Today let’s look at Isaiah chapter 29. The title of today’s message is “The mourning of Ariel“. If you look at verse 1 it says,”Woe to you, Ariel, Ariel. ““Ariel” (1) is Jerusalem. The Lord is mourning for Israel. There is lamenting and mourning. Today let’s look at why there is mourning and lamenting.

I. Besieged Ariel (Vs. 1-8)
First let’s look at verses 1 to 8. I will read verses 1 and 2. “Woe to you, Ariel, Ariel, the city where David settled! Add year to year and let your cycle of festivals go on. Yet I will besiege Ariel; she will mourn and lament, she will be to me like an altar hearth.”
“Ariel” (1) as I mentioned earlier refers to Jerusalem. It means “the lion of God” or “altar hearth” (2). Why is God calling Israel, “Ariel” (1)?
1. The town was like a courageous and healthy lion that leads the world. Verse 1 says, “The city where David settled! Add year to year and let your cycle of festivals go on.” This town was “the city where David settled.” (1) By David it was made into a city. When David carried the Ark of the Covenant into the town, he danced “before the LORD with all his might.” (II Samuel 6:14) It was like a courageous lion.
2. Ariel will be besieged so it will become “like an altar hearth”. (2) “An altar hearth” (2) is the hearth on which the sacrifices were offered. They will experience a trying experience which will be a like fire. The reason for this is that their hearts were far apart from God.
Let’s look at this more fully later, but now let’s look at how they were besieged. That is in verses 3 and 4. “I will encamp against you on all sides; I will encircle you with towers and set up my siege works against you. Brought low, you will speak from the ground; your speech will mumble out of the dust. Your voice will come ghostlike from the earth; out of the dust your speech will whisper.”
This is when Assyria surrounded Jerusalem. This happened in 701B.C. The king of Assyria, King Sennacherib encircled Jerusalem. Jerusalem was really like a flame that is blown out as soon as the wind comes. They fell to the ground with painful mourns. It looked like everyone was dying. Like the dead complaining in hell, their voices will be numerous mourns.
However, this “Ariel” (1), Jerusalem will be saved by God’s miraculous entrance into history. God’s angel came and in one night killed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers. That is recorded in verse 5. “But your many enemies will become like fine dust, the ruthless hordes like blown chaff. Suddenly, in an instant.” It occurred suddenly, in an instant. It occurred in only one night.

Please look at verses 6 to 8. “The LORD Almighty will come with thunder and earthquake and great noise, with windstorm and tempest and flames of a devouring fire. Then the hordes of all that nations that fight against Ariel, that attack her and her fortress and besiege her, will be as it is with a dream, with a vision in the night; as when a hungry person dreams of eating, but awakens hungry still; as when a thirsty person dreams of drinking, but awakens faint and thirsty still. So will it be with the hordes of all the nations that fight against Mount Zion.”
God will completely watch over “Ariel”. (7) “Ariel” will be brought so low that they “will mumble out of the dust.”(4) However, their “many enemies will become like fine dust,” (5) unable to speak at all. They will become like chaff blown away in the wind. “Suddenly, in an instant, the LORD Almighty will come” (6) and it “will be as it is with a dream, with a vision in the night-“(7) they and their prosperity and success will soon vanish. “Then the hordes of all the nations that fight against Ariel” (7)　will be ”as when a hungry person dreams of eating, but awakens hungry still” (8) Whereas the enemies dreamed of making a prey of Jerusalem, and to enrich themselves with the plunder of that great city, their hopes shall prove vain dreams, and they will awaken to disappointment. They dreamed of being masters of Jerusalem, but that won’t happen. They themselves, and all their power and prosperity, shall vanish like a dream when one awakes.
Assyria was not the only one who experienced this. Up until the present day Jerusalem has been invaded over and over again. David made Jerusalem into a city in 1004 B.C., but up until today according to the records it has been conquered over 86 times. Assyria almost took over Jerusalem, but by the miraculous entrance of God into history, they were prevented from doing so. However, after Assyria, by the next country to gain power, Babylon, Jerusalem fell. By the Babylonian king, King Nebuchadnezzar, the temple that was built by Solomon in Jerusalem was completely destroyed. The Jews that were living in Jerusalem were taken to Babylon. In other words, this was the Diaspora. That was in 586 B.C. However, according to the promise of God Himself, the Jews would be set free from their bondage. By the Persian King, King Cyprus, they were able to return to Jerusalem. However, after that too the control of Jerusalem by the Gentiles continued up through the age of Rome. People hoped that Jesus would set them free from this Roman rule. However, the freedom that Jesus brought was not from Rome, but from the root cause of all problems, sin. In the course of time in 70A.D. the Roman army led by the future Emperor Titus besieged and conquered the city of Jerusalem. Jerusalem was destroyed and the second temple that had been rebuilt after the Jews returned to Jerusalem during the reign of Cyrus was destroyed. Over a million Jews were said to have been killed, close to ten thousand were capture and enslaved and many others fled to other areas. Thus the Jews became scattered throughout the world. Then for a long time the Islamic empire rule continued. From 1516 to 1917 the Ottoman Turks Empire which was also part of the Islamic empire controlled Jerusalem. At that time it was thought that Jerusalem was raided by the Gentiles. However, in the late 1800s the Jews from all over the world began returning to Jerusalem. Then in 1948 Israel was reinstated as a country and declared as the homeland for the Jewish people. This is the State of Israel. That is a fulfillment of the Lord’s promise in Isaiah 11:11 and 12.
Isaiah 11:11, 12
After that there has been continuous conflict with the neighboring Arab countries over the hegemony of Jerusalem. However in 1967 Israel captured East Jerusalem during the Third Arab-Israeli War and subsequently annexed it so it was set free from Arab control and set free from Gentile control and became an international city. This was only a 6 day war so it is also called the Six-Day War. Now Israel blooms with flowers and produces plentiful fruit. That is because Jerusalem is “the city where David settled!” (1) Those who try to control it, it “will be as it is with a dream, with a vision in the night” (7) when they awake it will disappear.

