Isaiah Blind Leading the Blind Isaiah 29:1-16 O ne of my favorite stories about the superstitious aspect of religion relates to the practice of religion found among some of the followers of Roman Orthodoxy. What follows isn t about that religion, but about some of her practitioners. The following may be apocryphal because I don t remember where I heard it. There is a certain church in Chicago which is very beautiful. Over the years some of its members have contributed significant amounts of monies which have been used to buy gold artifacts and objects used in the mass and to decorate the front of the sanctuary. The source of these monies is highly questionable. It comes from the criminal activities of mob families. (If you have read or seen the Godfather books you are aware of the religiosity of these people.) One of the advantages of receiving from these individuals is nothing is ever stolen from the church. And if it is, it is returned very quickly. It seems if one goes to confession and endows that church, then it doesn t matter how you life your life. The church becomes a good-luck charm to keep you out of hell. If that isn t superstition, I don t know what is. And even more obvious example of how the appearance of Christianity and superstition can live side by side can be seen in Brazil. (I do need to say I don t know if what follows is as extant today as it once was.) Followers of Roman Orthodoxy may be faithful attendees of the mass. But they are often followers of Santeria as well. They see no problem with being identified with Christendom and with one of the earlier and what we would call pagan religions. In fact, as with the early Roman church, they mix the elements of both. This is because religion becomes indistinguishable from superstition. It is not about relationship with God, but placating Him to avoid eternal suffering. Well we can understand how this can happen in Orthodoxy, after all there is prayer to the saints and Mary, relics, and other non-biblical kind of stuff, right? This would never happen in Christianity on our side of the street. Of course not! But what about those that teach if you give enough money, God has to return it a hundred fold. More on this later. I Introduction II History and Prophecy Verses 1-8 III Meaning and Message Verses 9-16 IV Conclusion Introduction: As you may remember, we are identifying this section through chapter 38 as the Book of Zion. While the sections start with woes, the difference between this section and the original Book of Woes is a focus on Judah rather than the gentile nations.
The focus of Isaiah s prophecies have both short- and long-term implications. Clearly these prophecies were fulfilled during the period that was in the near future to Isaiah. But these fulfillments were simply foreshadowing of much greater fulfillments still to come. Dr. McGee introduces this specific prophecy this way: The 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 Zech. 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. 1 Verse 1-4: As we join this prophecy, Isaiah tells of conditions in Jerusalem, here referred to as Ariel. There are a couple of ways this word can be interpreted and therefore identified as speaking of Jerusalem. The first approach is identified by Grogan. The name Ariel does possess a certain naturalness if in fact it actually means altar hearth, so that in all four occurrences (two in v.1 and two in v.2) it would bear the same meaning. Its naturalness derives from the fact that Jerusalem was a place of sacrifice, with an altar hearth in the temple where sacrifices were always burning. 2 You can see here why sometimes Hebrew is a bit difficult to translate because this word does have two meanings. Dr. McGee takes the other approach when he notes: Ariel means lionlike. The word occurs in 2 Samuel 23:20 which says, And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of the valiant man, of Kabzell, who had done many acts, he slew two lionlike men of Moab. A lionlike man is an Ariel man. The world also carries the meaning of the lion of God. In Ezekiel 43:16 the same word is translated altar and, under certain circumstances, could mean the altar of God. 3 So which is correct? And does it matter? Remember the point here is to understand that Isaiah is speaking of Jerusalem in the prophecy. Dr. McGee summarizes the two approaches this way: Both designations are a fitting title for the city of Jerusalem. It is further identified 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. 4 The reason I took the time to make this point was to show a more general principal when dealing with difficult passages. Frequently, the difficulties do not interfere with understanding the passage. With other information and context we can understand the intent of the passage. Even here where there are two significantly different ways of understanding the word in question, either approach leads to the same conclusion, Isaiah is speaking of Jerusalem. Now let s move on to what Isaiah has to say about the city. Feasting is going on. The religious festivals go on as if life was never going to change. In a sense religion, and religiosity 1 McGee, J. Vernon, Thru the Bible with J. Vernon McGee, Vol. 3, Isaiah, Thomas Nelson Inc., Nashville, TN 1982, p. 263. 2 Grogan, Geoffrey W., The Expositor s Bible Commentary, Isaiah, Zondervan Interactive Publishing House, Grand Rapids, MI, 1990. 3 McGee. 4 Ibid. ) 236 (
can over time simply become superstition. If we do what we are supposed to do then everything will go alright. Of course we never fall into this kind of thinking do we? Can you think of any examples where you may have fallen into this trap? Have you every heard anyone get upset because their life isn t going smoothly? They say I have been doing what God has called me to do. I ve been sacrificing for Him. Why is this happening? They seem to believe that God owes them. This isn t biblical, this is superstition. What is God s response to this behavior? Judgment. Their practices had moved from creating relationship with God to placating Him. But the result was to make God their enemy. He has become an enemy to His own children. Of course He is an enemy from their perspective. From His own, He is a loving parent who wants to save His children, no matter the cost. So where there has been status quo, now there will be weeping and mourning. The actual method of judgment is military. God will be bringing siege towers up to the walls. siege towers. Assyrian reliefs from the palace at Nineveh and the annals of several kings depict a number of different types of siege engines. One of the most common was the siege tower, which was rolled up as close as possible to a city s walls. From its heights archers could target enemy soldiers, and assault bridges could be extended onto the ramparts. At the base of the tower, protected from the rain of stones, hot oil and arrows, engineers and sappers could work to undermine the walls or employ battering rams. 5 Where once there were voices of an arrogant people, living life as they saw fit, now they are so beaten down you can hardly hear them. It is actually as if they were speaking from the dead. So much for the covenant with