Isaiah 29
McGeeCHAPTER 29THEME: Jerusalemprophecies of immediate future and reaching on into the KingdomThe prophecies in this chapter are confined to Jerusalem but extend from the invasion of Sennacherib through the time when Jerusalem will be trodden down of the Gentiles until the last invader (see Zec_14:1-7) shall have destroyed Jerusalem and, finally, to the establishment of the Kingdom when the Messiah shall come and His feet shall touch the Mount of Olives. It will prove profitable to compare this chapter with our Lord’s discourse on Jerusalem in Mat. 23:37-24:2 and with Luk_13:34-35; Luk_21:20-24.
Isaiah 29:1
JERUSALEMHISTORY AND PROPHECYIt is necessary to establish the fact that Jerusalem is the city designated under the title of Ariel. Ariel means “lionlike.” The word occurs in 2Sa_23:20 which says, “And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man, of Kabzeel, who had done many acts, he slew two lionlike men of Moab….” A lionlike man is an “Ariel” man. The word also carries the meaning of “the lion of God.” In Eze_43:16 the same word is translated “altar” and, under certain circumstances, could mean “the altar of God.” Both designations are a fitting title for the city of Jerusalem. It is further identified here as “the city where David dwelt.” The lion is the insignia of that family. Our Lord is called “…the Lion of the tribe of Juda” (Rev_5:5). Likewise Jerusalem was the place where the temple of God was, and the altar, of course, was there. This is a remarkable prophecy concerning Jerusalem. The prophecy began to be fulfilled in Isaiah’s day and has continued right down to today. If you walk down the streets of Jerusalem, you will see this prophecy being fulfilled, and it will continue to be fulfilled.
Isaiah 29:2
This is judgment upon Jerusalem.
Isaiah 29:3
This prophecy was given before Nebuchadnezzar came up to the city of Jerusalem and destroyed it, which marked the beginning of the “…times of the Gentiles …” (Luk_21:24). Our Lord said that Jerusalem would be trodden down of the Gentiles until the Time of the Gentiles be fulfilled. The Gentiles have marched through her streets and still do today. Jerusalem has been besieged and captured more often than any other city. I have in my files a list of twenty-seven sieges that have been leveled against this city throughout history. Almost every time it was taken, it was destroyed. That is why it is not quite accurate for people to say, “Go to Jerusalem and walk where Jesus walked.” You are not going to walk where He walked, because Jerusalem is much higher today than it was in His day. For example, the pool of Bethesda was about fifty feet down from the level of the ground today. The Lord Jesus walked down there.
It is quite evident that Solomon’s temple was probably more than one hundred feet beneath where the Mosque of Omar stands today. The city has been destroyed many times, and each time it was leveled off and rebuilt on the wreckage. That is what Nehemiah didout of the debris and wreckage he rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem. Rocks did not have to be hauled in for repair work because there are more rocks over there than they could ever use. I heard a few years ago that stones were being shipped from Indiana to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple. That report was proven false, but how foolish it would have been.
There is no place on the topside of this earth that is as rocky as Jerusalem and the surrounding area. It is a rugged terrain. That is one reason Jerusalem was so difficult for the enemy to take.
Isaiah 29:6
The final siege of Jerusalem will be the worst of all (see Zech. 14), but God will intervene at the last moment and deliver His people from extermination. All the dreams of the enemies of God to bring in their own kingdom will be frustrated, and God will put them down. He will build His own Kingdom and establish it Himself, just as He said He would do.
Isaiah 29:9
JERUSALEMMEANING AND MESSAGEI have said that Isaiah is the prophet of the commonplace, and what he says fits into our contemporary culture. Did God actually make them sleepy? How did He do it? He kept giving Israel light; and, as He gave them light, they kept rejecting it. They would not accept the truth that He gave them. They could not see it, which revealed that they were blind. That is the way God puts people to sleep and the way He reveals that they are blind. Even the prophets and princes did not anticipate this deliverance from God. They were as blinded to the future as the enemies of God. They were as men who were dead drunk.
Isaiah 29:11
The attitude of the people, including God’s people, before their final deliverance by God was that prophecy was too obscure to be understood, that it was a sealed subject about which they could know nothing. This is the present-day attitude of many church leaders and preachers. I have heard seminary professors and ministers say, “Well, you know, the Book of Revelation is a sealed book. Nobody can understand it.” Those who insist that Revelation is a sealed book and that we are not supposed to understand it are saying exactly what the people in Isaiah’s day were saying about prophecy. Or, people today will say that they are too busy, that they don’t have time to study the Word of God. All kinds of excuses are offered by Christians for their own ignorance of the Scriptures. The word revelation is from the Greek word apocalypse, which means “unveiled.” God took the seal from the Book of Revelation so that it can be understood. In one sense Revelation is the simplest book in the Bible, but you must have an understanding of the sixty-five books that precede it. It is the last book of the Bible, and certainly it is not the place you should begin reading. No book is so organized, and I found it to be the easiest book in the Bible to outline. It is nonsense to say that it is symbolic, a sealed book that we are not supposed to understand. That is what they were saying in Isaiah’s day.
God will judge you for that kind of thinking because when He gives light and you will not open your eyes, you become blind to the light. Listen to what God says of Revelation in Rev_1:3, “Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.” Rev_22:10 says, “And he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand.” It is not a sealed book.
Isaiah 29:13
If you had lived in Isaiah’s day, you would have wondered what Isaiah really meant, because the people were going to the temple. It was crowdedanytime a sacrifice was offered you would find people there. There was a place for the men, a court for the women, and a court for the Gentiles. Why was God finding fault with these people? They were all coming to church, but they went through all of the ritual with their mouths. It was as if they could say the Lord’s Prayer and the Apostles’ Creed, but it did not mean anything to them. They did not believe what they were saying; they did not accept God’s Word. God said that their hearts were far from Him. That is the reason He judged them, and that is the reason He is going to judge us today. The curse of the world today is religion. God would like you to get rid of religion and come to Christ. Religion is the greatest barrier for many people today. I made that statement to a man not long ago. Immediately he countered by saying, “I want you to know, Dr. McGee, that I am a religious man.
I am religious by nature.” He had a fallen nature, but he had a religious nature. I think I shocked him when I told him that he ought to get rid of his religion and that I was not a religious man. He said, “I cannot believe that there is a preacher who is not religious. If you are not religious, what are you then?” I told him that I am a sinner who came to Christ and that I have a personal relationship with Him today. It is not a religion but a relationship. Do you have Christ, or don’t you?
That is the important thing.
Isaiah 29:15
Things are so serious for His people that He puts in another “Woe” here. This chapter contains two woes because (1) the people act as if God does not see or know, and (2) they act as if they are getting by with it.
Isaiah 29:17
JERUSALEMHONOR AND GLORYNow we see into the future. The time will come when there will be honor and glory in Jerusalem and in the land. God is not through with that city. Today it looks like a layer cake with one city built on top of the other. God has judged them, and He will judge them again. But Jerusalem will be rebuilt once again, and then it will be the city of God.
Isaiah 29:18
The deaf are going to hear, and the blind are going to see.
Isaiah 29:19
You have heard the old bromide, “No one is so blind as those who will not see.” Today, as in Isaiah’s day, there is a willful blindness. In that day, in the Millennium, they are going to see.
Isaiah 29:22
What are they going to do with the name of God? They are going to make it holythey are going to set it apart as something wonderful. Today, God’s people, by their lives, should sanctify the name of God. It is a holy namebut do we treat it that way?