II. A deep sleep (Vs. 9-16)
The reason why such morning occurred in “Ariel” (1) is because their hearts became separated from God. This is written in verses 9 to 16. First please read verses 9 and 10.
“Be stunned and amazed, blind yourselves and be sightless; be drunk, but not from wine, stagger, but not from beer. The LORD has brought over you a deep sleep: He has sealed your eyes (the prophets) he has covered your heads (the seers).
What their problem was is written here. That is because their eyes are sealed and their heads are covered. From the first half of Isaiah chapter 28 the problems of Ephraim, Northern Israel, are recorded. That was that they were drunkards. They were confused and in chaos because of alcohol. They staggered. The southern kingdom of Judah, Jerusalem, “Ariel” (1) saw them and it became a source of laughing and joking for them. However, they also had a problem themselves. They were also in the
condition of being drunk. That wasn’t from wine. It wasn’t from strong alcohol. They were in a “deep sleep” (9) so they couldn’t understand the Words of the Lord. Please look at verses 11 and 12.
“For you this whole vision is nothing but words sealed in a scroll. And if you give the scroll to someone who can read, and say, ‘read this, please,’ they will answer, ‘I can’t; it is sealed.’ Or if you give the scroll to someone who cannot read, and say, ‘Read this please,’ they will answer, ‘I don’t know how to read.’”
For them “this whole vision is nothing but words sealed in a scroll.” (11) They don’t understand the Bible. Even if they “give the scroll to someone who can read, and say, ‘read this, please,’ they will answer, ‘I can’t.” (11) It doesn’t matter whether they have had an education or never had an education, it doesn’t make any difference. That is because they don’t want to understand. They don’t want to be enlightened. This is the problem. It doesn’t matter how much of the Bible you hand to them if they don’t want to understand then it is just boring and uninteresting. It is nothing more than a mysterious book that no matter where you read from, you can’t understand it. Only to those who want to study the Bible, who want to know the truth more deeply is understanding given to. No matter how uneducated a person is, if he wants to know the Word and wants to change, he can read it and understand. The Lord Jesus said, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks find; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. “To those who seek it, it will be given, to those who look for it, it will be found, to those who knock, it will be opened. At present the literacy rate in our country is 99%. Almost all people can read. Anyone can read the Bible. This is grace, isn’t it? Before it was not so. There was an age when even if you wanted to read, you couldn’t. Even today it is said that in the world there are 776,000,000 adults who can’t read and write. However, we can read and write. Not only can we read and write, but we can have our own Bible. Not only do we have our own Bible, but not just one, but several. Some people have many different translations and Bibles in different languages. Anyone can read the Bible without there being objections. Even so, we don’t read it. It sits nicely displayed on the book shelf. That is we don’t want to study it, we don’t earnestly desire to know. Let’s be thankful for God’s grace that gives understanding of the Bible even to the uneducated. Let’s humble ourselves and study and have a heart that listens and follows.
Let’s look at verses 13 and 14. Here is written the real reason why people don’t read the Bible. It says, “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on
merely human rules they have been taught. Therefore, once more I will astound these people with wonder upon wonder; the wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish.”
These words were quoted by Jesus. They were quoted in Matt. 15:8, 9 and in Mark 7:6, 7. The Lord quoted these words when the scholars of the law accused the disciples of putting aside God’s commandments by not following the rules of purification by eating bread without washing their hands. The Lord quoted this passage, “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.”
There is such a thing as honoring God with our mouth, but our heart being far away from God. There are times when at the worship service we give lip service, but our hearts aren’t involved in it. Our heart isn’t there. While singing, we think about what we’re going to do about dinner. Even though we pray, we think about work or school. We think we are tired and that we a missing a good T.V. program. While singing we are drawn into the melody and mood, but don’t think about the words to the song. We only are joining everyone else in singing, but it is only lip service not worship. Even

