OUR FATHER WHO FIRST JUDGES HIS OWN BUT DEFENDS THEM AGAINST THEIR ENEMIES

Isaiah chapter 29 verses 3 - 5 contain the words of the Lord speaking to the town of  Ariel where king David once encamped. In the context of this chapter, this small town stands in for the city of David, Jerusalem or at a meta level, the people of Zion. The verses say this;

I will camp against you and encircle you, And I will hem you in with siege works, And I will raise fortifications against you.

Then you [Jerusalem] will be brought low, You will speak from the earth, And from the dust where you lie face down Your muffled words will come. Your voice will also be like that of a spirit from the earth [like one produced by a medium], And your speech will whisper and squeak from the dust.

But the multitude of your enemies [that assault you] will become like fine dust, And the multitude of the tyrants like the chaff which blows away; And it will happen in an instant, suddenly [that your enemy is destroyed].

The Lord brings judgment on his own people first. He sets up camp against them and encircles them. He traps them with siege works and fortifications.

And Jerusalem is brought low. They are pressed face down into the soil and they whisper from the dust like a ghost from the ground. Jerusalem is judged and sentenced to be disciplined because they adopted an insincere religious tradition described in Isaiah chapter 29 verse 13 this way;

“Because this nation approaches [Me only] with their words And honors Me [only] with their lip service, But they remove their hearts far from Me, And their reverence for Me is a tradition that is learned by rote [without any regard for its meaning],

The Lord judges his own people for insincerity and indifference  but when the enemies of God's people try to take advantage of the situation to obliterate them  while they are still  reeling  from their discipline, they are pulverized into a fine dust and they are blown away. 

This will happen suddenly and the enemies of God's people will be suddenly destroyed.

Amen.