Isaiah
29:7
7 And the multitude [hamown] of all the nations [gowy]
that fight [tsaba'] against Ariel ['Ari'el], even all that fight [tsabah] against her and her munition [matsowd],
and that distress [tsuwq] her, shall be as a
dream [chalowm] of a night [layil] vision [chazown]. KJV-Interlinear
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. ESV
This chapter is a reprimand against the inhabitants of
Israel, and specifically Judah, and even more specifically, the city of
Jerusalem, and finally against the Jewish people themselves. Throughout history the general trend of the
Jewish people is to reject Jesus Christ, while they continue to ignore the
prophecies and history from their own scriptures, regarding Christ, and their
continued search for another Messiah.
And they will get their wish, but not in the fashion
that they expect.
Christ came once to save the world. He will come again, to save Israel, even from
themselves, and from their own stubborn stupidity. They have been referred to as a stiff necked
people because of their stubbornness, and as a result they have had more than
their share of hard times.
But all of that was brought on to themselves, by
themselves.
It does not help that Satan wants to destroy them, but
when they aid in that agenda by means of their own rejection of Christ and
therefore become the target of Gods wrath, then that is a double whammy, which
no one in their right mind would want for themselves.
All of that said, history proves that nothing is
learned from history.
And you do not have to be Jewish to not learn
history. Nearly every race and people
have been stupid in this regard, especially anyone who ignores Gods mandates to
learn truth. Too many people resist
this, and they eventually pay the price for that refusal.
But as to the Jewish people, consider this.
One day this dispensation will end with a flash. Namely the Rapture. And then the Tribulation will begin. From there, the world will skid downhill
rapidly.
If you followed along in the Revelation study then you
already know that in the first three-and-a-half-years of the Tribulation, half of
the world’s population will die. Famine
and starvation and crime and worse, will be running rampant. The most terrible storms in all of human
history will be occurring and will keep on occurring.
Now, most normal people would see this and figure that
this was not normal.
But here we have the Jewish people, living in Israel
and specifically in Jerusalem, with all hell tearing the world apart, and then
suddenly they are surrounded in the last months of the Tribulation, with the
real Armageddon crashing down upon them, and they are surprised?
Like a dream.
They are comfortable in their way of life, ignoring the realities all
around them. Not believing that they are the real target, and then suddenly the
worlds armies are surrounding them on all sides.
And it will all seem not like a real thing, but like a
dream, a nightmare. Maybe we will wake up and this is not really happening.
And this is the course and pattern of the Jewish
people throughout history. They have
long rejected Christ and long rejected the idea that they might just be wrong
in their beliefs, and that all of history is against them, because they are
Gods chosen. And that is completely
wrong.
Life comes down hard against people when they reject
truth, reject Christ, reject doctrine.
And God allows this discipline in order for people to wake up and see
the realities of life, and their failures in life.
Some people wake up.
Many do not.
Some people look at history and see the patterns. Most do not.
As goes your attitude toward Jesus Christ, so goes
your life. Positive attitude toward Christ,
positive life. Negative attitude,
negative life. It does not get any
simpler.
But you cannot grab people by the collar and shake
sense into them. All you can do is put
doctrine in front of them and they will either see it, or they won’t.
Do you remember what the word, Ariel, means? Hummm.
We studied it in detail just a few studies ago. How does it apply here?
