing with sin. See, we think...

I know I've got under control. I know I'm not supposed to be involved in that. I know I'm not supposed to do that. I know that's really not supposed to be happening in my life. But I've got under control and I'm living under grace and I repent pretty frequently and I still go to church and I'm in the Word a lot. But when we live that way, when we have those practices, when we neglect the Word of God or disregard the Word of God in our practices, it leads to a spiritual blindness.

And we don't think that it can happen to us. We don't think we can be deceived. We don't think we can become blind. But it leads to a blindness. And then that blindness, now we can't understand the Word of God. And we get trapped in this cycle because at the very beginning, we disregarded and we neglected the Word of God. And He promises, yeah, if you don't keep my commands, if you don't walk with me, if you don't take heed to my Word, I will send blindness and you won't be able to understand. It'll be like...

It's a sealed book. And I would share with you that if you read the Bible and it doesn't come alive in your heart, if God doesn't speak to you through the Word of God, you're in a dangerous place. Because neglecting the Word leads to blindness. And blindness leads to not being able to understand the Word of God. It goes back to an issue of pride. And that we consider our Word and our ways more important. We esteem them more highly than God's Word and His ways.

We need to take great care not to neglect the Word of God.

Now, Israel had neglected, Jerusalem had neglected the word of God. They disregarded it, followed their own ways. As a result, they've been blind. As a result, the vision is brought before them. The whole vision is before them and it's like, well, it doesn't know good because they can't read it. It's sealed and they're illiterate and they're not able to read or to understand the vision. They're not able to receive the revelation that God desires to bring to them. What a sad place to be.

But they don't know they're there. In verse 13, read along with me. It says,

And the understanding of the prudent men shall be hidden. Verse 15. Woe to those who seek deep to hide their counsel far from the Lord. And their works are in the dark. They say, who sees us and who knows us? Surely you have things turned around. Shall the potter be esteemed as the clay? For shall the thing made say of him who made it, he did not make me. Or shall the thing formed say of him who formed it, he has no understanding.

Here's what Isaiah says. Here's what God says in regards to these people. They're blind because they've neglected the Word and they've got the vision there. And God says, they draw near me with their mouths. They honor me with their lips. But their hearts are far from me. It's lip service. And he's sharing really the foolishness of lip service here in verses 13 through 16. It's foolish because they have this attitude like, hey, God doesn't see. Because what I do, well...

I do it in darkness. You know, it's real hard to see at night. It's real hard to see in darkness. God doesn't see. He can't tell what I'm doing. He doesn't know what I'm doing. I've got it hidden from Him. I've got it figured out how I can do this thing, how I can live this way and not experience the consequence. I've got it figured out. It's great.

This was their attitude. This was their heart. Now they honor him with their lips. And so on Sunday or Saturday, you know, they're at the synagogue. And on Sunday morning, they're at church. You know, they honor him with their lips and they talk about God. They say things about God. But in verse 15, woe to those who seek deep to hide their counsel far from God. Yeah, he doesn't know my thoughts. He doesn't know what I'm doing. And he says, surely you have things turned around.

And from our perspective, yeah, it's obvious for us to say that. It's easy for us to say that. Hey, surely you have things turned around. You're backwards. You've got things wrong side out. And God says, they honor me with their lips. They give me lip service, but their hearts are removed far from me. They fear God, but not according to God's word, but by the commandment of men. What's the commandment of men? Jesus quotes this in Matthew chapter 15, verses 7 through 9. He quotes this and says,

He goes on to deal with, there in Matthew chapter 15, he goes on to deal with, again, the religious hypocrisy of the Jewish leaders. In Jesus' day, they were just as bad as Jerusalem was when Isaiah was prophesying this. And they were so technical in their interpretation of the Word of God, and they prided themselves, they were so proud of how well they kept God's Word. But while they were so full of themselves and their keeping of the law,

They disregarded the very relationship with God that was intended. They rejected God and they upheld the doctrines of men, what men taught, higher than the things that God taught. This is the state of Jerusalem at this point. And God says, I'm going to do a marvelous work. All of their wisdom and the things, all the understanding that they think they have, they've got it all figured out. I'm going to bring it to nothing. Their wisdom shall perish.

