McConkie’s 7 Crucial Doctrines in Isaiah

Bruce R. McConkie gave a talk titled Ten Keys to Understanding Isaiah and said “Isaiah’s chief doctrinal contributions fall into seven categories: (a) restoration of the gospel in latter days through Joseph Smith, (b) latter-day gathering of Israel and her final triumph and glory, (c) coming forth of the Book of Mormon as a new witness for Christ and the total revolution it will eventually bring in the doctrinal understanding of men, (d) apostate conditions of the nations of the world in the latter days, (e) messianic prophecies relative to our Lord’s first coming, (f) second coming of Christ and the millennial reign, and (g) historical data and prophetic utterances relative to his own day.

In all of this, once again, the emphasis is on the day of restoration and on the past, present, and future gathering of Israel.“

He later continued, “Isaiah is everywhere known as the messianic prophet because of the abundance, beauty, and perfection of his prophetic utterances foretelling the first coming of our Lord. And truly such he is. No old world prophet, whose inspired sayings have come down to us, can compare with him in this respect. Moreover, the first coming of the Messiah is past, and so even those among us who are not overly endowed with spiritual insight can look back and see in the birth, ministry, and death of our Lord the fulfillment of Isaiah’s forecasts.

But if we are to truly comprehend the writings of Isaiah, we cannot overstate or over-stress the plain, blunt reality that he is in fact the prophet of the restoration, the mighty seer of Jacob’s seed who foresaw our day and who encouraged our Israelite fathers in their spiritually weary and disconsolate state, with assurances of glory and triumph ahead for those of their descendants who would return to the Lord in the last days and at that time serve him in truth and righteousness.”