Isaiah 29: 1 – 3: Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt! add ye year to year; let them kill sacrifices. Yet I will distress Ariel, and there shall be heaviness and sorrow: and it shall be unto me as Ariel. And I will camp against thee round about, and will lay siege against thee with a mount, and I will raise forts against thee.
Ariel is an ancient name for Jerusalem which in the last days has become a burdensome stone to all the world (Zechariah 12: 3); this is especially seen at the United Nations where Israel is often discussed in a negative light. The Beast and its armies (Revelation 17: 12 – 14) and Gog and his armies (Ezekiel 38: 1 – 6) will eventually gather in the land of Israel to make war. This gathering of the nations for the Battle of Armageddon is spoken of in Joel 3: 11 – 14: Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O LORD. Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about. Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.
Israel will be overrun by the invading armies, and the city of Jerusalem will be besieged, broken into, and plundered (Zechariah 14: 1 – 2: Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.). The atrocities committed at that time will be truly horrendous and two-thirds of the Jewish population will be killed as prophesied in Zechariah 12: 8: And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the LORD, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein.
It is God who causes the nations of the world to come against Israel, and it will be God who destroys the armies that have invaded. What we are reading of in Isaiah 29 concerning Ariel has a direct correlation with other scriptures in the Bible referring to the same event. Scriptures such as Isaiah 63, Ezekiel 38 and Ezekiel 39, Joel 3, Zechariah 14, Revelation 14, Revelation 17, and Revelation 19 are all connected and provide unique colour to describe the wrath of God upon the nations.
The gathering of these armies into the land of Israel will happen in the Tribulation period, but the destruction of these same armies will occur at Armageddon. This is very plain to see, because during the Tribulation period, Moses and Elijah are calling 144,000 Jews (Revelation 7), and when those elected Jews are sealed, then the Beast and his armies break into the city of Jerusalem, and kill the two prophets and the 144,000 Jews (Revelation 11: 7 – 8: And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them. And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.).
There will still be a remaining group of Jews in the land of Israel (Zechariah 13: 9) after Moses and Elijah and the 144,000 Jews are killed. These remaining Jews will witness Christ return to the earth in His corporal body for the trampling of the vintage at Armageddon (Isaiah 63: 1 – 4; Revelation 14: 18 – 20; Revelation 19: 11 – 16), and they will acknowledge Him as the LORD God Almighty (Ezekiel 39: 28).
Isaiah 29: 6: Thou shalt be visited of the LORD of hosts with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise, with storm and tempest, and the flame of devouring fire. The return of Christ to the earth to set up His kingdom will be accompanied with storm and tempest, and a great earthquake. The storm and tempest upon Israel’s enemies is described in Ezekiel 38: 22 (And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone.), whilst the great earthquake that accompanies Jesus’ third coming is also spoken of in Ezekiel 38: 18 – 20, Zechariah 14: 4, and Revelation 16: 18 – 20. The timing of this momentous earthquake is vital to place correctly. When Jesus descends, He goes to Bozrah (located in southern Jordan) first (Isaiah 63: 1; Micah 2: 12) and then moves toward the Mount of Olives, shedding the blood of His enemies for 200-square miles along the way (Revelation 14: 20). When Christ reaches the Mount of Olives, then the great earthquake happens and the mountain is split in two.