Paul quotes this in 1 Corinthians 1. He talks about where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? We talked about this last week in Isaiah 28. They said, hey, death's not going to come to us. We have a covenant. We've made a covenant. We've got it figured out. They're blind. They've got things backwards. They think, hey, God can't see us. God can't judge us. He can't deal with this. I've got it figured out. I found the loophole. I can live this life and still...

confess Jesus Christ and praise His name and say I'm a Christian and still get to heaven, but hold on to these things in my life. It's pride. Being puffed up. And not only is it exalting yourself, but it's trying to bring God down to your level. That's what he says. Verse 16, Shall the potter be esteemed as the clay? When we think we can outsmart God...

Whether we verbalize that or not, very often we won't verbalize that. Of course I'm not going to say that. But the way that I live my life sometimes demonstrates that I think I can outsmart God. And I got it figured out. And I can live my way and still, you know, still pretend I have a right relationship with God. And to do so is to esteem God or to esteem the potter as the clay. That's to bring God down to my level. And God's kind of like on my playing field. And so when it's dark, He can't see what I'm doing.

He can't see what I'm getting away with. And he can't understand my thoughts. And he doesn't know what's going on in my heart. He says, "...for shall the thing made say of him who made it, He did not make me." That's what it's saying. That's what we say when we pretend to be religious but are living contrary to God's Word. We're saying, yeah, He didn't make me. He can't understand. He's not God. "...shall the thing formed say of him who formed it, He has no understanding." That's what we say.

when we live contrary to God's word. It's the foolishness of lip service, religious hypocrisy, being puffed up with pride, full of ourselves. I like what David Guzik has to say about this portion. He says, You can't always tell a person's heart by what they say. You can't always tell a person's heart by what they do. Though only God can really know the heart, the closest we can come is by looking at the whole of their life.

not just at what they say or do, and especially not only at how they act at church among Christians. Here's what he's saying.

Just because a person says something, we can't determine the state of their heart based upon that. Even by looking at some of the things that they do, we can't determine a person's heart. The closest we can come, although only God can truly know the heart, is by looking at a whole life. Now, I would rather say, let's not talk about them, but let's talk about us. For us to examine ourselves, it's not just what we say, and it's not just some of the things that we do, but my whole life.

Is it lived in honor of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords? Is it lived to glorify Him? Not just how I act at church, not just how I act around other Christians. It's very easy for us to become religiously hypocritical and to play the part, to say the words and then live however we want the rest of the time. No, we need to look at our whole life. And that's the basis for where we stand with God.

They thought they had outsmarted God. They thought they'd figured out and found the loophole. They thought they could hide their thoughts, hide their deeds, in a sense, bringing God down to their level, thinking that they could escape the judgment and the punishment. Foolish. God says, whoa, judgment is coming for those who are in that state. As he goes on in 17 through 24, he no longer is focusing on Israel or Jerusalem now, but

at present as he's writing this, but the future, the restoration that will happen at some point. In verse 17 it says, "...is it not a very little while till Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field? And the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest. And that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity and out of darkness."

Verse 22. Verse 22.

Therefore thus says the Lord, who redeemed Abraham concerning the house of Jacob, Jacob shall not now be ashamed, nor shall his face now grow pale. But when he sees his children, the work of my hands in his midst, they will hollow my name, and hollow the Holy One of Jacob, and fear the God of Israel. These also who erred in spirit will come to understanding, and those who complained will learn doctrine."

Here's what God says. Judgment is coming upon Jerusalem as a result of their rebellion, as a result of their neglect of the word of God. But there will come a time when they will no longer be blind, when they will no longer be desolate, but there will be fruit. They will hear God. They will honor him. They will hallow him. Now, we know that Isaiah is pointing to the millennial period when

Jesus Christ comes and establishes His reign on the earth for a thousand years. That's ultimately when these things will be fulfilled. But as we close this evening, I want to share something with you. That it's not just something for Israel in the future when God sets up His kingdom, but this can also apply to you and I today. Nationally, for Jerusalem, this will happen yet in the future. But personally for you, this can be

For right now, for this evening, for today, that no longer do we have to be blind. No longer do we have to be stuck in this cycle that we neglect God's word and we become blind. And because we're blind, we can't understand God's word. And of course, because we can't understand God's word, we neglect it and become blind and we just are completely lost. That is dangerous and it happens for believers. But no longer do we have to be trapped in that cycle. You can enter in to the kingdom of God.

