Isaiah 29

29 Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt! add ye year to year; let them kill sacrifices.

So, Jerusalem is under siege by Assyria and Sennacherib. It’s called “Ariel” or “God’s Lion.” Because it was the measure for justice for many years, but it had backslidden. Therefore, Sennacherib came up against it, and attacked it, and besieged it for its sin. “Let them kill sacrifices”, let them offer their sacrifices, as it may deliver them. Their suffering will be prolonged, “Year to year.”

2 Yet I will distress Ariel, and there shall be heaviness and sorrow: and it shall be unto me as Ariel.

The LORD will distress Ariel. Sennacherib might be coming against Israel—Satan may be attacking the Prophets, and the Wise Men and those who make mention of the LORD—but the LORD will cause heaviness and sorrow for her sin. And the whole land shall be as Ariel. There will be heaviness and sorrow.

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.

The LORD, through Sennacherib—Lucifer, the Covering Cherub—he’ll lay siege to Jerusalem for her sin. The LORD will raise the fortress against Jerusalem, and use the Assyrian to attack her.

4 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 of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust.

The LORD will cause Jerusalem’s voice to be heard as a whisperer, and a familiar spirit. She will whisper from the dust and murmur and whisper. She will be as if she were demon possessed, and a whisperer.

5 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.

Yet, those who come against her, the strangers who are attacking Jerusalem, shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the terrible ones shall be chaff that passes away… it will happen in one instant, their whole army shall be destroyed and defeated.

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.

The LORD shall visit Jerusalem with thunder, earthquake, and great noise and storm and tempest, and devour the invaders with a flame of devouring fire.

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.

And as the nations are coming up against Jerusalem, the LORD shall cause it to be like a Night Terror, and Jerusalem shall awaken, and be safe from her danger. She will be unharmed.

8 It shall even be 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.

For the nations attacking her, it will be like a dreamer, that when they’re starving and eating, they will awake, or when they drink, they will awake, and they shall be hungry, and not have destroyed her. They wished to feed upon the substance of Jerusalem, and the treasures, but they cannot. Both Jerusalem and her enemies shall awaken, and it will be like a dream, to Jerusalem's safety, and to the Assyrian’s utter destruction, for they shall be barren and wasted. As is what happened to Sennacherib’s army, the angel passed through, and wasted it with a virus.

9 Stay yourselves, and wonder; cry ye out, and cry: they are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink.

For those who are drunk with power—not with wine—they will stagger, but not with strong drink. They will stagger for their misuse of powers and judgments.

10 For the Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered.

The Prophets are sleeping, and are covered. The seers are sleeping deep, and cannot awaken.

11 And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed:

The people will not be able to understand the vision. It will be like a sealed book, where the reader will be unable to understand it—for it will be sealed. So, the learned will not be able to understand it, because it will be like the vision is sealed.

12 And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned.

Then, it will be given to the lay, but on account of their being unknowledgeable of God’s Word, they will not be able to read it.

13 Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:

The people draw near to the LORD with their lips, and honor him, but honor him through the precept of man. They withdraw their love, mercy, kindness, and fruits of the Spirit, and honor a god of riches, power, revelry and drunkenness. They forget the statutes of the LORD, and the plain law handed down by Moses, and given to us by Christ. For the vision is sealed, and they cannot know it. They cannot know the truth, and therefore err in everything they do, seeking for a life to fill it with all the pleasures they can muster. 

14 Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.

The wisdom of the wise men will perish—the “Evolution isn’t real” and the interpretations of the Bible will all be foolhardy, and the idea that we need God for morals to be subsistent and extant—and their common arguments shall all fail, and it shall be as chaff, as the LORD wishes His people to see the truth, that God’s law is established in nature, and is apparent to all and within all creation, and that is the proof He exists, that His law is established in nature, and need be observed there. And those who have wisdom, will be hidden from the people.

15 Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the Lord, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us?

Those who are against the prophets, seek counsel to destroy the LORD. Sennacherib has deep counsel against the LORD’s anointed, and wishes to upset and destroy his ministry, before revival happens. And they say, “The LORD does not see us.” For they are false, and believe that the LORD does not live, and therefore corrupt everything with their errant philosophies and confuse what is plain to even children.

16 Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter's clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding?

They turn all wisdom upside down, and this is the snare of Jerusalem and Israel, and they are created for this purpose, to reveal the majesty of the LORD. Shall they hate the LORD, though He created them to hew, and to bring about His mysterious purpose? To establish righteousness and His law forever?

17 Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest?

The forest, and untamed and wild man will be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall become untamed. It will be a reversal of fortune, as those who should have known the statutes of our God will be made wild and ferocious, as those who didn’t hear it—a people not called—shall know and bear fruit.

18 And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness.

In that day, the deaf will hear the words of a book, and the eyes of the blind shall be opened. And such has already happened.

19 The meek also shall increase their joy in the Lord, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.

Those who are poor shall increase their joy—as the Gospel is to the dispossessed, not the mighty. The poor received the true Gospel, while the rich forsook it for worldly gains.

20 For the terrible one is brought to nought, and the scorner is consumed, and all that watch for iniquity are cut off:

The terrible one is brought to nothing. The scorner is consumed. Sennacherib, who scorns God’s people, and teaches them error, and watches for iniquity which he has reaped in their hearts, with his errant philosophies, he shall be destroyed, since he was a hypocrite and liar, and performed every gross sin imaginable, while watching for it in the saints, to accuse them, and thereby make their hearts sorrowful.

21 That make a man an offender for a word, and lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate, and turn aside the just for a thing of nought.

The people of Jerusalem made a man an offender for a word—for simply unburdening himself with sins, and trying to make a confession—he who reproved at the gate—the one who taught the statutes wisely, and told the truth, that judgment must come—and turned aside the just—they deprived the poor man of his right, and distressed him heavily, and would not let him up for even a moment, though his heart was toward the LORD in everything.

22 Therefore thus saith the Lord, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob, Jacob shall not now be ashamed, neither shall his face now wax pale.

Jacob shall not wax pale, and shall not be pale. The LORD shall restore comfort to Jacob—to the man of Israel who held to the Law and Statutes, and did not depart from them, but made them his treasure.

23 But when he seeth his children, the work of mine hands, in the midst of him, they shall sanctify my name, and sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and shall fear the God of Israel.

When Jacob shall be restored, he shall see his children—the converts to the true law, and the converts to true religion, and possibly the children he will bear with Zion—he shall sanctify the LORD and forget all his sins, and his wicked thoughts. He shall fear the LORD, and know He is a rewarder of those who seek Him with everything they do.

24 They also that erred in spirit shall come to understanding, and they that murmured shall learn doctrine.

Those who erred in spirit, shall come to understanding—those who erred from the way, and were riotous with the Spirit of God, and who did unseemly things in worship—and those who murmured against Zion, shall learn doctrine.