though our mouth is praising God, our heart is far away. We too make the same mistake they made. “Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught.”
This is the problem: only teaching the teachings of man. They weren’t teaching God’s Word, the Bible as the Holy Scriptures. This week is this passage, the next week is that passage and they taught their own principles and opinions from various passages. By doing that it is natural that their hearts would become separated from God. We pastors and teachers must really reflect and contemplate on this. We must teach the Bible as the Holy Scriptures. Even if it is a difficult passage, we need to believe that there is no passage that is meaningless or a waste of time and study the Word of God and then teach it. Also we must obey that Word in our lives.
They haven’t been around for a while, but last week Jehovah’s Witness came to our house. When I answered the door they said, “Hello. We are going around spreading good news. Are you a Pastor? Recently there was an earthquake and natural disasters, but what do you think the future will bring?”
I too put a smiling expression on my whole face and answered, “What will the future bring? It will happen just as the Bible says it will.”
They said, “Is that so? Did you know in the future a time will come when there is no sadness, no crying, and the tears will be wiped from our eyes?”
I said, “Yes, I believe such a time will come. When will it come?”
They said, “When that time is only God knows.”
I answered, “So, no one knows when Jesus will come again, or when the end of the world is, but when the tears will be wiped from our eyes is clearly written in the Bible. In Rev. 21 it says it will come about when the new heaven and new earth come. The Millennium finishes and Satan is released from prison in Rev. 20. Jesus has victory over Satan and at the end at the white throne God’s judgment takes place. At the judgment those who have their names written in the book of the lamb will inherit the new heaven and the new earth. It is written like this in the Bible.”
Then the person changed the conversation by saying, “Do you interpret the Biblical account in the chronology that it is written in? Are the things written in the Gospel written in chronological order?”
I answered, “No, I think what is important about the Gospels is not whether it is in chronological order or not, but understanding why they were written. Matthew was written for the Jews. It was written so that the Jews would know that the prophecies of the Old Testament were fulfilled in Jesus and that Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah, the Savior. Luke carefully examined and wrote the Gospel Luke so that the Gentiles could understand well, so that we who are Gentile could understand the Gospel.
Then the person took out the magazine, “Watch Tower” from her bag saying, “Do you know what is written in Eccl. 3:11?”

As soon as I answered, “Yes, “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also “set eternity in the human heart,” she began to explain eternal life from the magazine. Her explanation went round and round in circles and her point was off.
I asked, “What is eternal life?”
They answered strange things like, “The joy of life” or “fun”.
Therefore, I said, It is the “image of God” in Genesis 1:26 and 27. God “set eternity in the human heart.” (Eccl. 3:11) That is called our spirit and soul. Eternal life is the condition of when our spirit is connected to God. However, the first man Adam committed sin so we lost that life. However, Jehovah abundant in mercy sent his only son, Jesus, to the world and by the cross forgave our sin and completed the work of salvation. Therefore, anyone who believes in Jesus as their Lord and Savior, he will be saved. He can receive eternal life.
They were very surprised. They said they didn’t think that there were pastors that studied the Bible that much. Then they asked, “What is the work of a Pastor?”
I responded, “What is written in Ephesians 4? Pastors are “to prepare God’s people for works of service so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:12,13)
When I said that they said, “Now everyone is walking around together in this area so we don’t have any time. If you would like to study the Bible, we would like to come again at a later time.”
I told them, “But that is not studying the Bible. If you really want to study the Bible, the Bible is all you need. Let’s talk from the Bible. If so I’ll put aside as much time as needed to do so.” Then they left.
It seems like they are teaching the Bible, but in reality it is not the Bible. They are teaching the teachings of men. No matter how enthusiastic they are their heart is far from God. What is important is not what man teaches, but what the Bible is saying. We need to know what is written in the Bible and follow it. If we do that the Lord will perform “wonder upon wonder.” (14) He will do what we never ever thought of in our hearts, things we have never seen and things that we have never heard about. This is so “the wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish.” (14) When we listen to God’s Word as the Word of God, and when we follow it, then God’s works of “wonder upon wonder” (14) appear.
Please look at verses 15 and 16. Here it says, “Woe to those who go to great depths to hide their plans from the LORD. Who do their work in darkness and think, ‘Who sees us? Who will know?’ You turn things upside down, as if the potter were thought to be like the clay! Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘You did not make me’? Can the pot say to the potter, ‘You know nothing’?”

