We have said that God decreed His Final Redemption since our Exodus from Egypt, hence our Prophets refer to it in past tense. We also mentioned that from this fact we easily deduce that depends on us, either to continue living in ego's fantasies and illusions or to find our total freedom in Love's ways and attributes. We have called Jerusalem the highest awareness of our permanent connection with the Creator.
The Prophet refers to Jerusalem as Ariel, the place where the ark of the Covenant rests in the inner chamber of the Temple. Also as the place where the Messianic Consciousness dwells, represented here by king David. God tells us that our higher awareness of Him has been at the service of material fantasies and illusions as the sins we accumulate. These are what make us lose account of the appointed holidays when we come to see our Creator, year after year in Jerusalem.
“Woe to Ariel, Ariel, city of the encampment of David! You accumulate [sins] year after year, until your holidays end. And I have sent distress to Ariel, and it has been lamentation and mourning, and it has been to Me as Ariel.” (Isaiah 29:1-2)
Time and again God reiterates His claim against us through our Prophets, reminding us that our separation from His ways and attributes is our distress, lamentation and mourning. God loves our bond and connection with Him, hence He calls it twice by its name, Ariel; and reminds us that it has been such as. Again we must realize what we have pointed out frequently in our blog: God doesn't punish us for us our transgressions, we do; for our choices have consequences. We reap what we sow.
“I have encamped against you like a ring, and I have siege against you a camp, and I have raised up bulwarks against you. You have been low, your voice has come from the ground; like a ghost from the ground has been your voice, and from the dust your speech whispers.” (29:3-4)
Our negative choices end up forcing us to return to our Essence and true identity, which are the positive qualities in the goodness of who we are. The lowest we fall, the deadliest we become as ghosts that don't make a difference wherever they may be.
“As small dust has been the multitude of those scattering you, and as chaff the multitude of powerful ones; it has happened at an instant, suddenly.” (29:5)
God calls the nations small dust, for they are not destined to prevail. The same goes for what they represent in our consciousness: negative trends as well as ego's fantasies and illusions. These are the traits that separate us from the goodness of Love's ways and attributes, causing our exile from the latter. These are the chaff that represents the power we give to negative trends, fantasies and illusions.
“By God, the Lord of hosts, you are visited, with thunder and with earthquake and great noise, hurricane and whirlwind, and flame of devouring fire. Like a dream, a vision of the night has been the multitude of all the nations who are warring against Ariel, all those who besiege her and beleaguer her and cause her distress.” (29:6-7)
God reaffirms His promise to rebuild our consciousness by removing what we won't need in the next stage we know as the Final Redemption. All we know as negative and destructive in life will be as in a dream, as if it has never existed. Jerusalem as our permanent connection with God will never have enemies.
“It will be as when the hungry man dreams and, behold, he is eating but he wakes up and his soul is empty; and as when the thirsty man dreams and, behold, he is drinking but he wakes up and, behold, he is weary and his soul craves drink. So is the multitude of all the nations who are warring against mount Zion.” (29:8)
Some of our contemporary Sages call Israel's opponents “virtual enemies”, based on these verses of Isaiah. Dust, chaff and dreams are those who appear as enemies or opponents of the goodness God makes prevail in the material world. The legacy of the Torah is God's Plan for His Creation -- echoed by our Prophets -- which is to make goodness prevail. The reason is quite simple. We come from the goodness of God's Love, therefore we are destined to be and manifest that from which we were created. That is our Essence and true identity.
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