You can enter in to the redemption that is found in Christ Jesus. It doesn't have to be a sealed book anymore. But you can hear the word of God. You can receive the revelation. You can receive what God wants to speak to your heart. And I'm not talking about new revelation and weird doctrine, but just the relationship that God desires with you. He says in verse 18, "...the deaf shall hear the words of the book."

of this book. He says, Right now is the acceptable time. It's the acceptable year right now because Jesus came.

And so our ears can be opened and the word of God can speak to us. He can speak to us directly in our lives to guide us, to direct us, to draw us close to him, to correct us and teach us. Our eyes can be opened once again. In verse 19, he says, the humble also shall increase their joy. Humility is the contrast of pride.

And all of these things, he promises that they will hear, that they will see, that they'll have joy, that they'll fear God. There in verse, one of the verses, verse 23. They will hollow my name and hollow the Holy One of Jacob and fear the God of Israel. So they'll hear, they'll see, they'll have joy, they'll fear God. They'll have understanding and learn doctrine in verse 24. All of these things...

come as a result of humbling ourselves, like the man who stood before God and beat his chest and said, God, have mercy upon me, a sinner. But if we stand before God, hey God, I thank you that I'm so righteous and so religious and I'm so good and I've got this going for me and this going for me and I'm nothing like that rotten guy over there, that sinner, we won't be justified. That's religious pride, really religious hypocrisy, because we're not as good as we think we are.

as we proclaim to be. Instead, we need to humble ourselves. Now, here's the thing. Pride will prohibit all of these things in our life. If you don't hear, if you don't see, if you don't have joy, if you don't fear God, if you don't have understanding or no doctrine, well, pride will prohibit all of those things. Pride will put a stop to each of those things in your life. And so I would encourage you to examine your heart and allow God to speak to you. Have you heard from Him lately?

Is He speaking to you through His Word? Have you become blind? Unable to see? Unable to discern spiritually what is going on? Have you lost your joy? Where's the joy of the Lord that is your strength? Have you lost the fear of the Lord? Have you had your understanding become darkened? Things are more difficult to understand. You don't really understand the things of God. Even as I'm sharing things, it just doesn't always make sense. It doesn't really connect with

You're missing out. You're struggling with doctrine. I just don't know if I believe this anymore. I don't know if I believe that. Pride is the source of all of those things being stopped in our lives. And the solution, the solution, the way that we can be restored and experience the fullness of what God has for us right now, this evening, is humility. To humble ourselves. To cast ourselves before Him. To cry out for mercy and forgiveness.

to pay attention to His Word instead of neglecting it. And so this evening, the worship team is going to come up and lead us in worship. And I ask you and I encourage you to cry out to the Lord. Let Him change your heart. Don't be puffed up and lifted up in pride. But instead, humble yourself to hear from God. Let Him open your eyes. Let Him restore to you the joy of the Lord that is our strength. Let Him restore to you the fear of God that will cause you to hate sin.

and to turn from evil. Let Him give you understanding and teach you doctrine, the truth about who He is. It comes with humility. And so as they lead us in worship, I would ask that you would humble yourself and just cry out to the Lord and allow Him to do a work in your heart. As they continue on in worship, like we always do, I want to encourage you to be bold, to open yourself up and minister to someone else this evening.

And so I'm not going to give specific instruction like I often do, but they're just going to lead worship in about three songs or so. And so during this time, just be led by the Lord and allow God to work in your heart.

As you seek Him and have peace with Him, then seek to minister to someone else and allow Him to use you in ministering and sharing with someone else. And I would encourage you and challenge you to go and pray for someone else, for humility in their life, that God would open up their ears and that they would see that they would have joy, that they would have the fear of the Lord. We all need these things at work in our lives. And so pray with one another. If God puts a scripture upon your heart for someone, share it with them.

And so just be free in this time to worship the Lord, to allow Him to work in your heart and examine you for you and the Lord personally, but then also to minister to one another. And we'll continue for about three songs or so and then we'll wrap up for the evening. But let's worship the Lord and allow Him to work in us and through us.

We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.