In order to deal with the Assyrian attack Judah made an alliance with Egypt. That action ignored Isaiah’s warning, and was a humanistic solution. They hid such plans and did “their work in darkness.” (15) They thought “Who sees us? Who will know?” (15) However, God knows everything. Even if no one else sees, God is looking.
Psalms 139:1-8
God is everywhere. He knows everything. In God’s eyes everything is naked. Therefore, we can’t hide anything for God. Therefore, if we hide what we are planning from the Lord it is the same as turning “things upside down” (18). It is looking at God as only man. It is like a pot saying to the potter, “You did not make me…You know nothing.” (16) Things are turned “upside down”. (16)
Tohoyohiko Kagawa said that a person who says to show him God who made this world is like a baby in a mother’s womb asking to see his mother. People who don’t think there is a God and don’t recognize God’s existence is like someone yelling from within his mother’s womb that until he sees his mother then he won’t believe in her. That’s very strange. It’s ridiculous. God knows all our ways. With a perfect hand he leads us. The only thing we are asked to do is to believe in God and follow the Word of God. We are asked to honor him not only with our lips, but from heart, to seek God, to follow God, to love God. This is the essence of faith.

III. Those who complain will accept instruction (Vs. 17-24)
Lastly let’s end by looking at the restoration of “Ariel” (1) in verses 17 to the end of the chapter. First let’s read verses 17 to 21.
Vs. 17-21
This is the prophecy of the recovery of “Ariel” (1), Jerusalem, Israel. Here it says, “In a short time, will not Lebanon be turned into a fertile field and the fertile field seem like a forest?” (17) “In a short time”(17) is “in that day” in the next verse. This refers to the end of the world. At the end of the world Lebanon will “be turned into a fertile field.” (17) Lebanon used to be full of buried land mines, but now it has been turned into magnificent fruit orchards. It isn’t well know, But Lebanon is 40% Christian. The prophecy of Lebanon’s recovery is being fulfilled little by little. At the end of the world, this will be fulfilled completely.
That isn’t just Lebanon. Those whose ears could not hear, those who could not see with their eyes will all listen to the Word of God and try to understand. People who thought that the Bible is boring and can’t understand it and didn’t want to read it will gladly “hear the words of the scroll.” (18) Those who didn’t understand what it was saying will see clearly. They will understand. They will think, “The Bible is really interesting! I want to study it more. I want to know more.” The Lord will give the people who humble themselves like this and the needy happiness and enjoyment. “The ruthless will vanish, the mockers will disappear and all who have an eye for evil will be cut down- those who with a word make someone out to be guilty, who ensnare the defender in court and with false testimony deprive the innocent of justice“ (20, 21) That is because the Lord Jesus will return. In that day, The Lord will make all things clear and correct all lies.
“Therefore this is what the LORD, who redeemed Abraham, says to the descendants of Jacob: ‘No longer will Jacob be ashamed; no longer will their faces grow pale. When they see among them their children, the work of my hands, they will keep my name holy; they will acknowledge the holiness of the Holy One of Jacob, and will stand in awe of the God of Israel. Those who are wayward in spirit will gain understanding; those who complain will accept instruction.’” (22-24)
In that day “they will acknowledge the holiness of the Holy One of Jacob, and will stand in awe of the God of Israel. Those who are wayward in spirit will gain understanding; those who complain will accept instruction.” (23,24) People who don’t know what to do, have lost their way, can’t make decisions, lost in lust, lost in money, a confused heart, can’t make a correct decision “will gain understanding”. (24) They will no longer fall to temptation. Also “those who complain will accept instruction.” (24) The people who in the daily trials they meet think painfully “why?” “why do these terrible things happen?” “will accept instruction.” (24)
Psalm 119:71
Trials are changed into grace. What a thankful thing!
God will for sure do this for you. That is because you are God’s “Ariel”. (1) You are God’s City Jerusalem. This is the city of God that God ordained. God is with you. He will protect you from all misfortunes, and fill you with joy forever. “The LORD, who redeemed Abraham will redeem you and place you in God’s city. “In a very short time” (17) you like Lebanon will “be turned into a fertile field.” Let’s believe this and humbly list to God’s Word and follow it. Let’s become poor and seek God’s Word. If so the Lord will give you understanding. Is your heart lost? Are you complaining about the things you are facing? Please listen to God’s teachings. Then understand it. Focus your eyes on God’s big plans that are there. Study the Lord’s teaching. This is the origin of blessings.