December 12th
Read Is 29:1–14
Isa 29:2-7 Yet I will distress Ariel, and there shall be moaning and lamentation, and she shall be to me like an Ariel. (3) And I will encamp against you all around, and will besiege you with towers and I will raise siegeworks against you. (4) And you will be brought low; from the earth you shall speak, and from the dust your speech will be bowed down; your voice shall come from the ground like the voice of a ghost, and from the dust your speech shall whisper. (5) But the multitude of your foreign foes shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the ruthless like passing chaff. And in an instant, suddenly, (6) you will be visited by the LORD of hosts with thunder and with earthquake and great noise, with whirlwind and tempest, and the flame of a devouring fire. (7) And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, all that fight against her and her stronghold and distress her, shall be like a dream, a vision of the night.
A twofold prophecy is given in these words. One is a word for the not too distant future of Jerusalem from Isaiah’s time. The other concerning the end of days. Verses 1-4 particularly deal with the time of the Babylonians when the Lord shall send the Babylonians to destroy Jerusalem, kill its inhabitants and send into exile those who survive. This would happen to Jerusalem because while they may honor the Lord with their lips, their hearts are far from him. They neither fear, love or trust in the Lord their God. Other gods and other nations possess the devotion of their hearts.
Verses 5-7 though refer to the end of days. In this we can take some comfort. For we need not fear a world war of nations against nations destroying the earth. No, on the last day, the Lord shall have the nations gathered before him for battle. The nations shall encircle Jesus’ Zion, his Ariel, his Jerusalem, that is his church. They shall gather against the Church to destroy her and against Jesus to cast of his yoke. But with the breath of his mouth, our Lord Jesus Christ shall lay to waste the nations which fight against him.
The nations will be like dust and chaff. His fire shall consume them all in an instant. They shall be like a dream that is quickly forgotten. We don’t need to look for the nations gathering against the modern city of Jerusalem. That is not the Jerusalem he is talking about. It is you, his Church that he is talking about. This calls for perseverance on your part. You must endure the tribulation which you are going to be going through. But do not fear. Jesus promises to end that time before you lose heart. So be determined in your mind now that you would risk all, even your own life for the confession of the name of Jesus. When you do our Lord Jesus has these promises for you: Rev 2:7 … I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.’ Rev 2: 10-11 … I will give you the crown of life. (11)…[you] will not be hurt by the second death.’ Rev 2:17 … I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.’ Rev 2:26-27 … I will give authority over the nations, (27) and he will rule them with a rod of iron,… even as I myself have received authority from my Father. Rev 3:5 [you] will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels. Rev 3:12 …I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name. Rev 3:21 … I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.
Great and wonderful are your promises O Lord. May they keep us steadfast in the faith unto the end when you return for us. In your name we pray. Amen.