death, (see 28). Verse 5-8: As this scene fades a new one appears. This one seems to be in a more distant time. The enemies of Jerusalem here are no longer victorious. Instead they become insubstantial. While this may have been partially fulfilled in 701 B.C., the language describing God s action seems to call for something greater. Here the nations from all over the world come up against Jerusalem. They are committed to her destruction. But something has changed. God intervenes and all their efforts go for naught. This account is referred to in Revelation. When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth Gog and Magog to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore. They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God s people, the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. (Revelation 20:7-9). Verse 9-14: In the first verses we see a warning to Jerusalem of the coming attack against the city. In fact Jerusalem has found herself under continuous siege through out much of her history. Dr. McGee describes the situation this way: 5 Walton, John H., Victor H. Matthews, and Mark W. Chavalas IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament, InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, IL, 2000. ) 237 (
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 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. 6 The second set of verses looked into a different time when God would come to the assistance of the city and bring judgment down on her enemies. This refers to the Tribulation period. A day of the LORD is coming when your plunder will be divided among you. I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it; the city will be captured, the houses ransacked, and the women raped. Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be taken from the city. Then the LORD will go out and fight against those nations, as he fights in the day of battle (Zechariah 14:1-3). But now Isaiah returns to the problem in Jerusalem which would lead to her judgment. The problem is demonstrated by the religiosity of the people. As we saw at the beginning, they were celebrating the feasts. They were going to the temple and offering sacrifices. In fact they were doing everything God asked of them, except they were only going through the motions. Their heart was turned far away from God. Again we see the job of prophet is frustrating. At the same time as he give his prophecies, he is forced to tell the people they are blinded to what he has to say. This is a spiritual blindness, first chosen by the people and then followed up by God. Much of scripture is sealed because people are unwilling to understand God. No one is exempted. The wise are blind because of arrogance and an unwillingness to see. The uneducated are blind because they choose not to learn. When the heart is hardened against God the eyes, or understanding, is closed to Him. But in the end, the wisdom of the wise will fail and the foolishness of God will be vindicated. One day the members of the Jesus Seminar will stand before Christ and they will have nothing to say. The clergy who deny the virgin birth, the resurrection, and God s judgment will face that judgment. They will have nothing to say. Conclusion: We find two problems revealed in this section. The first seems to be more applicable to those who call themselves believers, but should reexamine this claim. There are many calling themselves Christians who are simply blinded by their religiosity or their arrogance. Today, these are typified by those of the Jesus Seminar who, claiming to be educated, decide for themselves what to accept or reject in scripture. They are blind to the truth of scripture and their own need of God s supernatural gift of salvation provided through Christ s sacrifice and proven by His resurrection. Others rewrite scripture to justify all kinds of heretical and aberrant teachings. For example, God is love, therefore homosexuality is consistent with His creation. Christ was wealthy 6 McGee. ) 238 (
and so we are intended to be wealthy and healthy. Here the blindness is driven by people wanting to justify their behaviors or desires by scripture. Both of these groups are religious but that is meaningless. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men (Matthew 15:9). This kind of behavior moves into the second problem, religion as a form of superstition. I believe this is rampant within the church. Most of it is more a practical superstition rather than a thought-out position. The problem is people confuse faith with magic. If you have enough faith, God will have to heal you. If you pray the right formula, God will have to give you what you ask for. These are fairly obvious problems from where we sit. What is less obvious is the way we can fall into the trap. The problem is it is too easy to live the Christian life looking for what God can give us circumstantially rather than what He can give us spiritually. I suppose this is inevitable because of the materialistic society in which we live. But at best this means desiring what is second best. Settling for second best is why so many Christians live unfulfilled and empty lives. Too often we look in the wrong places for fulfillment. This was Judah s failure. But it doesn t need to be ours. If we remember we are truly blessed because God allows us to be in circumstances that lead to growth and give us opportunities that advance His kingdom, then we will see with the Spirit s wisdom. Joy comes from living with an eternal perspective rather than a temporal one. This is also how we find true freedom from our circumstances. Joy, freedom, and power come from an eternal perspective and the infilling of the Holy Spirit. Let us keep looking up instead of so frequently looking down. 7 Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart; Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art Thou my best thought, by day or by night, Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light. Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word; I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord; Thou my great Father, I Thy true son, Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one. Riches I heed not, nor man s empty praise, Thou min inheritance, now and always; Thou and Thou only, first in my heart, High King of heaven, my Treasure Thou art. High King of heaven, my victory won, May I reach heaven s joys, O bright heav n s Sun! Heart of my own heart, whatever befall, Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all. 7 Ancient Irish hymn, The Hymnal for Worship & Celebration, Be Thou My Vision, Word Music, Waco, TX, 1986, #382. ) 239 (
Isaiah Blind Leading the Blind Isaiah 29:1-16 I Introduction II History and Prophecy Verses 1-8 III Meaning and Message Verses 9-16 IV Conclusion I Introduction: II History and Prophecy: (Revelation 20:7-9)
III Meaning and Message: (Zechariah 14:1-3) IV Conclusion: (Matthew 15:9) Personal Application: What are some ways you are looking down? How can you move your focus up? How can you encourage others to look up? Prayer for the Week: Lord, help us to keep our eyes on You rather than on the waves. In Christ s name, amen.