Ariel is a symbolic name for Jerusalem and is drawn from a word meaning ‘lion of God’, either for strength or victory. Sometimes Ariel is applied more specifically to the altar in the temple at Jerusalem. Then the inference is that the nation’s strength flowed from the true worship of God because divine acceptance is received through blood sacrifice. These ideas combine in the Lord Jesus who is both the Lion of the tribe of Juda for strength and the altar and sacrifice who won victory for His people at the cross. The curse of hypocrisy In our verses Isaiah implies that sacrifices in Jerusalem had become mere rituals. Now they brought woe, not blessing, upon the nation because they were no longer offered to…

Today we have a passage announcing judgment on Israel and Judah and some beautiful pictures of the Lord Jesus to bless the hearts of believers then and now. The apostles drew on these verses to encourage their own generation and their testimony still stands sure and firm. Our God has laid in Zion a chief corner stone ‘and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded’. A crown of pride Drunkenness is frequently denounced in scripture as a source of shame and a cause for judgment, so, too, is man’s sinful pride. Isaiah declares that Ephraim, used for the ten tribes of Israel, is guilty of both drunkenness and pride; sensual indulgence and abusing God’s kindness. The Lord is about to use Assyria, a…